Addiction and homelessness are serious issues facing America’s veteran population. According to the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs, 11% of the state’s homeless population have served in one of the nation’s military branches and 70% of Kentucky’s homeless vets have substance abuse issues.

Earlier this year, the Veterans Administration approached us about providing services to homeless veterans in our community.  We have always served vets in our detox and recovery programs but haven’t ever intentionally sought them out and had no idea that services were desperately needed for them. After learning that our community only had ten designated treatment beds for homeless veterans, The Healing Place decided that there was no way we could turn our backs on these men. Because of the expansion of our men’s campus, we have the capacity to designate beds to these folks.

We did our homework and we decided that we could provide the most impact by providing services to homeless veterans who want and need clinical treatment for substance use disorders and those homeless veterans who were struggling with substance use but not necessarily ready for treatment. We accepted our first three veterans on October 8, 2018. When the new men’s campus opens at the first of the year, we will be able to serve 60 vets at a time.

The goals of our new veterans program are to provide homeless vets with the tools for recovery to succeed in our community and help them find stable, permanent housing.  We are so excited to offer services to those who have sacrificed and fought for our freedom and we are honored to be part of the recovery and success of each veteran’s transformation.

Thank you to every veteran who has served our country selflessly.