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LaGrange and Troup County now have a place where people struggling with addiction can walk in and receive help free of charge.

Friends of Recovery Troup, or F.O.R. Troup, cut the ribbon on their new LaGrange location on Wednesday morning. The addiction recovery center is an offshoot of Coweta F.O.R.C.E.  (Friends Of Recovery for Community Empowerment), started by Hank Arnold.

F.O.R. Troup ended up in Troup County after several non-profit leaders and partners came to visit Coweta F.O.R.C.E. and said they needed something like this in our community.

Arnold agreed, but that was the easy part. Getting the funding was another.

After receiving the invitation from Troup County leadership, including Accountability Court leaders, they were able to get a head start on applying for grants.

With support from the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, the Department of Behavioral Health Developmental Disabilities, along with opioid abatement funds and a partnership with Wellstar West Georgia, F.O.R. Troup was able to open the addiction recovery center on Church Street in LaGrange.

“Under one roof here, this is a drop-in center where anybody can come and find services and support,” Arnold said. “Our mission statement is that we exist to provide recovery support services in the community for individuals and family members impacted by addiction.”

“Nobody in this room can say they haven’t been impacted by addiction in some capacity. You or somebody you love, somebody you care about, somebody you’re frustrated with, somebody is the reason why I’m so passionate about this mission,” Arnold said. “I’m also a person in recovery. What that means for me is I haven’t used alcohol or any other drugs to change the way I think, feel or act in over 15 years.”

Arnold is also a returned citizen from the criminal justice system after making a lot of bad choices at a young age.

“I received a full pardon from Governor Nathan Deal of all my previous poor choices that I made that were fueled by my active addiction,” Arnold said. “Today, we exist to be a beacon of hope that people can and do get well.”

F.O.R. Troup provides peer support services with certified staff to help people through recovery.

“Essentially, what we want to do is walk alongside people, so somebody may show up interested in recovery support services and have no idea what that means. Or maybe they do have an idea about what that means. A lot of it is us meeting them where they are,” Arnold said.

“Obviously, the absence of a drink or a drug is an important step in the beginning, but we know that people sustain their recovery long term, through lifestyle change and through multiple pathways to wellness. So a lot of times, what we’re trying to do is link them to a pathway that’s going to fit their lifestyle and just help them explore all the options that they have available,” Arnold said.

F.O.R. Troup hosts Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, as well as dual recovery meetings where people are recovering from substance abuse and mental health challenges.

“We are a big believer in multiple pathways to recovery,” Arnold said. “Some of those are anonymous programs, but then we have other wellness opportunities. We’ll probably be introducing some sort of yoga or mindfulness as a pathway and to give people as much opportunity for wellness as possible.”

F.O.R. Troup is located at  209 Church Street in LaGrange. For more information, visit cowetaforce.org.