Central’s Recovery Outreach Community (ROC) plans to launch it’s Haven House program next fall in Green Hall for students recovering from substance abuse and addiction.

Through a $10,000 grant from Transforming Youth Recovery, ROC has been built up with the help of Central’s Wellness Center and the Medical and Counseling Clinic.

After a failing to launch the project last quarter, ROC is making another attempt to get Haven House up and running.

Currently, Haven House is planned to launch in fall 2016 and will host up to 35 students in Green Hall, which is connected to the North Campus Cafe.

The program is aimed to help students in recovery find community support.

Obtaining Green Hall was an early success for the program, according to Doug Fulp, health educator for the Wellness Center.

“On most campuses, that’s the most difficult thing to do because space is limited,” Fulp said.  “Getting the administration and housing department on line with giving up an entire building or floor is kind of difficult.”

ROC and Haven House have been well received and found early support from Central’s administration and housing department.

When ROC began a year and a half ago, Central had addiction counseling but “nothing was specifically designed for students in recovery,” Fulp said.

Housing Services quickly offered up Green Hall, which is currently occupied by Central’s conference program.

“We were really lucky we had so much support that we could try to jump into it right away,” Fulp said.

In order to operate this fall, Haven house needs six student applications. Fulp said he hopes to start with 10 to 12 students.

So far, Haven House has received two applications from students. Last year, the program had one applicant total.

This may be because ROC was offered Green Hall so early, they didn’t have time to advertise the program.

“We talked to our housing folks and they said ‘how about this fall?,’” Fulp said. “That was a bit of a shock to us because we thought we’d have to do a lot more set up infrastructure wise.”

The Transforming Youth Recovery grant is distributed over three years to build towards a housing project. Haven House was originally projected to open at the beginning of the second year.

For ROC, this year may be the last chance for Haven House to open. If not enough students apply, Green Hall may be used as a general residence hall to cope with Central’s increased enrollment.

“We’re in a tough spot right now because our enrollment numbers are up, which is good,” said David Douglas, professor for the information technology and administrative management major and advisor for recover community. “But the consequence of that is we might lose Haven House.”

Douglas is a Central alumni and is very passionate about the project.

“During my time here, I saw a need in the area to have support on campus for students,” he said. “To be able to have a living opportunity for a student in recovery on campus, specific for students in recovery, is huge.”

ROC has options to fall back on, but Haven House would only occupy a section of a residence hall in they don’t get Green Hall.

“We have alternatives, so [Haven House] wouldn’t be completely lost,” Douglas said. “But having this whole building for students in recovery—man—I’d love to see us fill it.”