16
december
vernonia’s
voice health and wellness
2007
Addiction - And the Road to Recovery: Part II - Residential
Treatment Offers Hope
By Scott Laird
The road to reThe 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 Methamphetamine, (or Meth
for short). 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.
Addiction is a disease. Like cancer, like hypertension,
like diabetes. Our genes and lifestyle choices make
some of us more prone to being affected. And yet as a
society we tend to treat those that suffer from addiction
as if they are at fault, that they do it to themselves.
very active Twelve Step community here in Columbia
County which helps support recovering-addicts. Our
clients are encouraged to attend Twelve Step meetings
or Church or any group that might provide some kind
of a sober-support system.”
Almost every one of us has either suffered from, or
knows someone close to us who suffers from, addic-
tion in some form or another.
Treatment can last from twenty-one days to over ninety
days, depending on the needs of the client and their
ability to pay.
My recent visit to the Columbia Community Mental
Health’s (CCMH) Creekside facility in St. Helens was
a clear reminder that lack of funding is a crucial issue
in the ability of a community to provide rehabilitation
services for those suffering from addiction.
The problem of funding and space availability cannot
be ignored. With only sixteen beds available, there can
be a tremendously long wait, especially for an indigent
bed. While Pathways serves the entire State, Columbia,
Clatsop and Tillamook counties are prioritized. Nine of
the sixteen beds are reserved for those eligible for the
Oregon Health Plan. Three of those beds are reserved
for indigent clients, those who have no funding avail-
able to them. Seven beds are reserved for private pay
clients, including clients sent from corrections facili-
ties and insurance programs that are paying. Pathways
has one of two beds in the state that receives funding
through the State lottery program to pay for gambling
respite treatment.
“One of the models we use when looking at problem
behaviors is called the Stages of Change,” said Par-
sons. “The stages of change are Pre-contemplation,
Contemplation, Preparation, Action, and Maintenance,
and Relapse. Most clients think they are in the Ac-
tion phase when they are here in rehab, but really most
of them are in Pre-contemplation because most likely
someone has told them to be here, either family, the
justice system, or county services. We want them to
use their time in residential treatment to have an honest
conversation with themselves.”
“Being here is an opportunity to increase their readiness
and motivation to change,” continued Parsons. “We of-
fer exposure to self help like AA and NA (Alcoholics
and Narcotics Anonymous) meetings that they can at-
tend. We encourage them to have a temporary sponsor
while in the system that can offer support. There is a
I was especially interested in how addicts have been
able to find success in recovery. “There are many paths
to recovery,” said Parsons. “The person is the change-
agent and they need to work their own program. How-
ever, there are suggestions and the reminder that no-
body does this alone. You have to have like-minded
people around you. You have to identify a support
system.
One recognized success-
ful program is the Twelve
Step or AA model that is
often mistakenly identified
with religion and attending
church. Was finding Jesus
a prerequisite for finding
recovery?
“The Twelve Step Program
does have a spiritual focus,
but it is about a life of self
examination,” explained
Parsons. “It’s about find-
ing the God of your under-
standing, and there can be
many different personal
concepts for this.”
I was also interested in the
incidence of relapse from
recovery and not only its
When the client has concluded their Rehabilitation stay,
there are several options. They always have a sched-
uled appointment for ongoing outpatient care. There
is transitional apartment living space available down-
stairs from the residential facility, offering structured
lifestyle, support close by, and reasonable rent. There
are support groups like the Alano Club, a social organi-
zation and non-profit that supports sober lifestyles with
potlucks, speaker programs, dances and holiday cele-
brations. And there are AA meetings, designed to help
maintain sobriety. AA members share their experience,
strength and hope by speaking about what it was like,
what happened, and what it’s like now.
“The biggest thing we can do is instill hope,” concluded
Parsons. “Hope that the addict can change.
Dr. Scott Christy left me with these words, “Peoples
lives do get better.”
Next month: Meet some success stories.
Vernonia
Dental
D
“We have over 100 years of combined sobriety on staff
here,” Parsons added, himself a success with 18 years
of sobriety. I think about this. Who better to help an
addict find hope than people who have been successful
in recovery?
“We have a system of social responsibility where our
clients are asked to hold each other accountable,” Par-
sons told me. Added Shelly Kimball, “They have rules
they have to follow, and some of them have never had
to do this before. They are assigned a buddy to help
them learn the rules. Sometimes we have to have a
‘focus’ where we do an ongoing process group and talk
about the effect of their behavior on their values and
on the Pathways community. We end up teaching a lot
of life skills as well. Personal hygiene, doing laundry,
and housecleaning are among these. These are things
some people have never learned to do. Instead of reha-
bilitation, sometimes what we have to do is just plain
habilitation, and learning how to live.”
DM
“I was a client here,” Shelly started out. “After I fin-
ished treatment I lived in our transitional housing. I
stayed sober for the two years that are required and
then applied for a job here and was hired. Because of
some criminal behavior that was discovered in my past,
I was terminated by the state, but I fought that and was
re-instated. I started out as on-call support staff and
have worked my way up to Admissions Coordinator.
But once a client is admitted into the program and be-
comes a resident, Pathways provides an encompassing
and holistic approach to recovery.
Family involvement can play a huge role in successful
recovery from addiction. When the family is actively
involved in recovery, there is a greater chance of suc-
cess. Pathways encourages family involvement begin-
ning with the admissions process. “We ask the fam-
ily to write a letter to the client, telling them about the
impact their addiction has had on those who really care
about them,” said Kimball “We use those later in our
process. They can be a very powerful tool once some-
one is ready.” There are also Family Process Group
sessions, Family Therapy interns who work with the
clients and families, and visiting days on Saturdays, in-
cluding shared meals to encourage full family involve-
ment.
an
I started out asking about their backgrounds. Kevin
Parsons has been with Columbia Community Mental
Health agency for five years. He is a Licensed Pro-
fessional Counselor in the State of Oregon as well as
a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor III. He had
worked in the Bridges men’s program at the County
Jail before it lost its funding, and then he worked with
adolescents. Two years ago he became the Administra-
tor of Pathways. “Shelly has a much more interesting
story,” Parsons said.
“Private pay clients might wait two weeks or longer
for a space to open. Those folks that need an indigent
space can wait six to eight months, sometimes as long
as a year,” CCMH Addictions Program Manager Scott
Christy had told me. Parsons and Kimball confirmed
this.
“We can’t change anyone, it’s their decision,” added
Kimball. ‘When we see someone again, we’re just
grateful that they made it back. We also get to see
clients who are being successful, who come back to
visit, bring their children. That’s what makes this so
worthwhile. Pain is part of the growth process, but so
is joy”.
rm
After initially driving past the small sign that identi-
fies the Pathways facility, a house in the middle of a
neighborhood block, my visit started with a tour of the
facility with Administrator Kevin Parsons and Admis-
sions Coordinator Shelly Kimball. The resident clients
were in a closed-door group session, protecting their
confidentiality. I was shown dormitory style rooms up-
stairs with more beds for women then men. Offices for
therapists are scattered both upstairs and down. There
is a common eating area, an outside patio where clients
are allowed to smoke, a living room. There are pay
phones to make outside calls. Kevin noted the homey
feel. “As you can see, it doesn’t feel institutional,” he
said. Then we sat down to talk about what they do.
“Relapse is just a stage of change, a normal part of
change,” Parsons told me. “It only means they have
stopped doing what was working. Often we are deal-
ing with second and third generation addicts. Relapse
is expected and likely to happen, so we don’t look at it
as a failure, we see relapse, viewed through the lens of
honest self-examination as one of the greatest tools for
recovery.”
ue
Last month I visited with Dr. Scott Christy, the Addic-
tions Program Manager at CCMH, and talked about the
availability of treatment services in Columbia Coun-
ty. Dr. Christy helped me arrange a visit this month
to Pathways, a residential in-patient treatment program
for adult addicts.
effects on the addict, but also on the staff that works
with the client. Isn’t this frustrating helping someone
realize their mistakes and identify their issues, only to
see them return months later, back in trouble?
Dr
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622 Bridge Street Vernonia, OR 97064
phone (503) 429-0880 -- fax (503) 429-0881