Adrienne Pritchard has not worked very long for Hamilton Center, Inc., but in her five months with the corporation she has made an impression on someone.
Pritchard was anonymously nominated as a 2024 Hero for Recovery in the “Recovery Coach of the Year” category. Pritchard attended the Mental Health America of Indiana awards luncheon in Indianapolis on Dec. 13.
She was not chosen as the winner of the award, but admits to being “amazed” at even being nominated considering the length of time in her position as a peer recovery specialist.
“I was amazed because I’ve had my Certified Peer Recovery Coach [CPRC] license less than six months,” Pritchard said. “It was amazing that I touched somebody enough that they felt the need to nominate me. It could have been anyone — any employee or any consumer.”
Pritchard admits that she is in the process of rebuilding her life after incarceration and drug abuse sent her on a downward path.
She served five years in the Indiana Department of Corrections at the Indiana Women’s Prison after being convicted of burglary related to funding a drug habit which had escalated after the death of a family member.
Pritchard had gotten in trouble for having marijuana in college, when she attended Lincoln College in Illinois on a basketball scholarship. She had previously attended Lincoln Trail College after a celebrated career at Terre Haute North.
While in high school, Pritchard was an honorable mention all-state selection her junior and senior years and was chosen to play in the North-South Indiana All-Star game after her senior year.
She went on to Lincoln, a private, Division II school, and was dismissed from the team after her drug use was discovered.
“I came home, and my dad passed away,” she recalled. “He was my best friend, so that’s when I started doing hard drugs. I had never done hard drugs until my dad died, and that was a very quick downhill spiral for me.”
Not surprisingly, Pritchard admits she was very upset about going to prison once she was convicted.
“Vermilion County threw the book at me,” she said. “I signed a 10-year plea, an open plea with a 10-year cap, and they gave me nine years total with six years executed [served] and three years of house arrest.”
In the end, though, Pritchard is positive that prison saved her life.
“If they would’ve put me back out on house arrest right then and there, I would be dead today,” she said. “It’s a different perspective that I have now looking back. I went to prison in 2019, but I didn’t get clean until 2022. I got released from prison in 2023.”
Pritchard did not adapt to the prison’s drug treatment well, and was actually removed from the program twice before taking advantage of a final chance.
“Any treatment program that you go through, you’re going to get out what you put into it,” she said. “I couldn’t stay out of trouble, and was kicked out of the program twice. I was always moving in and out of being in segregation.”
Pritchard recalls that the director of the program told her that her third chance would be her last one.
“She said I was either going to complete this program or you’re not, but she was not allowing me back in again,” Pritchard said. “I completed the program, and then I was asked to stay on the unit as a mentor. I taught classes and mentored other women.”
Her success in mentoring other inmates helped her to join the Hamilton Center staff after her release.
From her experiences with HCI, she has learned that major life events like the death of a parent can sometimes trigger heavy drug use — but it’s not a 100 percent occurrence.
“It’s different for everybody, but I think it’s present in a lot of cases,”she said. “ It’s usually something very traumatic or past traumas from childhood that isn’t dealt with. Mental health issues and substance abuse run hand in hand, and very rarely do you find one without the other.”
Pritchard’s status was changed from house arrest to probation, and when she’s finished with that part of the program she’ll be completely done with that part of her life.
One of the requirements for being hired as a peer recovery specialist with HCI is a successful experience with recovery, as those who know how the cycle works are best suited to help others facing similar struggles.
“I have a different perspective for consumers, especially ones that struggle with addiction because I know exactly how it feels to be where they are,” she said. “That’s why peers are so beneficial, because we do have a different understanding. We can level with the consumer on a different page than someone who’s never struggled with that problem can.”
HCI consumers appreciate having someone to talk to who has been where they are.
“They are a lot more willing to open up,” Pritchard said.
Pritchard said that whether or not a person is successful with recovery has to do with the mental aspect of being in it for the proper reason.
“You can’t want to get sober for somebody else, or you can’t get sober because the courts said you have to,” she said. “You won’t ever make it. You have to do it for you and you have to want it because it’s an everyday battle.”
Pritchard has set up some consumers two or three times in treatment facilities, and for a while they will be doing well.
“Unfortunately, relapses are a part of sobriety,” she said. “Relapses happen, and it’s what you do with that relapse.”
Pritchard, 28, could not have predicted how her life would turn out as a teenager.
She finished three years of coursework in pre-med with a minor in psychology with hopes of being a pediatric doctor.
Hamilton Center is venturing into a new era of being a Certified Community Behavioral Health Center, a designation which includes increasing its amount of mobile crisis runs to help people in their communities.
Those trips require a peer recovery specialist to be present with other staff members, and Pritchard loves her job.
“Peers don’t do their jobs for the money,” she said. “They do it because that’s what they’re passionate about. This job gives me a purpose. Not only do I get the substance use side of it, I get the mental health side, and that’s two things that I’m very passionate about.”
She has worked both day shifts and evening shifts, and recently switched to overnights.
Pritchard recently read that the importance of having a peer recovery specialist present on a visit is vital, and that there is an 86% success rate with a peer on scene.
“That’s tremendous,” she said. “Now we’re getting to a point where the Vigo County law enforcement officers will call us, and we’re building that relationship with them. It’s really come a long way.”
Pritchard plans to return to school and will major in psychology as she works to become a therapist.
“I’d love to work with little kiddos,” she said.
Pritchard is exploring the opportunities HCI provides to get tuition assistance in her quest to become a therapist.
“It’s amazing that Hamilton Center helps people achieve better things, and how there’s always room to grow,” she said. “I also appreciate whoever nominated me for that award. That means a lot to me because if I can help one person every day, that makes that day great.”
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