Utopian Oasis Founder Doing Whatever It Takes To Help Addicts Get Clean

By Tim Arnett

WABASH,Indiana – On the next Wabash Talks, Kitt Bettencourt, Founder of Utopian Oasis, stops by to talk about perhaps the most serious issue in Wabash County: the increasing drug epidemic. Utopian Oasis has made great strides in the last year in terms of garnering over 5,500 followers on social media from all over the country. But Bettencourt is looking to build a brick-and-mortar “safe house” here in Wabash County to help those who are addicted. As for now, Bettencourt will occasionally take someone in need of help into her own home, doing whatever she can to help the addict get clean. She told MiBash News in March that Utopian Oasis has met with some local resistance but, now there has been some media coverage on what the group is trying to do, more public officials in the city are expressing interest in attending rallies sponsored by the organization.

A former addict herself, Wabash-native Bettencourt explained to MiBash News that the local drug problem is as bad as it ever has been and getting worse by the day. Many do not realize that, for the un- or under-insured, it takes $20,000 to $70,000 to attend a treatment facility for a 30-day stay. The reality for many is that it’s cheaper to stay addicted than to get clean. While that fact is sobering, dangerous additives in much of today’s street drugs makes death an increasing possibility for users.

The good news is that Utopian Oasis is trying to do something about the problem. Bettencourt proudly states that the organization placed well over 100 people in treatment last year alone on a next-to-nothing budget. If she can’t send them to a treatment facility, she says she’ll bring them back to her home as opposed to seeing them die at some point down the road.

And she has an eye-opening opinion about the future of Wabash if something isn’t done to address the problem of drug abuse.

What is striking about Bettencourt is both her passion to do whatever it takes to help addicts and her knowledge of the problem. To hear more from Kitt Bettencourt discussing the local drug problem and the solutions, tune into Wabash Talks, Sunday morning at 9 am on 105.9 The Bash.