Dr. Todd Carran has been the Medical Director at Transitions since

August 18, 2010. During his four years with the agency, he has been

an invaluable asset and professional resource. Transitions was very

fortunate to have as our Medical Director, a doctor certified by the

American Society of Addiction Medicine and the American Board

of Addiction Medicine as well as a person who has a passion for

treating addiction. Dr. Carran is an accomplished individual who

possesses the admirable attributes of strong integrity, high standards,

warm personality and a down to earth demeanor, a perfect combination

for a doctor and a healer.

September 2014 www.transitionsnky.org

Dr. Carran’s time has in part been devoted to monitoring medication

for physical and psychological issues for our residents. He has been

tremendously valuable in assessing acute conditions that demanded

the immediate expertise of a medical professional. He has shared

a wealth of knowledge in the development of curriculums that will

continue to be useful in our programs as staff training. In addition,

he created other valuable curriculums and videos that will continue

to be useful. When Transitions saw the need to develop a medication-

assisted program to address the increased heroin addicted population,

Dr. Carran was there to induct, treat and monitor those patients.

(Continued pg2)

TRANSITIONS’ MEDICAL DIRECTOR HEADS PHYSICIAN PROGRAM AT HAZELDEN BETTY FORD

Local Churches Pay it Forward For a week in April, thousands of church

families ate less to give more ... Page 2

Casey’s Bus Finds New PurposeCasey Wethington purchased a VW bus

with money he received in 1997...

Page 4

Northern KY Hates Heroin... Making a Difference In one year’s time, the impact that N KY

Hates Heroin has made ... Page 3

Ink'

Transitions' Ink2 Transitions' Ink 3

Thanks to all who participated in our first Bleed for a Cause competition. Transitions placed

13th out of the 64 competing charities! We consider this a respectable showing for our first year.

Congratulations goes to all of the winners of our agency competition. We appreciate

everyone who was willing to Bleed for a Cause!

Now, his expertise takes him west to

Portland, Oregon where he will oversee

the physicians program at one of Hazelden

Betty Ford Foundation’s 15 sites across

the U.S. Hazelden, the nation’s largest

non-profit treatment organization merged

with Betty Ford, another leading addiction

treatment provider to form the Hazelden

Betty Ford Foundation. In January 2013,

a new clinical initiative was introduced

by Hazelden aimed at delivering more

effective treatment for opioid addiction

called COR-12 (Comprehensive Opioid

Response with the Twelve Steps).

This initiative will not be foreign to

Dr. Carran because a major part of his

work at Transitions was to use Suboxone

as an adjunct to the abstinence-based

treatment that the agency has been provid-

ing for 45 years.

While we will certainly miss ‘Dr. Todd’,

as he was known at the agency, we are

extremely proud of him and appreciative of

all that he has brought to Transitions during

his tenure and beyond. Dr. Todd is now in

a prime location for hiking and fly fishing,

we hope he has lots of opportunities to

enjoy these Oregon offerings and has many

rewarding experiences in his new

prestigious position!

LOCAL CHURCHES PAY IT FORWARD

NORTHERN KY HATES HEROIN MAKING A DIFFERENCE

(Continued)

In one year’s time, the impact that N KY

Hates Heroin has made and continues to

make is indescribable. From facebook with

more than 6600 likes, to the website that

provides resources and a point of con-

tact for families seeking help, to directly

being involved in finding treatment for

individuals, to making significant donations

to agencies like Transitions that are the

providers of treatment and other support

services, they are a family who is making

a difference. They are Nicholas Specht’s

family. N KY Hates Heroin was one of the

Silver Sponsors for Transitions Healthy

Newborns House. Combined with a

previous donation, they contributed

$3000 to this project and most recently,

became a Silver Sponsor at the $2500 level

for Transitions’ 45th Anniversary which will

be held on October 3rd. Holly Specht is

currently one of three co-chairs for this

upcoming event, along with Kim Wright

and Pennie Tackett.

On June 7th, N KY Hates Heroin held their

first 5KWalk/Run which garnered tremen-

dous support. While the organizers were

expecting a show of a few hundred, the

actual turnout was more than 1500!

(Photos of the event can be found at www.

facebook.com/nkyhatesheroin/photos)

Due to the success of this event, another

donation of $2000 was made possible and

was designated for Transitions Droege

House, a program that was there when

Nicholas needed help.

We are so very grateful to Nicholas’ family

for their generosity in giving financially and

in giving of their time as committed and

tireless volunteers.

Noel Stegner (left), Nicholas’ grandfather and Holly Specht, Nicholas’ mom presented Transitions’ Executive Director, Mac McArthur, with a check from the proceeds of the first N KY Hates Heroin 5K Walk/Run.

For a week in April, thousands of

church families ate less to give more to

organizations like Transitions that are

busy changing the world everyday.

A fast of beans and rice resulted in

remarkable savings on each family’s grocery

bill. The savings was then tallied up and

collectively invested. For Crossroads

Church the collection came to a grand

total of $497,975.77! Transitions received

$10,000 of the designated $200,000 raised

by Crossroads and dedicated solely to

addressing the heroin epidemic in the

Tri-State area.

Members of Grace Fellowship Evangelic

Free Church also participated in the beans

and rice fast and donated $2, 851.67 to the

work of Transitions.

These donations will be used helping

babies born to heroin addicted

mothers by supporting Transitions Healthy

Newborns House.

[ www.nkyhatesheroin.com ]

Terry Phillips (pictured left), Crossroads Churchand Peter La Ruffa, Grace Fellowship EvangelicFree Church presented checks to Transitionsfrom the beans and rice fast.

Transitions' Ink4 Transitions' Ink 5

Interact for Health announced they have

awarded grants totaling $171,000 to “help

curb the heroin epidemic in Northern

Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati”.

Transitions, one of the four agencies to

receive an Interact for Health grant, will

use its $28, 880 over two years to make

Suboxone more available to low income

individuals and increase the number of

Naloxone rescue kits.

The grant will cover, the cost of bringing

low-income patients into the Transitions

Suboxone program. Suboxone is an FDA

approved medication used to assist the

treatment for opiate addiction. Suboxone

is prescribed by a physician following an

assessment of the patient. It can be effective

in managing withdrawal symptoms which

in turn helps the individual to engage

in treatment.

The grant will also help increase the

availability of Naloxone in Northern

Kentucky. Funding will provide the

materials included in 480 Naloxone

Rescue Kits which will be distributed

by Northern KY People Advocating

Recovery at the free clinic in Coving-

ton and to patients leaving the Droege

Detox Unit at Transitions. Naloxone is a

medication which can reverse a potentially

fatal opiate overdose and is the generic

of Narcan which is used routinely

in hospital emergency departments to

reverse overdoses on opiates.

While most of the funding from the grant

will be dedicated to direct client services, a

portion will also be dedicated to staff train-

ing and the development of measurement

tools to capture data evaluate success and

inform future strategies.

Volunteers from N KY PAR (People

Advocating Recovery), N KY Hates Heroin

as well as others in the community have

been and will continue to be essential in

the effort to combat the opioid epidemic,

in particular their dedication to the free

Naloxone clinics.

Information concerning the times and locations of Naloxone clinics can be found at www.nkypar.org

TRANSITIONS AWARDED INTERACT FOR HEALTH GRANTCASEY’S BUS FINDS NEW PURPOSE

IN THE KNOW: EVENTS SEPTEMBER TO OCTOBERSeptember 13th NKY Ride Against Addiction

& Picnic

Grant County Park11:30 AM Registration

1:00 PM Ride Begins

Sunday September 14th at 2:00 PM & Tuesday September 16th at 6: 30 PMThe Anonymous PeopleBoone County Public Library

1786 Burlington Pike

Florence, KY 41042

October 3rd Transitions’ 45th Anniversary CelebrationMontgomery Inn Boathouse

6:30 - 11:00 PM

October 25th Run 4 Recovery 5kBlessed Sacrament Church

2407 Dixie Highway

Ft. Mitchell KY 9:00 AM

October 25th LNKY Fund Rising Wine TastingVerona Vineyards Noon – 6:00 PM

October 30th Candlelight Vigil Remembering those who have died to

the disease of addiction.

Transitions Grateful Life Center

7:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Something had to be done immediately to “stop the dying”

Casey Wethington purchased a VW

bus with money he received in 1997 as

graduation gifts. Until this past year, it sat in

the place it had occupied for more than a

decade. Now, Casey’s 1967 Kombi is on

the road again to help save lives. It will

be a year in November that Northern

Kentucky’s Collective Response to the

Heroin Epidemic was rolled out at the

Covington Convention Center. While

there were many components to ‘the plan’,

there was one area of concentration that took

precedence over all the rest. Something

had to be done immediately to “stop

the dying”.

Two things happened, Naloxone had

been proven to be effective in reversing

potentially fatal opiate overdoses and the

state legislature made it possible for the

prescribing of this medication to KY

families. Over the past year, N KY PAR

(People Advocating Recovery) with the

support of Transitions and numerous

volunteers manned two permanent sites

established for free naloxone clinics. But

what about people who do not have ready

access to these locations, one in Covington

and one in Falmouth?

Since Casey died of a heroin overdose,

it seemed only fitting that his bus be

used as a mobile unit. After much tender

loving care, Casey’s bus is ready to travel

to areas around N KY. It’s next stop is

planned for the Kenton County Public

Library, Covington Branch on Saturday,

November 8th at 1:00 p.m.

The clinics, permanent and mobile, offer

so much more than Naloxone and the

training that goes with it. The clinics

provide resources, education and a point of

contact that could save a life and help to

“stop the dying”.

Visit www.nkypar.org for future clinic dates, times and locations.

Photo by: Chris Stegner, BluegrassPhotography.Net

Transitions' Ink6 Transitions' Ink 7

I entered the Transitions Grateful Life

Center on April4th of 2012. Not knowing

what to expect, surprisingly, I was made

to feel right at home by the staff and the

clients. Over the course of the next 21

months, my life and the way I perceived

it was slowly going to change. The GLC

taught me responsibility and accountability.

They said that the answer to my problem

was in a twelve step program. At first, I

was skeptical but the further I went in

the program, the more I noticed my life

starting to change for the better. I realized

that I cared about the community around

me and I wanted to make a difference

Megan Aike

Campbell County Drug-Free Alliance

(Allyn Reinecke)

Katie Copeland

Crossroads Community Church

Duane & Robin DeGroff

Paige Dodd

Jill Duke

Brian Eviston

The GE Foundation (Robert Corcoran)

The Greater Cincinnati Foundation

(Laura Menge)

Meredith Henkenberns

Interact for Health

Randy Lawrence

Elizabeth Long

Debra Myers

NKYHATESHEROIN.COM

Terry Parker

Donald Keith Riddell

Edward L. Smith, Jr.

Theresa Specht

Brian & Emily Walters

Pat West

Jessica Willingham

Anthony & Geraldine Zembrodt

This was the 4th year for Transitions

Grateful Life Center Alumni Picnic. More

than 250 alumni, family and friends attend-

ed the event that included games, prizes,

and fun for all. The food was catered by

the Brighton Recovery Center for Women,

“Center Table – Catering With A Purpose”.

A GRATITUDE MOMENT FROM MARK THANK YOU...Transitions, Inc. is a nonprofit organization which provides substance abuse related services to those who cannot obtain them elsewhere.

In order to do this, we count on the generosity of others. We thank the following individuals, companies, foundations, and agencies which have

recently contributed to Transitions:

Transitions is extremely grateful for the donations made in honor of (IHO) and/or in memory of (IMO) your loved ones. Thank you for thinking of us.

IMO of Tony Bardo Jr.OMEGA Processing Solutions (Scott Henderson & Todd McHugh), Gary & Terri Shields, Constance Demerrero, Michael & Amy Menner,

Frank & Cheryl Kammerer, John & Vicki Lynn Beck, Janice Farrell, Floyd & Susan Williams, Karma Wood, Michael & Cynthia Rilling, Philip &

Mary Ciafardini, Ann Bardo, Samuel & Nancy Ruschell, Kathleen Tieman, Debbie Rechtin,

Mitchells Salon & Day Spa In. (West Chester), Timothy & Margaret Slater, Joseph & Pamela Stone

We apologize in advance for any names inadvertently left off this list. Please send corrections to this list to Charlotte Wethington at: cwethington@transitionsky.org

TRANSITIONS GRATEFUL LIFE CENTER ANNUAL ALUMNI PICNIC

and for me it started with GLC. I’m able

to sponsor guys at GLC, teach classes and

simply just be a part of something great.

At this year’s Alumni Picnic on August 9th ,

all of the guys who completed the

program received a coin for being alumni

of the GLC. Much to my surprise they

had something else they wanted to give

out. The host of the picnic announced

the names of 8 nominees for the “Alumni

of the Year Award”. First, I was standing

next to a really great group of guys who

I’m proud to call my friends. Then the

moment came for the presentation of

the award, and my name was announced.

Bob Brink

Paul Casey

Covington Catholic High School

Stella Davis

Jennifer Dershem

Kristen Dorsch

Chrissy Dunn

Focus on Success

Ron & Mickey Ginter

Hazelden Publishing (Jody K RW 9)

Jason & Brooke Hiltz

Larry & Judy Kramer

Neil & Pearl Leonard

Lynda Matthews

Ruth Neltner

Paul Ochsner

Brenda Purcel c/o Lori Purcel

Scanlon & Associates (Geof Scanlon)

Mona Snyder

Vineyard Christian Church

Kathy Walz

Charlotte Wethington

Mrs. Volter

Jessica Zink

Karen Cain

Twenty-four of the more than 300 alumni

of the program were present with thirteen

of those receiving an alumni coin as the

alumni of 2014. This year was the first time

for those who have completed all phases of

the program to join the newly formed GLC

Alumni Association. We are grateful for all

who contributed in any way to this event,

Immediately, my emotions consumed me.

As I received the award, I was asked to

speak. Just then, I looked out in the crowd

to see my daughter running to give me a

hug so big I started to cry. Then as I raised

my head, I see my son who is also in tears

because he is so proud of me. It is moments

like what happened there that push me to

do more. I don’t know if I could ever give

back to GLC what it has given me. I love

the GLC and the chance that it has given

me to better my life, and for that I will be

forever grateful.

Complete Mechanical Services

(Aaron Fry)

Lori Cox

David & Jill Ditzel

Lauren Deters

Duke Energy

Mr. & Mrs. Aaron Dutle

Shelley Frommeyer

Grace Fellowship Evangelical

Free Church

Erica Helmle

Amanda Hopper

Casey Kresser

Lifeline Ministries (Chris Caddell)

Soctt McKinley

Joe Newman

John Spence & Colleen O'Toole

Jamie Richey

Bob Schrage

The Spaulding Foundation

Sheery Walters

James Webster

George Williams

Mr. & Mrs. James Younger

especially Michelle Young, together with

her husband, Aquarius Young, Phase I

Coordinator at GLC, who make up the

‘dynamic duo’ that has organized the event

every year.

Mark D., Transitions Grateful Life Center Alumni Association’s

“Alumni of the Year”.

Transitions Grateful Life Center 2014 Alumni: Pictured left to right, Chad

N., Alex H., Troy H., John H., Mark D., Robert P., Jordan R., Derek K., Ricky

C., Brent J., Josh Z., Tim R., and Josh C.

www.transitionsky.org

Keep your face to the sunshine and the shadows will fall behind you" — Helen Keller

Administrative Offices

700 Fairfield Avenue / Bellevue, KY 41073

Phone (859) 491-4435

FAX (859) 491-6598

TDD (859) 491-4436

TRANSITIONS, INC. MISSIONThe mission of Transitions is to help people transition from the pain of addiction to the gratitude of recovery through comprehensive support services. Transitions helps individuals, families, and communities, break the cycles of substance abuse, family abuse, violence, crime and poverty.

Transitions, Inc. was founded in 1969 by volunteers concerned about the lack of substance abuse treatment for the uninsured in Northern Kentucky. Today, we offer women and men a holistic continuum of care comprised of nonmedical detoxification, residential substance abuse treatment, outpatient substance abuse treatment, and supportive housing.

We assist the indigent, the uninsured, the homeless and the working poor of Kentucky.

Editor

Charlotte Wethington

E-Mail cwethington@transitionsky.org

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