Stephanie Taylor-Thompson has opened a recovery center in Idaho Falls, Idaho, bringing a decade-old vision to life through Cornerstone Wellness and Recovery, a facility serving youth and adults facing addiction and mental health challenges. The center, located at 522 Lomax, provides outpatient and behavioral health services, including counseling, therapy, recovery coaching, case management, peer support and care coordination.
The Stephanie Taylor-Thompson recovery center officially opened during a weekend of events attended by local, state and federal representatives. Idaho Falls Mayor Lisa Burtenshaw, city council members, state lawmakers and representatives from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services were among those present for the grand opening.
A decade-long vision becomes Cornerstone
Taylor-Thompson co-founded Cornerstone Wellness and Recovery with Jeremy Manwaring. She told EastIdahoNews.com that seeing the facility become a reality felt “a bit surreal” after years of holding onto the idea.
The Stephanie Taylor-Thompson recovery center offers several levels of support for people working through addiction and mental health difficulties. Services listed for the facility include partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient treatment, counseling, therapy and recovery-focused support.
Taylor-Thompson said the center’s primary goal is to care for people during recovery. She also connected the project to her faith, saying she had felt called to pursue the work long before she knew whether the facility would become reality.
Her own recovery shaped the mission
The story behind the Stephanie Taylor-Thompson recovery center is closely tied to Taylor-Thompson’s personal experience with addiction, incarceration and recovery.
According to EastIdahoNews.com, her addiction to methamphetamine and cocaine began during her teenage years. She has described growing up in an unstable home affected by mental illness and her father’s alcohol addiction. She later became a victim of human trafficking, and her drug use ultimately contributed to her arrest in Montana in 2010.
Taylor-Thompson spent more than a year in prison. While incarcerated at the Pocatello Women’s Correctional Center, she received mentorship from a prison ministry volunteer. She has said faith became an important part of her recovery.
After her release, her parole officer also played a significant role in helping her rebuild her life. At the weekend event, Taylor-Thompson became emotional while thanking her former parole officer, Sarah, for the support she provided, including accompanying her to an advising appointment at Idaho State University.
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From recovery to community service
The Stephanie Taylor-Thompson recovery center reflects a broader period of service that followed her own recovery journey.
Over the past 14 years, Taylor-Thompson has served on the boards of the Behavioral Health Crisis Center, the Center for Hope and the Greater Idaho Falls Police Foundation. She holds degrees in criminology, sociology and social work, serves as a national-level director in prison ministry and is pursuing a juris doctorate degree.
The development of Cornerstone also involved collaboration with Monty Burks and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over several years. Burks, who serves as director of the department’s Center for Faith and senior adviser to the Great American Recovery Initiative, participated in events surrounding the opening.
Community-based recovery programs can play an important role in helping people access ongoing support and resources. The National Institute on Drug Abuse provides additional information on treatment and recovery approaches.
Recovery Out Loud brings the message to Idaho Falls
The opening weekend continued with “Recover Out Loud,” a community gathering focused on recovery, hope and resilience at Idaho State University’s Bennion Student Union in Idaho Falls.
Burks served as keynote speaker and discussed his own recovery experience. The event also featured local and state officials, including Mayor Lisa Burtenshaw, Rep. Stephanie Mickelsen, City Councilman Brandon Lee, Brio Home Health & Hospice CEO Corey Boyd, Bonneville County Sheriff Sam Hulse and Rep. Erin Bingham.
For Taylor-Thompson, the Stephanie Taylor-Thompson recovery center represents an opportunity to support people facing circumstances similar to those she once experienced. She said Cornerstone will serve survivors across the country and described connection as the opposite of addiction.
The Stephanie Taylor-Thompson recovery center now stands as the realization of a vision that began more than 10 years ago, combining addiction treatment, mental health services and recovery support in one Idaho Falls facility.
This news has been compiled using information gathered from various platforms and is intended for general informational purposes only.
