Drug recovery house opens in Streator

Richard Struck put his plan to create a recovery home in Streator into action a few years ago. He finally achieved his dream last June.

The Streator Recovery Home officially opened in June, and it’s the only home of its kind in La Salle County: a peer-supported home for men who are in the process of recovering from a drug or alcohol addiction.

“The organization is set up similar to the Moose or Elks,” Struck said. “We get a pool of people that work hard to help wherever they can. They help where they can, giving rides to meetings, work or assisting with whatever. I’m grateful for all the help we have.”

Streator Recovery Home is inspired by Oxford House, a nationwide program of self-supported drug and alcohol rehabilitation homes. Struck said they initially planned to work within their network.

Struck said the home has an unwritten partnership with Oxford House where, if somebody gets out of treatment but doesn’t feel comfortable living in Streator where they may know a lot of drug dealers, they can be referred to Oxford House in Bloomington and vice versa.

“Oxford House will usually seed new houses; they’ll take a couple guys that have experience and put them in the house with new guys to help them out,” Struck said. “Streator is too far and we couldn’t get people from Bloomington to help seed, but they have given support and backing to us.”

Struck said each applicant will have to do an interview to make sure they’re a good fit for the home and they have to judge each case on its merits; someone with a supportive family or similar positive factors will be considered more heavily than someone who doesn’t.

Applicants will also have to be able to prove they’ve been clean for 30 days and if they haven’t been, they can work with a sponsor from the group who will help them stay sober. There also is an expectation of being able to hold a job — if the applicant doesn’t have a job, they will need to be searching for one.

“It’s a transitional place,” Struck said. “Oxford house doesn’t have any time limit for how long you stay there, but some people decide they want to get out and date or whatever, so we only ask for a three-month commitment. They’re welcome to stay longer, though. That’s the difference between us and other recovery homes.”

Struck said it’s typical for other homes to have a set limit to how long a person can stay there, but he said it’ll be up to those living at the home to decide when they’re ready to move on.

The Streator Recovery Home is run completely by volunteers, and the home will be peer-supported. There aren’t any paid professionals in the facility and it will be up to the residents to hold themselves accountable when a volunteer isn’t available.

Struck said the next goal now that they have a men’s home in the community is to work toward opening a home for women. Any surplus from donations for the men’s home will go toward the opening of a women’s home.

“Many of the women among our membership are working tirelessly, and there’s a need for a similar home for women in our community,” Struck said. “There were 18 or 19 overdoses in Streator last year, and really we’re just scratching the surface of what we’re doing but we feel this is an important starting point.”

Struck said he was drawn to Streator by how strong the community already was before the Recovery Home could get off the ground.

“I could’ve lived anywhere, but I chose Streator,” Struck said. “Streator’s in a good spot for a recovery home. There’s not many resources closer than Chicagoland or Bloomington and there’s a solid, warm, supportive feeling in the community.”

The Streator Recovery home is holding the Starfish Jubilee at 7 p.m. Saturday and tickets are $20 at the door.

“It’ll be some fun and fellowship,” Struck said. “There will be a short presentation from the Bloomington Oxford House and we’ll have raffle baskets, appetizers and desserts. I’m bringing a jukebox with my record collection, too.”

Struck said this event will hopefully go a long way toward getting people to understand that there are a lot of ways to have fun without drinking and doing drugs.

“People looking at getting clean as a lifestyle change and not waiting until they hit rock bottom will see there are ways to have fun here,” Struck said.