New 'Avenues' to addiction recovery, tour Mishawaka's new facility

 

MISHAWAKA, Ind.--- Madeline Smous was among the first class of patients at Avenues Recovery Center in Mishawaka. 

"I was one of the first 16 people to come as a patient," Smous said. "It's been a really great experience, I spent 30 days here."

She graduated just a week before Wednesday's official grand opening and open house.

"This was actually my third time in treatment," Smous said. "Seven years ago, I started recovery and had a relapse last year, and the other two facilities didn't really compare to what I learned at avenues."

For 30 days she stayed in the facility, attended group therapy and rehab, and now says she's in a better place.

"I just found peace in my recovery for the first time," she said. "I have a son that I get to go home to and be with, and I do a lot for him."

After a November soft launch, Avenues is officially operating, opening right next door to the troubled—and now shuttered—Praxis landmark recovery.

"When Praxis was here, we had multiple issues, not only with surrounding businesses but our neighborhoods close by," said St. Joseph County Sheriff William Redman. "Our calls for service were so high."

Praxis was forced to close after multiple deaths and incidents of malpractice and abuse.

The unaffiliated Avenues, opening its seventeenth location, fourth in the state, maintains they are different.

"Not all facilities are the same. We are run by a completely different entity. We have zero affiliation with the company next door. We have a different approach," said Nicole Smigielski, Avenues' regional supervisor of community outreach. "We are 'slow-rolling' our clients into the facility here. We are not taking our maximum capacity right at once. We are making sure we can keep our clients safe, that our staff are trained."

"They have assured me that things are going to be done differently," Redman said.

Avenues staff is working to restore trust with the community, which Lead Therapist Yessica Lawson says is meeting a massive local need.

"There is not anybody in Michiana who is not affected by addiction, whether it be directly or indirectly," she said.

Offering hope and healing from addiction with this intensive inpatient resource.

"I think week one is really a focus on the physical symptoms, the detox; allowing them time to have space to heal," Lawson said. "The second week is when all the emotional comes in, and it can be a little overwhelming. Week 3 and 4 and on is when we really get to do the work."