Magazine Editorials as of 11/07/17

BREAKTHROUGH Recovery Center

Magazine

killer combo Meth, often mixed with opioids, leads spike in Spokane County drug overdose deaths

Trump Budget

seeks to fight opioid addiction

A Place for

Hope and

Healing

Shooting Up Amid skyrocketing demand, Spokane’s only needle exchange cuts back its services.

A Sensory-Based Occupational Therapy Program for Recovery

Giving Hope for Recovery A mission to treat co-occurring disorders

One of the challenges for mental health and addiction treatment providers is diagnosing and treating clients with co-occurring disorders.

Multiple studies have shown that those with mental illness often have co-occurring substance abuse issues, and that those who are addicted to alcohol or drugs often have some type of mental illness.

Providing effective, comprehensive treatment for people with co-occurring disorders is the mission of Delores King, who founded Bridging Gaps With New Beginnings in 2016.

A family connection

A New York native, but raised in Sumter, South Carolina, by her grandparents, King has been working in the behavioral health field since 1998. She began as a volunteer at Harlem Hospital working with babies born to mothers addicted to crack cocaine. King later went on to work with Juveniles in Norwalk, Connecticut, who were placed in treatment by the court system. She moved to the Baltimore area in 2001.

King’s initial interest in the mental health field was family-related; as a child, a sister was diagnosed with mental illness. “I grew up knowing she had some kind of illness, but, since I was young, I didn’t have much of an understanding of the situation,” she recalls.

King’s desire to help her mother take care of her sister shaped her educational path. She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in human services (with a social work minor) and a master’s degree in addiction counseling; she is currently working on a master’s degree in psychology.

Between 2006 and 2011, King ran her own program in Baltimore, called the Alpha and Omega Transitional and Recovery program. Undiagnosed mental health conditions – such as psychosis, depression or bipolar disorder – often lead people to seek relief in alcohol or other addictive substances, she notes. “They can cause a person to just want to escape from what they are feeling.”

For some addiction treatment programs, success does not always lead to better patient care, King says. “Sometimes, the bigger programs become, the farther away they get from the community.” In some cases, she feels grassroots-level, communitybased treatment programs have an advantage over large institutional programs in providing effective, individualized treatment.

One of Bridging Gaps’ most important working relationships is with Baltimore Area Community Health Services, which refers clients to Bridging Gaps for addiction treatment. Bridging Gaps also serves many clients referred by the Baltimore County drug court.

Giving clients hope

“When you give people hope, then they feel you really care about them,” King says. “Sometimes, all people need to change their life is to have someone who believes in them and give them an opportunity to do something other than what they were doing.”

With no sign that the need for addiction treatment is declining, King sees more growth ahead for Bridging Gaps.

“We’re taking it a week at a time, but we do have long-term goals. At this time next year, I hope we have double the number of clients with people graduating successfully, moving on, and then coming back and volunteering with the program.

We don’t want people to just get their recovery and leave, we want them to come back and help others.”

“I know we have a mission from God. I know if I continue on this path, everything is going to work out okay. I’m here to do his work and help deliver some of these people from addiction.”

Surviving Setbacks and Trying Again

Treatment client finds a safe haven

When

Leslie Whye, an addiction treatment client at Bridging Gaps with New Beginnings, looks back at her recovery journey, she vividly remembers the year 2008, for unfortunate reasons.

Within a four-month period, the Baltimore County native lost no less than 16 family members to a variety of causes, including heart attacks, cancer, strokes and a car accident. At one point, Whye’s father, mother and grandmother were severely ill, at three separate hospitals.

Also, a family dispute led to her uncle obtaining power of attorney over her father, a stroke victim confined to a nursing home, and withdrawing funds her mother had been counting on to cover living expenses. She eventually lost possession of the family home.

Within one week, Whye attended three funerals. “It was way too much to handle at one time,” Whye recalls.

“I was an emotional mess; I didn’t know much about anxiety and depression.”

- Leslie Whye, client, Bridging Gaps with New Beginnings

“The staff here genuinely cares about us.”

- Leslie Whye A safe place to recover

The program is providing the safe haven she needs to recover. “I’m very happy with the program. I feel very secure here; this is my safety net. They are helping me with housing and a lot of things.”

Overwhelmed by life

“I was an emotional mess; I didn’t know much about anxiety and depression.” A “helpful” cousin gave Whye some heroin. “He said it would calm me down.”

Whye became a daily user of the drug until she realized she had a problem, and went to a local methadone clinic. Whye did well for a couple years, but the lack of a personal support system led to a relapse. By 2014, she was unemployed and homeless.

In 2016, Whye was on methadone and staying at a local women’s shelter. A friend from the shelter told her about Bridging Gaps and Whye entered outpatient treatment there in May. She’s gradually tapering off methadone, under medical supervision, and getting a fresh start.

Being homeless is particularly dangerous for women. During the months Whye was staying in a shelter, before being admitted to Bridging Gaps, she was robbed twice. “I lost my identification and my cell phone; now I’m starting over.”

Four days a week, Whye participates in classes, group and individual therapy, from 3 to 7 p.m. She’s picked up pointers on avoiding relapse. That includes identifying possible triggers to use drugs, and “what to do if I feel like I might want to use. We can call one of our sisters or brothers from class,” Whye explains.

“Being here helps me to grow, to identify a lot of things in my life that I never took the time to step back and evaluate.” She gained valuable knowledge on “not letting stress overwhelm me, digesting little bits at a time, calling others to let them know what is going on with me. I can get others input on what to do.”

Whye says Bridging Gaps founder Deloris King sets the tone for the agency’s approach to serving clients.

“She went out of her way to bring me personal items and clothes. The staff here genuinely cares about us.”

The Price of

Possession

Criminal justice reform laws roll out in Oklahoma

ARDMORE, Okla. (KXII) -Two state ballot measures that passed last November to reform the state’s criminal justice system took effect at the beginning of this month.

“I filed my first misdemeanor possession of meth charges on Monday.” Carter County District Attorney Craig Ladd said.

“I just feel like they need to be put somewhere they can get help.”

Possession of methamphetamine was a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison in Oklahoma, but new statutes that took effect Saturday make it a misdemeanor, with a max penalty of one year in county jail.

In fact, the only drug charges still classified as felonies are dealing, trafficking and intent to distribute, with 781 stating the money saved in the criminal justice system would go to rehabilitation.

The public is still split over the changes.

“They just need help, I know that,” Marshall County resident Winny Gwartney said. “They’re not responsible for things they do when they’re on them, and they can’t get themselves off it. So they have to have help.”

Others have a different opinion.

...781 stating the money saved in the criminal justice system would go to rehabilitation.

“I don’t agree with it at all,” Ardmore resident Liz Brown said.

“Because I think there will just be repeat offenders, if they rehabilitate, they have a chance of just doing the same thing.”

State questions 780 and 781 passed in November with 58% and 56% percent of the vote respectively.

Ladd was a vocal opponent of the bill, but says his offices prepared for the roll out.

“We talked about what we think the appropriate offer now that its a misdemeanor, but I didn’t change my policy until July 1, because I felt like the people of District 20 wanted us to continue the way we were doing it before,” Ladd said. “but now that there’s a new day that’s dawned, we have changed with our plea offers.”

In all five of Ladd’s counties, the measures failed. So he says they will still be taking possession seriously. All possession arrests before the 1st of July can still be charged as felonies, and even misdemeanor possession can land someone on felony probation back in prison.

“We think meth and other hardcore drugs are a big problem, and so they will be dealt with accordingly, as much as the law will allow us to deal with them.” Ladd said.

But while the law has passed, the debate continues.

“Whenever you put them in jail, it kind of wakes up some of them,” Ardmore resident Ronna Cryer said. “I know a few guys that have been in there for a few years, and it kind of woke them up, and they’ve been drug free for years now.”

Waiting for

HELP Rehab options not keeping pace

The Outcasts 4 Christ Recovery Ministry has constantly hovered just under its 24-man capacity,

says director Johnny Bruce. And as the facility seeks to expand, the nonprofit’s director said the center is also grappling with thousands of dollars of debt. The sober living facility coordinates with the state to admit people who are charged with a misdemeanor for drug possession. The state counts the nonprofit as a way of clearing charges thanks to its one-year rehabilitation track.

“We kind of separate ourselves from the world, but when you’re out there on your own, the world is treacherous.”

Other area rehabilitation centers include the Broadway House, Naomi House, Destiny Recovery Center and Oxford House. Bruce said his facility stays in constant communication with these fellow recovery centers and other local social work resources, but in his five years of experience raising men up from the clutches of drug abuse, he knows that it just isn’t enough. “We need more resources for these men to have a chance to do the right thing versus them having no resources, getting out of here and running around the streets with nowhere to go,” Bruce said. “We need more places like this.”

State Questions 780 and 781 went into effect July 1. They raised the threshold amount for drugs one can possess before being charged with a felony, among other things. Kris Steele, Oklahoma Speaker of the House, spearheaded the legislation in hopes to divert inmates to rehabilitation facilities in lieu of jail time.

But according to Carter County Sheriff Chris Bryant, the Carter County jail continues to remain over its capacity of 186 since some drug users struggle to post bail for their misdemeanor charges, and rehabilitation facilities like Outcasts 4 Christ need more space, money and other resources. A high level of accountability permeates the walls of the two-story house. But for the men who relapse and are caught using drugs while admitted in the program, Bruce’s staff is obligated to report them, sending them back into custody.

“Ardmore is rampant,” Bruce said. “If any of us were to get our own house out there in one of these streets, the drug use up and down them in this community is infested. We kind of separate ourselves from the world, but when you’re out there on your own, the world is treacherous.”

“We need more places like this.”

Pat Ownbey, Representative of District 48, doesn’t imagine the benefits reaped from less felonies for misdemeanors from SQs 780/781 will be readily noticeable because the legislation is still relatively new. But he does recognize the local skepticism in several local officials, and anticipates changes to them in the coming future. “I’m familiar with the concerns of both our sheriff and district attorney and understand them.”

The good news is that unlike the other questions that were on the ballot, these two state questions are statutory not constitutional, which means the legislature has the ability to amend them in the upcoming session,” Ownbey said. “I do expect that we will see amendments filed.”

Officials in Seattle on Friday approved the na-

tion’s first “safe-injection” sites for users of heroin and other illegal drugs, calling the move a drastic but necessary response to an epidemic of addiction that is claiming tens of thousands of lives each year.

The sites — which offer addicts clean needles, medical supervision and quick access to drugs that reverse the effects of an overdose — have long been popular in Europe. Now, with the U.S. death toll rising, the idea is gaining traction in a number of American cities, including Boston, New York City and Ithaca, N.Y.

“We see this as a public health emergency.” - Jeff Duchin

A DIFFERENT Awash in overdoses, Seattle creates safe sites for addicts to inject illegal drugs

While opponents say the sites promote illegal drug use, supporters say they can keep people alive and steer them toward treatment. They compare supervised injection facilities to the needle exchanges that became popular in the 1980s and 1990s as a way to stanch the spread of HIV and hepatitis C among intravenous drug users.

“These sites save lives and that is our goal in Seattle/King County,” Seattle Mayor Ed Murray (D) said in a statement.

Approach

The sites are not currently legal under federal law, according to Kelly Dineen, a professor of health law at Saint Louis University School of Law. A provision of the Controlled Substances Act makes it illegal to operate facilities where drugs are used, she said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a record 33,000 people died from opioid overdoses in 2015. Opioids now kill more people each year than car accidents. In 2015, the number of heroin deaths nationwide surpassed the number of deaths from gun homicides.

“If you want to really bend this curve of death, [safe injection sites are] going to have to be part of the strategy,” said Jessie Gaeta, chief medical officer of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, which treats many victims of overdose.

In Seattle, the King County Board of Health voted unanimously earlier this month to endorse two sites, one to be located in the city and the other to be located in the surrounding county. Murray and King County Executive Dow Constantine (D) gave them final approval Friday. In 2015, 132 people died of heroin overdoses in the county.

“We see this as a public health emergency,” said Jeff Duchin, the health officer for Seattle and King County. “Clearly the status quo isn’t working anywhere, and clearly we need to look at new tools.”

Duchin said officials hope to open the Seattle site within a year. Both sites will be aimed primarily at homeless drug users, he said, with a goal of providing them basic health services and ultimately drug treatment.

“The real goal is not to open a day spa where people can come in and have a good time and use drugs, but to engage them in treatment,” Duchin said. “They inject in a place where there’s a health-care worker who can save their lives if they overdose.”

Duchin said all drug

users will be supervised at all times. If a person exhibits signs of an overdose, he said, a health-care worker will administer Naloxone, a drug that reverses the effects of opioids.

Over the next three years, officials plan to study the sites and collect data on how many people they attract, whether overdose deaths are being prevented and whether users of the sites enter drug treatment.

“If you want to really bend this curve of death, [safe injection sites are] going to have to be part of the strategy.”

- Jessie Gaeta

Back Coming

Medical Detoxification for Physical Addiction to Fentanyl

Fentanyl detox, or detoxification, treats the immediate need for drugs that results when a recreational user who has developed physical addiction suddenly stops using fentanyl. Since fentanyl is so potent, sudden withdrawal of this drug can cause unpleasant physical effects that occur when a drop in endorphin levels results in scrambled messages from the brain to the body. Medical detoxification helps to reduce the severity of these effects.

Fentanyl Molecule

“The goal of fentanyl detoxification is to supply a substitute method of releasing endorphins…”

This initial phase of fentanyl addiction treatment can be administered in a pleasantly appointed residential recovery center that combines luxurious facilities and an attractive natural setting with the latest medical equipment and techniques. Experienced addiction treatment specialists administer this first phase of fentanyl addiction treatment in residential treatment centers. Even if hospital facilities are required for fentanyl detox because of other health issues, measures are taken to make sure that the patient is physically comfortable and is able to maintain a pleasant state of mind so that he or she can successfully complete the medical phase of the treatment and begin working on overcoming the root causes of fentanyl addiction.

The goal of fentanyl detoxification is to supply a substitute method of releasing endorphins by administering medications that are safer and less addictive in place of fentanyl. In addition, medications that block the effects of opiates may be prescribed on an outpatient basis once the detoxification and subsequent intensive counseling are complete. These medications prevent a recovering addict from receiving any benefit from fentanyl should he or she attempt to relapse by obtaining and taking any dosage of the drug.

Intensive inpatient detoxification usually lasts from three to five days. It is but the first step in an overall fentanyl addiction treatment program, and it is followed by intensive counseling and behavioral modification therapy. The intensive therapy phase of inpatient fentanyl addiction treatment usually lasts for at least three weeks after the medical phase has been successfully completed.

If you or someone you love is seeking fentanyl addiction treatment, please call our national drug recovery and rehabilitation information hotline at 1-877-823-4377 any time of day or night. We will help you find the right facility for fentanyl detox and fentanyl rehab.

One Mother’s Account About Her Son’s Overdose Jason was the kind of person people were drawn to. He made friends easily and had a great sense of humor.

He was a caring person and a loving son who respected his family. He was helpful around the house and in the winter he always shoveled our neighbor’s walk. He loved kids, he was active in his youth group and he often volunteered for various community projects--he even worked for the agency I work for, a communitybased group in Washington state that works to prevent substance abuse.

When Jason was a little boy, he’d lie about little things. When he was seven years old and swore he had taken a shower, even though the tub was completely dry. He got caught in lies like that all the time, but as he grew into a young man we talked about it and he said he realized how silly it all was. I was convinced he had outgrown it. In December of 2003, I realized he had not.

I was so convinced that he was not using, it became a sort of joke between us

Jason was finishing the first semester of his second year as a pre–pharmacy major at Rutgers University. Since his dorm was only 45 minutes away, he came home frequently on weekends.

On Sunday, December 14, I remember saying goodbye to him at our front door. I caressed Jason’s cheek and told him I loved him.

The morning of December 17, 2003, my husband called me at work to tell me that the hospital had called to say Jason was brought to the emergency room. We met nearby and drove to the hospital together in silence. We couldn’t imagine what had happened.

I have relived that day in my mind so many times, and while I really can’t tell you exactly what the doctor said when we arrived at the hospital emergency room, the message was clear--my beautiful son was gone. Apparently, Jason had been abusing prescription drugs and had overdosed.

I thought to myself that this couldn’t be possible. I work in prevention and Jason knew the dangers. We believed that he was not using drugs--we talked about it often. I was so convinced that he was not using, it became a sort of joke between us--as he would leave home at the end of a weekend, I would frequently say, “Jason, don’t do drugs.” “I know, Mom,” he would say, “I won’t.”

But he did.

In speaking with dozens of Jason’s friends after his death, we learned his abuse of prescription drugs may have started after he began college, and apparently escalated the summer before he died.

My son Jason made a difference in the world for 19 years, and he will keep making a difference now.

We learned that he used the Internet to research the safety of certain drugs and how they react with others. As a pre-pharmacy major, maybe he felt he knew more about these substances than he actually did. We also learned that he had visited several online pharmacies and ordered drugs from one Mexican pharmacy online. We found records that this pharmacy automatically renewed his order each month.

I think back to the last several months of my son’s life, trying to identify any signs I might have missed. I remember that sometime during his first year at Rutgers, I discovered an unlabeled pill bottle in Jason’s room. I took the pills to my computer and identified them as a generic form of Ritalin. When I confronted Jason, he told me he got them from a friend who’d been prescribed the medication.

He wanted to see if they would help him with his problem focusing in school. I took that opportunity to educate him on the dangers of abusing prescription drugs and told him that if he really thought he had A.D.D (Attention Deficit Disorder), we should pursue this with a clinician. He promised he would stop using the drug; he even called the counseling office to make an appointment for an evaluation.

The only other sign I can remember is that one weekend when Jason was home I passed him in the kitchen and noticed that his eyes looked odd--his pupils were as small as pinpoints. I confronted him right there and then, asked him if he was “on something.” He said, “No, what’s wrong?” and went over to a mirror to see what I was talking about. He said that he didn’t know what was wrong-maybe it was because he was tired. I was suspicious, but his behavior was perfectly normal, so I let it go.

My son Jason made a difference in the world for 19 years, and he will keep making a difference now.

By continuing to share his story, I hope to help other families avoid the kind of tragedy my family has suffered.

-

METH CRIMES Meth often behind the crimes of Jefferson County

A suspect

told Jefferson County Sheriff Detective Dave Miller he had abused alcohol and shot heroin and cocaine. But in each case he felt he had control of the drugs.

When it came to methamphetamine, his attitude changed.

“Meth has taken ahold of me,” he confessed to Miller.

Methamphetamine’s grip is taking hold throughout the country, especially in rural areas with scarce jobs, such as this one. Although alcohol and marijuana cause far more pervasive problems in Jefferson County, the use and abuse of meth are becoming prevalent.

People on welfare use it. Wealthy people use it. Women use it in almost equal numbers to men. Not many adolescents have tried it - yet.

No matter what their background, users are lured by the raw euphoric rush that can last for 12 to 24 hours.

It’s cheap - about $20 for a pinch of powder about the size of an aspirin. It’s easy to buy because it’s manufactured right here in Jefferson and many nearby Washington state counties. The manufacturing process, said Roger Lake, president of the Washington State Narcotics Officer Association, takes less time than does a batch of chocolate chip cookies.

“My personal feeling is that we do have a methamphetamine problem [here],” said Richard Gunderson, the substance abuse coordinator for Jefferson County Department of Health and Human Services. “It’s a damning and damaging drug. It has some awful consequences.”

Habit turns ugly Although users initially can hold down jobs, go to school and manage their social life, the habit can turn ugly over time. Parents neglect their children.

Long-term heavy users can become paranoid and violent. Of the five violent deaths in Jefferson County in the last 10 years, two involved methamphetamine.

Statewide meth problem Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney Juelanne Dalzell’s office won convictions on 44 meth cases from 1999 to 2002, including both the sheriff’s cases and the Port Townsend Police Department’s cases.

Suspects charged with manufacturing and sales often plead guilty to possession charges instead of going to trial on more serious charges.

Consequently, there were only five sales and manufacturing convictions.

In comparison, the prosecutors won convictions on eight marijuana cases from 1999 to 2002. There were no convictions for other drugs.

Washington state as a whole has a meth problem.

Pierce County has more meth labs than any other county in the country except for one in central California.

Two-thirds of the meth labs reported in Washington in 2001 were located in Pierce, King, Spokane and Thurston counties, according to the DSHS report.

Jefferson County users usually buy from dealers who import their drugs, said Miller.

Local law enforcement officers feel meth might be a bigger problem than

the numbers indicate.

Miller, who is in charge of drug cases for the sheriff’s office, said there were 33 arrests for meth possession and 16 arrests for manufacturing and selling since July 15, 2000.

“Even though the numbers are still small [in Jefferson County], meth creates big problems,” said Dalzell. “It is devastating to the user, the user’s family and friends, and the user’s community.’”

“I was surprised how low the statistics were,” said Miller. “I asked in the jail, and at least half of the inmates said they were doing meth. They weren’t arrested for meth, but they were doing it.”

“I asked in the jail, and at least half of the inmates said they were doing meth. They weren’t arrested for meth, but they were doing it.” - Miller

Who We Are

Welcome to Believe in Recovery LLC! B We know that any addict, despite the severity of their addiction, can recover.

elieve in Recovery LLC, is an accredited addiction treatment facility located in Port Townsend, Washington. Our facility focuses on changing the lives of those affected by drug and alcohol addiction, as well as co-occurring psychological disorders. At Believe in Recovery LLC, we understand that this is a very difficult time for a newly recovering addict, especially those who have never entered into a treatment facility before. This is why we aim to do everything in our power to make these individuals as comfortable as possible so that they can begin their recovery process on a positive note.

We specialize in 12-step faciltitation approach, Anger management and Brief intervention approach. We believe in treating all addictions, as well as underlying psychological disorders that may have contributed to the birth of the addiction. Our addiction treatment services are available to Adult women and we accept Most Insurances as well as many others. We strive to help our patients build a solid foundation for a renewed and improved future.

We know that any addict, despite the severity of their addiction, can recover. With the proper treatment plan in place, our patients can accomplish all of their goals and more. We understand how the disease of addiction has affected our patients mentally, physically, and spiritually. At Believe in Recovery LLC, we will provide you with the support and guidance to lead you towards a path of life-long wellness and sobriety.

Our Services: DUI Assessments

Outpatient

Have you received a DUI? If you have been to court, your DUI assessment is the first step to getting your drivers license back-an vital part of your life back.

Don’t put it off !

Outpatient programs are individually tailored to meet the needs of people that have accepted their disease and have begun the recovery process.

Programs include individual and group therapy and continue the use of community based self-help support groups.

Intensive OP Intensive Outpatient Treatment offers comprehensive therapy while allowing individuals the flexibility to continue working or attending school, stay at home with loved ones, and develop support groups within their own communities.

This treatment program includes education, group therapy sessions, individual counseling and a family program involving the use of community based selfhelp support groups.

Family Programs For spouses, family members, and friends who desire recovery for their loved one, or for co-dependency.

This program consists of family interventions, primary treatment, individual counseling and community based self-help support groups.

ADIS

Deferred Prosecution Evals

The Alcohol Drug Information School course covers the personal, social, health, and economic costs of alcohol and drug related offenses, as well as available community resources. This course fulfills courtordered drug/alcohol education requirements for DUI offenders who have been assessed as having no significant alcohol/drug related problems.

If you have received a DUI and would like to know more about Deferred Prosecution, an evaluation will give you the facts and the information you need for you to make your decision. Individuals wanting to petition the court for a Deferred Prosecution need to consult with and or retain an attorney for legal counsel.

DARING WAY Based on the research by BrenĂŠ Brown

Every day we experience the uncertainty, risks,

and emotional exposure that define what it

means to be vulnerable

or to dare greatly. Based on twelve years of

pioneering research, Dr. BrenĂŠ Brown dispels

the cultural myth that

vulnerability is weakness and argues that it is, in

truth, our most accurate measure of courage.

SHOW UP BE SEEN LIVE BRAVE Brené Brown explains how vulnerability is both the core of difficult emotions like fear, grief, and disappointment, and the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, empathy, innovation, and creativity.

She writes: “When we shut ourselves off from vulnerability, we distance ourselves from the experiences that bring purpose and meaning to our lives.”

Daring Greatly is not about winning or losing. It’s about courage. In a world where “never enough” dominates and feeling afraid has become second nature, vulnerability is subversive. Uncomfortable.

It’s even a little dangerous at times.

And, without question, putting ourselves out there means there’s a far greater risk of getting criticized or feeling hurt. But when we step back and examine our lives, we will find that nothing is as uncomfortable, dangerous, and hurtful as standing on the outside of our lives looking in and wondering what it would be like if we had the courage to step into the arena—whether it’s a new relationship, an important meeting, the creative process, or a difficult family conversation. Daring Greatly is a practice and a powerful new vision for letting ourselves be seen.”

About Brené Brown, PhD. LMSW Dr. Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. She has spent the past thirteen years studying vulnerability, courage, worthiness, and shame.

Brené is the author of three #1 New York Times Bestsellers: Rising Strong, Daring Greatly and The Gifts of Imperfection.

She is also the Founder and CEO of The DARING WAY and COURAGEworks – an online learning community that offers eCourses, workshops, and interviews for individuals and organizations ready for braver living, loving, and leading.

A Place for

Hope and

Healing Breakthrough Recovery Group

Our Services

Breakthrough Recovery Group is a premier provider of evidence-based addiction treatment. Our programs address not only the addiction, but also the underlying issues that may have advanced or reinforced drug abuse.

We focus on a holistic approach to recovery by striving to bring the newest and most sought after treatment components into our program to assist all individuals. That is why here at Breakthrough Recovery Group we provide our clients with massage therapy, acupuncture and sensory integration.

We are the only outpatient agency in the state of Washington licensed and teaching Brené Brown’s The DARING WAY & Rising Strong curriculum on “Courage, Shame, Vulnerability and Worthiness” in treatment services.

Comprehensive Drug/ Alcohol Evaluations:

Evaluations are the core tool used to accurately identify and understand the substance abuse problem and make an individualized treatment recommendation.

All alcohol/drug treatment agencies require this evaluation prior to being admitted to any treatment program.

Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP):

Our Partial Hospitalization Program is highly individualized and designed for clients who are enduring the difficult process reintegrating into their communities. Clients will have extensive clinical contact through group and individual sessions allowing each individual to build their recovery skills and coping strategies in order to identify the core issues that are fueling their addiction.

Outpatient (Level 1) Treatment:

Outpatient services are designed to support abstinence and ongoing recovery as patients manage demands of work, relationships, family, and recovery with minimal disruption to their daily lives. Outpatient treatment services also based on individualized treatment planning that include at least three direct contact hours per week.

Intensive Outpatient (Level 2) Treatment:

Intensive outpatient services are designed to help patients achieve and maintain sobriety while remaining in their work and home environments. This is a concentrated and focused program based on at least nine direct contact hours per week.

The clients and their families are the center here at Breakthrough Recovery Group

Family Education and Support Program:

Addiction affects every part of who we are and how we interact with those that love us; addiction affects families in very similar ways as the person that is struggling with substance abuse. These group and family sessions provide a safe and structured setting where open sharing can begin a personal journey of healing through exploring themes common to a family in recovery. Our goal is to empower the family and clients to discover together the power of healing and a life free from addiction.

Killer /mbo Meth, often mixed with opioids, leads spike in Spokane County drug overdose deaths Spokane police haven’t busted a methamphetamine lab in at least three years, almost the same amount of time “Breaking Bad” and its meth-cooking protagonist have been off the air. But methamphetamine is contributing to more drug overdose deaths than any other drug in Spokane County, and that number rose significantly in 2016.

That’s according to a Spokane County Medical Examiner’s office report on 2016 deaths released Tuesday, which found an increase from 29 fatal overdoses involving methamphetamine in 2015 to 49 in 2016, a 69 percent jump.

Overall, accidental overdoses in Spokane County rose from 82 in 2015 to 115 last year.

Fatal heroin and opioid overdoses are the usual focus of conversations about drug use and deaths, but methamphetamine is a rarelydiscussed contributor to soaring overdose death rates in Washington.

In many cases, public health officials say that’s because people are using opioids in combination with methamphetamine.

Methamphetamine is a stimulant and can cause fatal overdoses by putting strain on their heart or circulatory system. The drug elevates core body temperature and usually kills by cardiac failure.

“When you do both at the same time you compound the effects of both drugs...”

-Mike Lopez

Fatal overdoses on opioids are more common.

Those drugs are depressants that can suppress breathing, leading to fatal respiratory failure.

“When you do both at the same time you compound the effects of both drugs. One doesn’t counteract the other,” said Mike Lopez, medical services manager for the Spokane Fire Department.

The medical examiner report says how many times a drug was listed on death certificates in 2016, but it doesn’t provide a clear picture of how people are using those drugs.

People often overdose and die with more than one drug in their system, so without the details of individual death certificates, it’s impossible to say if most local methamphetamine overdoses also involved an opioid. The medical examiner’s office had not responded to a request to provide more detailed data by Wednesday evening.

A 2015 survey by the University of Washington’s Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute of 22 Spokane needle-exchange users found 91 percent had used meth in the past three months, and nearly one-third had used both methamphetamine and heroin together.

Statewide, it’s clear people are mixing the two. The Washington Department of Health collects data on fatal opioid overdoses, which lists every drug found on individual death certificates.

Though it’s not an opioid, methamphetamine was the second-most commonly listed drug in 2015, contributing to 155 opioid overdoses.

In 2010, methamphetamine was present in just 44 opioid overdoses and ranked well behind common painkillers like oxycodone.

Rates of people using only methamphetamine also appear to be going up, said Caleb BantaGreen, the principal research scientist for the institute. Overdose deaths have increased in King County after holding steady for nearly a decade, he said, and that appears to be a trend across the state.

The institute is releasing a report on rising methamphetamine use in Washington in a few weeks.

As public attention has been focused on responding to an opioid overdose epidemic, there’s less talk about methamphetamine.

After a crackdown on the cold medications used to make the drug in the United States, production shifted largely to Mexico.

Use declined for a few years, Banta-Green said. But its gradual increase over the past few years has gone largely unnoticed because it doesn’t come with the dramatic spectacle of police raiding meth labs.

Crackdowns on prescription pain medication over the past decade have made it harder for people addicted to opioids to get drugs legally.

In response, drug traffickers used the same routes they set up for methamphetamine to bring more heroin into the country, BantaGreen said.

“There’s never been a statewide discussion about it.”

- Caleb Banta-Green

Treatment programs created in response to soaring opioid overdose deaths often have few options for people who also use methamphetamine, benzodiazepines and other drugs, Banta-Green said.

In many cases, providers refuse to treat them at all, “which really means we’re only saying we only want to treat half of heroin users,” he said.

The state health department publishes data on opioid deaths, but not methamphetamine overdoses.

This article was updated on April 27, 2017 to clarify that the Washington Department of Health does not publish data on methamphetamine overdoses. The department does collect data on all drug overdoses.

Be empowered to enjoy a more rewarding life living substance free.

A Sensory-Based Occupational Therapy Program for Recovery Often during the cycle of addiction‚ a person has fallen out of routine. They experience chaos in their day and they are unsure of how to regain healthy structure and habits.

We are all sensory beings bombarded with input coming in from the environment through our senses. This sensory input can be challenging for persons with mental illness and persons recovering from drug/alcohol addiction.

Breakthrough’s state-of-the-art multi-sensory room offers a patient-centered haven of comfort.

Multi-sensory rooms provide opportunities for client-centered exploration of the senses helping the person to feel empowered and better regulated through interactions with the therapist.

This specifically designed sensory room provides a powerful tool for use in substance abuse rehabilitation as it provides opportunities for addressing triggers, stress management, and self-regulation allowing clients to focus on overcoming barriers to community re-entry. It also provides a deeply supportive environment to assist in acquiring, learning, and implementing mindfulness-based approaches to life and recovery.

The program is facilitated in our multi-sensory room by the LifeSkills11™ Occupational Therapist. The therapist is uniquely trained to recognize the effect that the substance abuse/mental health challenges has had on the occupational functioning of the individual and the family.

The focus of therapy is to attain improved functional performance in the client’s meaningful occupations including life roles, leisure, work, and social environment.

The LifeSkills11 ™ program knows that clients can thrive using these improved self-regulation and life skills. Clients will find that they can change their behavior on their own terms and in their own way – empowered to enjoy a more rewarding life living substance free.

Our program is designed to work alongside and enhance the existing cognitive behavioral work of your treatment center.

Amid skyrocketing demand, Spokane’s only needle exchange cuts back its services.

Shooting UP

Jeremy Gifford didn’t really care about staying sober anymore after a week in the Spokane County Jail. So he bought some heroin and shot up. And then he went and saw Lynn Everson.

When Gifford got to the oddly shaped room in the oddly shaped Spokane Regional Health District building, there was a line of people, all carrying their used syringes in coffee cans, brown purses and paper bags.

Everson sat behind a table, helping them count out their wares.

Gifford gave her four used syringes and left with four clean ones. It was a small amount compared to what others carried. Still, it meant he had clean needles. And that’s not always the case.

“I was hurting so bad, if I found a rig on the street, I would have picked it up and used it,” Gifford recalls of one occasion when he was out of town and didn’t have syringes.

“Today is just busy,” says Everson, the district’s needle exchange coordinator, from behind a desk covered with needle containers, condoms and public-health pamphlets.

For 20 years, the exchange has provided drug users with clean needles in exchange for their dirty ones in order to prevent the improper disposal of the used needles and to hinder the spread of HIV and other diseases.

Demand for clean needles is booming. In 2008, 394,033 needles were exchanged. In 2010, it was 736,294. The Health District predicts it will exchange 1,071,000 by the end of this year. This is an all-time high for the service.

And yet the money with which it operates is rapidly shrinking. Funding has dropped to the point that in early September, the exchange opted to impose a cap of 250 syringes per person per visit — an amount that Everson estimates is how much that a typical person uses in a month.

Lisa St. John, the HIV and STD program manager for the Health District, which administers the exchange, says she’s not sure if the cap will save money, but it’s a first step towards reconciling a budget that she expects to shrink by 30 percent in this fiscal year.

These addictions can kill, but drug deaths are actually down slightly in Spokane County, according to county Medical Examiner Sally Aiken. In 2010, 64 people died from illicit drug use in the county — down from 77 the year prior. Figures peaked in 2008, when 109 died.

At Spokane’s exchange, the signs of the cuts are plain to see: sterile water, which Everson hands out in packets so that people don’t mix their drugs with tap water (which can contain minerals and other things Everson says are better kept out of your veins) is being limited.

“This isn’t reflective of our service.

This is a reflection in overall cuts in HIV prevention dollars,” St. John says. In fiscal year 2010, the needle exchange and HIV testing received $306,874. In the fiscal year 2011 budget, which has yet to be approved, St. John says she expects to receive $210,122.

However, drug deaths are on the rise nationally (prescription-drug overdoses are increasingly the culprit, according to a recent Los Angeles Times analysis). In 2009, the Centers for Disease control reported that more people died from drug overdoses than traffic accidents.

Everson used to give out containers to hold used needles. That ended, too; green Folgers coffee cans are the substitute.

In 2010, the way Washington funded HIV prevention changed, says Maria Courogen, office director for infectious disease at the state Department of Health.

“I tell people, ‘Share food and gossip — don’t share anything else,’” Everson says. “Some people will and some people won’t.”

The district credits the exchange program with curbing the spread of HIV through injection drug users.

It’s effective enough that social services in North Idaho, which has no needle exchange, direct their clients to Spokane and in some cases even drive them over the border themselves.

The economy’s plunge in 2008 played no small part in the rise in exchanged needles, says Everson, who has worked at the exchange since it opened in 1991. But word-of-mouth has played a part, too.

“More people know about [our] services,” Everson says. “I think our reputation as a safe place has gotten out.”

People come to the exchange from all sorts of backgrounds. Laid off from construction, dropped out of high school, working at a call center, attending Gonzaga University, subsisting on what they could scrounge up from a scrap yard. Many whom The Inlander interviewed last week said they were addicted to heroin, methamphetamine, or both.

“Their big concern is that we are still here for them.”

The Legislature that year opted to switch from a system in which HIV prevention money is distributed to regional agencies called AIDSNET to a system where the money is distributed from the state to local agencies directly. The Department of Health has opted to distribute its money to where the disease is affecting the most people, which Courogen says is the Seattle area.

“Pretty much all of the counties outside of King County have had to cut back services,” Courogen says. “In terms of managing an epidemic, and deciding where you put the resources, it made sense to us to put money where the disease is.”

Talk, however, remains free, and that’s what Everson does with everyone who comes to her table.

Bill, a 35-year-old who came to the exchange, draws the line at sharing needles. But he does re-use, if he has to. When asked about it, he sticks out his left arm. Two purple marks show where he used an old needle to inject, a feeling that he says is like inserting “a barb on a fishhook” into his skin.

(Needles, after repeated use, bend and become blunt.)

Bill came to the exchange with a brown paper bag full of 350 needles.

He says he lost his truckdriving job, and so he lost his car and his boat and just about everything else he owned, but he kept his methamphetamine addiction, and his heroin addiction as well.

The needles were for him and three others, although he usually brings somewhere around 1,250. He now predicts that he’ll be coming back more often, if he can make it. If he can’t, then his addictions dictate what happens next.

“It’ll make you have to reuse,” says Bill, who spoke on the condition that his last name not be published.

So far, Everson hasn’t seen an increase in the negative effects of needle use, such as sharing or reusing needles.

She says it’s too early to tell.

Avoiding

Overdose It’s Often Family to the Rescue During Opioid ODs

The tragic scenario has become far too familiar: A mother, a father or a sibling discovers the lifeless body of a loved one who has overdosed on opioids.

But a new study suggests that family members may be able to play a lifesaving role in some of these instances, mostly because of increased access to an antidote that can reverse an otherwise deadly ending. Sometimes, even the victims can rescue themselves from a potentially fatal overdose.

Researchers in Massachusetts looked at people who underwent training in using the antidote -- known as naloxone (Narcan, Evzio) -- and found that family members used it in about 20 percent of slightly over 4,000 rescue attempts. Almost all rescue attempts were successful.

“Individuals who use opioids are likely to use naloxone on both friends and family” who overdose, explained study author Dr. Sarah Bagley, an assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine.

Naloxone “is the treatment of choice for opioid overdose, and has been for decades,” Bagley noted.

“And people who do not use opioids, often parents of opioid users, are also likely to use naloxone on friends or strangers, not just on family members,” she said. “It is important that anyone who may be around someone at risk for an opioid overdose have access to naloxone.”

The researchers found that those who got training made 4,373 attempts to use naloxone to save people who were overdosing on opioids such as the painkiller OxyContin or heroin.

It hasn’t been clear, however, how loved ones fit into the picture of naloxone use. So, the researchers tracked almost 41,000 people who enrolled in training programs in Massachusetts between 2008 and 2015. Just over a quarter were relatives of drug users, and many reported being substance users themselves.

Of those, 20 percent had earlier defined themselves as likely to use the antidote on a family member. Overall, the drug users who were overdosing survived 98 percent of the time, Bagley said.

“The findings likely reflect the situation elsewhere in the country,” she said.

The United States is in the grip of an opioid painkiller epidemic, with more than 10 million people using prescription opioids for non-medical reasons in 2014, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Meanwhile, heroin use has jumped fivefold in the past decade, a trend many health officials blame on the lax use of opioid prescription painkillers.

“Families are willing participants in this fight again overdose deaths, and more should be done to involve them as allies,” Bagley said.

Detecting FRIDAY, Oct. 27, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- An experimental fingerprint test could confirm within seconds if someone has used cocaine, according to a new study.

“This is the first time it has ever been used to detect the presence of drugs in fingerprints...”

The screening “is noninvasive, hygienic and can’t be faked,” Bailey said in a university news release. “By the nature of the test, the identity of the subject, and their drug use, is all captured within the sample itself.”

The screening might pave the way for fingerprint-detection of other dangerous drugs such as heroin and ecstasy, said scientists at the University of Surrey in England.

“This is the first time it has ever been used to detect the presence of drugs in fingerprints, and our results show the technique was 99 percent effective in detecting cocaine use among the patients,” Costa said.

“This is a real breakthrough in our work to bring a realtime, noninvasive drug-testing method to the market that will provide a definitive result in a matter of minutes. We are already working on a 30-second method,” said study co-leader Melanie Bailey, a chemistry lecturer.

When people take cocaine, they excrete trace amounts of benzoylecgonine and methylecgonine. These chemicals can be detected in fingerprint residue even after hand-washing, the researchers explained.

For the study, 239 sets of fingerprints were taken from patients seeking treatment at drug rehab centers and from a larger control group of nondrug users.

The British researchers developed the test in partnership with the Netherlands Forensic Institute in The Hague and Intelligent Fingerprinting of Cambridge, England. They used chromatography paper to collect fingerprint samples and relied on a technique known as paper spray mass spectrometry.

“Paper spray mass spectrometry is gaining increasing popularity in forensic circles because it is incredibly sensitive and is very easy to set up a testing system. The units will save laboratories time,” said study co-leader Catia Costa, a doctoral student in Bailey’s university lab.

The researchers said the test could be ready within 10 years for use by law enforcement. They noted that traditional drug tests, which rely on bodily fluids, can pose biological hazards and may be more difficult to discard or store.

The study was published recently in the journal Clinical Chemistry.

Other Signs of Cocaine Use:

• Enlarged pupils so dilated that eyes look almost entirely black.

• Restlessness, increased alertness and energy.

• Loss of interest in food; weight loss.

• Loss of interest in sleep; insomnia.

• Talkativeness, fast speech or scattered speech – skipping from topic to topic.

• Dramatic mood changes: elated, irritable, depressed, argumentative, aggressive.

• Increased heart rate.

• Nasal congestion.

Getting to know...

Center for Counseling and Consultation

The Center for Counseling and Consultation is a community resource where people with normal problems in living can receive help and guidance. The Center was established in January, 1968, by the local Mental Health Association, in conjunction with the county commissioners in the cou nties that are served.

The mission of The Center for Counseling and Consultation is to provide professional, licensed mental health services where Everyone Matters. By developing a caring, effective relationship, every client and employee is enhanced in our community.

The Center is a community supported facility that was organized under Kansas Law and is governed by a Board of Governors composed of citizens from each of the four participating counties including consumer and family member representation.

The Center is staffed by professionally trained mental health personnel and serves all residents of Baron, Rice, Stafford and Pawnee Counties, regardless of age, race, creed or income level.

Services Include: • Assessment for Alcohol and Drug Abuse • Children’s play therapy • Community Based Services for Children offering Case Management, Psychosical Groups, Home Based Attendant Care, Parent Support and SED Waiver services • Community planning and development • Community Support Program for Adults offering Case Management, Psychosocial Programming, and Supported Employment Services • Consultation services to individuals, schools, social service agencies and other facilities (i.e. child and youth agencies, businesses, nursing homes, ministers, etc.)

• Crisis Attendant Care • Domestic Violence including Anger Control

• Educational services to churches, schools and civic groups. Referral to appropriate services where needed. Services are available in the following locations: Great Bend, Lyons, Larned, and St. John.

All appointments are scheduled through the Great Bend office.

• Family therapy • Group Psychotherapy • Individual Counseling and Psychotherapy • Marital Counseling • Outpatient psychiatric and psychological evaluations • Psychotropic Medication Evaluations • Rape Counseling • Screening and Referral for Inpatient Care • Sexual-Abuse Treatment • Twenty-Four-Hour Crisis Intervention

There are many costs to addictive behavior and identifying those that you are currently experiencing can help you recognize whether the costs are beginning to cause substantial harm and may signal an addiction being present. In addition to your own evaluation, try to imagine how others might rate your behavior on this list.

Paying For

adDICTION The cost is far greater than just money

Emotional costs of addiction:

Include living with daily feelings of fear, anger, sadness, shame, guilt, paranoia, loss of pleasure, boredom, emotional instability, self-loathing (disgust with oneself), loneliness, isolation, and feelings worthlessness.

Social costs of addiction:

Disruption or damage to important relationships; decreased ability or interest in forming meaningful connections with others; and limiting one’s social sphere to other unhealthy, addicted persons.

Physical and health costs of addiction:

Poor general health; poor personal hygiene; lowered energy and endurance; diminished enjoyment of sex or sexual dysfunction; poor sleep; and damaging the health of an unborn child (with certain types of substance use).

Intellectual costs of addiction:

Loss of creative pursuits; decreased ability to solve problems; and poor memory.

Work and productivity costs of addiction:

Decreased productivity in all aspects of life; missing important deadlines and failing to meet obligations; impaired ability to safely operate tools and equipment (including driving); and lost time due to accidents arising from being impaired (e.g., falling and breaking a leg).

Lost time due to addiction:

Sacrificing time spent in meaningful, life enriching activities in order to engage in addictive behaviors.

Diminished personal integrity due to addiction:

As addicted people gradually lose their moral compass, they begin to disrespect the rights and needs other people. They even mistreat the people that matter to them most. This begins by failing to meet certain responsibilities, commitments, or obligations and evolves into more obvious forms of disrespect and mistreatment as addiction progresses, such as flat-out lying and deception; stealing from loved ones; and threatening these same people if their demands are not met.

Financial costs of addiction:

Money spent on the addiction itself; money spent dealing with the consequences of addiction (healthcare costs, legal costs, etc.).

Legal costs of addiction: direct legal costs due to involvement with an illegal drug or activity (e.g. selling drugs, child pornography); indirect legal costs because of what someone did while engaging in their addiction (DUI, bar fights, domestic violence, divorce); or did not do (failing to care for children properly).

The goal is to provide a framework in which people can reclaim their lives.

Sobriety

Women for Taking a look at one of the oldest self-empowering groups

Women for Sobriety, Inc., is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping women discover an abstinent New Life. It is the first self-help recovery program based on the unique emotional needs of women. WFS was founded in July, 1975, and has been helping women in recovery from alcohol and drug addictions for over 40 years.

The WFS New Life Program is based on Thirteen Acceptance Statements which encourage emotional and spiritual growth. The New Life Program is extremely effective in helping women gain and maintain sobriety. The Thirteen Statements act as a guide for women to embrace positive lifestyle changes.

WFS has certified moderators leading face-to-face groups and many women serving as local contacts in the US and Canada. We also have a 24/7 online forum and multiple weekly online chats. To learn more explore this site, visit our catalog, and read our blog. Then register for our online community or contact our office for free literature, face-to-face meeting locations, and local contact information. Any woman seeking an abstinent New Life is welcome to join WFS. WFS is the oldest of the self-empowering support groups.

It originated in reaction to the concept of powerlessness that is a component of all 12-step programs.

Step 1: “We admitted we were powerless over our addiction- that our lives had become unmanageable” Culturally speaking, women are already disempowered so “admitting we were powerless” is hardly an admission at all. Second, many women with addiction problems are also recovering from abuse, depression, domestic violence, rape, etc. Recovery from these types of problems requires women to reclaim their personal power. Therefore, “admitting powerlessness” is often counter-therapeutic.

12-step programs have a historically male culture. As such, program participants emphasize the importance of diminishing their egotistical nature. 12-step groups emphasize the importance of diminishing selfimportance and selfishness. In fact, the “anonymous” nature of 12-step programs originated from concerns about members making egotistical claims to selfimportance, propriety rights, etc. Women often have difficulty relating to these “character defects” as 12step language refers to them. This is because women’s difficulties often stem from the exact opposite of self-importance and selfishness. Women have greater problems with selflessness and a diminished sense of self-importance. This self-concept is problematic because it suggests a person is less deserving of basic respect and dignity. WFS counters the male culture of 12-step program with a female culture of the “New Life” Acceptance program:

1. I have a life-threatening problem that once had me.

2. Negative thoughts destroy only me.

3. Happiness is a habit I will develop.

4. Problems bother me only to the degree I permit them to.

5. I am what I think.

6. Life can be ordinary or it can be great.

7. Love can change the course of my world.

8. The fundamental object of life is emotional and spiritual growth.

9. The past is gone forever.

10. All love given returns.

11. Enthusiasm is my daily exercise.

12. I am a competent woman and have much to give life.

13. I am responsible for myself and my actions.

Epidemic Calvert County’s heroin problem

If the heroin plague were merely a law enforcement issue, it probably would have been eradicated by now.

Politicians at all levels have acknowledged the severity of what is now almost always called “the heroin epidemic.” Police conduct major undercover investigations and periodically join prosecutors in announcing mass arrests. Anne Arundel has seen targeted efforts, such as the county police Heroin Overdose Prevention and Eradication effort, which seems to have tamped down the heroin market in the southern part of the county.

The problem is that heroin isn’t just a matter of law enforcement, but an addiction — and for all too many users, a quicksand pit of a lifestyle that ruins employment prospects and warps their whole existence.

“Addiction is just like a cancer,” said Alonzo Proctor, who was put into the county’s drug court program after being one of the 11 indicted in 2014, following a joint undercover investigation by the Annapolis Police Department and the Calvert County Sheriff’s Department. “I don’t think they understand.”

Proctor’s experience, recounted in today’s front-page story, is part of our effort to understand — a three-part series that looks at the efforts to dismantle drug distribution networks and deal fairly and effectively with those involved.

Amid the heroin crisis, the worlds of dealers and users converge No one has miracle cures for this cancer. But some themes do emerge.

One is that the line between drug users and drug dealers — a central distinction in the criminal justice system — isn’t always easy to draw. Addicts like Proctor often wind up dealing drugs to buy drugs, acting as the most vulnerable and most disposable links in the drug distribution chain.

Public officials know the heroin problem can’t be handled by the police alone — it’s like expecting them to punch a hole in a lake.

Treatment or Prison

This feeds into a second problem facing the judicial system, particularly with younger offenders with scanty prior records: When should they go into drug court or get treatment and when should they go to jail, acquiring a record that may make them virtually unemployable? As judges are not infallible, they sometimes give second chances to people who scorn them. Then police and prosecutors get irate as they find themselves repeatedly arresting and prosecuting the same offenders.

Another theme, dealt with in Monday’s story, is a curious pattern. On the whole, the victims of heroin and opioid overdoses in this county are white. Those arrested for drug dealing, particularly in Annapolis, tend to be black. The pattern may be a byproduct of police going after easy-to-spot drug markets in public places — as opposed to suburbs, where dealers and customers may be arranging meetings via cellphone.

Public officials know the heroin problem can’t be handled by the police alone — it’s like expecting them to punch a hole in a lake.

The drug court program has had notable successes, and the county’s 2016 budget includes $800,000 to open a new addiction clinic for Annapolis and south county residents.

Even beyond treatment, public awareness is crucial. We’re hoping our stories contribute to this, and encourage public and officials alike to come up with strategies to deal with an ongoing problem that killed more than 50 people in the county in 2014, and blights many other lives.

Hope I Never Gave Up

Created by Lea Minalga

when I held my child for the first time, I had great Years ago, expectations and prayed blessings to follow him all the days of his life. As he grew older it was obvious to me that Justin could be anything he

wanted; he was my golden-haired, blue-eyed boy. Justin was raised with lots of love, attention and good values. He adored animals and throughout the years we had a wide assortment of creatures wandering around the house. We delighted in Justin’s antics and while he might have been a strong willed child, he was not a behavioral problem at home or in school. I could not have been more proud of him.

We live in an upscale suburb of Chicago, a quaint and charming community... the perfect place to bring up a child. I had a false sense of security I suppose as I look back. I knew all of Justin’s friends and they came from good homes too. Tragically, many of those kids are now dead or in prison because heroin hit our lovely area like a tsunami.

When Justin was young I worried over kidnappers, pedophiles, bullies and illnesses.

When he got older I warned him about drugs and alcohol. I felt very confident that Justin would not use drugs. Why? He told me so. He was into fitness and all things healthy so that reassured me that he would not use any substances that might harm him.

I probably uttered the most dangerous words a parent could back then when I was in La-La Land....”Not my kid! He is too sensible to get involved in alcohol or other drugs.”

“Not my kid! He is too sensible to get involved in alcohol or other drugs.”

Back then I knew nothing about how the teen brain is not fully mature until age 24 or 25. The last part of the young brain to develop is the “executive center” or prefrontal cortex where logic and reasoning reside. This of course leaves kids at risk for making poor choices at times. Adolescents are by nature just not very sensible. That is why they have parents; to help direct, protect and guide them to adulthood.

When Justin was 16, I discovered that he was shooting up heroin and doing so on a daily basis. Lots of heroin (10-15 bags a day). I remember collapsing to the floor in a heap of despair, anguish and terrifying fear. Our world dramatically changed that day and nothing would ever be the same again.

Those mother prayers of great expectations were reduced to one... please let him live.

Just let him live! I went into that fierce lioness mode of rescuing, enabling, and obsessing over how to fix him. I felt guilt ridden, ashamed, isolated and alone. How could I have missed the signs?

25 treatment centers, hundreds of thousands of dollars later, countless relapses, jail stints and several near death overdoses, I am happy to report that Justin is clean today and doing well. Still there are consequences and an aftermath of emotional upheavals and legal ramifications that follow him.

When toxic chemicals are poured into a precious, developing teen brain, this is what happens.

In 2002 I had the good fortune to meet some of the executives with the Partnership. (Back then they were called The Partnership for a Drug-Free America.) They took me under their wing and were kind, compassionate and understanding. They were angels of light to me -- and enlightenment. They always had time to lend a listening ear, an empathetic heart, and a spirit of wanting to help.

They allowed me to join them, turning my pain into my passion, as part of their Parent Advisory Board. I am so proud to know them and to be able to call them

“I never gave up hope. Never! And remember that it is always darkest before the dawn.”

He began doing very bad things. He stole and lied to me constantly. I kept my wallet under my pillow and slept with my car keys in my bra. In spite of my feeble safeguards he managed to outsmart me most of the time. NO... all of the time!

I became hyper-vigilant and when the phone would ring I would assume the worst. I was sleep deprived, joyless, tearful and scared almost to insanity. I think I had Present -- not Post -- Traumatic Stress Disorder because the chaos and mayhem never let up. ‘Fight or Flight’ was the norm in those days for me. I stopped caring for myself and everything revolved around Justin.

my friends. They are my little Support Group in NYC -- if I am having a rough day I can count on them for strength and gentle, non-judgmental advice. The team encourages and cares about Justin and my welfare. They listen to us, the parents; and learn from our experiences.

I pillage and plunder the Partnership’s website all the time gathering knowledge and wisdom so as to come along side hurt families in my own work as a director of a non-profit organization known as Hearts of Hope. I often wonder how I might have averted disaster with my own son had there been such an incredible source of materials back then when I needed it.

I was naive to the dangers of drugs and certainly never had a clue about heroin other than skinny, old junkies in the inner cities who used it. Not fresh faced children.

As parents, it is our obligation to learn as much as we can about what our kids are facing in this world today. Teens have many pressures, temptations and stressors, and we must be there to help steer them into adulthood safe, intact and drug free!

We cannot hide our heads in the sand and assume that kids will experiment or that they are just going through a phase or will outgrow whatever is going on. Trust your gut and if you feel something is wrong with your child, investigate further, for you probably are right. Reach out and get help.

Parents want to do the right thing for their children but sometimes they simply don’t know what that right thing is. Please do your homework and find out as much as you can about your kids’ world. They need you! We parents matter and we have great persuasion and influence over our kids.

When Justin was in the depths of his addiction and things looked so bleak, I never gave up hope. Never! And remember that it is always darkest before the dawn. Hope is new each morning.

I am thankful to Justin for his courage and to all those who helped us along the way.

Organization profile:

MARS

TM

THE MARS™ PROJECT is a peer-initiated and peer-based recovery support project sponsored by the National Alliance of Medication-Assisted (NAMA) Recovery.

Thanks to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine for providing space and for being supportive of our efforts, the original MARS™ Community was launched in 2005 with funding from a SAMHSA RCSP grant.

In 2012, the Beyond MARS™ Training Institute was formed to replicate this model and implement MARS™ “satellite” programs across the United States.

The growing MARS™ Community currently includes seventeen programs across the United States and two programs in Haiphong, Vietnam. We offer a wide range of training and technical assistance services.

Suzanne Hall-Westcott, MS, CASAC, CARC DIRECTOR, BEYOND MARS TRAINING INSTITUTE

Walter P Ginter

FOUNDING PROJECT DIRECTOR OF THE MARS™ PROJECT. Walter is founding Project Director of the Medication Assisted Recovery Support (MARS™) Project. MARS™ is designed to provide peer recovery support to persons whose recovery from opiate addiction is assisted by medication. MARS™ is a collaboration between the Division of Substance Abuse, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University and the National Alliance for Medication Assisted (NAMA) Recovery. MARS™ was funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT), Recovery Community Services Program (RCSP).

In 2012 he helped create the Beyond MARS Training Institute at Einstein where opiate treatment programs are trained to implement MARS™ around the US. Prior to MARS, Walter served NAMA Recovery as Vice President, Director of Training and as a board member.

He has also served as a board member of Faces and Voices of Recovery (FaVoR), as a National Recovery Month Planning Partner, a member of the NYS Recovery Implementation Team, and as a member of the Methadone Transition Advisory Group (MTAG). He has served on more than twenty federal and NYS panels, expert panels, and advisory groups.

He was a recipient of the Richard Lane/Robert Holden Patient Advocacy Award at the 2009 American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD) National Conference in NYC. He also received the 2012 Vernon Johnson America Honors Recovery Award from Faces and Voices of Recovery in Washington. DC.

Suzanne Hall-Westcott’s professional training credentials include a master’s degree in education and experience managing both corporate and nonprofit training projects. She is a NY State Certified Addiction Counselor and Recovery Coach. She has worked with education and training in the field of addictions for 20 years and has worked extensively with organizations that support and promote education and training in the field over those years, presenting at conferences and working as a member of the NY State Certification Board.

Suzanne has developed and delivered training projects internationally, many funded by the US Department of State and SAMHSA, working extensively in Asia, Africa and South America. Suzanne continues her international training work as a consultant and also works at the MARS (Medication-Assisted Recovery Services) Project at the Einstein College of Medicine, where she created the Beyond MARS International Training Institute. Beyond MARS provides recovery-focused training across the US and has taken the unique MARS model of peer support and education to eight sites in Vietnam, thanks to funding from SAMHSA, UNODC and UCLA. In addition to her work with MARS, Suzanne provides (or has provided) training development, delivery and technical assistance for GROW (Guiding the Recovery of Women); the Universal Treatment Curriculum (part of an international professional certification effort for staff working in the field of addictions); Daytop International; and Phoenix House.

Naloxone The Overdose Response Program

THE MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH (MDH) launched Maryland’s Overdose Response Program (ORP) in 2014 to train and certify individuals most able to assist someone at risk of dying from an opioid overdose when emergency medical services are not immediately available. Trained individuals in Calvert County will receive a certificate of completion, a prescription for naloxone, and a kit containing two doses of naloxone and the necessary supplies for administration.

Free Training for Community Members

The Calvert County Health Department is offering the Overdose Response Program for FREE to community members who may be able to save the life of someone experiencing breathing problems from opioid overdose. The training is meant for adults who are likely to be in a situation where they could help someone experiencing an opioid overdose.

For information about the Overdose Response Program or to schedule a group training,

contact Ashley Staples at 410-535-3079 x41 or email mdhdl-calchd-substanceabusecchd@ maryland.gov

Participants in the training will learn:

How to recognize the signs and symptoms of opioid overdose The importance of calling 911 for further medical assistance after giving naloxone How to administer naloxone and care for someone until emergency help arrives

Who should participate in the Overdose Response Program?

Anyone over the age of 18 is eligible

Anyone with close contacts (e.g., family members, friends, housemates, neighbors) who are using opioids Anyone who may be in situation (e.g., work, volunteer, social) where an overdose may occur Anyone currently receiving methadone Anyone with an opioid prescription What if I am interested in getting naloxone but can’t make it to a class?

According to Maryland law, any licensed prescriber can prescribe naloxone to a patient who may be in a position to respond to an opioid overdose. This means that you can ask your doctor for a prescription for naloxone.

What is Naloxone?

Naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan®, is a life-saving medication that can quickly restore the breathing of a person who has overdosed on heroin or prescription opioid pain medication like oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine, fentanyl or methadone.

Naloxone binds to opioid receptors in the brain, displacing the opioids and temporarily reversing their life-threatening effects. The medication lasts 30-90 minutes, so it is important to call 911 for further medical assistance.

Narcan Nasal Spray

Available only by prescription, naloxone has few side effects, is not a controlled substance, cannot get a person high and is safe for children and pregnant women. Because naloxone does not affect someone without opioids in his or her system, it can only reverse overdoses involving opioids like prescription pain medication and heroin.

Naloxone can be administered intravenously (as is done by medical personnel), injected intramuscularly or sprayed intranasally—both of which can be easily done by trained community members.

Peer Support

Offering a helping hand

What is recovery?

Recovery is a process of change through which individuals improve their health and wellness, live a self-directed life, and strive to reach their full potential.

Recovery support services are non-clinical services that assist individuals and families to recover from mental illness, substance use and/ or trauma. They include social support, linkage to and coordination among service providers within the community, and a full range of human services that facilitate recovery and wellness contributing to an improved quality of life.

Peer Recovery Support Specialists are individuals in recovery from any life altering event or disruption. Their lived experience, plus skills learned in formal training, allow them to provide recovery support in such a way that others can benefit from their experiences.

Southern Maryland JobSource is available by appointment on Fridays.

Please contact Cheryl Thorne, Job Service Specialist, at 301-645-8712.

What does a peer support specialist do?

• Peer support plays an important role in fostering individual recovery • Assists others in building their own self-directed wellness recovery action plans • Facilitate peer self-help and educational groups • Use recovery-oriented tools to help their peers address challenges • Empower others by helping them identify their strengths, supports, resources and skills

Calvert County Behavioral Health’s Recovery Support Services (Calvert Recovery Corner) is located at 280 Stafford Road, Barstow, MD 20610. We provide a variety of recovery and peer support services along with community outreach and educational programs. Peer based groups are facilitated weekly or upon request to include “Medication Assisted Recovery Support” (MARS) and the “Wellness Recovery Action Plan” (WRAP). Internet access and laptops are available for use in the recovery group room as well.

Appointments for individual peer support can be made by contacting the peer support specialist, Megan Sarikaya, at 410-535-3079 x35.

If you are interested in using the space for a recovery support group or have any questions regarding our services, please contact P. Lynn Taylor, Recovery Support Coordinator at 410-535-3079 x36.

Stopping Pill Mills FIGHTING TO END OVER-PERSCRIPTION

AS BALTIMORE STRUGGLES with skyrocketing overdose deaths linked largely to opioids such

as heroin and prescription painkillers, state officials suspended the medical license of a local pain doctor for allegedly over-prescribing the highly addictive medications.

According to an emergency order from the state Board of Physicians suspending the medical license of Dr. Kofi ShawTaylor, he gave “excessively high” amounts of opioid painkillers to some patients, while prescribing others both opioids and drugs to curb opioid addiction at the same time.

The order said Shaw-Taylor, trained as a surgeon specializing in urology, didn’t examine some patients but left prescriptions for them at his North Baltimore practice. The order also said he prescribed opioid painkillers to patients even if they tested positive for illicit drugs and gave prescriptions to patients after another doctor practicing in the office declined to.

Shaw-Taylor “does not follow standards for practicing pain management and is professionally incompetent in regard to his pain management practices, especially his prescribing of opioids,” reads the order signed May 9 and recently made available on the board website.

MEDICAL OFFICE CLOSED AFTER RAID

In April, Shaw-Taylor was charged with one count of Medicaid fraud after his office was raided and closed by federal and local law enforcement. Shaw-Taylor was arraigned and released on bail. He’s scheduled to appear in court in October. A lawyer listed in court records said he no longer represented the doctor.

Todd Edwards, a spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said the investigation continues by the agency’s Tactical Diversion Squad, which includes federal agents as well as city and some county police departments and the state attorney general’s office.

DEA raid on Baltimore pain clinic prompts city health department to issue alert about possible increase in overdoses “Obviously the alleged over-prescribing is a concern for DEA, because it leads to very quick and acute dependence to opioids, which, if not addressed could lead the user to switch from prescribed medication to heroin/fentanyl,” Edwards said in an email.

The bulk of overdose deaths in the city and state are related to heroin and fentanyl, a much stronger synthetic drug often mixed into heroin without the user’s knowledge. Officials have said that many people become addicted to illicit drugs after being prescribed opioid painkillers.

Doctors’ offices that vastly over-prescribe opioids, sometimes called “pill mills,” are uncommon, Wen said, but can be devastating.

And while she said in general shuttering rogue operations is necessary and steering those with addiction to treatment crucial, some people have legitimate pain issues and should be able to access medications. She called pain management and addiction treatment complex fields and said that those with pain should seek out properly trained doctors who can determine an appropriate course of treatment.

The board’s order said Shaw-Taylor had no training in pain management.

He had limited addiction treatment training, though his certifications were not current. The online records show he was first licensed in Maryland in 1981 and his license to practice medicine was set to expire in September if not renewed.

Wen was so alarmed when ShawTaylor’s office was shuttered by law enforcement in April that she sent an alert to a network of medical providers throughout Baltimore about a possible increase in drug overdoses and withdrawals among local patients.

The alert was further disseminated by state health officials.

“The vast majority of doctors and prescribers are good people who want do right thing,” Wen said. “Finding cases of abuse and addressing them are important. It allows the rest of us to continue to treat our patients for pain when they have legitimate need, but at the same time assist people who need help for addiction.”

The Board of Physicians declined to say if Shaw-Taylor is contesting his license suspension, citing a state law that calls for privacy in the disciplinary process. State code allows for a set of hearings and appeals. The panel typically sanctions a dozen or more doctors a month out of thousands practicing in the state for a range of actions.

The board’s order cited complaints against Shaw-Taylor dating to 2015 from hospital officials, a pharmacist, a patient, a patient’s family member and anonymous sources, who found Shaw-Taylor’s actions unprofessional or inappropriate. The public’s health, safety or welfare required the emergency action, according to the order.

The order also said Shaw-Taylor lost privileges in 2015 at an unnamed area hospital after two of his urological surgical patients suffered complications and there were not proper medical records.

After that, the order said, he retained no hospital privileges and ramped up his pain management practice.

Signs and Symptoms of

Drug Drug Use Use

There are many signs, both physical and behavioral, that indicate drug use. Each drug has its own unique manifestations, but there are some general indications that a person is using drugs: • • • • • • • •

Sudden change in behavior Mood swings; irritable and grumpy and then suddenly happy and bright Withdrawal from family members Careless about personal grooming Loss of interest in hobbies, sports and other favorite activities Changed sleeping pattern; up at night and sleeping during the day Red or glassy eyes Sniffly or runny nose

The following are effects related to frequently used drugs and signs and symptoms of specific drug use: Cocaine Effects Impaired thinking, confused, anxious, depressed, short tempered, panic attacks, suspiciousness, dilated pupils, sleeplessness, loss of appetite, decreased sexual drive, restlessness, irritability, very talkative, scratching, hallucinations, paranoia.

Depressants (Tranquilizers and Barbiturates) Decreased inhibition, slowed motor coordination, lethargy, relaxed muscles, staggering gait, poor judgment, slow or uncertain reflexes, disorientation, slurred speech.

Ecstasy Effects Changes in mental and physical stimulation, altered perception of sound, light, touch. Stimulation of physical energy with related decrease in appetite and increase in body temperature. Increase in emotional response and sensual reactions. Teeth clenching, muscle cramping, nausea, chills and sweating. Body may overheat which can lead to fatalities.

Heroin Effects Chemically enforced euphoria, a dreamlike state similar to sleep in which the person can drift off for minutes or hours at a time. For longtime abusers, heroin may act like a stimulant, and they can perform a normal daily routine. Others may find themselves completely powerless to do anything.

Inhalant Effects Short-term euphoria, giggling, silliness, dizziness, followed by headaches and fainting or unconsciousness. Long-term use: Memory loss, emotional instability, impairment of reasoning, slurred speech, clumsy, staggering gait, eye flutter, tremors, hearing loss, loss of sense of smell, and escalating stages of brain atrophy. Sometimes these serious long-term effects are reversible with body detoxification and nutritional therapy; sometimes the brain damage is irreversible or only partially reversible.

LSD (Acid) Effects Dilated pupils, skin discoloration, loss of coordination, false sense of power, euphoria, distortion of time and space, hallucinations, confusion, paranoia, nausea, vomiting, loss of control, anxiety, panic, helplessness, and self-destructive behavior.

Marijuana Effects Compulsive eating, bloodshot and squinty red eyes (may have trouble keeping them open), dry mouth, excessive and uncontrollable laughter, forgetfulness, short-term memory loss, extreme lethargy, delayed motor skills, occasional paranoia, hallucinations, laziness, lack of motivation, stupidity, sickly sweet smell on body, hair and clothes, and strong mood changes and behaviors when the person is “high.”

Methamphetamine Effects “Wired”–sleeplessness for days and weeks at a time, total loss of appetite, extreme weight loss, dilated pupils, excited, talkative, deluded sense of power, paranoia, depression, loss of control, nervousness, unusual sweating, shaking, anxiety, hallucinations, aggression, violence, dizziness, mood changes, blurred vision, mental confusion, agitation.

PCP Effects Sometimes violent or bizarre behavior (suicide has often occurred), paranoia, fearfulness, anxiety, aggression, acting withdrawn, skin flushing, sweating, dizziness, total numbness, and impaired perceptions.

Too Much Too Much Learning when to cut back or quit drinking

If you have been drinking at a level that is considered high-risk or heavy drinking, you may want to consider making a change in your drinking patterns or quit altogether. But which is the best choice for you? Should you try moderating your alcohol consumption, or should you try to quit?

Many people do learn to moderate their drinking and are successful in returning to a pattern of low-risk drinking.

Just as there are support groups for those trying to quit drinking, there are support groups for those who are trying to cut down or moderate their drinking.

Just as there are support groups for those trying to quit drinking, there are support groups for those who are trying to cut down or moderate their drinking.

When Cutting Down Does Not Work

Other Reasons to Quit

You are the person who is in the best position to make the decision of whether to cut down or quit. If you can consistently drink one or two drinks and no more, then you may be able to cut down to a low-risk drinking pattern. But if you find that those first two drinks usually trigger an urge for more and you rarely drink only two, chances are moderation is not an option.

It’s Your Decision

If you try to cut down, but find that you cannot stay within the limits that you set for yourself, it may be best to quit instead.

One of the main reasons that people decide to quit drinking and seek help to do so is because they find they have lost the ability to control the amount they drink.

When Quitting Is Advised

There are other reasons that quitting drinking may be a better option for you than moderation or cutting down, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).

If you are planning to make a change in your drinking, it is best if you discuss the decision with your healthcare provider.

Your physician may recommend that you quit drinking based on other factors.

Whatever your decision— to cut down or to quit drinking— there is support available to help you met your goals. If you decide to quit, you may want to seek help. You do not have to do it on your own.

Death 1 a Day

Tackling the opioid crisis in a rural community

AHA News, Sep 27, 2017 One death a day in Maine is caused by an opioid overdose. Bridgton family practice physician Craig Smith, M.D., a member of the Bridgton Hospital medical staff, is on the front line in the battle against the crisis that is harming people of all ages and all walks of life – not just in Maine but in communities large and small across the country.

A Bridgton substance abuse counselor, Catherine Bell, nearly a decade ago approached Smith about prescribing Suboxone, an opiate withdrawal medication, to treat patients with opioid use disorder (OUD). If he did, she would provide counseling to those patients.

Smith was reluctant to do so until he realized the OUD crisis had reached his tiny community of 5,000 residents and could not be ignored. Four of his patients died of overdoses in one month, including a 34-year-old mom of two small children.

“I was totally unaware they were using it,” he says. “It was a wakeup call that we had an enormous problem and I was sticking my head in the sand.”

“It was a wakeup call that we had an enormous problem and I was sticking my head in the sand.”

- Craig smith, M.D.

Frum says, “It has been a joy as a CEO to see our medical staff identify a major problem – and here in western Maine it is a significant problem – and figure out a creative way to address it.”

The practitioners who are implementing MAT view it as the standard of care for treating OUD. They say it saves lives while increasing the chances patients remain in treatment and learn the skills necessary for long-term recovery.

With the support of Bridgton Hospital CEO David Frum, Smith partnered with Bell, director of Crooked River Counseling, to set up medication-assisted treatment – or MAT – to treat OUD in his primary care practice. MAT pairs nondrug therapies, such as counseling or cognitive behavioral therapy, with a Food and Drug Administration-approved medication, like Suboxone, to treat patients suffering from OUD. Before the program began in 2009, the only other OUD treatment option was a methadone clinic, which was an hour and 45 minute drive away in Portland.

Smith, three other physicians – including his wife, Jennifer Smith, M.D., also a member of the hospital’s medical staff – and two nurse practitioners, prescribe the medication.

Crooked River Counseling provides intensive outpatient counseling and group therapy for the patients. About 200 patients are enrolled in the program.

Appointments at Smith’s North Bridgton Family Practice are coordinated with patients’ counseling sessions at Crooked “We got overwhelming support from the hospital,” says Smith. “I was amazed when David and our leadership said, ‘if you are telling River Counseling, just five miles down the road. Crooked River us this is a significant problem in our community, we will standby Counseling is located on the you and do whatever we need to do to care for these patients.’” hospital’s campus, which the As part of the program, the 25-bed critical access hospital provides partners say leads to better coordination of the treatment comprehensive maternity care to women with OUD during their and services.>>> pregnancy.

>>>“That interconnectedness of services has served us well in putting these pieces together so it is holistically balanced for our patients,” Frum says.

“We have constant communication with our providers and we talk about cases all the time,” Bell says. “We tell our clients that the doctor and I are going to do that so we can give you the best possible care.”

The program seeks to remove the stigma associated with the disorder.

“Often it is the first time they really tell somebody how severe their use is,” Bell says.

“It takes courage to walk through that door.”

Smith talks to patients about the stigma. “I tell them that I can’t undo the prejudices some people may have about you, but you can hold your head high and know you are doing the right thing.”

Bell notes that more than 90% of her clients “started out with a legitimate medical need to take a prescription,” but at some point lost control. “Recovery is about rebuilding relationships and being a productive member of the community and society,” she says. “They start building recovery-based relationships the moment they walk through our doors.”

The program supports pregnant OUD mothers in a net of integrated care that keeps their babies close to home. Despite its modest size, Bridgton Hospital six years ago began delivering babies born to local mothers on Suboxone.

“The police can’t do it alone.

But we can come together as a team when the community says this is a problem and we need to fix it.” - Craig smith, M.d.

Before the hospital adopted the maternity care program, Jennifer Smith observes that “our obstetric nurses were caring for these women their entire pregnancy, then sending them to larger hospitals to deliver their babies. All of our [obstetrics] nurses are now trained in Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome scoring, which is a withdrawal scoring system for newborns exposed to opioids or [Suboxone].”

She says “Bridgton Hospital is one of only a few rural hospitals in the state providing this level of care for opioid-dependent mothers and I am proud to be a part of it.”

Craig Smith adds: “We are a community hospital and I wasn’t sure how that would go over. But we got tremendous support from the hospital and multiple departments to make sure we could take care of moms who needed to be here and care for their babies.”

Smith has watched patients turn their lives around, go back to work, reconnect with their families and dramatically reduce their risk of dying from an overdose.

“We can’t do it alone,” he says. “The police can’t do it alone. But we can come together as a team when the community says this is a problem and we need to fix it.”

Too few treatment facilities, qualified personnel and limited insurance coverage are barriers to widespread adoption of MAT programs like the model implemented in Bridgton.

But hospital CEO Frum said his small rural community’s experience in tackling the OUD epidemic demonstrates that where there is the will there is a way to overcome those barriers.

“There are barriers, but that is what led us to create this integrated, creative local solution that has saved people,” he says. “They otherwise would have been lost and that is why we do it.”

collision course Rate of fatal car accidents involving prescriptions opioids surges

AMERICA’S OPIOID EPIDEMIC continues to manifest itself in a new report that reveals a drastic sevenfold spike in the number of fatal car accidents involving opioid prescriptions.

Columbia University researchers present this data at a time that when the use of prescription drugs like hydrocodone and oxycodone has increased four times the rate, going from 76 million in 1991 to almost 300 million in 2014, they stated.

“The risk associated with driving under the influence of opioids affects all road users,” said coauthor Dr. Guohua Li, a professor and director at the Center for Injury Epidemiology and Prevention at Columbia University. “The issue of drugged driving should be a cause for concern to all of us.”

“Consumption of prescription opioids in the U.S. has increased markedly in the past two decades,” he said. “It’s a major driver of the ongoing opioid epidemic, which is widely recognized as a national public health crisis. The impact of the opioid epidemic on traffic safety, however, is understudied.”

The researchers looked at 20 years worth of statistics from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and scouted drivers who died in West Virginia, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Illinois, Hawaii and California. These states consistently monitor and test for substance use in car-related accidents that result in fatalities.

“The study was based on six states that routinely test for drugs in 80 percent or more of all drivers who are fatally injured in motor vehicle crashes,” said co-author Stanford Chihuri, an epidemiologist at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. “In addition, the study only included drivers who died within an hour of the crash in order to avoid potential bias from opioids administered after the crash.”

After analyzing nearly 37,000 drivers, almost a quarter were found to have a substance in their system and 3 percent of these results were linked to prescription opioids throughout the two-decade span. This data exposed that the number of opioids detected in fatal car accidents increased from 1 percent in 1995 to 7.2 percent in 2015.

“With regards to drugged driving, women are more likely to be affected than men — 4.4 versus 2.9 percent, respectively,” Li said. “Our data indicate that fatally injured female drivers are significantly more likely to be under the influence of prescription opioids at the time of crash than fatally injured male drivers.”

“Consumption of prescription opioids in the U.S. has increased markedly in the past two decades,” Chihuri believes that the use of the prescriptions opioids found in fatal accidents may be from the nonmedical use of unused postoperative meds and from nonmedical use obtained illegally.

He added that improving the epidemic will require health care professionals to inform patients of the possible dangers of driving under the influence of prescription opioids based on the type and dosage.

“There is no doubt that drugged driving is a serious problem.”

“The risk associated with driving under the influence of opioids affects all road users,” “Findings from this study may help put a spotlight on the adverse effect of prescription opioids on driving safety,” Li said. “The results also suggest that the health consequences of the opioid epidemic may go far beyond overdose fatalities.”

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is also “concerned about the rising use of opioids across the nation and the effect these drugs have on the safety of our roadways,” said Colleen Sheehey-Church, the organization’s national president. “There is no doubt that drugged driving is a serious problem.”

Sheehey-Church believes that driving while intoxicated with painkillers or alcohol can be avoided by personally ensuring that a friend or family member with addiction is kept from driving.

“Our focus is always on impaired driving, no matter what form of impairment,” she added. “There are many organizations that deal with addictions and contacting one would be a good step.”

“The growing use of illicit drugs and abuse of prescription drugs makes our work at MADD even more difficult,” she said. “So, education, legislation, technological development and support of law enforcement are more important now than ever before.”

Why Waiters

Drink And why it matters

My

former co-worker once drank so much during a waitressing shift, she stumbled through the restaurant with her intoxication on full display to guests. Even the chaos of the service rush couldn’t hide the state she was in. By closing she was fired.

After work that night, a group of us consoled her at the casino sports book, where we often congregated for an after-hours ritual. Over drinks, cigarettes and video poker, we traded our best war stories. Together, our minds and bodies recovered from the physical exhaustion and emotional stress of service.

We told our friend that everything would be fine. After all, she wasn’t the first employee to be under the influence on the job. One manager regularly arrived to work with alcohol on his breath. Some bartenders taste-tested enough cocktails to maintain a steady buzz throughout their shifts. We knew which servers, cooks and managers relied on cocaine to get through the long hours that restaurant life demanded.

For anyone who has worked in food service, these anecdotes are likely familiar.

According to a 2015 report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the food services and accommodations industry is among the top fields for alcohol and illicit drug use, alongside construction and mining.

Naturally, food and beverage work is accompanied with an easy access to alcohol. But with the addition of late-night hours, long shifts without meal breaks and dark rooms full of people drinking, it is no surprise the environment often nurtures addiction.

Because food service jobs are increasingly a foundational part of our economy, it is even more crucial to think about what happens to the people who work them.

In Las Vegas, many bar and casino workers become addicted not only to substances, but also to the gambling services their employers provide. Many employers do not restrict their workers from gambling in their establishments.

Addiction is a disease, and in some ways, it is contagious. As much as we might want to imagine we are, none of us are completely immune.

According to the report, the industry currently has the highest rates of substance use disorder, at nearly 17 percent of its workers. That percentage is especially jarring when you consider that the restaurant industry is the second-largest private-sector employer.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs in food service will soon outnumber those in manufacturing.

But without union representation, these jobs are usually accompanied by poor pay, inconsistent schedules and no medical insurance. High turnover means that when substance abuse behaviors do interfere with job performance, workers can be easily, and immediately, replaced.

Plus, the problem goes all the way to the top. The same report on substance abuse found that across all industries, one in 10 managers is abusing controlled substances. Middle management is arguably the most overworked in food service; in high-end bars and restaurants, managers often make less than their service staff, while working longer hours with no overtime pay.

Because food service jobs are increasingly a foundational part of our economy, it is even more crucial to think about what happens to the people who work them.

There remains a false assumption that restaurants are staffed by college students and 20-somethings, making it easy to pass off substance abuse as a result of unmotivated employees or the immaturity of a younger work force.

But an increasing portion of food service workers, particularly in cities like mine, are in the industry for the long term. With more metro areas relying predominantly on restaurants for employment, more workers will find themselves in food service based on economic necessity and limited employment opportunity.

I’ve personally managed to avoid drinking and drug use. On more than one occasion, however, I found myself walking back to my car after a shift, disappointed in the amount of cash tips I fed, like Monopoly money, into a video poker machine.

My dearest friends are those I toiled alongside in horrible restaurant jobs. We share with manual labor industries like construction and mining the physical toll of our work, but also the continued sense that our work is less-than. In my first restaurant job at 18, I observed my older co-workers drinking together after shifts as I folded napkins and polished silverware.

The social nature of food service can mean it becomes easy to define substance abuse behaviors as “typical” rather than problematic.

Incorporating substance abuse prevention information into training materials, and providing insurance with access to mental health care, could help.

Industry executives must realize that although far removed from them directly, the staff ’s substance abuse has compounding effects on the bottom line through workplace injuries, absenteeism and low employee morale.

My co-worker who was let go after that drunken night eventually found another job. Today she works in sales.

But not everyone in food service can or will pick another career. If leaving the industry entirely is the primary path toward recovery, then we are not actually solving our problems. We are running away from them.

ch

r p p foste a rs ‘whole person’

“Wellness begins here.”

The slogan on the CityWide Behavioral Health website is much more than a marketing tagline. It sums up the agency’s commitment to “treating the whole person,” according to CEO Pamela Johnson, who founded the agency in 2014 to meet a growing need for mental health and addiction treatment services.

Johnson didn’t start her career as a health practitioner. She made a major career change in 2004, by taking early retirement from her career as a technician for Verizon. After earning a bachelor’s degree in business management and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing, Johnson became a psychiatric nurse practitioner and clinical nurse specialist, and earned a doctorate in nursing practice.

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At Verizon, she had frequently found herself commiserating with co-workers about their depression or other problems. “I was thinking, ‘Let me figure this out. If I can fix computers and data lines, maybe I can fix people.’”

Of course, she realized early on that mental health professionals don’t really “fix” people, but can have a positive impact on many lives. After getting her graduate degree, Johnson worked for Total Health Care in community mental health and as part of an ACT (assertive community team) at the local agency People Encouraging People, providing mental health care to an underserved, largely poor population.

“That’s my niche.”

“We have to make a verbal contract with the client.”

- Pamela Johnson, founder and CEO, Citywide Behavioral Health

Formulating a vision

When she became a psychiatric nurse, Johnson instantly realized she had made the right choice. “I enjoyed watching mental health services work, with the combination of therapy and medication that is essential to positive outcomes.” She also realized that many people with mental illness are also dealing with other difficult issues such as addiction, homelessness, poverty and more.

That experience shaped her approach to providing care for the whole person, rather than focusing only on symptoms. CityWide receives client referrals from a number of sources, including psychiatric rehab programs, crisis centers, hospitals, and primary care physicians. Client numbers continue to grow over time, due to the acute need for behavioral health services.

One of the challenges in treating people with mental illness or addiction is that clients don’t always want to comply with what a caregiver recommends as the best course of action. Clients need to understand they have to participate in getting well, Johnson notes.

For example, sometimes mental health clients decline to take prescribed medication, due to unpleasant side effects.

“Sometimes clinicians don’t realize – especially with psychiatry – you can’t just tell a person what to do. So, we have to make a verbal contract with the client.” As a starting point, “we might suggest something ‘middle of the road’, -- something that actually works that they don’t mind doing; it has to be safe and ethical, of course.”

As an addiction treatment provider, CityWide has been accredited to provide Suboxone treatments to help opiate addicts. The agency will soon add group therapy for those clients, as well, Johnson says.

More precise prescribing

Earlier this year, CityWide began doing genetic testing, to do a more precise job of prescribing medications that are bestsuited to each client’s genetic makeup.

Medications often cause side effects that are counterproductive. “We don’t normally give someone medication just because (another provider) prescribed it.”

“After we have done the necessary blood work and genetic testing, then we sit down with the client and talk about medication. Many times, we find out that the meds people are on are not really specific to their diagnosis. We also need to make sure they are not mixing medications with street drugs.”

One of Johnson’s long-term goals is creating a nonprofit agency to provide substance abuse treatment and housing to the area’s homeless population. It’s a safe bet that the need for those services will not stop growing, anytime soon.

“We need to make sure they are not mixing medications with street drugs.”

- Pamela Johnson

Long-distance Career Change Office manager helps set the right tone

“Everybody deserves a second chance.”

- Oana Golden, office manager, Citywide Behavioral Health

Oana Golden

came a long way, literally speaking, to join the staff at CityWide Behavioral Health. Golden, who has been office manager for the past year, is a native of Romania who first came to the United States in 2011, on a student visa. In 2015, Golden returned to the U.S. and settled in Baltimore.

While in Romania, she earned a bachelor’s degree in communications and public relations from the University of Craiova, and a master’s degree in PR from the same school. As office manager, she handles a wide variety of functions, from interacting with patients, to coordinating appointments with therapists and case managers, to working with medical records, and much more.

Navigating change

She has enjoyed interacting with a wide variety of people on a daily basis. “Working here has been a fascinating experience; I’ve learned so much,” she says. “Coming from Eastern Europe, our cultures are so different, there was a certain amount of ‘culture shock,’ and a learning curve; my English has improved so much.”

Working with clients who are dealing with a variety of mental health and substance abuse challenges, requires a certain mindset, including a more accepting, less judgmental attitude, Golden notes. “Everybody deserves a second chance. Working here does teach you to be less judgmental, because you have no idea what that person in front of you has had to overcome.”

“If you give people time and patience and support, and the right kind of help, people can change for the better. People like to feel welcomed and know that you know they are going to be fine, that this is just a rough patch in their life. I try to get to know every client and refer to them by name. We want to make everybody feel welcome and know that we will do our best to help them.”

The work can be rewarding, Golden says. “I’ve seen people come in here carrying a terrible weight on their shoulders, under a dark cloud. Then we give them the right help, the right medications, the right therapist...in less than a month they may come back smiling and with good news – they might have started a new job, they started school, or they have better relationships with their family and friends. You can see that from a mile away.”

“We want to make everybody feel welcome and know that we will do our best to help them.”

- Oana Golden

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ABOVE BEYON D

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DULTS

A program designed specifically for people under 21 who need an assessment or treatment for abuse of alcohol and/or drugs Dirigo Counseling Clinic, LLC, is licensed to provide issue the J.A.S.A.E (The Juvenile Automated Substance Abuse Evaluation) by ADE, Inc. This evaluation may lead to a referral to a group treatment experience known as “Above & Beyond�: A two session individualized assessment is followed by 12 weeks of group counseling.

Groups meet two times per week for about an hour (Tue and Thu).

COMPONENT 1: Drug Education: The Tools to Journey “Above and Beyond”

COMPONENT 3: Emotional Processing: The Courage to Enjoy “Above and Beyond”

The Drug Education component is designed to provide critical information and actively involve adolescent clients in hands-on learning activities.

All adolescents, no matter how experienced, need more and better information. The following topics are covered:

The third component of each ASAP group therapy session is Emotional Processing. The focus here is emotional recovery, where adolescents work through the life experiences and emotions that have kept them blocked. The therapist will lead the adolescents through the process of getting to the “heart” of their feelings, thoughts and behaviors.

No treatment can be considered complete without this emotional healing process. Emotional healing allows the adolescent and parents the best chance for uniting the family and enjoying long term recovery.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Consequences of Chemical Use Feelings, Thoughts and Behavior Conflict Resolution Communication Skills Relapse Prevention Peer Pressure Cue Exposure Dealing with Relapse Family Systems Enjoying Sobriety Grief and Loss The Past and Future The Recovery Model Barriers to Recovery High Risk Situations Aftercare Planning

COMPONENT 2: Coping Skills Training: The Skills To Live “Above and Beyond” In the Coping Skills Training component adolescents and family members receive instruction and then practice the skills necessary to successfully manage recovery. Role-playing, homework assignments, and verbal presentations are among the technique that may be used. The topics include: • • • • • • • • • • • •

Conflict Resolution Family Systems Recovery Models Peer Selection Patterns of Use Problem Solving Barriers to Recovery Peer Pressure Relapse Mapping Dealing with Family Members Refusal Skills Recovery Programs

COMPONENT 4: Family and Friend Therapy: The Bonding to Be “Above and Beyond” Multi-Family night follows the same format as above, except that the Drug Education, Coping Skills Training and Emotional Processing components focus directly on family dynamics.

The Multi-Family concept places emphasis on families confronting, helping and supporting each other. Trust and healthy communication is renewed in each family. Conflict resolution techniques are taught to enable calm to return to the home environment as soon as possible.

The normal stresses of family life are addressed, as are the extraordinary stresses that inevitable accompany teen drug use. Homework assignments are assigned to each family that foster re-bonding through sober recreation. Hands-on skills training for each family member includes the following areas: • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Conflict Resolution Building Family Support The Past and Future Negotiating Sibling Influence Family Duties Parent Stresses Recovery Skills The Fair Fight Grief and Loss Relapse Issues Home Contracts Family Recreation School and work issues

PRO VID ING

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RECOVERY N I TH G N RE

DIRIGO COUNSELING

With

facilities in three Maine locations—Bangor, Ellsworth and Hampden—Dirigo Counseling Clinic provides an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) to adults with alcoholism and substance abuse issues in addition to evaluating juveniles under 18 with alcohol and/or drug dependence. Dirigo also evaluates persons who have violated federal DOT regulations and provides assessments under Maine’s Driver Evaluation and Educational Providers program.

The facility was founded in 2004 by Alan Algee, a licensed counselor, psychotherapist and addiction specialist with 25 years of experience in human services, and Jill Peters, a management expert. Both still run Dirigo Counseling.

BECAUSE IT IS IMPORTANT TO YOU… …We provide sensitive, friendly, warm, respectful and positive counseling interventions to individuals, families and groups. We treat both children and adults.

PAYMENTS… …are made through insurance payers (all major including Medicare and MaineCare). Cash discounts for self-pay; payment is accepted in all forms. Cost is very competitive and is finalized at time of first visit.

WHERE WE MEET… …in spacious counseling rooms with sound proofed walls. Private and confidential; counseling time is not intruded with distractions. We provide cold and hot beverages and snacks to attend to comfort. Facilities are approved by Americans With Disabilities Act. LOCATIONS… …are easy to find with plenty of off-street parking. Bus route for convenience (Bangor area). All are climate controlled and pleasantly furnished for your comfort.

MAKING AN APPOINTMENT… …we strive for immediate intake appointments upon your inquiry. An appointment can be made with the first call. We offer 24/7 telephone answering and rapid turnaround time for messages. Our practice does not need nor require a referral from a physician.

THE APPOINTMENT… …is considered your time to manage the challenges that are before you. You may bring another person with you if you choose to. We have male and female counselors. Providers are qualified by the State of Maine in their respective practice areas.

MY EMPLOYER, FAMILY, AND OTHERS… …will never learn about your appointment or its contents unless you give written permission on a HIPAA compliant Release of Information form. There are a few exceptions which mostly involve safety or emergency matters. All exceptions to confidentiality will be given to you at intake both in writing and in oral delivery.

At Dirigo, clients will find professional, credentialed staff, starting at the top with founder Alan Algee

DEEP Meaning Maine’s Driver Evaluation and Educational Providers

G

etting an OUI can be very stressful. In Maine, anyone arrested for an OUI has to face two branches of power: The judicial system and the administrative system. You must address the demands of each of these.

Dirigo Counseling Clinic is approved by the Office of Substance Abuse to provide assessment and treatment for clients who have been arrested for an Operating While Under the Influence.

As for the administrative system (the Secretary of State), you cannot bypass the DEEP program–even if the judicial system dismisses your case. What follows are the options and possibilities that you may consider as you work through the DEEP process: You can sign up for the 3-day Risk Reduction Program which is an educational and screening program lasting 24 hours spread over Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday.

At the completion of this program you may either (a) have your license returned to you with no further “hoops”, or (b) be referred to a certified evaluator in the community for further assessment (such an evaluation is no less than 2 and no more than 4 sessions) You can admit that you have a treatable problem with alcohol or drugs and proceed straight to treatment and bypass the Risk Reduction Program. But to qualify for this route, you must sign a statement that attests (a) an acknowledgment of the extent of the problem, (b) agreement to be abstinent substances of abuse during treatment, and (c) agree to an aftercare plan following the treatment.

At Dirigo Counseling Clinic we understand that this process is not the most pleasant.

We understand that you want to take care of things quickly and without any embarrassment to yourself. We have a staff who are sensitive to your situation and do care about your wellbeing. We have various appointment times and fees that are fair and comparable.

We have your best interests at heart. At the same time, we will not compromise the high standards set for us by your Legislature and the policies and procedure they set for us.

We do this work because we enjoy it, not because it is our job nor because we are paid by the state to do it. We offer affordable treatment (when treatment is needed) plus we accept most health insurances for treatment.

We have a caring staff who will personally answer your call, not refer you to voicemail.

If you have questions about the process, please do not hesitate to call us. 207.973.0505

ENFORCEMENT

-Over-

Treatment MAINE’S GOVERNOR MAKES A CHOICE IN THE WAR ON DRUGS

A cap on the number of opiate addiction patients that doctors can

treat means many who want to take Suboxone can’t get access to it.

In Maine, the governor has reduced funding for the treatment. The following is a transcript from National Public Radio.

SCOTT SIMON, HOST: This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I’m Scott Simon. Like so many other states, Maine is in the grip of an opiate epidemic. Other states have expanded drug treatment as part of the response. Maine has not. There are fewer treatment options than just a few years ago. The Republican Governor Paul LePage is pursuing instead a drug-enforcement strategy. Maine Public Radio’s Susan Sharon reports.

SUSAN SHARON, BYLINE: A major blow came in May when one of Maine’s largest treatment providers announced it was closing. Mercy Recovery Center placed much of the blame on cuts in state funding. There was already a shortage of long-term residential treatment beds. And then last week, a methadone clinic in southern Maine also announced it was shutting its doors.

DOWD: And it’s not treatment; it’s detox. They get the drugs out of their system, but then they don’t get treatments. So they have to keep coming back and back and back.

For those who want to safely get off heroin, the first step toward recovery is often detox, if you can get in.

SHARON: Eric Brewer is 37 years old. He is a longtime heroin addict who has spent time in prison on a drug trafficking conviction. He says he stayed sober for more than five years, but eventually relapsed and wound up at Milestone.

LAUREN WERT: Yesterday we had someone count, and we had turned away 113 people this month because the program was full.

SHARON: Lauren Wert is the director of nursing at Milestone Foundation in Portland. This is Maine’s largest city, the epicenter of the heroin crisis, and Milestone is the only residential detox around. It has just 16 beds available for three- to seven-day stays. At the small nurses station, Wert says she and her staff gently inform a steady stream of callers that they can’t help them out.

WERT: Oftentimes people cry. They’re asking questions like, where else do we go? What do I do? He feels like he’s going to die.

SHARON: Wert says there used to be places to refer clients, but now all the staff can say is, I’m so sorry.

MARY DOWD: It’s frustrating not to be able to get people services who desperately want it.

SHARON: Dr. Mary Dowd, medical director for Milestone, says the challenge is that most heroin addicts can’t get sober without replacement medications, like methadone and Suboxone. At a roundtable discussion in Maine this week, U.S. Drug Control Policy director Michael Botticelli said, increasing access to them in Maine and elsewhere is essential because they work.

MICHAEL BOTTICELLI: People on medicationassisted treatment stay in treatment and they don’t die and they don’t get infectious diseases as a result of their injection drug-use issues.

SHARON: But in Maine there are long waiting lists for methadone and Suboxone, even for those who have insurance or money to pay for treatment out-of-pocket.

For those who don’t, Dowd says the only other options are the ER, jail or to try to score a short-term stay at Milestone.

ERIC BREWER: I’ve probably been here 10 times in the last six months probably.

BREWER: Luckily this time, things fell into place for me, and I have someone who volunteered to pay for my first month in a sober house.

SHARON: Brewer has no insurance and no money to pay for long-term residential treatment, and he’s hardly alone. Two years ago the state dropped hundreds of single adults from state Medicaid rolls. Under the leadership of Republican Governor Paul LePage, Maine refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act and set caps on the length of time Medicaid patients receive drug treatment. Dr. Vijay Amarendran oversees methadone and Suboxone services at Acadia Hospital in Bangor.

VIJAY AMARENDRAN: We need to provide more insurance coverage for people, not less insurance coverage.

Clearly, that doesn’t make sense.

SHARON: Treatment providers and law enforcement personnel told director Botticelli that what they really need is more federal funding for treatment and recovery.

Governor LePage says he’s satisfied with the $72 million spent on drug treatment in the state. What concerns him more, he says, is how little is spent on drug enforcement.

He’s frustrated that Democratic lawmakers have not agreed to hire more drug agents. In a recent radio address, he proposed using the Maine Army National Guard for that purpose.

PAUL LEPAGE: We must provide solutions on how to disrupt the drug supply and hunt down the traffickers.

SHARON: Critics say that’s a misguided strategy at a time when members of law enforcement are confronting heroin addicts overdosing on the side of the road. We can take them to the hospitals, said one small-town police sergeant, but after a couple of days they get released to the streets and do it again because there’s nowhere else for them to go. For NPR News, I’m Susan Sharon.

For Her Children

The journey of one mother and her treatment

MY NAME IS COURTNEY ALLEN, and I am a person in long-term recovery from substance use disorder. For me, this journey began on Feb. 8, 2015. My children, Wyatt and Aimin, are two of the 440 children removed from their parents’ custody in 2015 because of their parents’ (my) drug use. Lucky for my boys and me, our story doesn’t end there.

I would go on to spend the next 353 days battling to get custody of my children back. I was one of the lucky few who receives treatment for my disease.

I was accepted into Family Treatment Drug Court on Feb. 28, 2015. It was my son Aimin’s third birthday. I wasn’t allowed to see him that day, and it broke my heart. I knew it was my fault. I was a no-good drug addict. I felt like I didn’t deserve to see him.

I had been told these things by my community for so long that I believed them. I walked into that courtroom broken, alone, desperate and confused. I was everything I had hoped not to be in my lifetime.

I was offered one-on-one counseling, intensive outpatient therapy, daily check-ins with a case manager and biweekly court sessions with a judge – but, most importantly, a place that I didn’t feel judged.

For the first time in a long time, I was able to stay sober. This program gave me the support, compassion and acceptance that I needed. My case manager, Tris, was available to me to help me through some of the darkest days of my life.

It was the only place that I could go that I felt like I was understood. I was never looked down upon.

This opportunity saved my life and gave me the ability to become the mother my children deserved. Without this treatment, I wouldn’t be able to say that on Jan. 27, 2016, I was awarded full custody of my children by the same judge who had helped save my life, Judge Eric Walker.

Please, stop labeling people with substance use disorder as “useless, no good, not worth it and broken.”

I would go on to graduate the program in March of that year. I walked out of the courtroom no longer broken and alone. I left that courtroom a whole person and with the support system that I had so desperately needed.

Not everyone’s story sounds like mine. Remember, not everyone is offered treatment. I am asking my community to give my “kind” a chance.

I still attend those biweekly court sessions. I hold my hand out to the new parents in the program. I see them for who they can become, not who they once were. I pray that I can watch them grow as much as I have.

Please, stop labeling people with substance use disorder as “useless, no good, not worth it and broken.” It’s just not the truth.

Recovery is possible with a little bit of support. People helping people. Nothing more and nothing less. Keep in mind that nothing will change, if nothing changes.

The journey wasn’t always easy.

I spent many days curled up in my bed, crying myself to sleep because of the shame and guilt I felt. I know deep down in my heart that I would not have gotten custody of my children back without the treatment.

If you met me today, you would not know that I have struggled with substance use disorder. I am a full-time student at the University of Maine. I major in mental health and human services, concentrating in addictions. I hope to someday give back to the system that has given me so much. I am a present, stable, sober mother. I hold two jobs and I am an active member of my community.

I look and act just like everyone else to the blind eye. Above all else, I am no longer ashamed of the person I was.

Words have deep meanings. For starters, please stop calling us “addicts.” It is degrading and shameful. Instead, see us as people.

Call us “people.” Your words have the power to change the world, if used with compassion.

Making treatment accessible to parents begins with opening our hearts. Breaking the stigma and talking about the problem is a step in the right direction.

People are dying. Children are losing parents. Parents are losing children. Something can be done about it, though. That something is treatment.

Midcoast and Down East

v

Overdose Drug overdose deaths are soaring in Maine and across the United States, but the per-capita rate of deaths – fueled by the heroin epidemic – varies widely depending on where people live.

In Maine, residents in Washington and Waldo counties are far more likely to die of drug overdoses than people living in Aroostook and Oxford counties, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that was highlighted in the County Health Rankings report released Wednesday. The report – compiled by the University of Wisconsin – rates counties across the U.S. on health measurements including cancer, smoking, obesity, alcohol consumption and infant mortality.

This is the first year that the County Health Rankings include data on drug overdose deaths.

Public health experts are puzzled over the regional variation in overdose deaths, because there doesn’t seem to be a clear-cut reason why Midcoast and Down East coastal counties have experienced about twice as many per-capita deaths as inland rural counties in Oxford and Aroostook.

The puzzling rise in regional overdoses

“I don’t think anyone knows why,” said Deborah Deatrick, senior vice president of community health for MaineHealth, the parent company of Maine Medical Center. Maine’s per-capita drug overdose death rate – 14 per 100,000 people from 201214 – matches the national average.

However, for 2015 the per-capita rate in Maine was 21 per 100,000 residents.

States suffering from much higher rates of overdose deaths include West Virginia at 32 per 100,000, New Mexico and Kentucky at 24 and Rhode Island at 22 over the three-year period.

In Maine, per-capita overdose deaths ranged from highs of 20 and 18 in Washington and Waldo counties, respectively, to lows of 10 and eight in Aroostook and Oxford counties.

Cumberland County – Maine’s most populous county and home to its biggest city, Portland – had the most deaths over three years, 132, but the per-capita rate was near average at 15 per 100,000.

Brent Miller, program director at Discovery House Bangor, a substance abuse treatment center, said it’s difficult to determine why the overdose death rate varies, but lack of access to treatment in the remote coastal regions of Maine, coupled with poverty and the industries that people work in, could be contributing factors.

“Are these areas where people are smuggling in the drugs?” said Miller, who recently also headed up the Discovery House branch in Calais, in Washington County. “There’s a lot of possibilities.”

Tim Cowan, director of MaineHealth’s Health Index Initiative, said having access to the heroin antidote Narcan also could be a factor.

Per-capita ambulance responses to drug overdoses – measuring responses per 10,000 residents – were about double the rate in Cumberland County as they were in Down East Maine, which includes Washington County, according to Maine Emergency Medical Services.

Administering Narcan is a common way to save people from dying from a drug overdose, and response times are much longer in rural areas than in, say, Portland, meaning paramedics might not arrive in time to use the heroin antidote.

Even so, Washington County residents received an amount of paramedicdelivered Narcan per capita similar to Cumberland and York counties – according to state statistics – while at the same time experiencing a higher rate of overdose deaths.

“We have to get a handle on this and do something quickly.”

The industries that people work in also could be a contributing factor, Miller said. People who fish for a living experience a lot of workplace injuries, and the industry has the secondhighest fatal accident rate, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Logging – another Maine staple – had the highest rate of workplace fatalities.

People who are injured are often prescribed painkillers, and opioid prescription abuse is a gateway to heroin usage, according to the American Society of Addiction Medicine. Four of five new heroin users were first addicted to prescription painkillers, according to the society.

Some public health experts have linked the grueling physical labor in the coal industry with the surging opioid deaths in Appalachia, including West Virginia and Kentucky.

The LePage administration is proposing new rules that would greatly reduce the number of prescription opioids in Maine by putting more restrictions on physicians. Other bills before the Legislature seek to combat the heroin epidemic in a number of ways, such as more drug enforcement agents and expanded access to treatment.

Statewide, drug overdose deaths have increased substantially in Maine, from 208 in 2014 to 272 last year.

Cowan, with MaineHealth’s Health Index Initiative, said the federal CDC doesn’t yet have the 2015 data from all the states, but when it does in the late fall or early winter, he believes Maine will be much higher on the list of states suffering from higher rates of overdose deaths.

“What I’ve seen so far is that Maine’s increase (in 2015) has been more dramatic than other states that are reporting 2015 numbers,” Cowan said.

The MaineHealth 2015 Health Index Report – also released Wednesday in conjunction with the County Health Rankings – looks at a number of health measurements. While drug overdose deaths increased, the state performed better on other measures, including improved vaccination rates among toddlers, reduced smoking rates and a stable obesity rate.

Deatrick, the MaineHealth vice president, said the heroin epidemic is a top public health priority.

“It’s such a fast-moving problem,” she said. “We have to get a handle on this and do something quickly.”

SUPPORT FOR HIGHLANDS, DOWN EAST, AND MID-COAST

Treatment for Substance Abuse problems requires skills, experience, licensure, supervision, sensitivity, and years of training.

Dirigo Counseling Clinic is known in the community for having a high caliber program for both substance abuse evaluation and treatment.

Evaluations become very important as often there are allegations, suspicion, or other requirements that call for such an evaluation. When a “Substance Abuse Evaluation� is needed, we are trained to be objective as possible and we make no assumptions that taint the outcome. We look for data that is derived from you, the client, as well as data that may come from other records or sources. When we arrive at our formal conclusions, we make sure that they are well-backed up by the data.

Frequently our substance abuse evaluations are needed in court, by the Department of Health and Human Services, by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, probation services, employers, and others. We realize that this can be a sensitive area. We rigidly respect your right to privacy and release records only when you give us permission or if information is required of us by the laws which govern confidentiality of records pertaining to alcohol or drug treatment.

Evaluations for employees of federally regulated safety-sensitive positions require a certified Substance Abuse Professional (SAP) to be called upon if those rules have been violated. The SAP at Dirigo Counseling Clinic has many years of experience of performing these evaluations which can be done efficiently and at a cost that is much lower than generally seen.

Treatment for Substance Abuse problems requires skills, experience, licensure, supervision, sensitivity, and years of training. Dirigo Counseling Clinic offers a long menu of treatment options and takes into account the Level of Care that is medically warranted.

Most insurances are accepted as well as self-pay that is individually negotiated. From time to time we can also offer free or reduced cost of care by using grant funding from the State of Maine as well as interns who are in their last lap of training.

In the course of treatment or evaluations, we can provide urine testing or mouth swabs to help us ascertain progress or decision-making. We might also use some screening instruments to measure progress.

Dirigo Counseling Clinic collaborates with many different other medical providers when medication such as Suboxone or methadone are indicated. These providers also become vital when there is a cooccurring disorder such as chronic pain or mental health problems.

In Maine, our agency makes Substance Abuse services available in Bangor, Ellsworth, and Waterville. We also have an Intensive Outpatient Program in Hampden. We offer individual counseling and small group counseling.

C

s i s i r

Q&A Short Answers to Hard Questions About the Opioid Crisis

How bad is it?

It’s the deadliest drug crisis in American history.

Drug overdoses are the leading cause of death for Americans under 50, and deaths are rising faster than ever, primarily because of opioids.

Overdoses killed more people last year than guns or car accidents, and are doing so at a pace faster than the H.I.V. epidemic at its peak. In 2015, roughly 2 percent of deaths — one in 50 — in the United States were drug-related.

Overdoses are merely the most visible and easily counted symptom of the problem.

Over two million Americans are estimated to have a problem with opioids.

According to the latest survey data, over 97 million people took prescription painkillers in 2015; of these, 12 million did so without being directed by a doctor.

So is this crisis about prescription painkillers or heroin?

Both.

The crisis has its roots in the overprescription of opioid painkillers, but since 2011 overdose deaths from prescription opioids have leveled off. Deaths from heroin and fentanyl, on the other hand, are rising fast. In several states where the drug crisis is particularly severe, including Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, fentanyl is now involved in over half of all overdose fatalities.

While heroin and fentanyl are the primary killers now, experts agree that the epidemic will not stop without halting the flow of prescription opioids that got people hooked in the first place.

Pill mills began popping up around the country as communities were flooded with prescription opioids.

Over the next decade, a growing number of people grew addicted to the drugs, whether from prescriptions or from taking them recreationally. For many, what started with pills evolved into a heroin addiction.

At the same time, the heroin market was changing. The price plummeted. Newly decentralized drug distribution networks pushed heroin and counterfeit pharmaceuticals into suburban and rural areas where they had never been. Everywhere the suppliers went, they found a ready and willing customer base, primed for addiction by decades of prescription opiate use.

Then in 2014, fentanyl began entering the drug supply in large amounts.

So shouldn’t we just stop prescribing opioids?

No.

Why has this problem gotten so much worse in recent years?

Opioids are a vital component of modern medicine that have measurably improved the quality of life for millions of people, particularly cancer patients and those with acute pain. But their efficacy in treating chronic pain is less clear, especially when weighed against the risks of overdose and addiction.

Addiction to opioids goes back centuries, but the current crisis really starts in the 1980s. A handful of highly influential journal articles relaxed long-standing fears among doctors about prescribing opioids for chronic pain. The pharmaceutical industry took note, and in the mid-1990s began aggressively marketing drugs like OxyContin. This aggressive and at times fraudulent marketing, combined with a new focus on patient satisfaction and the elimination of pain, sharply increased the availability of pharmaceutical narcotics.

Though prescription opioid consumption has been decreasing in the United States since 2010 or 2011, it remains high. According to the International Narcotics Control Board, if the amount of opioids prescribed per year were averaged out over each person living in America, everyone would get about a two-week supply.

(Or a three-week supply, according to the C.D.C. Different ways of measuring what counts as a daily opioid dose give different values.) Either way you count, it’s higher than anywhere else in the world.

Decades of opioid overprescription, an influx of cheap heroin and the emergence of fentanyl.

Demise

Rise on the

Opioid usage up, and so are fatal overdoses

Although

local law enforcement said methamphetamine is still the drug of choice for many in north Alabama, opioid and heroin usage are up.

As a result, fatal overdose numbers have increased.

Opioids, which include prescription drugs such as oxycodone, fentanyl and morphine, accounted for 44 percent of overdose deaths in Alabama in 2016, a 13 percent increase since 2011, according to the state Center for Health Statistics.

Most of these drugs are acquired through legal prescriptions, said acting State Health Officer Scott Harris. “You go see a physician, you get a prescription, you get it refilled, and you have this addiction problem. Some of it is not legal, but a lot of it is,� Harris said.

Opioids are prescribed more widely in Alabama than in any other state, according to a July 31 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For every 100 people in Alabama, there were 121 prescriptions for opioid painkillers written in 2016, according to CDC statistics.

“There’s no DARE class that could have come through a high school and tell you (the dangers) of opioids.

Nobody knew where it would take you and the road it would lead you down,” said David Wilbourn, resident manager at His Way Recovery Center in Huntsville, referring to a K-12 substance abuse prevention program.

Fatal opioid overdoses in Alabama have more than doubled, from 155 in 2011 to 324 in 2016, according to a 2017 Center for Health Statistics report.

The power of opioids has been underestimated, Wilbourn said.

“Nobody knew how powerful those things were,” said Wilbourn, who’s also a board member for Not One More Alabama, a Huntsville-based organization hoping to educate people about opioids and provide support for those trying to stop using.

Wilbourn said he was addicted to heroin and Oxycontin until January 2015. He said he started using Oxycontin his junior year of high school, leading to his eventual heroin addiction and abuse. He said some people have a sense of false security about using opioids because they think doctor-prescribed substances are safe.

“There’s no DARE class that could have come through a high school and tell you (the dangers) of opioids.”

Meth is still the No. 1 drug threat statewide, according to the Center for Health Statistics report, mainly because it’s cheap and made with common household products, said Morgan County Circuit Judge Glenn Thompson.

Meth and crack deaths seldom stem from overdoses but rather from associated violence or organ failure, said Barry Matson, executive director of the Alabama Office of Prosecution Services.

Local officials and activists agree deaths by opioids likely are caused by a lack of education about the dangers of such drugs. Lawrence County Coroner Greg Randolph said many overdoses are accidental, mainly because of the strength of the drugs.

“The problem with opioids is the more they (users) take, the more they want,” Randolph said. “We used to see overdoses in mainly young people, but I see it in older people as well. They just don’t realize how powerful the drugs are.”

Randolph said first responders are called to an overdose-related incident nearly every week in Lawrence County.

>>>

>>> “People think that if it came from a doctor, it must be safe,” he said. “If a doctor tells you to use something, you’re going to do it.”

Last month, Harris said he didn’t know a more important issue facing the state than the opioid crisis. He was speaking to a group of state health and policy leaders charged with finding fixes to the problem.

Harris, who is from Decatur, also leads the Morgan County Health Department.

His medical background, which began 30 years ago, is in HIV. “The number of (opioid) overdoses are outpacing the HIV deaths we saw back in the day,” Harris told the Alabama Opioid Overdose and Addiction Council.

A few days later, Harris announced a grant providing 1,200 doses of the lifesaving antidote naloxone for first responders statewide to help prevent opioid overdose deaths. The grant is paying for 600 kits, each holding two doses of the drug. Naloxone allows for the temporary reversal of an overdose, giving enough time for emergency medical personnel to arrive, said the state Department of Public Health.

Both Decatur Fire and Rescue and the Decatur Police Department carry naloxone in the form of a nasal spray.

In August, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the Justice Department would dispatch 12 federal prosecutors to cities ravaged by addiction who would focus exclusively on investigating health care fraud and opioid scams. The Northern District of Alabama is included in the pilot program.

Huntsville doctor Shelinder Aggarwal pleaded guilty to illegally distributing a controlled substance and health care fraud and was sentenced to 15 years in prison in February. He also had to forfeit $6.7 million and a clinic.

“We as individuals and a community can’t wait around and let lawmakers do something.

We have to take ownership of this.”

“We wanted to send prosecutors where there is significant prescription opioid abuse and health-care fraud, and where there are sufficient resources to support additional cases being brought,” said Justice Department spokeswoman Lauren Ehrsam. The department used three criteria to determine the target areas: • State opioid prescription rates • The number of outlier opioid physicians in the area who are prescribing prescription opioids far in excess of their peers after their specialty and other factors are taken into account; • State prescription opioid overdose rates.

In 42 Alabama counties, including Morgan and Lawrence, more than 112 prescriptions for opioid painkillers were written for every 100 people in the county in 2016, according to the CDC. In three Alabama counties, Walker, Franklin and Colbert, more than 200 prescriptions for opioids were written for every 100 people in 2016, according to the CDC. Though more people are likely seeing their friends and family impacted by opioid addiction, state Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow, D-Red Bay, said they don’t know what to do about it. Morrow helped organize a town hall on the crisis. The event was held Wednesday at the University of North Alabama.

Harris, Libell, state Attorney General Steve Marshall and the commissioner of the Alabama Department of Mental Health, Lynn Beshear, were among the scheduled participants who fielded questions about the government’s role in the epidemic.

Though Wilbourn said he is glad lawmakers are paying attention to the issue and listening to the public, he said people shouldn’t wait on new legislation to start a movement.

“We as individuals and a community can’t wait around and let lawmakers do something. We have to take ownership of this,” he said.

Cure DEVLOPING A

These Scientific Advances Could be the Solution to the Opioid Overdose Epidemic The opioid crisis is devastating American families and communities, claiming the lives of more than 91 people in America each day. Last month the Director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins and I announced that we would leverage partnerships between NIH and private industry as well as regulatory agencies to cut the time it takes to develop new treatments in half to help end this crisis. Those include new medications to treat opioid addiction, new overdose-reversal and overdose-prevention tools and effective, safer pain medications.

buprenorphine

methadone

naltrexone

New and improved medications

In one or two years, we can anticipate new formulations of the existing addiction medications buprenorphine, methadone, and naltrexone. This includes long-lasting “depot” injections so people who do not live close to a treatment facility can take advantage of these effective medications and better comply with their treatment. Vaccines, which bind to opioids in the bloodstream to prevent them from reaching the brain, are another innovative new tool that will take longer to develop. In addition, NIH remains committed to studying new and effective ways behavioral therapies can support adherence to medications and promote sustained recovery.

Also on the drawing board are new overdose-reversal tools, including stronger and longer-acting formulations of naloxone and other compounds. These can reverse overdoses of powerful synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Other research will focus on the development of wearable devices that can detect an overdose when it is occurring and automatically intervene and signal for help.

Getting funding

New opioid compounds that block pain without addiction or overdose risk are already being studied

Freeing the medical field from its reliance on addictive opioid analgesics is especially urgent, and a combination of publicly and privately funded science will help us achieve this goal.

New opioid compounds that block pain without addiction or overdose risk are already being studied. Compounds targeting the body’s other pain-signaling systems, such as the endocannabinoid system, are another promising approach.

We have also been funding research into high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and related technologies that could greatly improve quality of life for chronic pain patients without using medications at all.

The opioid crisis may look daunting, but there is much reason for hope. Science will find a solution — probably many solutions — to this crisis. NIH and our industry partners are committed to an “all scientific hands on deck” approach to accelerate this work to prevent overdose deaths, support long term recovery from opioid addiction, and ensure that pain treatment is not a pathway to addiction.

A drug or alcohol problem isn’t something to be ashamed about—it’s something to get help for, period.

A problem with drugs or alcohol can lead to other problems in a person’s life, such as problems with health, relationships, work, and school. Another problem for this list is shame.

Letting Go of

Shame Ashamed about a drug problem? Don’t be.

More than feeling guilty

Shame and secrets

When a person feels shame, they feel guilty, embarrassed, and small. They don’t just feel bad because they did something wrong; they feel like who they are is wrong. Shame hurts.

We were reminded of this when we heard about the death of Nelsan Ellis, the talented actor from the TV series “True Blood” and, more recently, the series “Elementary.”

Shame can lead a person to hate themselves, feel hopeless or worthless, or even have self-destructive thoughts. In some ways, it can make a drug or alcohol problem even worse—especially if it makes the person too embarrassed to get help.

Nelsan didn’t reveal to the public that he had a problem with drugs and alcohol. After he died in July from complications while he was trying to withdraw from an alcohol use disorder, his family publicly revealed that he “was ashamed of his addiction.” They said that Nelsan “would want his life to serve as a cautionary tale…to help others.”

The truth is, addiction is a disease. A person with an addiction can’t “just stop” taking drugs.

A drug or alcohol problem isn’t something to be ashamed about—it’s something to get help for, period.

One place to start is the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK).

You don’t have to be thinking about suicide to call the Lifeline—anyone with a problem can call. It’s free, private, and confidential.

Tim Ford has been serving as a driver and house manager

for House of Change for the past two years. Like a number of House of Change employees, he is in recovery from addiction.

Heroin addiction has been a major problem in Baltimore for decades, and Ford was one of those affected. He was given heroin for the first time at a bachelor party just before he got married, at the age of 25. “I’m not sure why I started doing it; maybe to fit in with my friends,” he recalls.

“I’m not sure why I started using heroin; maybe to fit in with my friends.”

- Timothy Ford, house manager, House of Change

“I knew going into treatment was the right thing to do.”

- Timothy Ford

Fighting a battle with addiction

Ford became an occasional user while he worked in construction, running an asphalt paving machine, to support his wife and three daughters.

Then, the drug became a daily habit after a few years, and Ford spiraled downward until he “lost everything” and went into treatment the first time in 1991. Ford stayed clean for five years but eventually relapsed and entered inpatient treatment at Gaudenzia in 2000.

Attending Narcotics Anonymous meetings helped Ford stay clean and sober until another relapse two years later.

By 2016, Ford was tired of using and spending as much as $300 a week on heroin. In February, he entered treatment at House of Change, which had been founded by his older brother, Jerome Ford.

“I knew going into treatment was the right thing to do. I knew that my using was hard on everyone around me.”

Ford’s persistence and willingness to keep trying has paid off. Since he entered treatment in early 2016 and got sober, Ford’s life has “taken a 360-degree turn” for the better. He appreciates the help he’s received at House of Change.

“I know they care about me and have my best interests at heart.”

He’s rededicated himself to working his program. “I know that if I don’t ‘pick up’ I won’t get in trouble.”

Co-founding a

FUTURE

House of Change founders partner together for recovery

In 2007, Barnes and Ford became business partners, leasing homes in east Baltimore to provide transitional housing for men and women recovering from drug and alcohol addiction. Barnes had previously operated a transitional housing facility with another partner, so he had some experience in the area.

Partnering with Ford, “we put our minds together, we had a mission and God brought it to life,” Barnes says. They currently operate four transitional residences, two for men and two for women, and are looking for homes five and six, Barnes says. The partners eventually expanded their service area to include other areas of Baltimore, since they were seeing clients from all over Baltimore.

“We had a mission and God brought it to life.”

- John Barnes, co-founder, House of Change >>>>>>>>>>>>>

>>>> When John Barnes was released from prison in 1998, he was determined not to go back. The House of Change co-founder also knew that, to avoid falling back into old behaviors, he needed to get help for his heroin addiction. His friend Jerome Ford introduced him to recovery and membership in Narcotics Anonymous “and I have never looked back since.”

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Expanding services They also saw a need for addiction treatment services, so they added that in 2014, becoming statecertified and hiring a clinical director and addiction counselors.

Today, House of Change offers outpatient and intensive outpatient treatment programs, classes for DUI offenders, workforce development services, and is also adding a GED educational program.

Having left incarceration and drugs behind, Barnes feels he has found his niche serving those with addictions, for the simple reason that “I like helping people. We’ve had quite a few success stories, including people who work for us as house managers. Our goal is to help as many people as we can and keep expanding.”

House of Change, which began with one small office, is now operating out of four separate House of Change has been able to office buildings. Eventually Barnes build its client base through referral and Ford would like to find one, larger building “where we can treat relationships with Baltimore everyone who needs help.”

County’s social services and child When adults complete addiction protective services agencies, the treatment, they often need to local court system, and other re-establish themselves in the treatment centers. (Word of mouth also plays a significant role, workforce, to stabilize their lives.

The employment assistance since good news tends to travel House of Change provides fast). Transitional housing clients sometimes takes the form of typically stay from six months offering recovering clients jobs to one year, as they gradually as housing managers, urinalysis prepare themselves to return to independent, clean and sober living. technicians, or drivers – when they are far enough along in recovery, and ready to take on the responsibility of a job.

Passing it on

Back in 2005, Barnes’ own recovery from addiction led him to take on a job as a house manager at Gaudenzia treatment center, where he helped other recovering men “learn how to do things for themselves and not depend on other people.”

When people are caught up in addiction -- especially early in life -- they often lose touch with basic adult skills, like getting up every morning to go to work, managing money and paying bills on time.

“Then, when they get clean, they don’t have a clue what they are supposed to do,” Barnes notes.

Helping them remember is a big part of House of Change’s mission.

“I like helping people. We’ve had quite a few success stories.”

- John Barnes

Committed to Recovery helping clients start over “I was willing to do whatever it took to continue this recovery journey.”

-- Jerome Ford, co-founder, House of Change

R

ecovering from addiction takes commitment.

Jerome Ford, co-founder of House of Change Behavioral Health Center, really knows about commitment.

After completing treatment for his own drug and alcohol addiction in 1993, Ford was fully committed to getting and staying clean and sober. When he returned to work after treatment – working nights as a produce market forklift operator – he had nowhere to live. “So, I stayed in meetings all day until it was time to go to work.” He also had no clothes, except for the work uniform he started wearing 24-7.

Ford stuck to that challenging routine for a full year, until steady employment eventually enabled him to get an apartment of his own. “I was willing to do whatever it took to continue this recovery journey.” Eventually Ford returned to work as a construction foreman and then forklift operator.

Through his own experience, Ford had become acutely aware of recovering adults’ need for housing and other basic necessities. That provided the inspiration for his and business partner John Barnes’ venture to provide transitional housing for those in recovery, and the founding of House of Change in 2007.

“I put all of my energy into this,” Ford says, adding that the startup capital came from his and Barnes’ own pockets. “We have found our niche and my main concern is to stick to it, no matter what.”

More than a roof and a bed

For recovering addicts, transitional housing provides much more than just a roof, a bed and three square meals.

The house residents, and the house manager, support each other through daily struggles and victories, and keep each other on the recovery path, Ford says.

“We teach them to be each other’s eyes and ears, and watch out if someone is heading in the wrong direction” i.e., toward possible relapse.

Relapse begins when thinking and behavior changes, well before a recovering addict “picks up,” he points out.

Ford stresses the importance of positive thinking in recovery.

“Once you start thinking negatively, that’s going to lead you back into negative places.

That’s one thing I learned through my own process.” To help clients relearn how to enjoy life without using, Barnes and Ford take them out on monthly activity days – bowling, family amusement park trips, and other fun activities.

“My responsibility is to show them, through my experience, where they can go.”

- Jerome Ford

As another resource for clients, Barnes and Ford are working on a “peer support” feature in which program alumni can come back to House of Change for group meetings and other program activities.

“The biggest thing I like our clients to understand is that if I can do it, they can do it,” Ford says. “My responsibility is to show them, through my own experience, where they can go. I always tell them ‘No matter what goes on, just don’t use. Recovery is an opportunity. If you give in, you’ll never understand the goodness of recovery and the success you could be.’ What if I had given in? I would never be where I’m at, today.”

Counseling the counselors Head counselor has experienced addiction from both sides “Somebody told me, ‘You would be a good counselor.’”

- Rustlyn Ward, lead counselor, House of Change

Rustlyn Ward, lead counselor at House of Change, has a friend to thank for helping her find her way to a career in the addiction counseling profession. It was one of her peers in the counseling profession.

“He told me ‘You would be a good counselor,’” Ward recalls.

Ward took a placement test that confirmed her friend’s judgment. Ward, who had previously started college, went on to earn a master’s in human services, with a concentration in addiction counseling.

Ward herself has been in recovery from addiction for 16 years. She grew up in rural Pikesville, Md., before moving to East Baltimore as a young adult. There, friends introduced her to occasional use of cocaine and heroin, which turned into a daily addiction.

One path to recovery A friend showed her the way into recovery. “I asked her how she had gotten clean and she referred me to a program at Teurke House.” Ward left the treatment program after a few days, because of an allergic reaction to suboxone.

But Ward was still committed to getting better, and was able to find a different - and definitely not easy path to recovery, through Narcotics Anonymous. “I just started going to meetings, every day all day,” accompanied by her young granddaughter, who was under her care.

Ward found that “other people in the group started coming and talking to me and I learned they had similar problems and feelings.” Over time, Ward was able to develop an NA support network that has continued to this day.

After getting clean, Ward wanted to gain an understanding of how she had become an addict. “I wanted to learn about the disease of addiction.” Ward earned her master’s degree in human services, with a concentration in counseling, from Capella University. She has been employed as a counselor since 2003.

In counseling addicted clients, Ward has learned a number of important lessons she imparts to the other, less experienced counselors she oversees at House of Change.

For example: “It’s important to be honest with clients; they can tell whether you are being on the up-and-up.”

It’s all about the client Treatment at House of Change is client-centered, which means asking each client what they hope to achieve, and designing a treatment plan based on their individual goals, Ward says. “Everything we do here is about the client.”

It’s also important to “give clients what they need, not (necessarily) what they want.”

Being empathetic is obviously important, something Ward is well suited for, as a person in recovery. “Being in recovery myself has helped a lot; I really know their pain.” In overseeing counselors, Ward emphasizes that “this is all about the clients; this is the client’s treatment not ours. I also tell them not to be judgmental: ‘That could be you, tomorrow.’”

“This is all about the clients; this is the client’s treatment, not ours.” -Rustlyn Ward

While keeping abreast of the latest, evidence-based treatment practices, Ward also believes in “God first, and sticking to the basics, doing what helped me get to this point. And being an example of the power (of faith).”

One of the rewards of the profession is hearing from former, now-recovering clients who return to say thanks for the help, Ward says. “Every time I see one who has gotten clean and stayed clean, it makes me feel good. As long as at least one client every day gets the information and help needed, I’m one step closer to helping make a change.”

FINDING HIMSELF, O

AND A CAREER Former client trains as counselor

“The people here are genuine, and many of them have been down the road of addiction.”

- Jeffrey Thomas, counselor-in-training, House of Change

ne of the positive things that often happens to people in treatment is that they get to know themselves better, and “find” themselves after being lost in the haze of addiction. In the process, sometimes they find a new career. Jeffrey Thomas, a counselor in training at House of Change, is an example.

A native of Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Thomas started drinking at age 14. After serving four years in the U.S. Navy (1982-86), he developed an addiction to crack cocaine. Thomas managed to stay employed as a commercial fisherman, but eventually, receiving his third DUI and pressure from his family led him to seek inpatient treatment at Carrington House in Baltimore.

Once he had gotten started in recovery, Thomas worked as a residential monitor in a recovery house, then as an assistant house manager. Along the way, he decided to use his own experience to help others, and he earned a bachelor’s degree in addiction counseling from Baltimore City Community College. After 4 ½ years on the staff at Carrington House, including time as a counselor, he moved to House of Change.

Using his own story

Like many counselors who are themselves in recovery, Thomas uses his own addiction and recovery story to help clients understand what they need to do to follow suit. “When we share personal experiences with them, they can connect to that and realize that their way of living was not working, but that they can learn to live a healthy, successful life,” Thomas says.

Regarding the treatment approach at House of Change, Thomas says the foundation for it all is the fact that “everybody cares. The people here are genuine, and many of them have been down that road (of addiction). If you have a question, you can go to them and they will give you an honest opinion. If they don’t know the answer, they can point you to the right person to help.”

“There is always work that has to be done to get them headed toward the light.” - Jeffrey Thomas

Looking ahead, Thomas plans to earn his master’s degree in counseling, with the ultimate goal of developing his own addiction treatment program. “I would like to take everything I’ve learned through education and experience and take it back to the Eastern Shore. They don’t have these types of services there. With the opiate epidemic and people getting addicted at younger and younger ages, we need more places l ike the House of Change, so people can get off the street and get re-educated.”

Counselors only have a relatively short time to work with treatment clients to help them get started on recovery. But sometimes positive change can happen quickly, Thomas notes.

“When they first come in, they are disheveled and disoriented. But we can get them to see the ways of thinking and actions and behaviors that caused them to be in this situation. Then they can see that there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel; but there is always work that has to be done to get them headed toward the light.”

getting to the Root of Addiction From counselor to administrator at House of Change Growing up in the inner city of West Baltimore, Lashawn Rogers was surrounded by people who were struggling with addiction to drugs or alcohol. One of her formative experiences was the tragedy of losing her oldest brother to a drug overdose when he was only 17.

That loss played a role in her eventual choice of a career in addiction counseling. Early in life, she developed an ingrained empathy for people, a willingness to listen to people and trying to help them with their problems.

“A lot of people who live in the inner city have to deal with PTSD, poverty and homelessness, and many of them use drugs and alcohol to mask their pain.” “At House of Change, we try to help them get to the root of their addiction,” says Rogers, who received her bachelor’s degree in counseling psychology from Sojourner-Douglas College in 2013.

Handling a caseload

Rogers’ first job after graduation was as a counselor at a methadone clinic in East Baltimore, working 12-hour shifts and handling a caseload of more than 50 clients per day. With that counselorclient ratio, she was not able to spend much time with each client. “I knew I wasn’t making a difference. Out of 50 clients we might see 10 who were free of substance abuse; otherwise they were just getting their medications, and no counseling.”

“All of the clinicians and the owners here are selfless, so the clients know we really care about them as people.”

- Lashawn Rogers, administrator, House of Change

Looking for a position in which she could have a more positive impact, Rogers joined the staff as a counselor at House of Change in early 2017.

One of the reasons she appreciates working at House of Change is the “personable, family-oriented environment. The client ratio is only 15-to-1 so I am able to give more time to each client,” says Rogers, who provides both individual and group counseling.

Effectively helping people with longterm addictions to drugs and alcohol – many of whom have co-occurring mental illness – requires using evidence-based best practices, within a well-organized system. But the real key to helping people recover is developing a basic, human connection.

“All of the clinicians and the owners here are selfless, so the clients know we really care about them as people,” Rogers says. “We have developed some really strong bonds with our clients; everybody comes to my office to talk to me, not as a counselor, but more as a friend.”

She is also proud of the fact that House of Change has developed a GED program to help clients obtain their high school diplomas, as a first step towards a better life.

With increasing numbers of young clients in their late teens and early 20s coming to House of Change for help with their addictions, HOC is also developing a mentorship program. “We want to make sure we do everything we can for them before we let them go.”

Of course, even the most skilled counselor can’t provide everything the client needs to recover. The client needs to take an active role in deciding they want to recover, and deciding they will do what is necessary to accomplish that. One of the most important messages counselors need to impart to their clients is “they need to accept responsibility for their actions and their recovery. Then we can be more effective in getting the outcome we are looking for from clients – that is, long-term sobriety and recovery.”

House of Change’s service to the client doesn’t end when treatment ends, Rogers points out. “Clients become part of our family. Alumni can always come back and talk to us or come for meetings. If they are struggling after treatment, we will not turn them away.”

In May, Rogers made the transition from counselor to fulltime administrator at House of Change. She’s looking forward to May of 2018, when she expects to receive her master’s in Human Services Administration from the University of Baltimore.

“Clients can always come back and talk to us.”

- Lashawn Rogers

P roviding a

SAFE HAVEN Recovery houses offer clients 24-hour service

“I know NA works because I have been clean for 23 years.” - Stacey Ford, women’s house director, House of Change When people are in the early stages of recovery from addiction, they need a supportive, safe living environment.

House of Change provides that for men and women in recovery at seven recovery houses in the Baltimore area.

Stacey Ford has been women’s house director at House of Change since the first house for women opened in 2008. House of Change now has three recovery houses for female clients.

A tale of recovery

Ford has plenty of good advice and insight to pass on to clients who seek treatment at House of Change, based on her own recovery experience; she has been in recovery for more than 20 years.

Growing up in Baltimore, Ford occasionally drank and smoked marijuana, and at age 23, was introduced to crack cocaine. Peer pressure was part of the reason she started using the drug, she believes. “I was a follower, and a people-pleaser. I wanted to fit in.”

By 1994, Ford was tired of using and had lost touch with her true self. “I didn’t know who I was. I had been to a couple of treatment programs before, but finally I was finished using; I had had enough.”

Her grandmother had inspired her to seek treatment at Mercy Hospital. “She asked me one day if I would get clean before she passed away. I told her ‘yes.’ “Ford completed a week of inpatient treatment, then 30 days of outpatient care, and also became a dedicated member of Narcotics Anonymous. ”’NA is mandatory for the rest of my life,” she says. “I know it works because I’ve been clean for 23 years. And this is the best life I have ever lived.”

One of Ford’s objectives as a housing director is to provide reassurance to clients when they arrive and help them get oriented to the treatment environment. “They come in here ‘broken down,’ they don’t know who to trust, and don’t know if they are going to stay. A lot of them are quiet and we don’t get much out of the them the first week they are here. So, we gradually try to get information from them as they learn they can trust us.”

“The clients always have our cell numbers; whenever they need us, they can call.”

- Stacey Ford

Setting goals

New clients are given a “goal sheet,” listing things they can accomplish to progress toward recovery and regain a normal life. “Nothing is too small, such as getting an I.D. card. We help them set goals they can achieve, and that gives them motivation to keep doing more,” Ford explains.

One of the benefits of recovery housing provided at House of Change is the 24-hour support available to men and women who are in the difficult early stages of transitioning from active addiction to recovery. “Any time of the day or night, they can talk to a house manager or assistant house manager. They always have our cell phone numbers; whenever they need us, they can call, even if it’s 2 a.m.”

Ford appreciates the fact that House of Change provides a full range of services (or referrals to service providers) that people typically need to get their lives back on track – that includes transportation to and from recovery groups, and assistance with their housing, education and employment needs.

“Many of the women are homeless and many of them are trying to regain custody of their kids.” Once clients have “graduated” – completed primary treatment – they can transition into living in their own apartment.

Relapse is often a part of recovery, and House of Change has a policy in place to give clients who relapse another chance, while holding them accountable. “If someone has relapsed but they are doing everything they need to do, we will put them on a 30day contract.”

After a client relapses, he or she is encouraged to re-dedicate themselves to getting healthy. “Sometimes clients will say they are doing (treatment) for their kids. I always tell them, ‘You have to do this for yourself.’”

Coordinator combines experience, training

Verlie Harvey received her addiction counseling license last year, she fulfilled an ambition.

The House of Change intake coordinator is herself a recovering addict who had often thought about entering the field. But, before helping others, she first had to do something about her own addiction.

Growing up in her native Philadelphia, Harvey started using alcohol and marijuana as a teenager.That led to crack cocaine in her mid-20s, which started taking a serious toll on her life; Harvey, who had worked as a dental assistant, became unable to hold a job and a place of her own.

She was in and out of treatment facilities several times, but was unable to stay clean for more than six months at a time. However, she was impressed by the counselors she met, and enjoyed the counseling process. So, when Harvey became clean in 2010, she knew addiction counseling would become her new profession.

“I started opening up to people there, and became honest with myself.”

-Verlie Harvey, intake coordinator, House of Change The last time Harvey was in treatment, at Baltimore Behavioral Health, she tried something new. “I started opening up to people there, and became honest with myself that I really had a problem.

I tried to be honest about everything and listened to some suggestions.”

Harvey’s newfound dedication to getting clean was partially motivated by her then-10-year old daughter, who wrote a letter that triggered Harvey’s decision to try again.

“My daughter would write me letters every now and again.

She wrote a letter telling me I was the best mother ever, in spite of everything I was doing – not showing up, not being there emotionally. So I had a moment of clarity. I went to the emergency room at Mount Sinai Hospital and asked for treatment.”

“I learned the basics – honesty, open mindedness, willingness. I had to learn how to get honest and ‘tell on my disease’ and talk about it when I was craving and wanted to use.”

For Harvey, the idea of becoming an addiction counselor began with comments she had heard over the years. “People would say ‘You’d be a good counselor’ because I was able to give them good feedback on their problems – but not my own problems.”

While a student at Baltimore City Community College, Harvey took on an internship at House of Change. In 2016, “Jerome Ford and John Barnes saw potential in me; after about three months of interning, they offered me a job as intake coordinator.” Last year, Harvey became a certified addiction counselor.

Being an effective counselor starts with empathy, Harvey says. “You don’t have to be a recovering addict to be an effective counselor you just have to have empathy. I can see myself in their shoes, and understand their pain.”

Not all addiction clients are as motivated as Harvey was, which is why addiction counselors soon learn the importance of “approaching clients where they are and dealing with their needs in regard to their addiction and recovery.”

“And it’s not just about the substance,” continues Harvey.

“We need to deal with the whole person, the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects.”

Meanwhile, Harvey is continuing her schooling, finishing her bachelor’s degree in social work, with the eventual goal of earning a master’s degree in mental health counseling.

One piece of advice Harvey gives her clients is simple but impactful.

“I tell them to give themselves a break – ‘Just sit still.’” When people are in the early stages of getting clean and sober they typically want to make up for lost time, and sometimes end up taking on too many things at once, she says.

“They want to jump on everything – get the kids back, get a job, all that...I tell them to focus on themselves for a little while, just pick one thing they can focus on without taking on the whole world.”

“I tell clients to give themselves a break.”

- Verlie Harvey

No Magic Elixir Claims about alcohol’s “benefits” can be misleading

People have looked for miracle remedies to life’s maladies for centuries. Before the FDA, snake oil salesmen roamed the U.S. offering tonics that were guaranteed to cure what ails you. Although we’ve done away with much of that practice through federal regulations, there seems to be one substance with magical properties that scientists are still uncovering: alcohol.

For decades, U.S. researchers have been studying alcohol and finding new benefits from drinking that seem almost too good to believe. Claims about alcohol’s abilities range from improving memory to boosting creativity, from reducing the risk of heart disease to making you thinner, and one study even suggested that drinking a glass of wine had the same effect as exercising for an hour.

Continuing the myths

The most recent miracle claim comes from researchers in Denmark who say drinking a moderate amount of alcohol may help reduce your risk of developing diabetes. They studied over 70,000 people and found that drinking three to four times a week was associated with a lower risk for type 2 diabetes.

While each study should be evaluated on its own individual merits, it’s clear that such claims go against decades of established medical knowledge proving alcohol has detrimental effects on your health. Even properties recognized to be beneficial, like the antioxidants found in red wine, can also be absorbed through other foods, making the wine itself irrelevant. This means that even if some of the claims are true, the negatives of drinking may outweigh the positives.

Misleading coverage

Many of the studies quoted in news reports have not been reproduced by other scientists, meaning their results are far from verified. Most news reports also fail to dig into the meat of the research, creating misleading and oversimplified explanations that don’t capture the true nature of the findings. In fact, coverage of the most recent study concerning diabetes has already been criticized for a lack of clarity and detail surrounding the study’s extreme limitations. The fact is that researchers found an association between drinking and lower diabetes rates, but not a causality.

“Drinking too much on a single occasion or over time can take a serious toll on your health.”

- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

“Excessive alcohol use led to approximately 88,000 deaths and 2.5 million years of potential life lost (YPLL) each year in the United States from 2006 - 2010, shortening the lives of those who died by an average of 30 years.” - Centers for Disease Control Biased results

Perhaps the more troubling aspect of alcohol research comes from its funding sources. The National Institutes of Health is launching a $100 million study into the potential benefits of alcohol consumption on heart health. Where’s the money coming from? So far, five of the world’s largest alcohol manufacturers have pledged over $67 million to a fund associated with the NIH. Alcohol suppliers have long offered their support of public health initiatives as a way of showing good faith to consumers and federal regulators. But this latest donation automatically calls into question the legitimacy of any of the study’s future findings.

Alcohol needn’t be demonized.

It is, after all, an innate substance devoid of any moral standing of its own. But to suggest that it offers such extraordinary health benefits while ignoring the myriad of negative consequences is not only misleading, it’s dangerous. Public health information should be grounded in fact, not unverified results of questionable studies that resulted in incomplete news coverage.

Perhaps such shaky research comes from our desire to justify our drinking habits, or perhaps it’s just bad science. Either way, before you start swapping a glass of wine for your daily trip to the gym, remember that you shouldn’t believe everything you hear.

Treatment

Addiction

The Nature of Addiction Addiction is one of the most challenging problems dealt with in counseling. Those engaging in addictiona treatment should be aware that the process is seldom simple or easy. Addiction combines the most intractable elements of emotional problems with powerful ongoing biological pressure to remain in addiction. The patterns created by addiction can alter the structures of family and friendships, while permanently changing the chemical systems of the body. The process of repair and recovery can be long and stressful.

Those engaging in addictiona treatment should be aware that the process is seldom simple or easy.

Preparation for the Challenge of Addiction Treatment Ending an addictive habit is inevitably difficult.

Chemical addictions are known for the severe physical and emotional problems of withdrawal, and the difficulty shedding the compulsion to return to dependency. The psychological aspect of these addictions also imposes extreme emotional and social stress, as patients attempt to learn an entirely new approach to the simplest elements in their lives.

Before entering addiction treatment, or before a friend or family member enters addiction treatment, take the time to learn the specific challenges that commonly face an addict. By understanding what the probable effects of withdrawal are, and what difficulties a patient faces in building a new life that is fortified against the former addiction, you establish a sound and realistic foundation on which you can build.

Approaches to Addiction Treatment Before entering counseling, it’s a good idea to learn the basic counseling approaches commonly used in addiction treatment. Drug and behavioral addiction are commonly treated through eclectic therapies that combine elements of behavior modification techniques. These are methods to help rebuild a patient’s behavioral patterns, providing both positive motivation and rewards for positive new behavior and negative disincentives to help prevent backsliding. These methods are combined with other counseling treatments, most often single-patient counseling in the tradition of one of a number of schools: group therapy and family therapy. Success rates without follow through are as low as 20%. With follow-through, the success rate is 40% or higher.

Resources Available for Addiction Treatment When you plan for drug and alcohol addiction treatment for you or someone close to you, the project can seem infinitely challenging.

Fortunately, help and resources are available.

Starting with the articles and services here, you can review various conditions, be referred to counselors and counseling services, and be pointed to a variety of other information sources online and off.

By combining this information with advice from a professional drug and alcohol addiction specialist, you can begin to develop a plan of action, with a sense of what will happen, who you will rely on, and what the long-term consequences of treatment will be. Whether you are the patient, or simply one of the patient’s support networks, you’ll be better positioned to make the most of the benefits of addiction treatment, while preparing for the inevitable difficulties that will be encountered along the way. From the first shock of withdrawal through the long recovery period, at each stage of progression you will have access to information and support.

GETTING TO THE BOTTOM Investigating drug crimes to combat violence

WILLISTON — Year-end numbers from the

Williston Police Department show a welcome decrease in many types of crime, while at the same time reflect a focus on ramping up efforts to get to the bottom of drug activity that, in many cases, authorities say, is directly related to high rates of burglary and theft in Williston.

“Criminal activity became more organized,” -Lt. Detective David Peterson Detectives at the Williston Police Department are working more hours, with drug investigations taking up the most time. In 2014, the detective division logged 504 hours looking into drug cases, and more than doubled that by putting in 1,119 hours last year, according to the department’s 2015 annual report, which was released this week.

Despite violent crimes such as rape, assaults and robberies seeing a downturn, officers opened about 400 more investigations in 2015 than in the previous year.

The jump is in large part because the department reacted to a surge in thefts by addressing the problem at its source.

“We felt if we could work narcotics investigations with the Northwest Narcotics Task Force and the Bureau of Criminal Investigations, we would try to get in front of these thefts and burglaries and frauds… many of which were the direct result of narcotic addiction,” Lt. Detective David Peterson of the Williston Police Department said. “Our focus shifted to what our community needs.”

Theft investigations and arrests both saw a decrease, while the same figures for burglary rose, showing a growing trend in premeditated stealing, usually done in an effort to raise money for drugs, police say.

“Criminal activity became more organized,” Peterson said.

“Typically we weren’t dealing with one person committing a theft based on opportunity. We were dealing with multiple individuals working together to purposely go out and seek valuables, commit burglary, sell stolen property and transfer the proceeds for narcotics.”

Despite the oil industry’s slow-down, drug prices have not followed suit, Special Agent Patrick Lenertz of the Northwest Narcotics Task Force wrote in the report.

“With lower oil prices in 2015, the (task force) witnessed continual high prices for a variety of narcotics,” he reported, adding that of last year’s 85 cases leading to more than 100 arrests, over half involved methamphetamine.

The Williston-based agency, an arm of the Bureau of Criminal Investigations, seized more than $240,000 in drugs last year, much of which flooded in from other areas.

“One of the major issues the (task force) now faces is the transient dealers that are coming to the area from all over the world, hoping to get a foothold in the Bakken drug market,” Lenertz wrote.

Achievements in Recovery

‘Slips and bumps’

The second youngest of four children, Helgaas Burgum grew up in Jamestown where her family owned and operated the John Deere dealership. In 1981, she graduated from Jamestown High School where she was a tennis player, cheerleader, student council member and a voice in the concert choir. She went to Arizona State University where she played women’s rugby and was quarterback for her intramural flag football team.

Helgaas Burgum acknowledged Arizona State’s reputation as a party school, but she said her time there didn’t lead to her alcohol addiction. “It was just part of my DNA that was going to show up at some point,” she said.

She shied away from discussing the specifics of her addiction, such as how much she drank or how often. To sum up the experience, she simply said, “It was fun until it wasn’t fun.”

A veteran of the corporate world, Helgaas Burgum worked for various companies as a human resources and marketing professional. She said her addiction never kept her career from progressing. But there came a point when she realized that by bringing her addiction under control, she could accomplish more and could feel better about herself.

She said her realization didn’t happen after the sort of rockbottom moment those in recovery often talk about. Yet she did reach a personal low point that led her to check into an inpatient treatment program at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

Helgaas Burgum’s sister, Ann Kumm of Fargo, said there were no outward signs of the addiction that afflicted her sister, who’s younger by a year. “I, to be honest, have only maybe once in my whole life ever seen her drink too much,” Kumm said.

Helgaas Burgum said she hid her addiction so well her decision to seek treatment shocked people around her. “One person said, ‘I can name five people I think should go to treatment, and you would not be on that list.’”

She spent 10 days at the Mayo Clinic and also tried a couple of outpatient programs. But it took a few years, “a few more slips and bumps,” she said, before she was finally willing to do everything it took to get sober.

“She’s always been awesome,” Kumm said.

“She’s just really awesome now.”

‘A strong love’

After college, Helgaas Burgum was married for a few years before getting a divorce. In 1989, she earned an MBA in human resources from the University of North Texas. For about 10 years, she worked for different firms in Texas before returning to North Dakota to help care for her mother, who died from cancer in 1996.

From 1995 to 1998, Helgaas Burgum worked at Great Plains Software, the Fargo-based company that was run by Doug Burgum. Although the two met at Great Plains, they didn’t start dating until 2006, they said. Burgum and his ex-wife divorced in late 2003.

The couple was engaged in August and was married Nov. 25 in a small, formal ceremony at a centuries-old estate near the town of Abergavenny, Wales. Because of privacy reasons, the couple said, they waited until now to disclose the date and location of their wedding.

Helgaas Burgum said they chose Wales because her husband has Welsh ancestry and because they wanted to see his daughter perform at the historic Globe Theatre in London as part of a University of Minnesota exchange program.

Since the governor took office on Dec. 15, the couple has been residing in Bismarck, and they’re planning regular returns to Fargo where the governor’s youngest son is a high school senior.

Helgaas Burgum said she’s going to dedicate herself full-time to being first lady and raising awareness about addiction.

Kumm said she’s confident her younger sister, known for her efficiency, will find a way to make a difference. Through recovery, she said, her sister has gained more confidence and the ability to let herself shine.

“She’s always been awesome,” Kumm said. “She’s just really awesome now.”

Kumm said the governor has long been supportive of her sister’s recovery. “I knew that there was a strong love there because of that,” she said.

Tightly holding the first lady’s hand, the governor showed this affection as she spoke publicly about her struggle with addiction.

The occasion left him choked up.

“It’s just one of the reasons why I love you, because you’re so courageous,” he told her. “That definitely is going to make a big difference for a lot of people.”

Solving the problem

Whether it’s alcohol, meth, opioids or other drugs, Burgum said, the issue of addiction is one that touches every family, every business, every community in the state – an issue that’s become more apparent with fatal overdoses in the news.

Burgum, a Republican, said he believes putting money into addiction treatment makes more sense than spending it on locking up people with drug problems. “We treat addiction like a crime,” he said. “We can’t solve the problem by building bigger and more prisons.”

He said it costs $40,000 a year to incarcerate an inmate in North Dakota. “For a fraction of that, we could be rehabilitating those individuals,” he said.

However, Burgum said the state government, which is faced with a massive budget shortfall, can’t fix the problem of addiction alone. “This is going to take faith-based, nonprofits, private sector, individuals, families, everybody working together,” he said.

Helgaas Burgum said more public-private partnerships are needed to help people with addictions transition back into society after getting treatment. Part of this is creating places for them to live, she said. “There are people that are willing to spend money on sober houses. Because at some point when people start getting sober, they start paying rent. They start becoming, you know, members of the community,” she said.

Carrie Simonson, a registered nurse who works at First Step Recovery in Fargo, said she and the first lady struck up a friendship 10 years ago after meeting through mutual friends.

Simonson, who’s also in recovery, said she and Helgaas Burgum talk about addiction, but it doesn’t dominate their conversations.

“I don’t know that our friendship is based solely on our recovery,” she said. “That’s just a small part of our lives.”

Simonson described Helgaas Burgum as a smart, warm, generous woman who’s passionate about what she sets her mind to. She believes her friend has the chance to improve North Dakota’s approach to addiction, possibly by incorporating practices from elsewhere.

“She’ll have the opportunity to visit all areas of the state, and she’ll have the opportunity to see what’s there and learn from people what’s missing,” Simonson said.

TURN

Knowledge

into

ACTION

FIGHTING DOMESTIC ABUSE

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE isn’t always visible. There may be no outward signs of abuse, no visits to the ER—but violence can still be occurring. It’s important for victims of domestic violence to understand that just because someone doesn’t leave a bruise, it doesn’t mean abuse didn’t occur.

According to WEAVE, a crisis intervention service for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in California, there are five different types of domestic violence. Their common denominator: all types of abuse are used to assert control and power over their victim.

TYPES OF DOMESTIC ABUSE

PHYSICAL ABUSE. This is the use of physical force against another person to inflict injury, or to put the person at risk of becoming injured.

This may include your partner pushing, hitting, choking you, or threatening you with a weapon.

SEXUAL ABUSE. This abuse often occurs in tandem with physical abuse. It involves forcing or coercing a victim to do something sexually, which can range from unwanted kissing or touching to rape. This can also involve threatening someone to perform a sexual act, including oral sex; restricting a victim’s access to birth control and condoms; or repeatedly using sexual insults to demean a victim. Read more on sexual abuse.

EMOTIONAL ABUSE. Emotional abuse is almost like brain washing in that it is done to wear away at a victim’s self-confidence. It can be verbal abuse; such as your partner repeatedly criticizing, intimidating or belittling you. It can also be nonverbal abuse or coercive control; when your partner asserts control and tries to demean you by making decisions on your behalf. This can include anything from what you should wear to who your friends should be.

FINANCIAL ABUSE. This type of abuse involves stealing or withholding money from the victim, or using the victim’s name and personal information to accrue debt. The victim may feel financially dependent on their partner, or as though they are being forced to support their partner financially. See comprehensive list of types of financial abuse.

SPIRITUAL ABUSE. Also referred to as religious abuse, this involves a partner not allowing you to practice your moral or religious beliefs.

It can include humiliation or harassment as a means of control, forcing a victim up their culture or values that are important to them.

Spiritual abuse can be used by religious leaders to instill fear or guilt into a victim, coercing them to behave a certain way.

If you recognize any of these types of abuse, you should seek help from a domestic violence counselor, hotline or shelter immediately.

A PARENT’S ROLE IN

Prevention

How one mother’s career guides her message to her teen.

W

hen Marcia Hellandsaas sends her son,Eric, off to college, she will have to trust him to make good decisions.

She knows college students are likely exposed to alcohol, especially in North Dakota, where around half (46%) of college students report binge drinking within the previous two weeks, according to the 2014 North Dakota University System CORE survey.

“I think as a parent we always have that concern,” Hellandsaas says. “We’ve done the best we can to prepare him.”

That’s because she has raised him with a clear and consistent message: Underage drinking is illegal, unsafe and is simply the wrong decision.

“THEY WATCH YOU MORE THAN THEY WATCH ANYBODY ELSE.” - MARCIA HELLANDSAAS, EXTENSION AGENT, NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY

For 28 years, Hellandsaas has worked to prevent underage drinking in her career as an extension agent with the North Dakota State University Extension Service in McKenzie County. The extension service gives residents in each county access to the university’s resources and researchbased information in a range of categories.

In her position, she has led parenting classes that cover, among other topics, underage drinking. She has also worked with police departments, community coalitions, Mothers Against Drunk Driving and other organizations with the shared goal of preventing youth drinking.

Hellandsaas tells parents to establish open communication about diffi cult topics early on, adding that ages 5 and 6 are a good time to start. “It’s important that families have ongoing conversations with their children beginning at an early age,” she says.

Introducing these topics early is important, she says, because teenagers don’t necessarily think things through.

“Sometimes their decisions aren’t the best,” she says, citing research that reveals a teenager’s brain is not fully developed until age 25.

Because their reasoning skills are affected, getting the message across early is key.

She often refers parents to parentslead.org, which has tools for parents to address the underage drinking problem in North Dakota — including talking points for conversations with kids of all ages.

The points she covers with her son?

Underage drinking has negative health impacts on a growing brain and body and can result in a criminal record and even death.

She emphasizes the importance of parents being involved, both through monitoring their child’s friendships and activities, and modeling good behavior themselves.

“Having good character is the most important thing because parents are the number one role models for their kids,” she says. “They watch you more than they watch anybody else.” She says she’s been lucky that her son has good friends with parents who reinforce her message.

“You have to really know where your kids are, what they’re doing and have that bond with them,” she says. “It’s important to connect with them whenever you can.”

Q&A with Founder and CEO, Brad Keays

The SOBERLINK SL2 is a pocket-sized, mobile, handheld breath alcohol monitoring device that incorporates GPS and Adaptive Facial Recognition™ technology. The device is extremely easy to use for any offender population, and allows clients to discreetly submit BrAC tests from any location.

The SL2 device learns an individual’s face as more tests are taken and more photos are collected, increasing the accuracy and confidence that the right person is taking the test. In fact, the system can automatically confirm up to 98 percent of all tests. Other devices are larger, more difficult to use, and simply compare test photos against a single master file photo instead of a full photo library like the SL2. The GPS point is collected during each random or scheduled test, so you know where the individual is during the recommended three to four tests throughout the day.

Brad Keays is the Founder and CEO of SOBERLINK, Inc. With the introduction of the SL1 in mid2011, SOBERLINK created a new category in alcohol monitoring focused around mobile handheld technology. Below, Brad answers questions about the SL2: Q. How does the SL2 device work?

A. During each breath test, the SL2 Breathalyzer takes a picture of the end-user to confirm his or her identity. The realtime photo and breath alcohol result are wirelessly transmitted on Verizon’s Private Network to SOBERLINK’s host computer and reported through the online monitoring portal.

Direct alerts can be set up for contacts when si gns of a relapse, such as a missed or positive test, occur.

Q. How accurate are the alcohol test results?

A. The SL2 device contains a professional-grade fuel cell sensor with a detection range of 0.000% – 0.400% BrAC and an accuracy level of +/- .005 BrAC. The fuel cell that SOBERLINK uses is a globally trusted sensor used for high-end workplace and law enforcement breath alcohol instruments. Learn more about this fuel cell technology at the manufacturer’s website – www.dart-sensors.com.

Q. How does fuel cell technology work?

A. When a breath sample containing alcohol comes in contact with the surface of the fuel cell, the alcohol is quickly absorbed. A chemical reaction occurs in the fuel cell, in which the alcohol oxidizes. This oxidation process converts alcohol to acetic acid, which releases an electric current. The higher the alcohol concentration in the breath sample, the greater the chemical reaction and the higher the BrAC. If alcohol is not present in the sample, there is no chemical reaction, no electrons are released, and the result would be .000 BrAC. Q. How do you know the right person is taking the test?

A. In early 2014, SOBERLINK released Adaptive Facial Recognition, which has virtually eliminated the need for officers to review compliant participant photos. The SL2 device has an embedded high-resolution camera that takes a picture of the participant during the breath alcohol test. The software spatially analyzes each point-in-time photograph against a collective library of participant file photos. The software also recognizes and adapts to subtle appearance changes, such as facial hair.

Q. What happens if there is a positive test?

A. In the event of a positive test, the system disseminates direct alerts to predetermined contacts and the client will be prompted to retest in order to confirm consumption of alcohol versus accidental exposure (i.e. mouthwash).

Q. Do clients need a cell phone to use the SL2?

A. No, the SL2 contains a cellular module and sends test results via Verizon’s wireless network. As an optional feature on the monitoring site, enrolled clients may opt to receive reminder text messages on his or her personal cell phone when a test is due. However, text message delivery times may be affected due to carrier-related factors, so each client should also receive a hard copy of the testing schedule and the expected procedure for positive test results.

Q. How often does the SL2 device need to be calibrated?

A. The SL2 device has an internal test counter, and case managers receive an email alert when a calibration accuracy check is due. Fuel cell sensor accuracy may last for many years; however, SOBERLINK recommends calibration checks when prompted.

Q. How does the testing schedule work?

A. The monitoring site allows for customized client testing schedules. Schedules must be entered and saved 30 minutes prior to scheduled test times. A “Scheduled” test means that a client has a 45-minute window in which to send their test, starting 15 minutes before the test time and ending 30 minutes after the test time. Clients may submit a test at any time. If the test was not scheduled through the monitoring site, it will be labeled as an “Unscheduled” test.

Q. How do client text reminders work?

A. Clients must authorize use of their personal cell numbers and accept an initial opt-in text message from the SOBERLINK monitoring portal. Officers enroll and set up client test schedules in the system.

Once enrolled, clients receive the automated text reminder 15 minutes prior to each scheduled test. A separate alert feature enables predetermined contacts to receive automatic email and/or text notification for positive test results or tests taken outside of a scheduled testing window.

Q. Who has access to test results?

A. One of the major benefits of the SOBERLINK monitoring software platform is the ability to customize access for multiple individuals within an agency. For example, officers may be authorized receive full access or read-only access to view results at any time. (Need more on this one) Q. Has the SL2 been challenged in court?

A. Yes, SOBERLINK and authorized SOBERLINK Service Providers have testified and successfully defended and validated the reliability and accuracy of the SL2 device in court hearings. In addition, SOBERLINK offers court testimony support services for all authorized Service Providers. Please also refer to the SL2 Court Admissibility and Reliability document in the fact sheet section.

Curbing the

Epidemic State needs new approach to battling the opioid crisis

The opioid crisis that has been damaging communities

and destroying lives in Michigan and across America is not just a public health crisis; it’s a humanitarian disaster. Between 1999 and 2012,

prescription drug overdoses in Michigan tripled and heroin overdoses quadrupled. Michigan now ranks 15th in the nation for overdoses.

When confronted with problems of this scale it’s not enough for our

top federal and state law enforcement officials to take a “this isn’t in our

jurisdiction” approach. When I was U.S. Attorney for Western Michigan under President Obama, we realized early on that we needed to take a different approach to this epidemic because there were legitimate law enforcement and criminal issues in play. Our focus was prevention, enforcement, and treatment.

As U.S. attorney, I regularly educated people — especially teenagers and their parents or guardians — about the dangers lurking in their medicine cabinets. These lessons are simple but life-saving. For example, the nonmedical use of prescription drugs of any kind can be just as dangerous as street drugs like heroin and cocaine. The path to addiction often begins when one person uses another person’s prescription drugs. And people who misuse prescription painkillers are 40 times more likely to end up as heroin users.

The path to addiction often begins when one person uses another person’s prescription drugs.

In addition, under my leadership the U.S. Attorney’s Office vigorously prosecuted those who illegally distributed prescription drugs and heroin. We worked collaboratively with federal, state, and local law enforcement to identify and prosecute drug-trafficking organizations. We also targeted rogue doctors who feed this epidemic for their own financial gain.

A federal response, however, only goes so far. Michigan must follow this model and take several immediate steps.

First, the state must require physicians and licensed prescribers to use the staterun drug monitoring program called the Michigan Automated Prescription System, which displays a patient’s prescription history for controlled substances and prevents “doctor shopping.”

Only 14 percent of physicians and licensed prescribers currently use MAPS when prescribing a controlled substance.

Moreover, law enforcement agencies need reasonable access to this system, without identifying any individual patient’s information. This access is critical to identify and prosecute “pill mill” doctors who feed this crisis.

Second, Michigan medical examiners should specify the drug causing an overdose death.

Even if other drugs are in the victim’s system, medical examiners can often determine which substance caused the death. Absent this reform, Michigan will never understand the scope of this epidemic.

Third, Michigan should share real-time data among agencies, including information about drug arrests, drug seizures, pharmacy robberies, overdose deaths, emergency room visits, birth rates, hospital discharge codes, and number of naloxone doses administered, which is a medication used to treat an opioid overdose. Michigan needs to create a data hub with data-tracking software. This approach will allow state agencies to target law enforcement and treatment programs in problem areas. Indiana has adopted this approach and Michigan should follow suit.

Lastly, the Michigan attorney general should hold accountable pharmaceutical companies that employed deceptive marketing to increase the sale of opioids, thereby contributing to the current crisis. Other states, including Ohio, have taken legal action.

Michigan should do the same and use any penalty funds to further this fight.

It’s time for Michigan’s attorney general to step outside the box and attack this epidemic.

Pat Miles Jr. served as U.S. attorney in the Western District of Michigan under President Barack Obama.

Dining Against

Drugs

Brann’s Steakhouse teams up with local agencies to fight teen drug use

GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. Recent studies suggest teens in families where members sit down and eat meals as a unit, are less likely to smoke or use and abuse drugs or alcohol.

The Kent County Prevention Coalition, Network 180 and Brann’s Steakhouse & Grille have teamed up to encourage West Michigan families to break bread together.

“This is very important.

Sitting down with your kids is your opportunity to get a pulse on their lives. A chance for you to find out what is going on with them, how they are feeling, what they are thinking and what they are involved in,” said Nadia Kimble, spokesperson with Kent County Prevention Coalition.

The effort is in conjunction with ‘Family Meals Month’ and ‘National Family Day.’ The latter is a movement, acknowledged each September, that focuses on the importance of creating strong and united families.

That is something very important to the owner of Brann’s Steakhouse and Grille.

“Family is so important.

The Brann’s family has been around in West Michigan for a long time. And, they really, really love bringing families together,” said Sue Brubacher, General Manager at the Leonard location.

Starting Monday, Sept. 25, customers who show staff a downloaded TalkSooner app on their mobile device will be able to receive a free appetizer with a minimum soft drink purchase.

Kimble says TalkSooner is one of the latest tools available to parents to help navigate those difficult conversations.

“Some people feel it a little bit awkward. They don’t know how to start that conversation with their teenager. So, on that website and app they can find resources and questions that can be used to open that up,” said Kimble. “With that they can take it according to their comfort level. They don’t have to start out with something super-deep or invasive. Parents can start out by opening the door and building trust and building that rapport with their own children.”

Research indicates teens who have fewer than three family meals together per week are almost four times likelier to use tobacco, more than twice as likely to use alcohol and marijuana and less like to perform well academically than those who have frequent (between five and seven) meals together each week.

Drugs IN THE

NUM83R5 Drug Abuse Patterns and Trends in Detroit, Wayne County, and Michigan By: Cynthia L. Arfken, Ph.D.

Overview of Findings:

The continuing problems in Detroit, Wayne County, and the State of Michigan with heroin and the increase in stimulants other than cocaine were the two most important findings for this reporting period. Drug use patterns in Detroit differ from those across the rest of the State of Michigan. In Detroit, heroin and cocaine are the two major drugs of abuse, based on treatment admissions, while heroin and prescription opioids/opiates other than heroin are the major drugs of abuse in the rest of the State. However, marijuana indicators were widespread in both Detroit and across the State.

In Detroit, primary cocaine treatment admissions declined as a proportion of total admissions from fiscal year (FY) 2012 to FY 2013, and crack cocaine continued to be the dominant form of cocaine for these admissions. In 2013, numbers of drug-related deaths in Detroit declined.

The most striking trend for heroin admissions in Michigan was the continued influx of young, White, and injecting treatment clients. However, in Detroit, for the first time, an increase in the proportion of African-Americans in treatment admissions data was observed. Treatment admissions for marijuana as the primary drug of abuse have been stable with minor fluctuations for the past 7 years. The top four drugs identified in drug reports among drug items seized and analyzed by National Forensic Laboratory Information System (NFLIS) laboratories for Wayne County and the State of Michigan in the first half of 2013 were marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and hydrocodone. The number of synthetic cannabinoids identified in NFLIS data declined sharply in both Wayne County and the State, but no similar decline for synthetic cathinones was identified in NFLIS drug reports for either geographic area.

Updated Drug Abuse Trends and Emerging Patterns Cocaine: Treatment admissions with cocaine as the primary drug accounted for 15.7 percent of total Detroit publicly funded admissions in FY 2013, continuing cocaine’s decline from its height of 33.8 percent in both FY 2000 and FY 2003. The proportion of publicly funded admissions in the rest of the State with cocaine reported as the primary drug was much lower (6 percent) from a height of 19 percent in FY 2006.

However, in the rest of the State, the proportion of cocaine admissions that involved crack was lower (67.7 percent) than the proportion in Detroit (90.7 percent). Of the cocaine admissions in Detroit, 64.3 percent were male, compared with 57.7 percent in FY 2009; 91.7 percent were AfricanAmerican; and 88.4 percent were older than 35. Cocaine continued to rank second among drug reports identified in items seized and analyzed for Wayne County and the State of Michigan, according to NFLIS, in the first half of 2013.>>>

>>>Heroin: In FY 2013, treatment admissions in Detroit with heroin as the primary drug constituted 33.3 percent of all admissions, relatively stable from FY2012, when the proportion of such admissions was 34.5 percent. The proportion of publicly funded admissions in the rest of the State with heroin as the primary drug was much lower (at 20.4 percent), but it continued to increase (the proportion was 13.8 percent in FY 2010). In Detroit, 64.6 percent of primary heroin treatment admissions were male; 82.3 percent were African-American (compared with 78.7 percent in FY 2011); and 85.8 percent were older than 35.

In FY 2013, White heroin treatment clients in Detroit continued to be younger (with a lower mean age) than AfricanAmerican heroin treatment clients (39.2 versus 53.6 years, respectively), and they were more likely to inject heroin (71.5 versus 33.1 percent, respectively). In Detroit, White injecting heroin users constituted 10.5 percent of treatment admissions for heroin during FY 2013, compared with 13.1 percent during FY 2012.

Admissions among noninjecting African-Americans climbed to 55.1 percent of heroin admissions in FY 2013, reversing a steadily declining proportion since FY 2006. Heroin continued to rank third among drug reports from items seized and analyzed by NFLIS laboratories for Wayne County and the State of Michigan in the first half of 2013.

Prescription Opioids/ Opiates Other Than Heroin: Treatment admissions with prescription opioids/opiates other than heroin as the primary drug in Detroit accounted for 2.8 percent in FY 2012, compared with 15.6 percent for the rest of the State. Hydrocodone continued to be the prescription opioid most frequently identified in drug reports among items analyzed

by NFLIS laboratories for both Wayne County and the State of Michigan in the first half of 2013.

Methamphetamine indicators in Detroit remained low. Only 5 treatment admissions cited methamphetamine as the primary drug of abuse in Detroit during FY 2013 (constituting 0.1 percent of total admissions), compared with 891 in the rest of the State (representing 1.4 percent of the total treatment admissions for the rest of the State). For the first time, in the first half of 2013, methamphetamine was among the top 10 drug reports identified among drug items seized and analyzed in NFLIS laboratories for Wayne County; the drug ranked fifth among drug reports for the State of Michigan.

Marijuana/Cannabis: Treatment admissions with marijuana as the primary drug in Detroit accounted for 15.3 percent in FY 2013; this was similar to the 15.0 percent of primary marijuana admissions reported in FY 2011.

Of these recent admissions, males represented 60.5 percent; 91.1 percent were African-American; and the proportion younger than 18 was 21.5 percent (this represented a sustained decline from 28.9 percent in FY 2011).

The percentage of publicly funded admissions in the rest of the State with marijuana as the primary drug was similar (at 16 percent) in FY 2013. Marijuana/cannabis continued to rank first among drug reports from items seized and analyzed by NFLIS laboratories for both Wayne County and the State of Michigan in the first half of 2013. A focus group of law enforcement officials reported that marijuana use was widespread in Detroit.

Other Drugs: Both synthetic (substituted) cathinones (and cathinones) and synthetic cannabinoids (cannabimimetics) were reported among drug reports from items seized and analyzed

by NFLIS laboratories for Wayne County and the State of Michigan in the reporting period. However, while the number of drug reports dropped for synthetic cannabinoids in the State (from 135 synthetic cannabinoid drug reports in 2012 to 35 in the first half of 2013), the combined numbers of synthetic (substituted) cathinones and cathinones in drug reports increased (from n=154 in 2012 to n=168 in the first 6 months of 2013). Interviews with users suggested less interest in synthetic cannabinoids but did not support increased interest in synthetic (substituted) cathinones.

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JACKSON, MICH. (WLNS) – Heroin and other types of opioid abuse are often hard things to talk about.

But a group in mid-Michigan is trying to break down those barriers by spreading awareness.

Once a month at the Cascades Manor House in Jackson, a group of working women meets to discuss issues impacting their community.

“Today we’re talking about the opioid epidemic that we have. So it’s a very applicable topic,” said Marie Bonkowski, President of the Business and Professional Women’s Club of Jackson.

“Today we’re talking about the opioid epidemic that we have.

So it’s a very applicable topic.”

Local law enforcement and drug abuse experts spoke to the group.

Bonkowski says the heroin and prescription drug problem is something everyone needs to face.

“Having experienced opioid abuse in my own family, just to really realize what it’s about. And how people actually become addicted and things that possibly we can do to help combat this,” Bonkowski said.

The group says talking about such a big problem in a small setting can make a difference.

Mike Hirst started the drug recovery group Andy’s Angels after his son, Andy, died from a heroin overdose.

He says more groups should be having these discussions.

“To let them know that this is what’s really going on. I think those are the people that are in charge of their departments, in charge of their company, in charge of their human resources that can pass this information down to the employees and really get it out there for them,” Hirst said.

For Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney Jerry Jarzynka, this is an opportunity to talk about the work that’s being done to battle the problem.

“We’re doing something about it, and making progress, and helping people. Getting the word out, stressing public awareness is gigantic. Because if you don’t know what you’re up against, you’re not going to be able to deal with it,” Jarzynka said.

Addiction Services Offering Ohio help with addiction and recovery

Substance Abuse

Substance Abuse Treatment Centers focus on helping individuals recover from substance abuse, including alcohol and drug addiction (both illegal and prescription drugs). They often include the opportunity to engage in both individual as well as group therapy.

Opiate Addiction

Opiate Addiction Treatment Centers specialize in supporting those recovering from opioid addiction.

They treat those suffering from addiction to illegal opioids like heroin, as well as prescription drugs like oxycodone. These centers typically combine both physical as well as mental and emotional support to help stop addiction.

Physical support often includes medical detox and subsequent medical support (including medication), and mental support includes in-depth therapy to address the underlying causes of addiction.

“he helped me to understand how I have been trying to self medicate with different drugs in order to cope with my mental illness.”

- Anonymous

Alcoholism

The goal of treatment for alcoholism is abstinence. Those with poor social support, poor motivation, or psychiatric disorders tend to relapse within a few years of treatment.

For these people, success is measured by longer periods of abstinence, reduced use of alcohol, better health, and improved social functioning. Recovery and Maintenance are usually based on 12 step programs and AA meetings.

Dual Diagnosis/ Co-Occurring Disorders Treatment

Many of those suffering from addiction also suffer from mental or emotional illnesses like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, or anxiety disorders. Rehab and other substance abuse facilities treating those with a dual diagnosis or co-occurring disorder administer psychiatric treatment to address the person’s mental health issue in addition to drug and alcohol rehabilitation.

Intensive Outpatient (IOP)

Intensive Outpatient programs are for those who want or need a very structured treatment program but who also wish to live at home and continue with certain responsibilities (such as work or school). IOP substance abuse treatment programs vary in duration and intensity, and certain outpatient rehab centers will offer individualized treatment programs.

Outpatient (OP)

Outpatient programs are for those seeking mental rehab or drug rehab, but who also stay at home every night. The main difference between outpatient treatment (OP) and intensive outpatient treatment (IOP) lies in the amount of hours the patient spends at the facility. Most of the time an outpatient program is designed for someone who has completed an inpatient stay and is looking to continue their growth in recovery. Outpatient is not meant to be the starting point, it is commonly referred to as aftercare.

“A place that restores you, your spirit, and your soul. thank god for new concept. A place that waits for you.”

-facebook reviewer

Our Shepherd

Bishop Duane C. Tisdale, Friendship Baptist Church

“The community where saving the lost and cultivating Christ-like maturity is our priority.�

-Bishop Duane C. Tisdale

“And the things that thou hast heard of me amoung many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” -II Timothy 2:2 (KJV) Bishop Duane C. Tisdale was born on April 22, 1958, to Pastor Clyde E. and Thelma M. (Perry) Tisdale. He is the fourteenth child of his parents. The Tisdale family resided in Rossford, Ohio, where he attended and graduated from the Rossford Public School System. On November 7, 1987 Bishop Duane Tisdale married his wife Thelma.

He and Thelma celebrate 26 years of marriage. They also have five children LaTonya, Jerel, Samuel, Joshua and Sara.

In November of 1969 he confessed his faith in Jesus Christ as Lord of his life. His confession and baptism happened under the Pastorate of his father, Clyde E. Tisdale, Sr. Pastor Clyde E. Tisdale was the Pastor of the family church in Rossford from October 1958 until October of 1988. During this time foundational Christian principles where instilled in him from childhood well into his young adult years.

Bishop Tisdale’s leadership, preaching and teaching gave birth to a new concept of ministry for the congregation of Friendship Baptist Church. As a result, Friendship Baptist Church adopted this new concept, entitled “New Vision” as its church vision. “New Vision” embraces the spiritual/mental, physical, economical and social dimensions of our total being, therefore emphasizing “Ministering to the Total Person.” Through “New Vision” Friendship Baptist Church integrates a holistic ministry in all areas that affect man, his family, and his worship.

Bishop Tisdale became affiliated with Full Gospel Baptist Fellowship International in 1995 and he is a student in the Full Gospel Graduate School of Episcopal Studies. Since then he has served on the national level in the Pastor’s Division on the Advisory Board under Bishop H. Jerome Ross. On the district level he served as the Northern District Overseer in the State of Ohio. On the state level, he served as the First Administrative Assistant to State Bishop William Morris.

Presently he serves as Bishop of the State of Ohio.

Bishop Tisdale serves, as the Visionary for “The Toledo Urban Federal Credit Union”, which opened its doors July 21, 1996 as a result of the New Vision inspiration.

Bishop Tisdale also serves as the CEO of Friendship New Vision, of the Church. The outreach ministry has a Drug and Alcohol Out-Patient Treatment Ministry named New Concepts; Transitional House for Women named NAOMI; Residential Housing Program; Tutorial Programs, Teen’s program, and Welfare to Work Program.

Bishop Tisdale, as a Regional Sales Manager for Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing, has introduced a means for individuals to have economic empowerment and financial freedom through Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing for his congregation as well.

Bishop Tisdale received his Bachelor in Religious Education from the Calvary Bible Institute, Toledo, Ohio in 1981. He went on to attain a Master’s Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from Ashland Theological Seminary, Ashland, Ohio in 1994. Bishop Tisdale completed his Doctorate of Ministry Degree in Black Church Studies from Ashland Theological Seminary, Ashland, Ohio in June 2011. In June 2010 Bishop received an Honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from St. Thomas Christian College.

ONE CITY’S EPIDEMIC

TOLEDO: Apr 14, 2016 - Toledo recorded two more drug overdose deaths last night. The epidemic has one city council member holding forums so families can get help.

“It’s killing them left and right. and I mean they’re young.”

- Cliff Lew

It’s an area with well manicured lawns, families raising kids and churches nearby. Heroin has plagued this west Toledo community.

Neighbors say people come from all over to buy their drugs in broad daylight. According to this police report a Monroe Michigan man was found dead in a house on Crestwood.

He overdosed on heroin.

“What they are putting in these drugs now in this heroin is beyond me. I ain’t never seen anything like it and I’m from the old school when drugs were drugs,” said resident Cliff Lew

Cliff Lew is a recovering addict. He’s been clean for 24 years. He says he’s never seen anything like this “It’s killing them left and right. and I mean they’re young,” said Lew. According to the Lucas County Coroner 21 people overdosed during the Easter holiday.

“The highest concentration of overdoses in Lucas county are in 43612 and 43613. West Toledo is being extremely hard hit by this heroin epidemic,” said Toledo City Councilwoman Lindsay Webb.

Council woman Lindsay Webb has joined hands with St. Ctherine of Siena Church to help families.

Tonight from 7-9 rescue crisis will be on hand to offer counseling. The health department will teach people how to use Narcan. The drug reverses an overdose.

“To get free Narcan you basically have to watch a video as to how to administer it and secondly you need to sign some paper work that says that if you administer Nacan you will call EMT’s,” said Webb.

Web says it’s important for families to stay hopeful and know help is available.

“West Toledo has highest numbers of heroin overdoses in OHIO” - 13abc Action News

Say Hello to

NAOMI The NAOMI (New Attitude on My Image) is a non-profit organization located in Toledo, Ohio.

The organization serves needs of women recovering from alchol and substance abuse and provides shelter and beneficial services in support of their efforts in transitioning back to a self-supporting, positive and productive lifestyle.

“I know He has a purpose for every single thing in my life.

And for me to have a purpose in God is a true miracle.�

- Betsy S.

NAOMI is certified by the Ohio Mental Health and Addiction Services (OMHAS). A 10-member volunteer board of directors governs NAOMI. The organization provides up to 12 months of support for women who are in recovery from alcohol and substance abuse. NAOMI is one of the only 24-hour service organization in the Metro Toledo area that supports women regardless of income.

The clients we serve are: recovering addicts, persons suffering from mild mental illness, and persons recently released from prison. Length of stay is determined by the consumers needs. Services are provided on a first come, first served basis. Clients must be willing to participate in a supportive program that includes case management, support groups, and workshops. The women who enter into the NAOMI program not only are recovering addicts, persons suffering from mild mental health illness, persons recently released from prison and or pregnant, but also arrive with multiple needs beyond the presenting problem. They are often equipped with poor problem solving skills, inconsistent work history, limited interpersonal skills, inability to find affordable housing and poor support systems among other concerns.

“I learned how to love at Naomi. learned that being vulnerable is ok.” - Jazmine R. Additionally, possible Opportunities and Threats to the organization were also identified. An important componentof the analysis was board and staff input, patient input and input from external key stakeholders including funders, referral sources and licensing/accrediting bodies. This input has been received through surveys, focus groups and discussions as they relate to the current and future needs of NAOMI, Inc.

NAOMI’s Mission: To transform the physical, spiritual, and emotional lives of women impacted by chemical addiction through a holistic approach of long term residential care, individualized support, and access to comprehensive resources so that each woman can realize their full potential as valuable members in their families and community.

The first step in the development of this strategic plan was an in-depth analysis of the NAOMI, Inc. organization. This analysis identified the Strengths and Weaknesses of NAOMI, Inc.

THE LONG HAUL

A Guide to Long Term Sobriety

Extended care is commonly used to refer to a patient staying at an inpatient drug and alcohol rehab center longer than a typical treatment cycle, thus extending their alcohol or drug rehabilitation. It is also used to refer to the host of other ways a person can extend treatment and care after one’s time at an official program at a rehab center ends (including a dual diagnosis treatment center).

There are several different types of extended rehabilitation care.

Inpatient rehab treatment

Most inpatient facilities offer 30-, 60-, or 90-day substance abuse treatment programs. Extending inpatient drug and alcohol rehab programs is generally for those with very serious substance abuse problems. These patients are often particularly vulnerable to relapse, or might otherwise have trouble functioning in society.

Inpatient rehab and residential care is sometimes a necessity for such extreme cases, since medical professionals as well as mental health professionals are on hand 24/7.

Outpatient rehab treatment

After completing an inpatient drug and alcohol rehab program, some people are referred to outpatient centers, where they can continue getting oversight and support on a regular basis. Outpatient programs can involve regular check-ins, meetings with licensed mental health counselors and therapists, and group therapy. Outpatient programs and centers generally offer more openended care, meaning the substance abuse treatment at these centers ends when the person is ready (not on a strict timeline).

Sober living, also known as sober concepts

Sober living programs give those recovering from drug and alcohol addiction the chance to live in a safe and structured environment as they transition from drug or alcohol treatment centers back into everyday life. Sober living houses (also known as halfway houses) are group homes with strict guidelines that encourage sobriety, clean living, and community. Structured environments like these can help recovering alcohol and drug addicts practice new skills, activities, and habits necessary to live a sober, healthy life. Halfway houses are a particularly good choice for those who would otherwise return to a chaotic or otherwise sobriety-threatening environment.

One-on-one therapy

Steady contact with a mental health professional such as a counselor, psychologist, or psychiatrist is a good way to help one stay sober, especially when it comes to processing things that come up that could trigger relapse (for example, attending a mandatory event where there’s drinking, such as a wedding, or seeing someone particularly triggering). One-onone support provides important individualized attention and guidance that may not be available to the person elsewhere, and can be a meaningful part of preventing relapse and promoting growth and progress.

12-step programs or other peer-based support groups

Both inpatient and outpatient substance abuse treatment programs often advocate for recovering addicts to enroll in a 12-step program such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or Narcotics Anonymous (NA).

Many times, a mentor (or “sponsor” as they’re known within the context of 12-step groups) is assigned to the recovering addict to help integrate them into the program. 12-step programs can play a very important role in extended care, since meetings are either free or very low-cost, available constantly, and give the recovering addict access to a strong community. Feeling isolated or alone is often a big trigger for those overcoming drug and alcohol addiction, and belonging to a safe and supportive community can instead have the person feel connected, uplifted, and part of something greater than him/herself.

The process of staying sober is just that - a process. It involves not only the initial drug and alcohol rehab treatment, but everything that comes after. Forming a strong network of both professional assistance and peer-based support is part of what builds a healthy and lasting foundation for sobriety and success.

Getting Clean,

with Help

A grateful client looks back

Darnell Little,

a client at Restoration Family Services, has made a total commitment to overcoming an addiction he battled for the better part of 30 years. Last March, Little was referred to RFS by the Smithfield Rescue Mission, where he was temporarily living.

One of the things clients have the opportunity to do in treatment is figure out their reasons for using drugs or alcohol. In the 51-year old Little’s case, he believes it was feelings of insecurity. On a job guarding a stadium construction site in his native New Jersey, Little wanted to emulate a coworker he looked up to. “I was impressed with the way he carried himself; he was confident and bold when talking to women.

That wasn’t me. I knew he had been getting dope because he borrowed money from me.”

A temporary solution

“I wanted to be confident and bold, so I tried sniffing dope. It worked for a little while, but I found out that was a false sense of security.” Little became an occasional heroin user, and eventually knew he had crossed the line into addiction when he became sick without it.

“For a little while, it was manageable.” Little was living with his son’s mother and working the night shift at a supermarket. “One night I didn’t feel like getting up and didn’t know why. Somebody told me to get some dope and it took care of all the sickness.”

After a couple of years, Little found himself homeless and living in a shelter. The amount he spent on heroin depended on how much he made as a part-time furniture mover. He became an intravenous user and at one point was spending up to $300 to $400 a day.

“When things got real serious, I wanted to die.”

- Darnell Little, client, Restoration Family Services

“Lose the desire to use, and find a new way to live, that’s the key.”

-Darnell Little

Eventually, he sought help at a methadone clinic and was able to kick heroin. But he developed an addiction to Xanax, Klonopin, Valium and other pills, which gave him a similar effect, and meth. “When things got real serious, I wanted to die.”

Little was arrested and wound up in “the green monster” – the Essex County Jail – where he had to detox on his own. “It was a nightmare; I didn’t think I was going to make it out of there alive. So I said my prayers and gave myself ‘last rites.’” But he survived.

About nine months later, Little returned to the streets of East Orange; he met a childhood friend who was attending Narcotics Anonymous and decided to follow suit. That was 2006, and the beginning of “the best five years of my life,” he recalls, until he relapsed in 2011.

Getting clean

Little moved to North Carolina to help his sister care for his dying mother. After her death, he wound up back on the streets, until he arrived at the shelter. “I wanted to go back to New Jersey,” Little recalls. “But I distinctly heard a voice saying, ‘You’re not going back.

I was obedient.”

His new “clean date” is March 28, 2017. “I need to thank my sister for bringing me to this place; I need to write her a ‘thank you’ letter.”

Little says his therapist at Restoration Family Services, Dr. Janet Wise, has been a big help. “She knows how to get you in touch with things like triggers, and why we started using in the first place.”

He attends intensive outpatient sessions at Restoration Family Services, three days a week. While working on his own recovery, he also has a chance to help other addicts following in his footsteps.

“I tell them, ‘first, you’ve got to stop using.’ Lose the desire to use, and find a new way to live, that’s the key.”

Leaving Depression Behind

RFS client rebounds with therapists help For years, medical researchers have been aware of a connection between heart disease and depression. For reasons that aren’t yet clear, at least a quarter of cardiac patients suffer with depression, and adults with depression often develop heart disease.

Kay Fowler, a mental health client at Restoration Family Services since June, has learned about heart disease and depression first-hand. A 58-year old Smithfield, N.C. resident, Fowler was diagnosed with two heart blockages last December. In April, she suffered two heart attacks, and two more blockages were discovered.

“She has been right on the money with me since day one.”

- Kay Fowler, client, Restoration Family Services

Brought down by depression

While receiving care for her cardiac problems, Fowler became immobilized by severe depression. Some of that has been related to family issues. In 2013, Fowler’s daughter had become addicted to opiates and become unable to care for her infant son. Fowler has had custody of the boy since he was nine months old; he is now three. Fowler’s daughter has gotten clean and is doing better, but it’s still an emotionally stressful situation.

Fowler didn’t have anyone to help lighten her load, and dealt with her problems and feelings the way she had all her life: “I always bottled things up, and just went on with life,” she says. “I never dealt with any issues.” Fortunately, late last year, Fowler was referred to RFS for help with her depression.

Fowler, who has three adult daughters and three grandchildren, has spent most of her life taking care of others. To address her own needs, Fowler has been seeing RFS therapist Deanna Murphy for weekly, one-on-one therapy. Thanks to Murphy’s skill and empathy, Fowler says she is feeling better these days. “She has been right on the money with me since day one; she knows me very well.”

Catching up with the past

Fowler’s therapy sessions at RFS have involved doing some catching up – learning healthier ways to deal with emotions from the past up to present, she says. Murphy has guided her through what, at times, can be an intense experience.

The weekly sessions “help me get through the week, and give me something to look forward to,” says Fowler, who supports herself by working as a bank teller.

“Dr. Murphy is very well-trained on the issues that I have and she gives me really good advice and words of wisdom.

Sometimes, her words get me through the week.” Fowler has While taking a close look at her feelings, Fowler also looked into also been prescribed several her own family history, and found out that her late father had had medications to help lessen her problems with depression, a condition which often runs in families. depression symptoms.

Fowler says her life, and ability to cope with life, has gradually been getting better. “I’m not as ‘down,’ as I was before and I’m feeling more motivated to try new things, instead of being overwhelmed all the time. And I have more energy for living life.”

“I’m feeling more motivated to try new things, and I have more energy for living life.”

- Kay Fowler

“When I first came here, it was a new environment for me.”

- Emelea Drago-Gonzalez, office manager, Restoration Family Services

Managing

Inspiration

Office manager learns a new field

Emelea Drago-Gonzalez has the title of office manager at Restoration Family Services, an umbrella term which covers a number of functions: HR specialist, payroll clerk, accountant, handler of insurance company authorizations, all-around assistant, and more. Her expansive job description varies from day to day, which is a good way to keep things interesting.

She also derives daily inspiration from the work the agency does with its addiction treatment and mental health clients.

A Florida native, Drago-Gonzalez came to North Carolina about 10 years ago, after studying business administration at Broward Community College.

She’s done office management work in a number of industries – investment companies, construction firms, attorney’s offices, and more. She joined the staff at Restoration Family Services in early 2016.

Entering a new field

Her current position is her first job in a social service agency setting, dealing with clients who have addiction and mental health issues. “When I first came here, it was a challenge for me, a new environment for me.” But she quickly became acclimated “because of the group and team I work with, and watching them work. I’ve learned to be more compassionate of people with mental health and addiction challenges, and I’ve definitely learned that everything is possible.”

Drago-Gonzalez says her favorite thing about working at the agency is “watching how we help the people here.”

Of course, one of the rewards is seeing success stories. “Almost on a weekly basis we get people coming back just to say hello and thanks.”

“Everybody on the staff has their specialty and it’s a remarkable group of staff and therapists here, who make it a wonderful place to work. They are very compassionate, they teach and guide me, and provide inspiration.”

“It’s not only inspiring to come to work, it makes me feel better when I go home to know such great things are accomplished here on a day-to-day basis.”

“It makes me feel better to know that such great things are accomplished here on a day-today basis.”

- Emelea Drago-Gonzalez

Pushing Forward

Restoration Family Services continues to grow services

Professionals who work in the mental health and addiction treatment fields often feel called to those professions because of personal or family experiences.

Renee Jones, president and CEO of Restoration Family Services, is one example.

Jones traces the origins of her interest in the social work and mental health fields back to her teenage years, growing up in Goldsboro, N.C., when her older brother had to deal with mental health issues related to his military service. “I’m certain that’s what drew me to this field,” says Jones, who founded Restoration Family Services in 2004, along with her husband, Kino Jones.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in sociology (social work minor), and master’s in professional counseling, she worked for county and private social service agencies, helping local families and children. In 2008, Restoration Family Services expanded its reach by adding substance abuse treatment services for troubled adolescents.

“It takes everyone to help support people in their recovery.”

- Renee Jones, president and CEO, Restoration Family Services

Adding substance abuse treatment

Another major step took place in 2013, when the agency became licensed by the state of North Carolina to provide intensive outpatient treatment for substance abuse, in addition to providing continued mental health services.

“We had been finding that many of our clientele who were dealing with mental health issues were also trying to self-medicate through a variety of substances.

We realized that, to treat them properly, we needed to bring together mental health and substance abuse care.”

Jones went on to establish referral relationships to provide services to clients from hospitals, clinics and other local agencies. Along with self-referred clients, RFS also serves a number of clients with substance abuse issues who have been referred by area parole and probation agencies and community programs.

Everything RFS provides to clients is based on the principle of “treating the whole person,” Jones notes. “We have very experienced clinicians who are dedicated to working with the clients, and we try to bring in family support systems. If a client doesn’t have a medical doctor, we get them connected with one.

It takes everyone to help support people in their recovery.”

After clients finish outpatient treatment, the agency stays in contact and follows up with them at three and six months intervals, to track their progress in recovery, and offer additional help if needed.

“We try to connect them with mental health resources in the community, or Narcotics Anonymous or Alcoholics Anonymous groups, whatever their need is. We make sure they have all of our numbers, so they can call us 24-7 if they need help.”

Battling funding cuts

One of the biggest challenges for agencies like RFS is reductions in Medicaid and other sources of funding for services, Jones notes. “It’s a constant challenge to continue to serve the community because of continuous budget cuts.” To address that problem, the agency is working to become certified to accept reimbursement from private insurers. “But a lot of private insurances are not accepting any new providers, so that’s another issue.”

“So, we are continuing to move forward and strategizing how we can continue to provide these much-needed services.”

Jones and others at RFS often receive calls and letters from former clients thanking them for the care they received there. “They are so appreciative, and they always talk about the care and respect we have given them, and not looking down on them. They know we are always here for them.”

“We really enjoy serving this community, it’s been a blessing for us. Since we started, we’ve seen a lot of ups and downs, but we keep pushing forward.”

“We are continuing to move forward and strategizing how we can continue to provide these services.”

- Renee Jones

co-occuring disorders When mental illness and addiction intertwine

WHAT IS A CO-OCCURING DISORDER ?

A co-occurring disorder is the term utilized when an individual has both a mental illness and a substance use disorder. Both illnesses may affect a person physically, socially, psychologically and spiritually.

Each has symptoms that interfere with a person’s ability to function effectively. The illnesses may affect each other, and each disorder predisposes to relapse in the other disease. At times, the symptoms can overlap and even mask each other, making treatment and diagnosis difficult. To fully recover, a person needs to address and treat both illnesses. Other names used to refer to a co-occurring disorder include co-morbid disorders, concurrent disorders, co-morbidity, dual diagnosis, and dual disorders.

It is challenging to determine conclusively how many people have a co-occurring disorder because research has often examined different populations and utilized different screening tools. Further, people with dual disorders are frequently misidentified as diagnosis can be more difficult because one disorder can mimic another. Research studies vary, but indicate that roughly fifty percent of individuals with serious mental disorders are affected by substance abuse and conversely, 37% of persons who abuse alcohol and over 53% of persons who use drugs also have at least one serious mental illness. Relapse rates for substance use are higher for people with a concurrent mental disorder, as are the chances that symptoms of mental illness will return for those with a concurrent substance use disorder.

Why is there such a strong relationship between mental illness and substance use?

This too, can be difficult to determine, but a number of factors seem to come into play. Those with a mental illness can be very sensitive to the effects of drug abuse; not only can it be easier to abuse drugs, it can also be harder to quit. Drug use can interfere with prescribed medications, increase symptoms of a mental condition, and increase the risk of relapse.

Some believe that an identity based on drug addiction or alcoholism is more acceptable than to admit that one has a mental illness. A person with co-occurring disorder may sincerely try to recover from one illness and not acknowledge the other. As a person neglects the mental illness, that illness may resurface.

This recurrence may, in turn, lead a person to feel the need to “self medicate� through drug or alcohol use to combat symptoms of the mental illness or side effects of medications.

However, such relief or change is temporary at best, and frequently leads to the need for hospitalization or other intervention.

Finding Support

Support for those with cooccurring disorders has traditionally been scattered.

Programs historically have not addressed the unique problems of those struggling with both disorders, instead treating the mental illness and substance use as separate problems. This has not proven to be an effective approach.

Ideally, both problems should be addressed simultaneously and more programs, including Tony Rice Center, are trying to enhance their efforts to assure that individuals with co-occurring disorders are welcomed and assisted by their services.

Stepping Up Facilitating recovery using the 12 step program Twelve Step Facilitation is a comprehensive program of instructional and selfhelp materials for individuals suffering from co-occuring disorders. The program is completely faithful to the original 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Twelve Step Facilitation is not a new approach, per se. But it is highly innovative, because it is the first and only approach to build a bridge of understanding between the individual program of action and the requirements of treatment.

At the core of Twelve Step Facilitation is a clear, concise, and correctly-sequenced explanation of the 12 Steps - uniquely presented in a goaloriented format that guides each individual to an understanding of the problem, the solution, and the plan of action, that leads to recovery.

“The first step to overcoming mistakes is to admit them.�

Why This Program?

The 12-step fellowships have proven to be a highly effective means of self-help. Yet in the earliest stages of recovery, some are unwilling or unable to get help from a 12-step program. They seek formal treatment, and this is good.

Most formal treatment programs are effective at helping people, temporarily. The problem occurs when individuals leave the controlled environment of the treatment facility. Still in need of help, they turn to a 12-step fellowship. But the program practiced there may be completely different from the one they relied on in treatment. In fact, it may be completely contradictory. The result is a far greater chance of relapse.

Twelve Step Facilitation helps people get clean and sober by teaching a proven program that is readily available to them for continuing support after they leave a facility. No new theories. No changes in direction. Continuing recovery through the 12 steps, pure and simple

The

Program How the Tony Rice Center Inc. serves it’s clients

Tony Rice Center Inc is a non-profit, taxexempt Co-Occurring Disorders Rehabilitation Facility established in 1990.

TRC provides a substance-free environment where those men suffering from life problems associated with co-occurring disorders can learn new living skills. Our treatment approach is intended to return the individual to an acceptable level of spiritual, physical, emotional, social and occupational functioning to live successfully outside an institutional setting without creating additional burden to the community. Attention is given to teach the co-occurring dependent man new coping skills that affords alternatives to substance abuse.

Our long-term residential program gives time to the co-occurring dependent man to build self-esteem and learn to better function within the family and to contribute to the community.

Our mission is to prepare each man for an independent, enriched lifestyle free of mood – altering chemicals, which many times result in homelessness, isolation and various social ills.

Our treatment program begins with an individualized treatment plan tailored to the client’s needs. This plan is based on information that is collected during an initial assessment interview. The information will include his history with drugs and alcohol, any prior attempts at recovery, his medical history, any co-occuring psychological concerns, possible legal situations and his family history.

Our Mission

The Tony Rice Center recognizes that substance abuse disorders sometimes co-occur with mental health disorders, so it is with this knowledge that the Tony Rice Center endeavors to improve the quality of life for all people with co-occurring disorders in Tennessee. The Tony Rice Center strives to improve these areas by implementing and promoting an advanced treatment strategy that addresses both disorders and also by assuring access to all community-wide behavioral health services.

When the treatment plan is in place, the core elements of recovery-physical, emotional, mental and spiritual can be addressed through Rational Emotive Therapy, individual counseling and process groups, peer groups, Cognitive Behavioral groups, lectures and 12-step facilitation. In addition, all clients will participate in a daily living skills program to develop a sense of humility, personal responsibility and social accountability, all tools required to function in a sober, responsible manner after he leaves treatment.

Every member of our staff understands the recovery process from a unique perspective that only another addict or alcoholic can. The goal of each of these highly skilled professionals is to provide every addict or alcoholic the necessary tools and skills he or she will need to return to the mainstream of life a happy and productive individual

Evaughn Cagle, founder

and CEO of Urban Ounce of Prevention Services (UOPS), has been involved in community service for decades. As a teenager in east Akron, working as a church volunteer and for the local Goodwill agency, she first became aware of the unmet needs of inner city communities, and developed the desire to make a difference.

Motivated to make a career of helping people, Cagle attended Hiram College, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in social work.

Cagle’s first, post-college job was a formative experience: working as an employee assistance counselor for B.F. Goodrich, at one of the world’s largest tire manufacturing facilities. One of her functions was counseling employees whose alcohol and drug use was affecting their ability to work, and referring them for treatment.

“In the most recent fiscal year, none of the 42 children who participated were involved in the juvenile justice system, dropped out of school, or used alcohol or drugs.”

An Ounce of

Wanting to have more impact on the larger community, Cagle eventually moved on to a local nonprofit in the inner city where she not only helped clients receive addiction treatment, but also expanded her efforts into working to prevent drug and alcohol abuse.

Prevention Focused on need in the inner city

Launching an agency

In 1990, Cagle took her next big step, obtaining startup funding from the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and opening Urban Ounce of Prevention Services in the west Akron inner city. Her husband, Alexander Cagle, was the co-founder. “I can honestly say that the agency would not have grown to be what it is today without him, his wisdom and talents,” she says.

The following year, UOPS earned certification as a Medicaid service provider, enabling it to serve more clients.

Currently located at 1735 Hawkins Ave. S. in Akron, UOPS provides a comprehensive range of community based services to adults, families and adolescents.

UOPS also focuses on youth leadership development: – The Building Dreams Mentoring Program is designed to provide positive role models and promote growth, learning, and character building. Along with receiving alcohol, tobacco and drug prevention education, youth also participate in activities that offer preparation for academic excellence and civic leadership. Participants learn life skills that include effective communication, conflict resolution, anger management, values clarification, decision making, and goal setting.

Developmental enrichment activities include field trips, college tours, community service, African dance and drumming, summer camp, and other positive activities.

Cagle says one of the purposes of UOPS’ youth programs is to expose inner-city kids to “activities that they

would not otherwise have a chance to participate in, to help them learn about what is available to them in life – for example, going to museums and plays, taking swimming lessons and other things, while receiving general support and guidance.”

Kids between the ages of nine and 17 learn about activities like poetry, stage performing, making jewelry and others, while also receiving a useful education in the negative effects of alcohol and drugs.

Outcome data which Cagle provides each year to the state agency indicates that UOPS’ programs are having the desired, positive effect in the community. In the most recent fiscal year, none of the 42 children who participated were involved in the juvenile justice system, dropped out of school, or used alcohol or drugs.

“Their parenting program is one of the best around.”

- Lawanna Holt, social worker

A client-centered approach

Lawanna Holt, a social worker who refers clients to Urban Ounce, says Cagle’s agency fills an important role in the West Akron community.

“The work she does is wonderful; it’s geared to the total needs of each client. They provide support in the family setting, support in recovery, support in the court system, help with employment and transportation. It’s well-rounded, so the clients get everything they need.”

“Their parenting program is one of the best around, because they deal with each client’s specific needs. They will go into the home, sit down with the parents and children and teach them strategies they can use. They also do interventions, and provide mentoring for adolescents. They are really well-rounded.”

YouthLeadership SERVING THE YOUTH Urban Ounce of Prevention Services, Inc., founded by Alexander and Evaughn Cagle, is a non-profit community-based organization that has served the Summit County community since 1990. We specialize in quality health and wellness services that focus on promoting the well-being of inner-city families.

Our newly formed center offers an outlet for at-risk youth to flourish through an array of enrichment workshops, such as art, poetry, jewelry making and African-dance. Here’s a look at our programs:

Youth Leadership Development Programs The Building Dreams Mentoring Program is designed to involve positive role models in the lives of youth and to promote positive cultural lifestyles.

Educational sessions are provided in the area of alcohol, tobacco and drug prevention. The youth participate in activities that offer preparation for academic excellence and civic leadership.

The New Bridges Program is an after school program designed to promote growth, learning and character building. During group discussions, youth learn life skills that include effective communication, conflict resolution, anger management, values clarification, decision making, and goal setting.

Development Enrichment activities are a part of both the Building Dreams Mentoring and the New Bridges programs. These activities include field trips, college tours, community service and enrichment activities. Our Youth Slide Show captures a number of developmental enrichment activities that youth participated in throughout the year.

VANESSA LYLE, who owns a small medical billing company in Baltimore, fills a number of roles at House of Change.

Specialist cuts through billing red tape

She is the person responsible for helping clients complete the forms necessary to be eligible for Medicare or Medicaid, completing forms necessary for the agency to be reimbursed by private insurers for the services it provides, along with other billing and reimbursement-related functions.

Lyle has been providing services to House of Change for about two years, since meeting HOC founders Jerome Ford and John Barnes at a community meeting on the topic of supportive housing.

At House of Change, Lyle says she appreciates the fact that “we are contributing to stabilizing and helping change people’s lives. You learn to enjoy the transformation we see take place in the lives of clients, as they move forward in recovery.”

Going forward, she plans to continue making a contribution at House of Change. “There are a large number of people who need help with mental illness and addiction.”

“We are contributing to stabilizing and helping change people’s lives.”

- Vanessa Lyle, medical billing specialist, House of Change

C.A.R.F. Why accreditation matters

Accreditation is a sign of quality and is an important consideration in their decision making.

Founded in 1966 as the Commission on Accreditation of

Rehabilitation Facilities, CARF International is an independent, nonprofit accreditor of health and human services. The CARF International group of companies currently accredits more than 50,000 programs and services at 25,000 locations. More than 10 million persons of all ages are served annually by 7,000 CARF-accredited service providers. CARF accreditation extends to countries in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Program areas accredited by CARF are: AGING SERVICES BEHAVIORAL HEALTH CCRC CHILD AND YOUTH SERVICES DMEPOS (DURABLE MEDICAL EQUIPMENT, PROSTHETICS, ORTHOTICS, AND SUPPLIES) EMPLOYMENT AND COMMUNITY SERVICES MEDICAL REHABILITATION OPIOID TREATMENT PROGRAMS VISION REHABILITATION SERVICES

Why does accreditation matter?

Consumers face a variety of options when deciding what services to use and who should provide them.

Accreditation is a sign of quality and is an important consideration in their decision making. They look for CARF™ accreditation in their choice of treatment for addiction and substance abuse, rehabilitation of a disability, home and community services, retirement living, and other health and human services.

CARF International has surveyed hundreds of thousands of programs throughout North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia since it was founded as an independent, nonprofit accreditor in 1966.

The value of accreditation goes beyond a competitive distinction for service providers and a framework for continuous quality improvement. CARF offers a wide variety of value-added benefits and several unique advantages to help providers receive the greatest return for their accreditation investment.

How is accreditation achieved?

Achieving accreditation requires a service provider to commit to quality improvement, focus on the unique needs of each person the provider serves, and monitor the results of services.

A service provider begins the accreditation process with an internal examination of its program and business practices. Then the provider requests an on-site survey that will be conducted by a team of expert practitioners selected by CARF. During the survey, the provider must demonstrate that it conforms to a series of rigorous and internationally recognized CARF standards.

Based on the results of the survey, CARF prepares a written report of the provider’s strengths and areas for improvement. If a provider has sufficiently demonstrated its conformance to the standards, it earns CARF accreditation.

After receiving the report, the provider must submit a Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) to CARF to show how it is addressing any areas for improvement. Then, each year during the term of accreditation, the provider must submit a report to CARF documenting additional improvements it has made. The QIP can be downloaded from the Customer Connect website. Read more about the accreditation process at steps to accreditation.

Heroin flooding Midland South Carolina COLUMBIA, SC Just a year and a half ago, heroin was a rare thing in the Midlands. Now, it’s a “party drug,” with several kilos flooding the area each week from Mexican and Colombian cartels.

“A lot of it has to do with the purity of the heroin,” said Robert Murphy, assistant special agent in charge for South Carolina with the Drug Enforcement Administration. “Now you can smoke it, snort it, and you shoot it. Younger kids are starting out mostly snorting it, and they’re getting hooked.”

In 2015, Lexington County saw 25 heroin overdose deaths, according to Coroner Margaret Fisher. In 2016 so far, officials suspect three heroin overdoses, though toxicology is still underway to confirm that.

“I know it’s resurging... It’s the drug of choice in some areas.”

“Pain pills are normally what leads to heroin overdoses in Lexington County,” Fisher said.

Richland County has felt the boom hard, too, according to Capt. Brian Godfrey with the Richland Sheriff’s Department’s Narcotics Unit. While the unit’s 2015 statistics aren’t yet complete, Godfrey said there were at least 162 heroin cases on record as of Wednesday. That’s up from 97 cases in 2014 and 28 cases in 2013.

“It was like overnight,” he said.

In 2015, Richland County saw nine heroin overdose deaths of 25 total overdose deaths, according to Deputy Chief Coroner Leonard Bradley. In 2016 so far, there have been three heroin overdoses.

Heroin use sneaked up on some who deal with drug abuse in South Carolina.

Sara Goldsby, with the S.C. Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services, pointed to research in Vermont, showing that people don’t seek treatment until having been addicted for about eight years. But of people who sought treatment at DAODAS-funded centers throughout the state, the most prominent demographic was males 25 to 34.

Taking a measure for how many lives are affected by the drug is difficult. “Of all those folks who are just now deciding to abuse heroin, we’re probably not going to see them for help or treatment for several years,” Goldsby said.

PREVENTION IS

KEY

Programs that safe guard against substance abuse

Prevention is often the first step in fighting drug and alcohol abuse. Whether it’s avoiding perscription pain medication misuse, underage drinking, or even over the counter medication abuse, talking and educating children and parents is an important step in avoiding deadly consequences. Drug overdoses have reached epic proportions, and informing as many people as possible to the dangers and avoidable consequences of drug abuse is key.

Westview Behavioral Heath offers a wide range of prevention education to help those in the midland counties of South Carolina.

WEST VIEW PROVIDES 10 DIFFERENT PREVENTION PROGRAMS COVERING EVERYTHING FROM MIDDLE SCHOOL YOUTH TO LOCAL SHOP OWNERS. HERE ARE JUST A FEW OF THE PREVENTION PROGRAMS OFFERED BY WEST VIEW:

Merchant Education

A Seed of Prevention Each month Westview writes a monthly article for our local newspaper “The Newberry Observer.” These articles are used to increase community awareness about new alcohol and drug trends that are affecting youth.

Parenting Programs Westview provides parenting programs throughout the community. These programs contain video, lecture, and family interaction components. The programs teach parents to identify risk factors associated with teenage drug abuse and to practice skills which will promote family bonding and thereby reduce negative risks. Specific programs include Families and Schools Together, Preparing for the Drug Free Years, and Parent to Parent.

Alcohol Stories Westview implements a youth education program that targets Middle School youth.

Westview recognizes this is the age when youth are experiencing identity confusion and are easily persuaded to participate in high risk behaviors that can cause them life-long problems. “Alcohol Stories” gives youth the tools needed to recognize the dangers of using alcohol and other drugs.

Palmetto Retailers Education Progtam (PREP) is merchant education program approved by the S.C. Department of Revenue and S.C. Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services. PREP is a short course that helps reduce underage access to alcohol and tobacco products in Newberry County. This curriculum provides managers and servers/ sellers with the knowledge and skills to comply with state laws as they relate to alcohol and tobacco sales.

The curriculum gives merchants the tools needed to establish alcohol and tobacco policies, in order to avoid the potential consequences of failing to comply with those policies.

Alcohol Education Program (AEP) The AEP program is a prevention education program designed for youth who are in violation of minor first-time alcohol and drug offenses. Westview uses the Prime for Life (PRI) curriculum.

PRI is a risk reduction program. The first goal of the program is to help each participant in the program reduce risk for any type of alcohol or drug problem. The second goal focuses on self-assessment to help people understand and accept the need to make changes to protect the things most valuable in their lives.

Westview

Helping to reduce suffering in South Carolina

We offer affordable, accessible services to assist individuals and families with developing alternative, healthy behaviors, before behavioral health problems manifest.

WESTVIEW BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SERVICES (WESTVIEW ) is a South Carolina-licensed and nationally-accredited facility focusing on behavioral issues which negatively effect a person’s well being and personal interaction. In addition, Westview serves as the legislatively-mandated authority for substance abuse treatment and prevention in Newberry and Saluda Counties.

Westview believes that the physical health and prosperity a person experiences are directly related to factors much less perceptible. Westview also recognizes that due to a variety of life stressors, a portion of the general population is at risk of developing negative behavior patterns in an attempt to cope with the daily demands of job, home, relationships, finances, etc. This may manifest itself as feelings of depression and anxiety, lack of self confidence, low self-esteem, or feeling overwhelmed and unable to cope. We offer affordable, accessible services to assist individuals and families with developing alternative, healthy behaviors, before behavioral health problems manifest.

Gift of Treatment

Westview Behavioral Health Services sponsors a year-round campaign called the Gift of Treatment to raise funds to offset the costs of treatment programming.

And, in collaboration with “The Way, The Truth Outreach Ministries,” features the Michael Bradley Jeter Fund as a primary means for community support. Additionally, The Mary Helen Altman Fund was established in 2001, to help support The Gift of Treatment.

In addition, many people who need treatment are not getting it because of financial considerations. Many in need of treatment are hesitant to commit to a payment plan because of their low income, and therefore, they avoid treatment entirely. Others who do commit to a payment plan pay only what they can each month.

While payment plans allow some who cannot afford the additional cost of treatment the opportunity to get help, these plans create a tremendous hardship on the agency. Many clients pay only a few dollars each month towards the cost of their treatment program, while Westview must pay set expenses, such as utilities and the salaries of its hardworking, professional staff.

The Gift of Treatment is important because it will provide an immediate source of funding for those in desperate need of treatment, but who don’t get it because they believe they cannot afford added expenses. It will help ensure that Westview can continue its valuable work -- helping our neighbors and maintaining adequate facilities and high quality, professional staff.

Donors can complete our Gift of Treatment Donor Form and mail the form with their gift. Your gift is tax deductible and a receipt will be mailed to you

The Long Term

Solution MUSC BECOMES FIRST IN STATE TO OFFER SPECIAL IMPLANT TO TREAT OPIOID DEPENDENCE

The Medical University of South Carolina became the first in the state Monday to administer Probuphine, a buprenorphine implant for the treatment of opioid dependence.

Angela Dempsey, an obstetrician and gynecologist, says the outpatient surgery went well. The procedure, similar to that of contraceptive implantation, was not that different from what she usually does, but having a male patient was a bit different, she says.

DR. ANGELA DEMPSEY

Dr. Angela Dempsey says the opioid crisis calls for a coordinated effort to help people suffering from dependence on the drug.

“Situations like this raise the question of how siloed medicine has become. This is a model for improving patient access and experience and not limiting the treatment options,” she says, adding that it took the coordinated effort of many MUSC specialties to make offering this a reality. “I don’t think there’s any dispute what a crisis this is. We really have to have quite an organized response to this.”

Dempsey worked in coordination with a team that includes pharmacists and addiction specialists at MUSC Health’s Institute of Psychiatry to be able to offer this treatment. Probuphine, implanted in the arm, is designed to provide a constant, low-level dose of buprenorphine for six months in patients Instrumental in getting this new treatment approved at MUSC was psychiatrist Sarah Book, an addictions specialist and professor in MUSC’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

Last May, the FDA approved the use of Probuphine for this purpose, but it hasn’t been a treatment patients could get in the state, she says.

DR. SARAH BOOK

Dr. Sarah Book likes the fact that the implant means patients don’t have to remember to take a pill.

“The FDA has a very tight control over the process.

To begin, a patient has to be engaged in addictions treatment at a program like MUSC’s Center for Drug and Alcohol Programs that is familiar with treating opioid use disorder using buprenorphine as Medication Assisted Therapy. In addition, the program has to have a surgeon to actually do the implant at MUSC. As you can imagine, it’s not too often that one program is going to be able to offer both types of expertise.”

At MUSC, the Addiction Sciences Division, formerly known as the Center for Drug and Alcohol Programs, and OB/GYN clinics are located close geographically, so doctors considered working together. “We have the addiction expertise, and they have the surgical expertise and were interested in working with us. They see what a problem it is, too.”

Being able to offer this treatment also provides a valuable training opportunity for doctors who are doing their addiction fellowships at MUSC, which is known for its strong focus on addictions research and clinical treatments. “We’re training the next generation of providers to fight this.”

Because the medication is surgically implanted, it reduces the hassle factor her patients’ experience in remembering to take a medication, and it minimizes the risk of diversion and abuse, she says. “I’m excited about it because of the innovation and because it takes the habit of taking a pill out of the patient’s daily routine. I’m excited to be able to partner with Dr. Dempsey and OBGYN. I think it will make life easier for my patients as well because there is a significant hassle factor associated with getting this medication every month for a number of reasons.”

“I don’t think there’s any dispute what a crisis this is.”

- Dr. Angela Dempsey

W

est View Behavioral Health understands that we all need help sometime. Knowing how to help takes a experienced and dedicated team and a number of programs that treat substance abuse. The following are just a few of the treatment programs offered

by West View.

Offering Support Treatment options when help is needed

Offender-Based Intervention Program (OBI) Westview coordinates services with the local Probation, Pardon, and Parole agency, local judges, and magistrates to provide programs to treat the specialized needs this population presents.

Alcohol and Drug Safety Action Program (ADSAP) The South Carolina ADSAP program, an eight week program mandated by Sections 56-5-2990 and 56-1-1330 of the SC Code of Laws, 1976, as amended, is a statewide education and intervention program designed for persons convicted of driving under the influence.

ADSAP services are certified by the SC Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services.

Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Offering direct support to employers in identifying, referring, and following through in treatment recommendations, the EAP serves to assist employees in dealing with problems which interfere with their jobs. The EAP services include assessment and evaluation, direct intervention, case management, referral, and follow-up in all areas. The programs are tailored to meet the needs of the employer as determined through consultation. EAPs can be effective, cost-saving benefits to employer and employee alike, reducing turnover and increasing morale.

Federal Probation and Parole/Pretrial Intervention Program Westview offers federal clients an opportunity to receive treatment services (inpatient and outpatient) in a controlled, structured environment to individuals identified as needing AOD services. In addition, Westview provides urinalysis for individuals under this program.

Wake Up Carolina

Offering care where there was none.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — Opioid addiction and overdoses are hitting communities harder than ever, and the victims are getting younger and younger. Thursday night, local recovery organizations came together to keep the issue in the spotlight.

“The first time I was on my way to a treatment facility I was 17 years old and there was nowhere for me to go...”

- Isaac Waters

Wake Up Carolina, Ben’s Friends and students with the Collegiate Recovery Program at College of Charleston held a special screening of Generation Found, a documentary about a high school recovery program in Texas.

“It affects young people it doesn’t just affect old farts like me, it’s young people too,” said Mickey Bakst, co-founder of Ben’s Friends, a support group for addicts in the food, beverage and hospitality industry.

Nancy Shipman, founder of Wake Up Carolina, wants to bring a similar program to the Palmetto State. She said Hope Academy, a recovery high school in Columbia could open sometime in 2019.

Lawmakers tabled the project earlier this year. It will be the first of its kind in the state. Helping teenagers hits close to home for Shipman. Last July, her 19-year-old son overdosed on heroin.

“We’ve been talking to different schools and different communities,” Shipman said. “We’ve realized there are teenagers as young as 14 or 15 that have acknowledged they need help.”

Isaac Waters knows how hard recovery can be for teenagers. He’s part of the state’s first Collegiate Recovery Program at C of C. “The first time I was on my way to a treatment facility I was 17 years old and there was nowhere for me to go, there was not one facility that we found that would accept someone who was under the age of 18,” Waters said. “If you foster it early, you can continue this life of recovery.”

Shipman hopes to keep the conversation about addiction and recovery going.

“My hope is in recovery and this is just a testament to it,” Shipman said. “It’s a great feeling. I’m really excited to be a partner in this.”

SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT AND REHABILITATION MRC offers a broad array of outpatient treatment services to adults, both individual and family, who are suffering from drug and alcohol abuse problems.

21700 Greenfield Road Suite 130 Oak Park, MI 48237 248-967-4310

(located between 8 and 9 Miles across from Northland Shopping Center)