Mar. 17—NEW ALBANY — It's been exactly eight years since Kelly Hans started her sobriety journey and she tears up just thinking about it.

Hans works for THRIVE Recovery Community Organization and is the Forensics Program Manager and the project coordinator for the Scott County Integrated Re-Entry and Correction Support Services.

On Friday she was celebrating the grand opening of THRIVE's new office in New Albany. The office is full of windows, exposed brick and many spaces where people can take the steps to become clean from drug and alcohol use.

The program at the Scott County Jail works to reduce recidivism and works with people who are incarcerated so they have a plan to stay clean once they get out of jail.

"So I am going to cry...today is my eight-year recovery anniversary, I've been clean eight years today," she said. "I don't know why I'm crying. So eight years ago right now I was in the Scott County Jail. It's come full circle. There wasn't anything to help me. I had a very supportive family...not a lot of people do. Once I came out of the Scott County Jail they were able to get me into treatment. So it's personal to me."

It's personal to everyone who works for THRIVE, which is exactly why it's important for the Scott County-based substance use disorder group to open its new facility at 115 E. Market Street in New Albany.

Jordan Furnish is the Community Program Manager at the New Albany office and said his doors are open for anyone who needs recovery services.

He will be celebrating six years of sobriety soon.

THRIVE will help people get things like drivers licenses and birth certificates, help them navigate health insurance and provide peer counseling for addiction. The group also has connections to treatment facilities in the area and can get people a spot there.

Furnish said people come to THRIVE at all stages of their recovery journey and the group will meet them where they are.

"We also create initial recovery plans for them, we have them set goals," Furnish said. "A lot of people get overwhelmed with goals in life. What we do is create long-term and short-term goals. We guide them."

The New Albany office is open on weekdays and there is 24/7 emergency support available as well.

THRIVE first started in 2013 as HIV was spreading due to intravenous drug use in Scott County.

Executive Director Phil Stucky said state leaders got together and determined it wasn't just an HIV issue, but an issue with opioids.

THRIVE stands for Teach, Heal, Recover, Involve, Value and Encourage.

In 2020 THRIVE helped more than 1,500 people. The group is active in 21 Indiana counties.

"One of the coolest parts and amazing pieces of watching this (grow) is that we've been able to help people in so many different ways," Stucky said. "From family members, to individuals looking to get and start their journeys. Even people who've been in recovery and need to help remaining in it."

Stucky has lived in Floyd County for the past 10 years and was a police officer with the New Albany Auxiliary Police Department.

"Seeing the needs that were in Floyd County, and in the place I did recovery, I am personally in long-term recovery myself, there was a need for that service," Stucky said. "Being able to give back to my hometown has always been my dream."

If someone is looking for sobriety resources, having personal problems, or needs someone to talk to, they can get reach THRIVE any time through the 211 line.

THRIVE also has an overdose response team and will send someone out within 20 minutes to help a person who has overdosed.

"Our coaches walk beside people in our recovery journey, no matter what that looks like," Stucky said.