Pubdate: Sat, 11 Dec 2004
Source: Lexington Herald-Leader (KY)
Copyright: 2004 Lexington Herald-Leader
Contact:  http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/240
Author: Bill Estep
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

DRUG REHAB EXPANDING IN CORBIN

Joshua's Dream Leases Motel As Faith-Based Reform Center

One of Eastern Kentucky's most prominent faith-based recovery programs
for drug addicts is planning a significant expansion. Joshua's Dream
Foundation has signed a lease on a former Holiday Inn motel in Corbin
and will begin moving in male residents Monday to start cleaning and
preparing the facility for others, said Jeff Coots, executive director
of the foundation. The foundation now has one residential facility
atop a mountain in Perry County that can accommodate a total of about
50 men and women.

The drug problem in the area is so serious that there's a need for
more beds to serve people, Coots said. "It's at the point now where
we're going to have to expand or start turning people away," he said.
"We can't turn people away." The motel has 144 rooms, creating the
potential to house twice that many people. One wing needs significant
repairs, but there are people in the recovery program who can do the
work, Coots said. The foundation plans to make the motel a male
facility, leaving the original campus at Cornettsville for women. The
motel is in a commercial area off Interstate 75 at the southern edge
of Corbin. John Bill Keck, who owns the property, said more than a
hundred people attended a meeting with Joshua's Dream representatives
recently.

He said there seems to be a good deal of support in the community for
the plan to put a faith-based recovery facility in the motel. Keck
said having a large number of people with drug problems concentrated
at the facility should not cause concerns.

Right now, those people are throughout town; it's better for the
community to have them being monitored and getting help, he said.
"There's not much risk in doing this. I think it's all for the good,"
Keck said. City Manager Bill Ed Cannon said the facility will serve a
real need. "We've got a lot of people here that I'd like to see get a
second chance," Cannon said. Joshua's Dream Foundation offers an
eight-month residential program of Christ-centered education and
mentoring aimed at overcoming addiction.

The program also includes secular education and required work
details.

Like other faith-based programs, Joshua's Dream does not offer what
state officials define as treatment, but rather focuses on support and
education in a religious framework. Addicts must complete a medical
detoxification before entering the program, and the foundation does
not accept violent offenders. Participants pay various amounts based
on their income, but the payments do not cover all the costs of the
program.

The foundation relies on donations, Coots said. He said Joshua's Dream
is tackling the expansion in Corbin on the belief that the money will
come through. "We're very much doing this on faith," he said. Joshua's
Dream Foundation is named in honor of Coots' brother Joshua, who
struggled with an addiction to the potent painkiller OxyContin and
other drugs before getting help at a faith-based program in Indiana.
Joshua Coots came home determined to set up a residential program in
Perry County where substance abusers could get help in a Christian
environment, but he died in 2002 at age 22 because of health problems
related to earlier drug abuse.

His family decided to make his dream a reality.
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