Clark County earns recovery-ready certification

Clark County has been offi­cial­ly des­ig­nat­ed a Recovery Ready Community, a statewide cer­ti­fi­ca­tion that rec­og­nizes coun­ties demon­strat­ing strong, coör­di­nat­ed efforts in pre­ven­tion, treat­ment, and recov­ery sup­port. For the peo­ple who have spent years build­ing those sys­tems here, the recog­ni­tion is less a fin­ish line and more a reflec­tion of what col­lab­o­ra­tion can accomplish.

The work stretch­es back more than two decades. The Agency for Substance Abuse Policy (ASAP) has oper­at­ed in Clark County for more than 25 years, bring­ing togeth­er schools, law enforce­ment, health agen­cies, treat­ment providers, and com­mu­ni­ty vol­un­teers. But the turn­ing point came in 2019, when Clark County became part of the Healing Community Study, a four‑year NIH/NIDA‑funded ini­tia­tive aimed at reduc­ing over­dose deaths in some of Kentucky’s hardest‑hit counties.

“We formed a sub­com­mit­tee with our ASAP to focus on those issues,” said Ron Kibbey. “Once the grant end­ed, our ASAP board decid­ed we want­ed to con­tin­ue the efforts we’d been mak­ing… so we con­tin­ued and renamed it the Overdose Prevention Committee.”

Jennifer Miles, who served as exec­u­tive direc­tor of the Healing Community Study at the University of Kentucky, returned home to Clark County after the grant end­ed and joined the local effort. “It’s been a great oppor­tu­ni­ty for me to work with the local com­mu­ni­ty,” she said. “I appre­ci­ate it.”

Tish Shupe, who worked in com­mu­ni­ty ser­vices dur­ing the HEAL project, also stayed involved. “Most of us kind of rolled over to this over­dose sub­com­mit­tee,” she said. “And the rest is history.”

A Long, Detailed Application

The Recovery Ready Community cer­ti­fi­ca­tion is award­ed by a state‑level orga­ni­za­tion cre­at­ed through leg­is­la­tion and over­seen by the Governor’s office. Counties must com­plete a lengthy appli­ca­tion that doc­u­ments every­thing from pre­ven­tion pro­grams to access to treat­ment, hous­ing, child­care, and employ­ment supports.

“It’s a very long appli­ca­tion with a lot of ques­tions,” Miles said. “They focus on pre­ven­tion, recov­ery, and treat­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties with­in the com­mu­ni­ty… what facil­i­ties we have, what agen­cies are active, what fund­ing is avail­able, hous­ing, child sup­port, all of that.”

The Clark County Health Department, work­ing with oth­er ASPP board mem­bers, began the appli­ca­tion years ago. After the HEAL project end­ed, the Overdose Prevention Committee revived it and worked steadi­ly for six to eight months to com­plete it.

The appli­ca­tion, Kibbey not­ed, is more than a check­list. “It helps iden­ti­fy what your gaps are,” he said. “Part of the goal is to rec­og­nize what com­mu­ni­ties are doing, but the oth­er part is to help iden­ti­fy what needs to be strengthened.”

Despite con­cerns that pre­ven­tion might be a weak area—especially after COVID dis­rupt­ed school‑based programs—Clark County earned a per­fect score of 100 in the pre­ven­tion cat­e­go­ry. Reviewers were par­tic­u­lar­ly impressed with the Roland Arts Center (RAC), an after‑school pro­gram offer­ing home­work help, men­tor­ing, and a safe gath­er­ing place for teens.

“They were very impressed with that,” Shupe said. “It’s a real­ly great program.”

Measurable Progress

The cer­ti­fi­ca­tion isn’t just sym­bol­ic. It reflects real, mea­sur­able improve­ments in Clark County’s response to sub­stance use disorder.

One of the most sig­nif­i­cant changes has been the expan­sion of treat­ment options. “We had very few when we start­ed,” Miles said. “Now, when we look at the list of cen­ters, it’s bal­looned up to like 10 or 12 that are pret­ty local.”

That includes a methadone clinic—Winchester Treatment Center on Lexington Avenue—which opened with strong com­mu­ni­ty sup­port thanks to ear­ly stigma‑reduction efforts. “We worked very, very hard on doing PR and pro­mo­tions,” Kibbey said. “They’ve had no neg­a­tive feedback.”

Overdose deaths have also declined. “Every month we go to our meet­ings, and we look at our num­bers,” Shupe said. “They’re way down.”

ASAP’s long‑running Narcan dis­tri­b­u­tion pro­gram has played a major role. Since 2015, the orga­ni­za­tion has placed more than 70 NaloxBoxes across the county—in schools, parks, busi­ness­es, the library, and down­town. “There are sev­er­al right here on Main Street,” Kibbey said. “It allows peo­ple the oppor­tu­ni­ty to save a life.”

A Community‑Wide Effort

The cer­ti­fi­ca­tion team empha­sized that Clark County’s strength lies in its col­lab­o­ra­tion. Reviewers con­duct­ed four site vis­its, includ­ing the Homeless Coalition, the RAC, the Recovery Community Center, and the Beacon of Hope. They also met with local lead­ers dur­ing a com­mu­ni­ty lunch.

“It was the col­lab­o­ra­tion in this com­mu­ni­ty,” Kibbey said. “People com­ing togeth­er, work­ing togeth­er. We have a long‑time rep­u­ta­tion of being a col­lab­o­ra­tive community.”

Law enforce­ment and the coun­ty attorney’s office were sin­gled out for their involve­ment in diver­sion pro­grams such as First Day Forward and LEAP, which help peo­ple access treat­ment rather than enter the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem. The coro­ner also par­tic­i­pates, pro­vid­ing month­ly updates on over­dose trends.

The faith com­mu­ni­ty plays a major role as well. “There are so many meet­ings around Clark County,” Miles said. “Pretty much any time, day or night, that any­one needs to meet with oth­er peo­ple and help them through their recov­ery process.”

Looking Ahead

The work con­tin­ues. The Recovery Community Center remains a vital hub, offer­ing peer sup­port, help nav­i­gat­ing treat­ment, hous­ing assis­tance, and an annu­al expunge­ment clin­ic. The com­mit­tee is also part­ner­ing with the Chamber of Commerce to expand second‑chance employ­ment opportunities.

Housing remains a pri­or­i­ty. Committee mem­bers were inspired by Sutton’s Landing in Mason County, a recovery‑focused hous­ing devel­op­ment they hope to repli­cate locally.

And there is still room to strength­en col­lab­o­ra­tion with the jail, espe­cial­ly around reen­try. People leav­ing incar­cer­a­tion face the high­est over­dose risk due to reduced tol­er­ance. Ensuring they have Narcan and a warm hand­off to treat­ment is a key goal.

A Recognition of Collective Work

In the end, the Recovery Ready Community cer­ti­fi­ca­tion is not an award for a sin­gle agency or pro­gram. It is a recog­ni­tion of a county‑wide effort—one built on per­sis­tence, part­ner­ship, and a shared belief that recov­ery is possible.

“It’s the work that the com­mu­ni­ty has done to sup­port peo­ple in recov­ery,” Miles said. And in Clark County, that work is far from finished.