On April 28, eight graduates, dating back to the early 2000s, shared deeply personal accounts of recovery that spotlighted both their resilience and the incredible impact of The Phoenix Center, Greenville County’s local provider of substance use disorder services.

Formerly known as The Transformation Breakfast, the annual event took a year to plan and execute — and it featured a record number of testimonials.

Emcee Belinda Speaks, a graduate and former employee who’s now a certified Peer Support Specialist and Addictions Counselor, set the tone.

“She’s the ‘matriarch of our program,’” said Community Engagement and Fundraising Liaison Sophie Finnell. “She shaped the stories of so many that came after her.”

The luncheon took place at The 405, and every detail — from the new lotus flower logo, symbolizing rebirth, to the food — exemplified the local nonprofit’s mission and reach.

Catering was provided by Jasmine Kitchen, an extension of Jasmine Road, which offers similar services for local women.

There were 330 attendees, most importantly, the speakers’ families.

“Some of the people who had poured so much into them were hearing things they’d never heard,” Finnell said.

“One graduate experienced a recurrence in their use following treatment and questioned whether to include that. Ultimately, they all were honest and raw but incredibly calm and poised.”

Standing before the crowd as family anchors, working professionals and community builders, the graduates spoke of lives rebuilt with purpose, stability and strength and inspired everyone who came for the celebration.

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Nearly every week, Deana Zaehler is reminded of her “old life.” As a client accounts specialist at the Phoenix Center, she meets people seeking the same help and hope she once found at Greenville County’s local provider of substance-use-disorder treatment.

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“Helping clients get back to work is a crucial part of what we do to support them in their recovery,” Hadsell said.

Partnering with the state’s SC Works program, the Phoenix Center offers a “Work Ready Course” that includes career assessments, job hunting, conflict resolution in the workplace, emotional intelligence, dressing for success and more.

“They learn which jobs align with their strengths and how to navigate issues like gaps in employment and legal problems. When we do résumés, we look at whether they need a chronological one or a functional one. We practice panel interviewing and discuss social etiquette and professional emails — everything they need to enter or re-enter the working world,” Hadsell said. “For many of them, addiction started very young, so this is their chance to learn or relearn life.”

Participants might also have “virtual career experiences,” using virtual reality technology to perform hands-on tasks such as working on an electrical circuit or starting an IV. After graduating, clients can transition to the Lotus program, which includes transitional housing, outpatient meetings and community service. Day care is offered, and in some cases, there is SC Works funding to further education.

Phoenix Center client LeighAnn came straight to Serenity Place from the Greenville County Detention Center. Less than a year later, she is focused on her future and that of her 3-month-old baby.

“I had prior training in MIG (Metal Inert Gas) welding. Now, I’m putting together a résumé and polishing my interviewing skills to secure employment,” she said. “To anyone who’s struggling, I’d say to be kind to yourself and give [Phoenix] a chance. They’re very kid friendly, and if there’s something you need that they don’t offer, they go out of their way to find out where you can get that help. This place really can set you up for a lifetime of self-sufficiency.”

If you are interested in hiring those who are in recovery, please contact Hadsell at ahadsell@phoenixcenter.org. To volunteer at the Phoenix Center through The Family Effect, contact Kanika Starks at ksweeney@phoenixcenter.org. Visit their websites at phoenixcenter.org and familyeffect.org.

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It is one of the few centers nationwide where women can bring infants or preschool-age children with them as they undergo treatment. Data shows “women being with their children are more likely to come to treatment, and they’re more likely to stay,” says Rebecca Maddox, CEO of the Phoenix Center of Greenville.

Its efforts are supported by fundraising and volunteer-recruitment nonprofit The Family Effect, which strives to reduce addiction as a leading cause of family collapse and harm to children.

The center will soon be able to help more women, thanks to a newly constructed villa on the Serenity Place campus. The housing helps women transition from treatment to the community, preventing their return to addiction-contributing environments.

Generous supporters funded the new villa’s construction. Like the three existing duplexes, each side has three bedrooms and two bathrooms shared by two women and their children.

Families call the villas home while the mothers participate in the LOTUS program, the next step in recovery for Serenity Place graduates. LOTUS participants must be employed, in a job program or pursuing education.

They work with a counselor and case manager to continue to meet their recovery goals, participate in one of the community self-help groups introduced to them in residential treatment, and get support from hired peer-support specialists, “who must be in recovery for at least three years,” Maddox says.

“Their job is to share their experiences,” she adds. “It’s just such a beautiful thing to see somebody who previously was struggling with substance abuse, and they’ve gotten to a good place. And now they can help someone in a place where they once were.”

Circle of Friends, a licensed day care center on-site, cares for Serenity Place’s and LOTUS participants’ 6-week-old to 6-year-old children.

Circle of Friends, a licensed day care center on-site, cares for Serenity Place’s and LOTUS participants’ 6-week-old to 6-year-old children.

“It’s a huge resource,” Maddox says. “It becomes a nonissue for getting employment or going to school. Lack of child care can be a barrier.

“One thing that is so important about this program is that not only are the moms getting care, but the children have their own services,” Maddox adds. “They are not just learning about ABCs, colors and things like that. Our staff is also helping moms identify delays or other conditions that may be related to substance abuse.”

To learn how to join Serenity Place in this work, visit familyeffect.org/serenity-place-womens-residential. To stay up to date on what is happening at Serenity Place, its current needs and ways you can get involved, please follow The Family Effect on Facebook and Instagram. If you or someone you know needs treatment, contact the Phoenix Center’s helpline at 864-467-3790.

The Phoenix Center
1400 Cleveland St, Greenville, SC 29607
(864) 467-3790

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“That’s not just a saying” for The Family Effect, but a firmly held belief, said Cynthia D. Fryer, M.A., director of development and mission advancement for the Phoenix Center of Greenville. That’s because substance use disorder is a leading cause of family collapse and harm to children not just locally but nationwide.

“Usually, it’s a direct root cause for children to be removed from their homes due to neglect or abuse,” Fryer said, adding that at any given time, Greenville County has the highest number of children in the state who are in the South Carolina Department of Social Services foster care system.

The community can make a difference for those children and families through The Family Effect. It was established as a nonprofit organization in 1998 to support the work of the Phoenix Center, which helps more than 5,000 people each year through its research-based treatment, prevention and recovery services.

“We believe if you are working with someone in recovery, if they have the support system of their family, and you work with the family unit, the chances are they will remain in recovery longer,” Fryer said.

There are many ways to help, whether through monetary or in-kind donations or volunteering.

“We actually call our volunteers our family champions because they do so much,” Fryer said.

Volunteers of The Family Effect work with the Phoenix Center, its adolescent and outpatient services and the ECHO mobile drug education unit.

“They staff and do the education,” she said.

There are also numerous volunteer opportunities at Serenity Place, which provides residential treatment to pregnant women and young mothers recovering from substance abuse. It is one of the few publicly funded centers across the nation that allow children to enter residential services with Mom.

Volunteers provide child care while mothers attend recovery-support meetings, tutor women working to earn their GED, mentor and support them in employment goals, and lend “their expertise in improving skills and their self-esteem,” Fryer said.

“All of these programs and services provide opportunities for volunteers,” she said, adding that each volunteer must complete an application, get a background check, take a two-step tuberculosis test and go through an orientation.

To learn more about volunteering with The Family Effect, call 864-467-4757 or email thefamilyeffect@phoenixcenter.org. If you or someone you know needs treatment, call the Phoenix Center’s helpline at 864-467-3790.

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More than 375,000 South Carolinians are in active recovery today from substance use that at one time had a stronghold on their lives.

It meets them where they’re at. Since many reach the point of using substances to stave off withdrawal symptoms rather than to get high, it can be more practical than an abstinence-only approach.

The Phoenix Center offers free fentanyl and xylazine test strips for people to test their substances and gives out over 2,000 doses of the opioid overdose reversal drug Narcan each year. The center also offers individual and group counseling services to encourage those who use substances or alcohol to lessen their use. For example, clients might be encouraged to drink fewer beers than they might typically, inviting them to see how the change in behavior feels without requiring them to quit cold turkey.

“It opens the door. If they know we’re willing to listen to them when they say, ‘Right now, I’m not at a point where I can totally stop for myself, but I need to use more safely,’” then they know they can trust the Phoenix Center, she explained. When they are ready to get extra help, the relationship is already there.

“For someone who doesn’t necessarily use substances, the (harm-reduction approach) can seem like, ‘Really, that’s all they did?’ But to the individual, it’s more like, ‘OK, I’m jumping in with both feet,’” Snyder said. “We’re all so completely unique and have our own pathways to recovery. It’s about being able to step in and help in the way they’d like us to help them.”

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Summer break from high school or college is a cause for celebration among teens and young people.

It’s with programs like the mobile unit that the Phoenix Center tries to steer young people on a path away from self-destruction and danger. The center has been on a mission to prevent, reduce or delay substance use for more than five decades and is the convening member of the Greenville County Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws Coalition in partnership with Greenville County Law Enforcement, SLED, college and university representatives, and others.

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In most cases, they’re able to start their treatment — which includes an assessment and could include meeting with peer-to-peer support groups or getting medication-assisted treatment — that day.

Two years ago, however, that wasn’t the case. Walk-ins would be queued into a waitlist, and it took four to six weeks for them to be seen.

But Cynthia Fryer, director of development and mission advancement, said it’s important to “strike while the iron’s hot” when it comes to assisting people with substance-use issues, and making timeliness a top priority caused a shift in strategy that has cut the waitlist down to zero.

Alex Simmons, a Greenville native and a nine-year employee of the Phoenix Center, became the nonprofit’s inaugural navigation manager two years ago.

He’s since built up the navigation team, tasked with guiding patients through their admission process, including ensuring that they attain timely service with ease. Cutting down patient wait times required thinking outside the box, Simmons said, and a mindset shift from “we do it this way because it’s always been done this way” to “these are the needs of the clients, and this is how we can give them the right care.”

“We took the pressure from being just on the counselor to looking at more ways to service our clients outside of the counseling role,” Simmons said. “We have peer-to-peer support, we have the nursing services, we have that medication-assisted treatment as well. We’re really doing it from a holistic approach.”

Missing the window when people are ready and willing to get help, Simmons explained, can be life or death.

“When they’re ready to get the support and the treatment, if you’re not able to get them that support right away, the (likelihood) that they will come back to that next appointment goes down very quickly,” he said. “With the state we’re in with opioids and fentanyl, it could be a (matter of) life or death. If we did not get this time down, people’s lives are at risk.”

If you or someone you know needs help with a substance-use disorder, contact the Phoenix Center at 864-467-3790.

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