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Men must be sober 30 days to get into North Side addiction-recovery facility
YOUNGSTOWN
The Eagle’s Nest Recovery House, a new long-term addiction-recovery facility for adult men, is up and running on Kensington Avenue on the former Cafaro Hospital campus on Youngstown’s North Side.
Operated by Flying High Inc, which took possession of the property in November 2014, Eagle’s Nest accepted its first resident Feb. 20.
Eagle’s Nest was financed with a $24,800 community capital-assistance grant from the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, an amount matched by the Mahoning County Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services Board before its recent consolidation with the Mahoning County Mental
Health Board to become the Mahoning County Mental Health and Addiction Services Board.
The residence house is owned by Ohio Valley Teen Challenge which leased it to Flying High Inc. for 99 years. The $24,800 state grant will be amortized over 30 years and be forgiven as long the property is used for the purpose agreed upon, said Brenda Heidinger, executive director of the former ADAS and associate director of the county mental-health and recovery board.
“The spaces in the three-story house are perfect for our use,” Jeff Magada, Flying High executive director.
It has enough rooms for three individual and two double-occupancy rooms, and it was structurally sound and didn’t require any interior construction work. There already are five residents, he said.
Magada said everything in the house was updated, including bathrooms, kitchen, furnace, wiring and plumbing.
Work that did not require licensed personnel, such as painting and cleaning up, was done by volunteers and individuals in recovery, he said.
The purpose of Eagle’s Nest is to “provide a sober, positive living environment in which people in recovery can establish the employment and life skills necessary to be self-sufficient,” said Magada.
“It is not a flophouse. Residents work, and they have to be sober for 30 days to qualify to live here,” he said.
Eagle’s Nest is next door to Flying High’s Urban Farm, which provides work experience for residents and a way to earn money selling what they grow, he said.
Eagle’s Nest is not free. Residents pay a monthly fee to live there to help make the program self-sustaining. If they are not employed when they move in, they have a 60-day grace period.
“It’s our way to help them get used to it. When they move out, they will have to pay rent or a mortgage someplace,” Magada said.
Flying High Inc., located at in the Chase Bank Building, 6 Federal Plaza Central, Suite 705, is a nonprofit licensed treatment agency.
“Residents are put through our programming, which includes a 12-step program. Our mission is to assist them to develop the wherewithal to be self-sufficient; which means viable employment, reliable transportation and positive supports in place to maintain recovery,” Magada said.
Eagle’s Nest has a live-in house manager, but residents move freely about the community.
“We help them become marketable for employment and train them how to search for jobs, submit applications and resumes, do interviews and have an idea of what career they want to pursue,” Magada said.
There is no limit on how long people can live at Eagle’s Nest, except when they have achieved their goals and are ready to move to self-sufficiency or if they use alcohol or drugs.
Every resident has an individual treatment plan.
“We really focus on the employment piece and developing marketability to become a productive member of society,” he said.