Community Resource Spotlight: Expanding Substance Use Recovery Services in Southwest Virginia
At Body and Mindfully Healthy, we believe that being a strong behavioral health provider means understanding not only the services we provide, but also the resources available throughout our community. No individual clinician or organization can, or should, try to meet every behavioral health need.
There are times when outpatient counseling is appropriate. There are other times when an individual needs more intensive treatment, residential support, substance use treatment, peer recovery services, or a structured environment that can provide a level of care beyond traditional outpatient therapy.
That is why developing relationships with other behavioral health organizations throughout Southwest Virginia is so important to us.
Recently, I had the opportunity to visit and tour the new Appalachian Center for Hope in Marion, Virginia, where Fairview Housing is developing its Marion Lifestyle Recovery program.
A New Recovery Resource in Marion
The Appalachian Center for Hope is expanding access to residential substance use treatment for men in Southwest Virginia. The materials shared during my visit describe a continuum that includes:
ASAM Level 3.5 high-intensity residential services
ASAM Level 3.1 low-intensity residential services
ASAM Level 2.1 intensive outpatient services
Peer Recovery Support Services
The program model also incorporates 24-hour supportive living, evidence-based treatment, therapeutic groups and recovery education, life-skills development, a multidisciplinary care team, and peer recovery support.
Fairview Housing's website currently describes Marion Lifestyle Recovery at ACH as “coming soon,” so individuals and referring providers should contact the organization directly for current availability, admission criteria, and program status.
What Stood Out to Me as a Trauma Therapist
The clinical services are important, but one of the things I noticed immediately during my tour was something that can sometimes be overlooked in discussions about behavioral health treatment:
the environment itself.
I was amazed by how intentionally the Appalachian Center for Hope appeared to incorporate trauma-informed principles into the design of the facility. For people who have experienced trauma, physical environments can matter tremendously. Privacy, lighting, noise, predictability, personal space, opportunities for connection, and the overall feeling of a building can influence whether someone experiences an environment as safe or threatening. A treatment facility does not have to feel cold or institutional simply because it provides a high level of care.
Walking through the Appalachian Center for Hope, I saw spaces that felt intentionally created for people rather than just created to house a program. There were comfortable community areas, thoughtful design elements, spaces for therapeutic programming, and an overall atmosphere that seemed intended to promote dignity, connection, healing, and growth. For someone entering residential substance use treatment (potentially during one of the most vulnerable periods of his life) that distinction matters.
Recovery Requires More Than One Type of Support
Another aspect I appreciated was the emphasis on a continuum of care.
Substance use disorders rarely exist in isolation. Trauma, mental health symptoms, housing instability, relationship difficulties, employment challenges, physical health needs, and limited social support can all intersect with substance use and recovery.
Effective recovery support therefore often extends beyond simply helping someone stop using a substance.
Fairview Housing describes its broader services as including residential substance use recovery treatment, intensive outpatient programming, case management, transitional and housing services, and other supports. It also works with community partners across medical and behavioral health care and other service sectors.
Peer support is another important component. Fairview Housing reports using Certified and Registered Peer Recovery Specialists across levels of care, with peer specialists drawing on lived experience to help individuals build coping strategies, navigate resources, establish goals, and sustain motivation in recovery.
Other Fairview Housing Recovery Resources in Southwest Virginia
The Marion facility joins other Fairview Housing recovery resources serving our region.
Bristol Lifestyle Recovery provides recovery-focused programming for people experiencing substance use, trauma, and related life challenges. Its Virginia program includes residential services, while additional outpatient resources are part of the organization's broader continuum.
For women, Mended Women Lifestyle Recovery in Abingdon is a 70-bed residential recovery program. Fairview Housing describes it as an ASAM 3.1 clinically managed low-intensity residential substance use program specifically designed for women, incorporating evidence-based treatment and 24-hour staff support within a recovery community.
Together, these programs represent an important expansion of substance use recovery resources available in Southwest Virginia and the surrounding Appalachian Highlands.
Why We Share Resources Outside of Body and Mindfully Healthy
It may seem unusual for a counseling practice to use its website to highlight services offered by another organization. We believe it is exactly what responsible community-based behavioral health care should look like.
Body and Mindfully Healthy provides outpatient counseling services. There will inevitably be individuals whose needs fall outside our scope or who temporarily require a higher level of care than outpatient therapy can provide.
Our responsibility isn't simply to say, “We don't provide that service.” Whenever possible, we want to be able to say, “We don't provide that level of care, but we know people in our community who do.” That requires therapists and behavioral health organizations to know one another, understand the resources available in our region, and recognize that we are part of a larger system of care.
Building a Stronger Behavioral Health Community in Southwest Virginia
Access to behavioral health care remains particularly important in rural communities. Expanding the number of services available is part of the solution, but so is making sure people actually know those services exist.
That's one reason we'll continue sharing community resources through Body and Mindfully Healthy.
Mental health treatment, trauma treatment, substance use recovery, peer support, residential care, and community-based services aren't competing approaches. For many people, they are different pieces of the same recovery journey.
I am grateful I had the opportunity to tour the Appalachian Center for Hope and learn more about the work Fairview Housing is doing throughout our region. Most importantly, I'm encouraged to see additional resources becoming available for individuals and families affected by substance use disorders in Southwest Virginia.
Recovery happens through connection, appropriate treatment, access to resources, and community.
For current information about admissions, eligibility, available levels of care, and Fairview Housing's programs:
Fairview Housing currently lists its main recovery-program contact number as
(888) 234-2240.
Comments