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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 2007)
18 vernonia’s voice health and wellness november 2007 Addiction - And the Road to Recovery: Part I - Treatment is Available By Scott Laird The road to recovery from addiction problems can often be long and arduous. Families suffer, lives come unraveled and help can be hard to find. Rural communities continue to be hard hit by alcohol addiction and problems with drugs, especially Methamphetamines (Meth). Gambling is now recognized as an addiction problem that is more widespread than was realized. Drug and alcohol abuse continues to affect the youth of our communities. In this three part series, Vernonia’s Voice looks at how to find help, get into treatment, and stay in recovery. Do you or does someone close to you struggle with addiction? Maybe it’s alcohol. Maybe it’s illegal or prescription drugs. Maybe it’s both. Or maybe it’s gambling. Almost every American is affected either directly or indirectly by problems with addiction at some point in their lives. For many people the big questions become “How do I get help?” and “Where do I go to get help?” For those living in rural com- munities the answers can be difficult and challenging to find. In Columbia County we are fortunate to have a very comprehensive program available through Colum- bia Community Mental Health (CCMH), a non-profit behavioral health agency. CCMH offers trained as- sistance through a variety of sources including: crisis intervention; prevention through education, informa- tion, and support; counseling for mental health and addictions; psychiatric rehabilitation; and develop- mental disabilities programs. They offer in-patient and outpatient addiction treatment programs as well. All of these programs are run through CCMH’s new facility, the Creekside Center in St. Helens. CCMH also operates satellite offices in Vernonia, Clatskanie, Rainier, and Scappoose that offer limited staff, hours and programming. Dr. Scott Christie is the Addictions Program Manager at CCMH. According to Dr. Christie, CCMH is hav- ing success in treating patients with addiction issues although there are many obstacles that need to be overcome each and every day. “This building was funded in great part by donations from the community,” Dr. Christie explained while we visited in his office. “We are very lucky to be able to offer so many services all under one roof. Typically we are seeing patients now that have a co-occur- ring diagnosis, meaning they don’t present with just one problem like alcohol addiction. Other issues like depression, anxiety, fam- ily problems, motivation issues, and others will usually accompany a patient’s addiction problem. Having all services available in one building is a huge advantage when trying to get someone the help they need.” “The biggest problem we have is, of course, fund- ing,” said Dr. Christie. “We are still in catch up mode from the legislative cuts to social services in Oregon that happened in 2002-2003. Corrections and addic- tions programs were hit very hard. Here at Creekside we’ve had a three-to-four person reduction in staff that we have not recovered from. There is an equity- formula they use to fund social programs through- out the state, and rural communities have historically been under-funded. A larger county might get $16 per person, whereas Columbia County would receive about $4. That formula was recently corrected, and we are starting to see more funds reach us, but we are still behind.” “The funding stream we do receive from the state is usually earmarked for specific uses and purposes which can sometimes make it difficult. If we have an area of need, or a lack of funds for a particular pro- gram, we often can’t use funds we receive if they are scheduled for a designated purpose.” The place to build your community. The Vernonia Community Learning Center is seeking qualified and or skilled teachers for the following: Traditional art classes such as drawing, basket weaving and painting Various computer classes including Microsoft Office and Open- Source design software Languages Certified American Red Cross instructors General Education Development Do you have a master’s degree in a subject area? We offer college credit classes too and want to meet you. The VCLC is also on the lookout for dependable volunteers for administrative assistant, tutors and youth program leaders. No phone calls please for the above postings. Please write a letter of interest and mail or drop off at VCLC, 939 Bridge Street, Vernonia, Oregon, 97064. The Vernonia Community Learning Center has an office for rent by the day, week or month for organizations providing certain services to the Vernonia community. Please call 503.429.1030 for more information and rates. When asked about the challenges of providing lo- cal services in rural com- munities, Dr. Christie re- sponded, “We continue to operate our satellite offices in each of the communities because we feel it is impor- tant to have a presence, a contact person, and to help those communities fund services. It is difficult with only one person in each lo- cation to meet all the needs of each individual. We don’t have staff authorized to dis- pense medication on site. Transportation can be a huge issue. Often the folks with a need don’t have ac- cess, and there is often no funding for public transpor- tation either.” Paying for services contin- ues to be a major roadblock to receiving help. “Treat- ment will be paid for by some insurance programs,” explained Dr. Christie. “We have a great relationship with Kaiser that really tries to work with our programs. For those patients without insurance coverage, we of- fer a minimal service charge of $15 for a service visit. We have worked hard to make our services as available as possible to everyone.” But CCMH is also having success in a number of areas. “We have an adolescent addictions program which is very unusual in Oregon,” said Dr. Christie. “That has been a great resource for this community. Even though our adult outpatient programs are un- der-funded, we are seeing results there. We have a very successful alternative school program that helps kids who have issues stay in school and graduate. We are always looking for resources; I have worked to find interns who can come in and have been able to use them to help with counseling.” “We just started a new program called the Adult Drug Court that allows someone charged with minor drug crimes and who meet certain criteria to be placed into a treatment program. It brings a variety of en- tities together- counseling, treatment, corrections, parole - and makes addiction recovery the focus for the person in the corrections system. We have high hopes for that program. We have a great relationship with corrections and parole officers, the judge, dis- trict attorney and others who really take rehabilitation and recovery seriously.” “We have seen people in the surrounding communi- ties come into a wonderful residential in-patient treat- ment facility here in St. Helens, Pathways, that offers a very holistic approach to treatment. Our programs last anywhere from thirty to ninety days depending on the needs of the patient,” continued Dr. Christie. The continuum of care always begins in the smaller communities where identifying needs is important. We have had a good relationship in Vernonia with the local Drug Coalition which has always been histori- cally strong and has helped contribute to prevention activities and the efforts of Jill Dale, our Prevention Coordinator.” “Addiction is not a moral issue although it continues to be funded that way,” said Dr. Christie about how the public and legislature view addiction treatment. “Too many people see it as this issue is not important unless it affects me, and that’s not good, because really addictions and the problems associated with them end up affecting all of us. In an Oregon specific study it was found that every dollar spent on treat- ment for addiction ends up saving ten dollars later in social service costs like corrections and child wel- fare.” “For an addict there has to be something more im- portant than feeling good today, and treatment is de- signed to help clients decide what kind of life they want,” concluded Dr. Christie. Though limited by funding and staffing issues, when addicts are ready and able to get treatment, CCMH is finding success. “We have seen peoples’ lives get better. When peo- ple are able to learn a new skill set for dealing with normal life stresses and are actively doing something different, then they learn self-responsibility and be- come an active participant in their own recovery.” For more information about Columbia Community Mental Health, call (503) 397-5211. Next month: A visit to Pathways and how to get treatment.