Savage Sisters Recovery – which now operates five recovery homes, with a sixth in the works – began as a way for co-founder Sarah Laurel to share resources with people recovering from substance use disorder .

Laurel has research and data to inform how the Philadelphia non-profit addresses community awareness and stigma surrounding substance abuse. However, it was her recovery that shaped the workings of the Savage Sisters.

She was one of six panelists to testify before the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Policy Committee Thursday to talk about challenges with substance use disorders and recovery homes, which are group places for people recovering from addiction.

When Laurel and Adam Al-Asad, her brother, started organizing Savage Sisters, they had minimal funding, but they built the program anyway and became a nonprofit. They used Laurel’s recovery process to shape their approach to helping those in need, she told lawmakers.

When they opened their first convalescent home in 2019, Al-Asad said they started using dual-diagnosis trauma therapy, which treats people with mental illness and addiction, which Laurel found useful.

“It immediately became the most effective program we offered to our residents,” Al-Asad said, adding that they also learned that “people need more than a bed and a drug test. drugs to combat the disease of addiction”.

Governor Tom Wolf, a Democrat, declared the opioid and heroin overdose epidemic a public health emergency in January 2018 when Pennsylvania reported a record high for opioid-related deaths. The statement expired in august after the Republican-controlled legislature, with sweeping emergency powers, refused a request by Wolf to extend it.

Although the Wolf administration and legislative Republicans have backed bills to make treatment more accessible and regulate drug distribution and disposal, overdose deaths have continued to rise, reaching a three-year high in 2020.

The recovery community’s rallying cry is “nothing about us without us,” Bill Stauffer, executive director of the Pennsylvania Alliance of Salvage Organizations, noted. He added that the best way to grow treatment programs — or answer that rallying cry statewide — is to elevate and fund community recovery organizations.

“I’ve been hearing this for years – people have said how important my lived experience is and how powerful my message is, but I’m not invited,” Laurel said. “I’m not invited, and neither are my people.”

Al-Asad added that becoming a non-profit organization was a better solution to running an “efficient” recovery house, saying that it “would be totally impossible to run our house efficiently solely on the funds generated by the rent paid by residents”.

“One key word I just mentioned is effective,” he said.

While an individual or group can operate a salvage home using only rent funds, Al-Asad said such homes are inefficient and operate in unsanitary conditions, with some state-funded programs consisting of rows of bunk beds and an “unstructured environment”.

He added that most Philadelphia-area salvage homes consist of a three-bedroom house, with 3.2 people per room and between nine and 10 people per house.

“You might be wondering, ‘Is it legal to house nine to 10 adults in a three-bedroom, 1,000-square-foot house?’ the answer is yes,” he said.

Savage Sister homes have a 56% long-term recovery rate and offer dual diagnosis trauma therapy, yoga, nutritional therapy and kickboxing. Trauma therapy has an 80% long-term recovery rate, Al-Asad added.

Laurel and Al-Asad proposed the Harmful Ethics Reduction subcommittee, also used by Savage Sisters, made up of recovering individuals to collect written statements from men and women in the recovery community who experienced behaviors contrary to ethics. ethics, such as sharing prescriptions or sexual coercion.

If used by the state, the committee could help approve homes and help oversee where the funding goes.

Home operators, Al-Asad said, should be asked to use the funds to deliver programs and pay for consultants, staff expenses and recovery homes should be prioritized and led by people with lived experience.

The senses. John Kane, D-Chester, and Christine Tartaglione, D-Philadelphia, who are recovering, stressed the importance of effective treatment and keeping facilities safe.

“Recovery is contagious,” said Kane, who lived in a community and sober setting during her process. “The [are] no truer words there.

Pennsylvania licenses about 800 drug treatment centers. Drug and Alcohol Programs Secretary Jennifer Smith said the state doesn’t have an exact figure on how many salvage homes are operating in Pennsylvania, but estimates there are thousands.

“But we don’t know where they all are,” she said.

Until this month, the state did not charge for licenses or impose fines for violating state regulations.

Smith said the license process for nursing homes has begun. So far, seven have completed the applications and 23 are in the pipeline, she said. Starting June 9, the state will begin imposing fines on homes without a permit.

Homes that receive state or federal funding must be licensed. State or federally funded entities that want to make recommendations must make those recommendations to approved vendors, Smith said. As soon as a license is granted, it will be published online, as for approved treatment facilities.

“What has distinguished recovery homes from treatment facilities in the past is that recovery homes have no treatment requirements as part of living conditions,” Smith said. “So the people who live there can get treatment, but it’s not a condition or a requirement of their living situation, whereas the treatment in the treatment facilities is part of the requirement for your participation or your attendance at this facility.”

Last month, recovery advocates testified before the steering committee and highlighted the difficulties of finding information about treatment options, particularly the requirements and conditions of recovery homes.

When the state launches the online resources for salvage homes, Smith said it will only include licensed homes.

But the subcommittee proposed by Laurel and Al-Asad, a nongovernmental agency, could help assess programs, direct inspections and resolve any issues that may arise.

“Our recovery community, we talk to each other,” she said. “If you are looking for a list of recovery houses, this subcommittee could help you. We know if they are fired or not.