WILMINGTON – Seven more men and women will start the new year as graduates of the You-Turn Recovery Docket, the specialized docket within Clinton County Common Pleas Court created for those with addiction issues.
Chris Fisher, Ricky Johnson, Bruce Bennett, Tommy Grimes, Donna Lancen, Crystal Hamm and Erica Johnson are scheduled to graduate at the docket’s fifth ceremony at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019 at the First Christian Church, 120 Columbus St., Wilmington.
The event, which is open to the public, will take the number to 20 who have successfully completed the minimum 18-month drug program since its inception in late 2014.
The event will celebrate the successes of the graduates as well as the progress of the other participants in the specialized drug docket certified by the Ohio Supreme Court and initiated by long-time Clinton County Common Pleas Court Judge John W. (Tim) Rudduck.
The keynote speaker will be 1968 Wilmington High School graduate Edward T. Lacy, who has more than 35 years of national and international experience in the mental health field with special emphasis in the training and development of new and experienced mental health professionals—including those who seek to specialize in the treatment of addictions and eating disorders.
Prior to his retirement from the U.S. Marine Corps, Lacy was the senior manager for the U.S. Navy’s institute for the development of substance abuse counselors and director of curriculum for the Australian Institute of Counselling in Addictions, Sydney, Australia. He has worked for a wide spectrum of treatment centers and Institutions.
Additionally, Lacy is the founder of Avalon, Center for Women, Latin America’s first inpatient woman’s treatment center specializing in treatment women suffering from depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorders, obsessive compulsive disorders, addictions and eating disorders in Mexico City.
In addition to hosting its first graduation, the First Christian Church and Pastor Tom Stephenson have been spiritual and financial supporters of the docket since its inception. Church choirs will perform special music during the ceremony.
You-Turn Recovery Docket participants are supervised by the judge as the head of a treatment team which also includes court supervision officers and area alcohol and drug treatment providers. The team meets the first and third afternoons of each month before status review hearings for participants that are held en masse in the Clinton County Common Pleas Courtroom and are open to the public.
Many people from the community regularly attend the status review hearings to lend support to the participants, including those from local churches and others battling addiction who want to share their stories and offer encouragement.
To ensure accountability, participants are regularly and randomly tested for substance use, rewarded for meeting goals, and sanctioned for not meeting clearly stated obligations.
For more information on the docket, go to www.you-turn-drug-docket.org, follow it on Facebook at You-Turn Recovery Docket, like it on Twitter at You-Turn@UturnDrugDocket, or contact supervision officer Ka’Shira Myburgh at 937-382-8686, ext. 1137, or by email at [email protected].
