Unity Center Director Shares Journey From Addiction to Recovery
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WHEELING -- Mary Hess, director of the Unity Center in Benwood, was just 11 years old when she first became addicted to drugs.
Hess shared her story Tuesday with members of the Wheeling Rotary at WesBanco Arena while also discussing the mission of the Unity Center, a community addiction recovery center whose mission is "to meet people where they are without judgement, conditions or barriers."
"My name is Mary, and I am a drug addict," Hess told the group. "I started using drugs when I was 11 years old. I am currently celebrating 23 years clean."
Hess said drugs and drug users were all around her growing up. Today, she holds a master's degree in operations management.
The Unity Center was established by members of the Ohio Valley recovery community, including people involved in Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous.
"They wanted a place to call their own where they could feel safe and could celebrate what they needed to do for themselves and their community," Hess said.
The Unity Center opened 20 years ago in 2005 at the former Aldersgate United Methodist Church on Chapline Street in Wheeling.
Volunteers converted the church into a recovery center, adding a cafeteria and meeting rooms and creating space in the basement for family-reunification activities.
In 2016, the Unity Center board received a grant to hire its first executive director, and Hess was hired.
The center later moved to its current location at 4850 Eoff St. in Benwood, where it was remodeled with assistance from Project BEST, a local consortium of contractors and unionized construction trades.
Project BEST brought teams to the center to conduct classes, and many people who received training through the program later helped with the remodeling project, Hess said.
"Because of them, we're able to come up from the basement to recovery in an open space with windows because we're no longer ashamed of recovery," she said.
The Unity Center hosts 18 support groups each week and is open 365 days a year. Meetings are held seven days a week at various times, including 9 p.m.
"If there's a snowstorm and people can still make it we are having a meeting," Hess said. "We're always open."
Children began coming to the center with their parents on Sundays, creating a need for a youth prevention program, Hess said.
"So there became this organic need for a youth prevention program," she said. "Now on Sunday nights, during our Sunday recovery meeting, we have prevention specialists coming in to work with kids while their parents are in recovery.
"That way we can break the cycle, because the kids have been going through a lot of traumatic events with their parents being in and out of active addiction."
The Unity Center also welcomes people who are actively using drugs and provides them with information about recovery and resources for getting sober, Hess said.
"At some point, they are going to hit that bottom point and want help," she said. "We are there to build that relationship up. We meet people where they are at."
All programs at the center are free.
The Unity Center operates on an annual budget of about $120,000, and Hess is its only employee.