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.