Recovery Centers of America reflects on three years of service in Kane County during Recovery Month

Recovery Centers of America St. Charles celebrated its third anniversary on Sept. 1, and is recognizing Recovery Month with two community events.

September is Recovery Month, which is intended to promote and support new evidence-based treatment and recovery practices, the recovery community and the service providers who make recovery possible.

RCA will host an alumni day of service event on Sept. 16 at Lazarus House and an alumni speaker jam event on Sept. 30 at the Campton Township facility. CEO Karen Wolownik Albert said since opening, the facility has treated over 3,500 people struggling with addiction.

Recovery Centers of America opened the facility at the site of the former Glenwood School for Boys in September of 2020. Nearby residents had voiced concerns that the facility would have a negative effect on their neighborhoods and reduce property values.

The St. Charles facility is located at 47W400 Silver Glen Road in Campton Township. RCA’s other Kane County facility is an outpatient treatment center in South Elgin at 460 Briargate Dr., Suite 150.

The facility features eight cottages, each housing 16 beds in eight rooms. Patients have access to a gymnasium, wellness center, fishing pond and baseball diamond. It can house 120 patients at a time, and currently serves about 80 residents at a time. Albert said they have been limiting the number of patients due to the pandemic, but they are starting to become more comfortable with adding more.

RCA offers free, confidential screenings for those seeking help, as well as detox services and residential care, which includes group and individual sessions of treatment with medical physicians, psychiatrists and wellness educators.

Albert said alcoholism is and has always been the most common disorder treated by recovery centers, but opioid abuse continues to increase. She said the pandemic also brought forward massive a wave of substance abuse.

Patients in residential care participate in eight hours of clinical programming per day. Albert said there is no single path to addiction or recovery, so treatment is always individualized for the needs of each patient. She said although the treatment is intensive, they try to have some fun along the way, with open mic events, art and talent shows and campfires on campus.

Amber Denton is an alumni coordinator at RCA St. Charles and a former RCA patient. In 2020, Denton first came to RCA as a patient at their Capitol Region location in Maryland.

“RCA saved my life,” Denton said. “When I was in there, I had a dream of working for RCA, and that was where my first goal in life started. I was made for this.”

Denton said being a part of the organization that saved her life is truly a blessing, and being able to help who are going through the same things she struggled with has been the most fulfilling job of her life.

“I know what it’s like to walk through those doors feeling broken and hopeless,” Denton said. “I’m loving living my dream right now. Anything is possible, today, and I didn’t always have that attitude.”

For help with addiction or other questions contact RCA at 1-800-RECOVERY.