Choptank Wellness, Humble House recovery home says Caroline County Code has left them at an impasse
GREENSBORO, Md – The Choptank Wellness Center and Humble House Recovery in Greensboro says a Caroline County code has left their future uncertain as they look to open their treatment center.
The location in Greensboro features a recently renovated outpatient clinic for addiction treatment center on the bottom floor, with a 4-room, 7-bed recovery house on the 2nd floor for those who have transitioned out of a rehab-type facility and into a sober transitional living space.
Director Jeremy Savin says he received state approval for the facility from the state and moved forward with opening the 2nd floor for 6 months before he heard word from the county that before the 1st floor could be open, he would have to comply with the county’s group home ordinance.
“What a recovery residence is is nothing even remotely close to what their group home code is,” Savin told 47ABC adding that the current ordinance is outdated both in its rhetoric use case, citing the code as placing those in active recovery as in the same category as “Nonambulatory, elderly, disabled, or mentally retarded persons.”
“These terms are offensive, and stigmatizing to those in active recovery,” Savin said.
He tells us the code needs to be updated to remove the offensive language and allow more treatment centers and recovery houses to open.
“We are the only recovery residence in all of Caroline County and currently Caroline County only has one outpatient substance use disorder program, which is through the local health department, who they do a great job, but they can’t take care of the entire county,” he said adding that a similar need saw his organization open locations in Easton in 2017.
He tells us dropping the number of beds from 7 down to 4 does not just make it harder for them to meet the needs in the community, he tells us it actively undermines the environment that is needed to sustain a recovered house.
“It’s a peer-driven dynamic where they need more than four people to keep it functional, to support each other. And from a fiscal standpoint, there’s a lot that goes into recovery residences that we’re you know, it requires more revenue than what four persons would pay here,” Savin said.
Savin tells 47ABC he has reached out to the county for further clarification, but has not heard back on the issue of updating the code, which he fears could delay his opening or force him to turn away potential residences.
He tells us despite this, he has faced similar pushback in the past and is hoping the stakeholders can come together and get the issue resolved.
“The county needs a recovery, resident’s specific code and they need to collaborate with the recovery certification body, Maryland Certification of Recovery Residences and NAR, which would be the National Association of Recovery Residences, and educate themselves on the statistics that go into this and just acknowledge the overall need for it,” he said.
47ABC reached out to multiple officials in Caroline County and did not hear back.
