ELMRIA, N.Y. (WENY) -- Recovery is a difficult topic, specifically opioid recovery. The SUNY Corning Collegiate Recovery Center is open to the public for people looking for a peer advocate, recovery groups and educational training.

“There are a lot of people in our community who don’t have insurance, or they don’t know where to find help, so the CRC is founded by peers and run by peers. So, the people you see here are in some sort of recovery and they understand what these people are going through, and we can connect these people to resource that they need free of charge,” said Carli Clark, peer advocate.
 
One advocate was saved by two doses of Narcan. Following CPR, he laid in his hospital bed and he said he knew he was alive for a reason and felt it was finally time to seek recovery. 
 
“I went to do a little bit of what I thought was heroin and it was just fentanyl. It was the tiniest bit and I was found sixteen hours later laying on my arm. That’s how I got this scar,” said Brandon Parks, certified recovery peer advocate.
 
The latest data from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported in 2021 that 574 thousand people both misused prescription pain relievers and simultaneously used heroin. Additionally in that same time period, for adults 18 and older, 3.9 million people received either substance use treatment with a specialty or mental health service.
  
Whether it be addiction, PTSD, something you went through in your life, the peer advocacy group is open to those people looking for support. All that is asked is that people have a listening ear and partake in weekly group meetings.
 
“If you know anyone, yourself or a loved one and you just need a direction for those resources that are available to you they are out there at your disposal. Come see use and we will help you out,” said Rhonda Sowersby, peer advocate.
 

If you or someone you know needs support, please contact the Peer Recovery center at 607-936-5562 or [email protected].