BRYAN INDEPENDENCE CENTER
Celebrating 50 years of making a difference
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ince 1971, the Bryan Independence Center has helped several hundred thousand individuals overcome addictions. In September, staff, alumni and families celebrated the center’s 50th anniversary. It all started in the early 1970s, when the city of Lincoln was hoping to receive a federal grant to help address drunk driving, a problem that was gaining more attention. To be eligible, applicants had to have a substance abuse treatment program, so the former Lincoln General Hospital partnered with the Johnson Institute, a pioneering treatment group in Minnesota, to begin the project. This local program was just the second of its kind, and it has grown to be a leader in treatment programs. In 1988, the Independence Center was named one of the top drug and alcohol treatment centers in the nation, and it’s recognized as a Blue Distinction Center for Substance Use Treatment and Recovery by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska. As the program began to take shape, Ron and Paige Namuth The center’s first permanent home was became involved. in the former Lincoln General Hospital The Namuths had School of Nursing dormitory. started a grass roots recovery movement in the 1960s through their work with Houses of Hope, Alateen and Alatots. Ron was first hired as a counselor-in-training, and two years later, hospital administrators asked him to direct the program. In 1975, the Alumni Association began, and this continues to be a vital part of the Bryan Independence Center. “It got started because people who completed treatment still wanted to be part of the program,” Paige says. Many former clients went through rigorous group leader training, so they could continue being part of the recovery work at the center. “Everything Ron did was geared toward making them Alumni
Association members,” adds Paige. “That was the aftercare that was going to help them stick with treatment.” They organized events to help members have fun in a sober environment and build a community of support. Members put on plays, went camping and skiing, and headed to Brownville to spend the day boating. One year Ron and another counselor delivered more than 400 presentations in the community, and people from all backgrounds came in for help with addictions. During the 40th anniversary in 2011, In 1979, the former directors Ron Namuth, Duke Engel program added and Jerome Barry reviewed plans for what more mental would become the new Bryan Independence health services Center three years later. for clients, and the detoxification services unit opened. Two years later, specific programs began for youth and women. Duke Engel, who succeeded Ron as director in 1992, says these programs were essential. “We had discovered that our walk out rate with women was so much higher than with men, and we realized we needed to do something,” he recalls. “We saw there was so much more sharing and such important therapy that could happen when we tailored treatment for women.” In 1999 Jerome Barry took the baton to serve as director of the Bryan Independence Center. During that time, he focused on a major need — a new building. Since 1976, the program had been housed in an old nursing dormitory, and they often faced maintenance and building code issues. “I spent an entire year speaking to any organization or group of people that would listen to me talk about the center’s mission and accomplishments,” he says. “The way our employees and the community stepped up to donate to our cause was humbling, to say the least.” In 2014, Bryan Independence Center moved into its
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