ARC director excited about new facility opening in Martin County

BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

INEZ — Drug addiction stole 13 years of Vanessa Horn Keeton’s life. She hit rock bottom but found her way back through Addiction Recovery Center.

Keeton, a Martin County native, now works as ARC senior director of talent and engagement to help others who struggle with substance use disorder.

“It started out just partying and having a good time,” said Keeton. “I ran the streets of Inez and Tomahawk and all the surrounding area for years, just drugging and drinking.”

For a long time, Keeton thought it was fun. She held down a job and used drugs and alcohol in the evenings and on weekends.

Keeton would have said she was okay as long as she could work and keep tags and insurance on her car so the sheriff couldn’t catch her in a road check unless he knew she was high.

“Then, at one point, I couldn’t hold down a job anymore,” she said. “That was when I realized I really had a problem.”

Keeton moved from Martin County for a few years to Columbus, Ohio, where she found more drugs and her situation worsened.

“I came back here, and I started getting in trouble,” stated Keeton. “I hadn’t been in trouble in Martin County until 2008. It was like I had a target on my back. Everyone knew what I was doing, and rightfully so. I started getting arrested, and it was just one thing after another.”

During that time, she started shooting up, and it went from bad to worse.

“Snorting pills wasn’t enough, so I started shooting up,” said Keeton. “I would have never in my life have imagined that I would have ended up a junkie, and that’s exactly what I became. That’s not something that you write out when you’re in the fourth grade, saying, ‘What I want to be when I grow up.’ That’s the opposite of what you think you’re ever going to become.”

During the last two years of Keeton’s addiction, she was in and out of trouble. Then in 2010, she got arrested for DUI, drug paraphernalia and drug possession. She went to court and got arrested for theft in court.

“Thank God for Kennis Maynard, who watched me grow up, knew me my whole life because he looked at me that day in front of the judge and said, ‘I’m not going to have your death on my conscience. You’re going to do a year in jail, or you’re going to have to go get help,’” said Keeton. “Of course, I became a lawyer immediately and let him know that my charges did not add up to 365. I knew what first offenses would get you, but thank God he was not going to have it.”

Maynard, the prosecuting attorney, handed Keeton’s mother the number to Odyssey.

“Before ARC was formed, that’s what it was — it was Odyssey — and it had been a referral service helping people get into treatment,” said Keeton. “That’s what Mr. Robinson started to begin with. They were opening Karen’s Place.”

Keeton was the first resident when Karen’s Place opened Dec. 2, 2010, in Louisa.

“And it worked. It absolutely worked,” she said.

“They didn’t have different phases. They didn’t know what they were doing, and I didn’t either. I had never known anybody at that point in my life who had had treatment work for them. It just wasn’t a thing then. You know, we didn’t have access to treatment. There weren’t a lot of treatment facilities around.”

Keeton recalled a man telling her that she was young enough and should probably go and get help. He had gone to treatment once.

“Well, he was getting high with me while he was telling me this, so that was very encouraging,” she said.

Keeton arrived at Karen’s Place to find a staff of volunteers. No one was getting paid.

“And no one had been that happy to see me in a really long time,” she said. “I had burnt so many bridges in my life. Some of them needed to stay burnt and some of them, God has helped me to build them back.”

Karen’s Place welcomed her with open arms.

“They loved me back to life. They literally loved me back to life, and that’s what I needed,” Keeton said.

After completing the one-year program, Keeton became a staff member.

“I’ve done everything across the company. We moved to Somerset for a while, my husband and I did, and opened up the center there just temporarily and then came back,” she said.

Keeton wants to help the Addiction Recovery Center clients see that they can go from crisis to career.

“You can get sober,” she said. “You can stay sober in rehab for sure, but if you don’t have that purpose and something to live for when you leave, it’s hard to stay sober. If you’re a three-time convicted felon and you don’t get a job somewhere, what are you going to go back to? You’re going to go back to selling drugs. That’s how you made your money before.”

ARC operates an ASC certification program at second chance Auto.

“My husband runs second chance Auto. He’s in recovery, too,” she said. “They just had their first person go through the whole training. He just tested, passed it, and randomly there was a guy who saw me on a news interview who contacted me at work and said, ‘I want some of those mechanics.’ So, I connected him with the garage. And he just got hired in Lexington at a transmission shop. So, we just placed our first mechanic outside of the company. It’s really exciting that you get to see it working.”

Keeton is also excited about ARC’s White Oak Hill opening in Martin County in early 2022.

“I understand that there are reservations. I get it,” said Keeton. “There have been reservations in every community that we’ve ever gone into. People have had reservations about us coming. But I need you to trust that this is not our first rodeo. At this point, we’re 10 years in, and I promise you that we worked out all kinds of kinks that we had when the first center came around. So, you’re not going to have those kinks when we come to your community.”

White Oak Hill will have 120-140 men getting help as residents in the facility.

“It’s going to employ 50 people,” stated Keeton. “We would love to have people from Martin County. Of course, there are certain degrees that we need to have, and as long as we find that, it would be amazing. I know as much as any of you know, we need jobs in Martin County, and I can’t wait to see it happen.”

Keeton said ARC easily finds support staff but finding counselors is more challenging due to the competitive market.

“There are not enough counselors in the state of Kentucky for the positions that are open,” she said.

ARC is a second-chance employer.

“We do not look at your record,” Keeton said. “We look at the fact that you’re sober. That helps us a lot.”

Keeton said people would be surprised at what it’s like to hire someone in recovery.

“They have a great attitude; they’re grateful to be there,” stated Keeton. “They are so excited that you gave them a second chance. They are willing to work harder for you than most people are willing to work for you. You’ll see that all across the organization. I think that’s what makes ARC so great. You have that gratitude. It’s not just a job. It’s a purpose. You’re there to help people, and it gives you a purpose. And we all know that lights our fire.”