West Hall, a former Antioch College dormitory located at 114 E. North College St., houses men in long-term recovery through the Emerge Recovery & Trade Initiative. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)
Emerge Springs | Addiction recovery services, housing at Antioch College
- Published: August 21, 2024
By El Mele
Emerge Recovery and Trade Initiative, which opened its housing and education campus in the former Greene County Career Center facility on West Enon Road last year, now has a satellite location in Yellow Springs.
A new men’s recovery housing facility, called Emerge Springs, opened earlier this year in what was previously Antioch College’s West Hall on East North College Street.
As the News reported last year, Emerge offers addiction recovery services, housing and job training. It was founded by three area business owners who work in the skilled trades, and who themselves are in long-term recovery: Chris Adams of Narrow Path Plumbing, which recently merged with Five Star Plumbing; Doug Van Dyke, of Van Martin Roofing; and Kip Morris, of Five Star Group.
The three purchased the former Greene County Career Center on West Enon Road in Xenia in 2021 with the goal of bringing together the treatment, housing and vocational models of addiction recovery under one roof, recognizing the value of getting folks employed as part of their recovery process. They founded the nonprofit Emerge Recovery and Trade Initiative in June 2021.
The News spoke recently with Emerge Springs Director Nathan Crago, who said Emerge prides itself on its variety of clinical and supportive services options, including substance use group and individual counseling, mental health individual counseling, case management, peer recovery support, 12-step recovery meetings, faith-based recovery meetings and nutrition education.
Variety is important, Crago said, so that individuals can find treatment that is right for them.
“In for-profit agencies, there’s a lot of focus on just providing billable services, and not so much helping the individual build the recovery supports needed to be successful long-term,” Crago said. “There’s a lot of focus on creating customers, not healing people.”
Crago added that some for-profit recovery centers rely on prescribing pharmaceutical drugs as the basis of their treatment plans, rather than holistic recovery support — an approach that Emerge seeks to avoid.
“We’re not trying to push pharmaceuticals unless they’re really needed; there’s more to recovery than taking a pill,” he said. “We’re looking at the traumas that led to the addiction in the first place and how to work through them.”
Originally, the Emerge Campus only offered recovery housing — a step below being a certified residential treatment center. Emerge came to Yellow Springs as a result of the search for a new facility to host recovery housing participants while the initiative transitioned to building a residential treatment program at Emerge’s Xenia campus. According to Crago, discovering West Hall was kismet.
“It all happened pretty organically. It was the perfect facility in a great place and accepting community; it was obvious this is where we were being led, so we went with it,” Crago said. “We’ve had a huge outpouring from the community. There’s been a lot of interest in what we’re doing here, so we’ve grown rapidly. It’s been quite an adventure.”
West Hall was purchased in January of this year, and since then, Emerge’s founders have invested around $200,000 into upgrading the building. In May, Emerge began moving recovery housing participants from the Xenia campus to Emerge Springs, which has 23 rooms and a capacity for 40 participants. As of the end of July, the facility is full.
All recovery housing residents at Emerge Springs are still in the continuum of treatment, and are required to either be employed or searching for employment, pay a small rent fee, attend group therapy, undergo drug screens and follow a curfew and rules. However, they are permitted to come and go as they please, and have access to transportation.
“You need to give them a little bit of freedom at a time — too much stress too soon for someone who is in a fragile state can lead to relapse,” Crago said. “We give them a little bit at a time until they have a good foundation under them. The longer we can continue safe, supportive housing, the more we increase our success rates.”
While there are no live-in staff at Emerge Springs, there are two full-time staff members on first and second shift and one on third shift. Most of the employees are in long-term recovery themselves, and have or are working toward education or training to work in addiction treatment.
John Babb, a graduate of the original recovery housing program at Emerge Campus with 16 months of sobriety, works first shift at Emerge Springs and has been employed there since the satellite campus opened.
“I was number three in the original program at the Emerge Campus,” Babb said. “They were gracious enough to give me a job and I was actually requested to work here. That was a surprise, but it was a step in the right direction for me because I wanted a career I hadn’t worked before.”
Babb, who is currently in school to obtain his Chemical Dependency Counselor Assistant certificate, added: “I heard in recovery, ‘If nothing changes, nothing changes,’ so I wanted to change everything. I’m here as a representation to the participants of what they can be.”
Many of the program participants are already employed in Yellow Springs, mostly in back-of-house positions at various restaurants. Jason Ballard started in recovery housing in April at Emerge Campus before being moved to Emerge Springs in early May. He is currently working at Ye Olde Trail Tavern.
“Being here, the big help for me is not just the housing, but the other resources, especially transportation,” Ballard said. “They help you make appointments for things like getting your driver’s license and obtaining housing and a job, and then make sure you get there. They also have shuttles going to different Alcoholic Anonymous Meetings every night. That fellowship is phenomenal.”
Ballard also remarked on the availability of resources in town, noting that there are Alcoholics Anonymous meetings seven days a week in Yellow Springs, and one Narcotics Anonymous meeting each week, all within walking distance of Emerge Springs.
“They’re really embracing us at that level, too,” Ballard said, adding that he also enjoys being within walking distance of downtown and the Glen.
“I’ll try to walk down to the Glen and get six miles a day in,” he said. “Meditation and spirituality is part of recovery, too, and this is definitely a place to get that.”
Yellow Springs seems to have embraced Emerge Springs in other ways, too: According to Babb, neighbors have already come over and introduced themselves, community members have been dropping off flyers and pamphlets, and the Antioch kitchen has dropped off leftover catered food from large events to residents.
“It’s a very pro-social community, which is good for the residents,” Babb said.
Caroline Mullin, the executive director of the Senior Center, told the News she has connected with Elaine Bonner, Emerge’s director of philanthropy, about the new Senior Center facility, which will be built next door to Emerge Springs on land the center purchased from Antioch College last year.
“We’ve talked about ways we’ll be cooperating; we’re definitely looking forward to it,” Mullin said. “I’m really delighted. I think they’re going to be fantastic neighbors to the Senior Center.”
Having been embraced by the village, Emerge Springs seems eager to embrace the Yellow Springs community back: They have been aiding Antioch’s facilities department with some of the groundskeeping for the surrounding buildings, and are now mowing the Senior Center lot, which Mullin was previously mowing herself.
Both Emerge Campus and Emerge Springs are looking for ways to partner with local nonprofits and businesses, and are currently taking on volunteers and interns. For more information on partnership and volunteer opportunities, contact Nathan Crago at nathan.crago@emergerecoverytrade.com.
*The author is a student at Antioch College and a freelance reporter for the News.
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