GRADUATES MARK REHABILITATION PROGRAM'S SUCCESS WITH STREET PARTY

The Healing Place Has Helped 1,000 Get and Stay Sober

Footballs flew and the aroma from a cookout filled the air yesterday on
Market Street. But the victories being celebrated didn't occur on any
athletic field.

Rather, the more than 300 alumni of The Healing Place in attendance were
celebrating their victories over drug and alcohol abuse.

"The Healing Place basically saved my life," said Lula Bowling of
Louisville, adding that she has been clean for two years. "I truly have
recovered from a hopeless state of mind."

In appreciation, Bowling and others returned to the home of their recovery
program.

About 500 people, including 300 to 400 alumni and their families, gathered
on Market for a street party honoring The Healing Place for reaching 1,000
graduates.

The turnout more than pleased the event's organizers.

"It shows that The Healing Place is the essence and the source of their
spiritual experience in learning how to recover from drugs and alcohol,"
Executive Director Jay Davidson said.

In addition to the cookout, face-painting, dancing and prizes, this
homecoming featured testimonials from graduates and lots of hugs.

"You can feel the love and the spirit and the emotion," Davidson said. ". .
. They may not have seen each other for years, but it's instant. They're
family."

Plans for the reunion began about a year ago when officials realized that
the program was nearing 1,000 graduates. The total is now 1,010, Davidson said.

The Healing Place has been honored by the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services as a model program. Sixty-five percent of its graduates
remain sober after a year.

One of the goals yesterday was to begin a study of graduates' long-term
sobriety. One hundred graduates of 162 completing a survey yesterday said
they've been sober for more than 18 months.

Graduate Pam Scott, who has been sober for 5 1/2 years, now works at The
Healing Place, supervising its women's detoxification program. She lives
with her teen-age sons near Shively.

"It's about giving back," said Scott, who was one of several people in
charge of organizing the reunion.

"The really neat thing about it was everybody we asked to help was more
than willing to help," she said.

The reunion also aimed to build a network of graduates and seek
contributions of time and money from supporters, organizers said.

Tracking graduates has been difficult because many people have moved, Scott
said. Many of the 700 invitations that were sent out came back to The
Healing Place.

Word of mouth did a lot to increase turnout, she said.

Carol Humphrey, social services director for The Healing Place, said she
saw two people from the first life-skills course she taught there seven
years ago.

One owns his own business, and the other works for a police department,
Humphrey said.

"It has been wonderful," she said. "It is so gratifying to see so many
people still sober after so long."