‘Walk a Mile in Their Shoes’ Set for Oct. 8 in Moundsville
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Ohio Valley residents are being encouraged to see what it is like for someone dealing with substance abuse issues to go through the various stages of recovery during the first "Walk a Mile in Their Shoes" event slated from 1-4 p.m. Oct. 8 at the Sam Shaw Fitness Trail in Moundsville.
Dubbed an interactive awareness event, donations made during the free walk will benefit the Unity Center of Benwood, which offers peer-to-peer support for those recovering from substance abuse.
The walk is sponsored in part by WVU Medicine Reynolds Memorial Hospital's BreakThru Service, which "provides medical withdrawal management services to patients who are in the early stages of detoxification from alcohol, opioids, and benzodiazepines, specializing in patients with comorbidities."
Kayla Straight, outreach and continuum of care manager at BreakThru, said the walk will use the trail's 1-mile loop and obstacle course to help bring awareness to the stages a person experiences during recovery. There will also be a less intense course for people to try.
"This interactive journey will take our participants through the stages of change model, experiencing the precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance stages a person goes through as they recover," she said.
"Activities will be placed along the trail for participants to overcome, along with informational vendors who serve each stage. We look forward to a family friendly, informative, and fun time."
Straight said it is free to participate in the walk, but donations are welcomed to benefit the Unity Center. There will also be fundraiser games at the end of the trail, she said.
"BreakThru and The Unity Center primarily want to use the walk to help raise awareness for substance use recovery, and allow friends, family, and those in recovery a chance to access resources that can assist a person during each stage a someone goes through on their recovery journey," she said.
BreakThru has operated at Reynolds Memorial Hospital for about seven years. Straight said since 2020, it has helped 375 people.
According to information provided by Straight, BreakThru offers medical withdrawal management services to people who are in the early stages of withdrawal from drugs such as alcohol, opioids, and benzodiazepines.
"Utilizing special medical protocols, we safely and effectively stabilize our patients over a period of three to five days, delivering them through the dangerous period of withdrawal, and readying them to graduate onto further treatment," according to hospital information.
"While in our service, all our patients have individualized discharge plans developed for them, and staff continue to follow up with them for at least one year after discharge to ensure success."
BreakThru accepts commercial health insurance along with West Virginia and Ohio Medicaid and Medicare.