Local addiction rehabilitation center using peer coaches to help those in recovery

CINCINNATI (WKRC) - A local rehabilitation center is saving the lives of those who are struggling in a whole new way.

This personal approach doesn't wait for people who need treatment to ask for it. Instead, it invites them to partner with a coach.

"I went from being a daily user of ... meth mainly, being in a very bad abusive relationship to having hope today," said Jillian Haines.

After years of her own addictive struggle, Haines is now a peer support coach. She now helps others stay sober through a newer model at DeCoach Rehabilitation.

"They bring lived experience, and that lived experience says, 'Hey, I've been where you are,'" said Aaron Laine, the director of community outreach at DeCoach Rehabilitation.

Haines' role as a peer coach involves everything from counseling to transportation. She is available 24 hours a day because she knows the struggle.

"The one thing that made sense to myself at that time was death, and each day I woke up hoping it would be my last day," Haines said.

Marc Pavlack knows how she feels.

"I did things I said I was never going to do. Like I said I was never going to use heroin, never going to use a needle, never going to be homeless, and all those things came true," Pavlack said.

Pavlack is now also a peer counselor thanks to a dad he says never gave up on him.

"I'm coming up on two years clean in August," he said.

He now goes into the community to reach those struggling with addiction from homeless camps to hospitals where those who overdose are taken.

"We're that bridge between people getting help and not getting help," Pavlack said.

The team is still gathering data to see how this approach helps in long-term recovery. Ohio is now just one of a handful of states that will certify peer support coaches.

"They found out with statistics that addicts can relate to other addicts, and, this way, I was able to get into this position and continue my own therapy by giving back," Haines said.

"You never know who you are going to save and what the impact is that they can have in society later down the road," said Pavlack.

This coaching is part of treatment, so there's not an additional out-of-pocket cost in this model of recovery.