Indiana's only high school dedicated to students in recovery from substance abuse is marking its 20th anniversary with a $20 million sustainability campaign designed to ensure the school continues changing lives for decades to come. The milestone comes as Hope Academy faces mounting operational costs and what administrators describe as an extraordinary surge in adolescent substance use across the state.
The Indianapolis school serves a population that traditional public schools often struggle to support: teenagers battling addiction while trying to complete their education. Unlike conventional alternative schools, Hope Academy provides clinical services, recovery coaches, and family support programs alongside core academics, creating a comprehensive ecosystem that treats substance use disorder as both an educational and medical challenge.
Rachelle Gardner, Hope Academy’s executive director, had this to say:
"These students deserve to have a place where they feel safe, and they can earn credits, and they can grow so that they can soon walk across the stage and graduate, which is something they didn't think would happen.”
The campaign aims to strengthen academic and recovery programs while expanding support services that create costs traditional schools never face. "It's not just a school. We have clinical services. We have recovery coaches, things that traditional schools don't have to pay for, we do have to pay for," Gardner explained.
For Katharine Stuart, who enrolled at Hope Academy in 2011, the school offered something unavailable anywhere else in Indiana during her teenage battle with heroin addiction. "I didn't really have a purpose, and so when you're introduced to something that takes you away from that and gives you the sense of belonging, it kind of just takes over," Stuart recalled. "So when I was first introduced to heroin, it took control of my entire life, where I was willing to go to any means to get it." Stuart's experience highlights a common pattern among adolescents with substance use disorders: the difficulty recognizing addiction as a disease requiring treatment rather than something they'll simply outgrow. "For me, I felt I had this sense of, you know, I would just grow out of it eventually rather than having the mindset of it being a disease," Stuart stated. "Knowing that even though you are young, that you still can find sobriety and you have this whole life ahead of you is just incomparable to anything else that's out there."
The school's model addresses a critical gap in Indiana's treatment infrastructure.
Many adolescent treatment facilities have closed in recent years, leaving teenagers with fewer options for comprehensive care that addresses both their educational needs and recovery journey simultaneously. Students attend Hope Academy while receiving the clinical support typically found only in residential treatment settings, allowing them to maintain family connections and community ties while working toward both sobriety and graduation.
Gardner believes the need for Hope Academy's unique approach has intensified since the school's founding two decades ago. "I think it's probably even a greater need than it was when we started 20 years ago, because a lot of adolescent treatment has gone away for them," she said. "I just heard from a school counselor that they're suspending more and more kids for drug use in the school than they've seen in years." The observation aligns with broader national trends showing increased substance use among adolescents, particularly involving fentanyl-laced drugs that have made experimentation far more dangerous than in previous generations.
While Indiana has focused significant attention on adult addiction treatment and criminal justice responses to drug distribution, adolescent-specific services remain limited. The sustainability campaign addresses this reality by securing long-term funding for services that set Hope Academy apart. The comprehensive support model includes individual counseling, group therapy, recovery coaching, family therapy, and academic support. This is all integrated into the school day. Students can access clinical services without missing class time or coordinating separate appointments at treatment facilities.
The campaign has raised nearly $8 million so far, putting it at the 40 percent mark toward its goal.
School leaders emphasize the funding isn't about keeping doors open in a traditional sense; the school isn't facing imminent closure. Rather, it's about maintaining and expanding the wraparound services that make recovery possible during the school day. "It was the first place that really like planted that seed that was possible for me and that I was worth something else," Stuart silently reflected on her Hope Academy experience. "I feel like Hope is what planted the seed for me, that it didn't matter how old I was, that sobriety was obtainable and it was possible."
For the approximately 100 students currently enrolled at Hope Academy and the hundreds more who may need its services in coming years, the campaign's success will determine whether Indiana continues offering this specialized educational pathway. With no other recovery high school in the state and diminishing adolescent treatment options overall, Hope Academy represents a singular resource for young Hoosiers fighting to reclaim their futures from substance use disorder. The question facing donors and policymakers is whether Indiana will sustain this model as adolescent substance use trends upward, or whether budget constraints will force families to choose between education and recovery support for their children.
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