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After The Diploma

After the diploma: Kentucky public school achievers

Bowling Green Indepenent graduate paving the road to recovery

Kentucky School Advocate

April 2018

Joni Easter Furlong is doing a job that is needed today more than ever. Furlong, a 1982 graduate of Bowling Green Independent High School, is the executive director of Haven4Change, a residential transitional living program that provides safe, affordable housing and supportive services in a nurturing environment to encourage its clients to successfully recover from substance abuse and its related barriers. The program serves women 18 and older who are recovering from substance abuse and dependency and who have children 12 and younger.

Furlong is a licensed clinical alcohol and drug counselor who has worked for the nonprofit since September 2006. She holds master’s degrees in sociology and in public administration from Western Kentucky University. She previously worked as a substance abuse counselor and project director for the University of Kentucky Center on Drug and Alcohol Research and for the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts.

In her current job, she oversees a program with the goal, according to its website, of helping the women “in becoming productive members of society while living a drug-free lifestyle. Haven4Change, with locations in Bowling Green and Scottsville, provides a continuum of treatment, stability and the opportunity for the women to reunite with their children. It also links them to social, counseling and job development services during the six- to 12-month program.

For her work in this field, Furlong was inducted into the Bowling Green High School Hall of Honor in 2016.