MUNSTER, Ind. (June 17, 2024) – Austin Wynn’s personal experience with substance abuse led to his founding Never Alone Recovery, a local organization offering free support services for individuals struggling with substance addiction.
Wynn, who has lived in the Northwest Indiana area, battled addiction for 10 years before he was able to sustain recovery. At the age of 16 he used weed — his gateway drug — to seek reprieve from the emotional pain of losing a friend to suicide. Then a complicated surgery led to his use and abuse of prescription opiates. By the time he entered college at Purdue, his abuse had escalated to heroin and benzos, which are depressant drugs used to produce sedation and hypnosis.
Today Wynn is clean and sober for over seven years. His decade of rehab attempts and relapses, however, led him down a path of hopelessness and despair before he came to his moment of “divine intervention.”
Divine intervention
Wynn had entered yet another recovery program that he says was terrible in ways he preferred not to go into. He asked himself, “How in the hell did I end up here? Has anyone talked to my family? Have they received any support services?”
He knew there had to be a better way.
On November 2, 2016, while sitting on the steps of a local church after a 12-step meeting, Wynn envisioned a holistic, full-service recovery organization. It would offer the kind of recovery support that he would have appreciated years earlier.
Holistic approach
His concept was to bring doctors, therapists, administrators, and patients’ families together to find quality treatment, program placement, insurance coverage, and assistance to achieve sustainable recovery.
With the help of his friend Nathaniel, who was also in recovery, Wynn started Never Alone Recovery (NAR) in the basement of his late grandmother’s home in Griffith, IN. Because the house was in escrow, the two worked without heat, internet, or computers. With just a few notebooks, mobile hotspots, and a mission statement, Wynn founded Never Alone Recovery.
Free services
Today Never Alone Recovery offers free resources and hosts weekly online support meetings for anyone struggling with addiction and for anyone who is affected by addiction in their family. The services include:
- Helping prepare and execute an intervention for a loved one
- Matching the patient with a fully vetted recovery program
- Arranging travel and patient intake; facilitating communications with employers, rehab places, and the insurance companies
- Providing personal support, including free online support groups meetings
Vetting process
Never Alone Recovery never accepts solicitations from rehab facilities. They work only with treatment programs that meet their standards after a thorough vetting process. Wynn first meets the CEO. If that goes well, he then speaks with the medical director or lead therapist to learn all the details of the program. He asks how they deal with addiction, how they perceive addiction, and how they treat clients. Finally Wynn visits the facility and meets the chiefs-of-staff in person. When possible, he signs a non-disclosure agreement and speaks to a client or two in the recovery program.
Wynn says, “My thing is quality over everything. I want to [find treatment] the best we can. Once. In the hopes that it’s only one time.”
Never Alone Recovery successes
Never Alone Recovery (NAR) has helped over 1,000 families and has completed hundreds of interventions. According to Wynn, 79% of the individuals who call NAR with the intent to go into rehab are securely placed into treatment. NAR is also an active partner in the addiction recovery community, employing individuals who have been affected by addiction, either directly or indirectly through a loved one. In 2023, Never Alone Recovery won The Daily Times of Northwest Indiana Best of the Region in Healthcare for Best Mental Health Counseling.
Expanding mission
The mission of Never Alone Recovery is expanding. In addition to addressing the needs of those struggling with substance abuse, their services also include SART (Sexual Assault Response Teams) training, fighting against human trafficking, and promoting other avenues to wellness.
Financial mission
Ever since those early basement days, Wynn has been on a mission to raise funds to cover the operating costs of Never Alone Recovery, which is now located in Munster, IN. In addition to applying for grant money, Wynn has built an entire marketing business that specializes in designing websites, social media, and branding for rehab facilities. He uses money from the marketing business to subsidize Never Alone Recovery. He also initiated the Keys to Freedom Foundation, which recently has been renamed Never Alone Foundation. He and his staff continue to find ways to fund the free services they offer to individuals battling addiction and to their loved ones.
For more information, Never Alone Recovery can be contacted via phone (855-831-9996), through their website Never Alone Recovery, or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/NeverAloneRecovery.
