Shelley Brown Campney and the Rev. Norman Ledford visit at Revival Fires Church where Ledford has allowed Campney to hold her Sequoyah Recovery Drop-In Center. Campney said the center is for those who have successfully completed drug recovery programs but need continuing support after re-entering society.
Submitted Photo
Shelley Brown Campney of Sallisaw, a recovering addict herself, saw a need for those re-entering society. They needed support to avoid returning to addiction.
“When I got clean and sober for over a year, I saw a need,” Campney said. “When people get clean and sober they are thrown back into society and have no place to go.”
Campney said she met the Rev. Norman Ledford of Revival Fires Church in Sallisaw and he offered his church as a place for Campney’s program — the Sequoyah Recovery Drop-In Center.
Ledford said, “I support the program 100 percent. It is faith based and based on Bible scripture. All beliefs can come in. She’s found the Lord and its lead her to start this program. It is spiritual and motivating. Those in recovery can distance themselves (from their previous lifestyles) and learn what life is like without drugs.”
Campney and Ledford said that alcoholics and drug users become addicted for various reasons, and many are related to the drug culture. Keeping recovering addicts out of that culture, which makes it easy to return to addiction, is Campney’s goal. She also wants to make the community aware of the program, and is asking for support in various ways.
Campney relates in literature about the program, “We wish to be known throughout the community as a non-profit organization for providing services to people searching for remission of the disease of addiction. It is our goal to provide support services, family fun night, barbeques and other entertainment while providing education to those in the recovery community.”
Campney relates, “The Sequoyah Recovery Drop-In Center was organized to provide assistance, encouragement and support to current and former clients of alcohol and drug treatment programs and to provide a safe, healthy environment for those individuals and their families.”
To engage recovering addicts, keep them busy and away from the drug culture in which many have spent years, Campney explained the recovery drop-in center plans numerous programs and activities to keep them busy and a support group where they share experiences and ways in which to avoid re-addiction.
The center has a faith-based, 12-step program meeting at noon Monday through Friday. The church is also open so that those recovering can drop in to seek support.
“Listening to others can help you face the challenge and give you hope,” Campney said. “The biggest challenge is when you have to change everything in your world — your old friends, old habits, old attitudes.
“We have 20 to 25 people at our meetings,” Campney said. “I’m pleased with the growth.”
Campney pointed out that families must also be a part of the recovery process.
“When you get into recovery you have to change the people you hang out with, the places you go and the things you do. You have to surround yourself with a support system. My family is my biggest support system. My recovery family is also a big support,” Campney explained.
The program offers activities for the recovering addict and the family. The program has a family fun night once a month, which sometimes includes a speaker and presentation of birthday chips and medallions for those who continue to be clean and sober. Barbecues are held on the last Saturday of each month for clients in treatment and their family members as well as anyone desiring to stay clean and sober.
Other activities include classes on crafts, how to budget, and even cooking, and parenting and anger management classes are planned; special speakers, one of whom was from the Oklahoma Bureau of Drugs and Narcotics; and entertainments such as bowling or going to the movies when funding is available.
“We’re trying to teach people how to live life,” Campney said.
Campney said she has just started a volunteer program for the recovering addicts, who will offer services to the elderly and disabled. The services will be for light housekeeping and yard work, “to help others in need.”
Jobs are another hurdle recovering addicts must face, and Campney said she is setting up a job line and she compiles a list of job openings with the help of the Oklahoma employment agency.
Campney said her program works with the Sequoyah County Drug Court program, the Community Sentencing program and Eagle Ridge which provides mental health, substance abuse counseling and prevention services as part of the drug court program.
Police Chief Shaloa Edwards supports the program, as do others in the community. Steve Rutherford, prevention specialist with the New Opportunities Working (NOW) program, also sees the need for the program., which is affiliated with NOW.
“I’ve watched her (Campney) with clients,” Rutherford said. “She does a good job.
“This program is needed by our city. There are not enough such programs in our city to deal with the clients and their families,” Rutherford continued. “This program offers long-term follow-up to help people stay off drugs.”
Campney said the Sequoyah Recovery Drop-In Center offers hope through spiritual guidance, and when faith is offered to recovering addicts, the recidivism rate drops.
“With God, there is a 95 percent success rate,” Campney said. “Without God, there’s a 36 percent success rate.”
Campney is asking for the support of the community. The center needs donations of all kinds to remain active. She said private donors have helped pay the electric and gas bills at the center in the Revival Fires fellowship hall since it remains open daily.
Campney said she is also planning a yard sale to raise money for the center, and donations are needed. To make a donation contact Campney at the church as (918) 774-8007. Donations will be picked up if the donor wishes, Campney added. The yard sale will be March 20, when the program is also planning a gospel singing, and will be selling hot dogs, chili dogs and nachos will be available to raise more funds.
The center also takes donations for the programs such as craft and quilting supplies, and office supplies are needed for the program.
And although the program needs the community’s support, both through volunteerism and money, Campney knows in her heart the program will succeed.
“God put this on my heart,” she said, for a reason.
“Watching people in their growth and in recovery is the best reward there is.”
