BRADD hosts opioid committee meeting with local leaders and organizations
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The Barren River Area Development District held committee meetings on Wednesday afternoon, focusing on things from transportation to the water we drink. One of the things they addressed was the opioid crisis in our community.
During the meeting, updates were given on both the Anchor Project and the new Life Learning Center, currently in the works.
“Construction is set to start for the mental health crisis and intake center, and that’s underway. The timeline, everything is still looking good as far as the timeline goes on that. The Life Learning Center is coming hopefully early 2026, but we’ll definitely be here 2026. So we’re just trying to find locations for that right now,” director of the Barren River Office of Drug Control Policy Brooke Edwards says.
December’s guest speaker was the Victory Hill Dream Center, who shared how they help Scottsville make recoveries happen and how they can help the other communities in the surrounding BRADD area.
“Brooke reached out and gave us the opportunity to share with the council here today about all the things that we’re doing at the Dream Center. We took advantage of that opportunity, and counted it as a great honor just to show up today and get to share a little bit about who we are and some of the things that we get to do and just share with other communities and collaborate with other leaders,” VH Dream Center director Amy Payne says.
A big part of the meeting is bringing together local leaders and law enforcement so that communities can learn from each other.
“We are resource rich here in our region. It’s just pulling all those resources together and letting everybody know where those resources can be found. [We] try not to operate in that silo thing, trying to get everybody out there, but just trying to help everybody locate those resources,” Edwards says.
For Victory Hill, it’s a great chance to learn about what other organizations are out there that they can recommend to those they serve.
“It’s good to meet with other community leaders so we can see what’s going on in their community. A lot of times, it gives us a glance at what maybe we’ve got coming our way or we can share information with others if we find things that are working in our community, a lot of times that translates into other communities, and it just helps us all keep a finger on our pulse just a little bit… filling more needs and helping make a difference,” Payne says.
