By Anna Skinner
Laci Giboney started using heroin 14 years ago. Now, after four years of using, a short stint in an inpatient recovery center in California and a longer stint in jail later, Giboney is on a mission to help others.
“Once I got sober, I knew I wanted to build a recovery house because after four years of addiction, there were so many gaps and barriers in the services available,” she said. “I’ve been really passionate about making this available for people because not everybody can go to Florida or California for treatment. Hamilton County is 16th out of Indiana counties for heroin and opiate overdose, and we don’t have any long-term residential recovery.”
Transformations Center for Healing is not open yet, but it is raising money to create a building for inpatient housing for heroin recovery. Giboney estimates approximately $150,000 will need to be raised for the facility, and she is looking at Noblesville for the location.
“We are not open … we don’t provide any services at this moment because the blueprint of our plan is opening a facility,” she said. “We definitely want to have individualized treatment plans. If (those in recovery) are in their own community, they are more likely to be able to work than if they have to leave the state. Leaving the state won’t work for everyone.”
Currently, Transformations Center for Healing is organizing its first fundraiser, The Trevor Vautaw Memorial Golf Outing, Aug. 7 at Fox Prairie Golf Course, 8465 E. 196th St., Noblesville. It is being held in memory of Vautaw, who died of a heroin overdose in 2013.
“Trevor’s mom is just very passionate about raising awareness about what’s going on and to reduce the stigma and say that these are people and it’s a disease we are fighting,” Giboney said. “We need to do something positive about this.”
Giboney has a wish list of materials needed for opening the facility, such as sheets, bookshelves, laundry baskets, office furniture and more.
For more, visit transformationscfh.org.
