Ribbon Cutting Ceremony Celebrates HOPE Sheds Light's New Youth Recovery Center

TOMS RIVER, N.J. - Nov. 6, 2023 - PRLog -- HOPE Sheds Light (HSL), a family-focused non-profit organization that offers education, resources, support, and hope to anyone impacted by substance use disorder, hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony for its new Youth Recovery Center on October 24th at 253 Chestnut Street in Toms River.

"Our goal is to bring together a variety of services for young people under one roof," stated Pamela Capaci, CEO of HSL. "The Youth Recovery Center offers a safe space with peer led recovery services, a GED lab, as well as other opportunities for youth through our partnerships with service providers. Young people need other young people that are interested in a similar lifestyle. They need to build a new peer group that has a social norm not focused on drug use. This peer group will understand that situations do not define you, but how you navigate your way through them builds character."

The Recovery Center will offer a variety of weekly youth recovery support groups as well as monthly sober social recreational activities. Certified peer recovery specialists will work with participants to help them identify their renewed values, beliefs, and interests and create a vision for their future that will serve as an incentive to sustain long term recovery. Each participant will develop their own recovery success plan that identifies their personal recovery goals.

Through Community Resource Development funding from Ocean Partnership for Children (OPC), the Ocean County Care Management Organization, HSL was able to enhance their existing Recovery Center program options and offer a comprehensive continuum of recovery support services to adolescents impacted by personal and/or familial substance use disorder. "HOPE Sheds Light's work is amazing, and the development of a sober peer community is essential for our youth," stated Mary Jo Buchanan, Executive Director of OPC.

Celebrating its 10th anniversary, HSL continues to grow and evolve, raising awareness and educating individuals, families, and the community about the impact of substance use disorder in Ocean and Monmouth Counties and beyond. Through peer-to-peer coaching and support groups, wellness programs and educational programs for the whole family, HSL strives to reduce stigma to make way for new outcomes.

About HOPE Sheds Light, Inc.

HOPE Sheds Light, Inc. is an IRS 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (Tax ID: 46-3910504) that is supported by friends and families directly affected by substance use disorder and found recovery through continuous love, support and understanding. The mission of HSL is to raise awareness and educate individuals, families and the community about the impact of substance use disorder by having the courage to share personal experiences and offer strength, wisdom, hope and resources that lead to positive community change and long-term recovery. To learn more or to donate, please visit http://www.HOPEShedsLight.org.