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15 inmates at Knox County Detention Center are adult peer specialist program graduates

Fifteen woman at the Knox County Detention Center are recent graduates of a community college's adult peer support specialist program.
Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College
Fifteen woman at the Knox County Detention Center are recent graduates of a community college's adult peer support specialist program.

Fifteen women inmates at the Knox County Detention Center recently graduated from Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College’s adult peer support specialist training program. Jill Creech, the college’s recruitment specialist, said it’s the first time they’ve conducted the program inside a detention center.

“You do nine to five every day for the four days, and on that fourth day after your class, you take a test, and once you pass your test, and as long as your application file is complete, you are a Kentucky state certified adult peer support specialist.”

Creech said the graduates will have a chance to help others when they’re released.

“Recovery centers, you know, they like to have a peer support specialist that comes in, that works for them, that has been through recovery, that can talk about their situation and what they went through and how they were overcomers.”

Creech said some of those jobs offer starting pay of $18 an hour. She said the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program paid for the Knox Detention Center classes and they’re looking to do another next month – with men.

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John McGary is a Lexington native and Navy veteran with three decades of radio, television and newspaper experience.
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