NEWS
A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAy, JANuARy 9, 2019
Recovery takes priority at Hermiston facility
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
Sitting in front of a group
of his peers, a man named
Corey Michaels unfolded
two pieces of paper and,
without knowing who they
were from, began reading
aloud.
“This is definitely from
my dad,” he said, after a few
words.
Corey was reading a
“changing places” letter, one
of many exercises for res-
idents at the Power House
Treatment Center in Herm-
iston, a facility for people
recovering from drug addic-
tion. Sending requests out
to friends and family, they
hear specifics about how
their drug use has impacted
others.
“What has been hard for
you about being a family
member or friend to Corey?”
he read.
“His drug use, and watch-
ing him sleep for days.” He
paused to collect himself.
Others in the room wiped
away tears.
“What would you like to
say to Corey?”
He paused for a moment,
then read: “I’m proud you
decided to get help on your
own. It will be more than fun
to do things with you now.”
It can be tough for res-
idents to hear those words
from loved ones, but it often
leads to introspection and
emotional vulnerability cru-
cial to their recovery.
Tucked on the outskirts
of town, Power House
Treatment Center operates
a men’s house and a wom-
en’s house, each focused on
developing skills for recov-
ery. Most residents arrive
after going through detoxifi-
cation elsewhere, and stay at
the inpatient facility for 60
to 90 days.
Each day, the residents do
some form of group activ-
ity that focuses on cogni-
tive restructuring. That can
include relapse preven-
tion; conflict resolution;
step group, which goes over
the 12 steps of Narcotics
Anonymous and the Accep-
tance Commitment Therapy
(ACT) group, which focuses
on cognitive restructur-
ing. Those groups focus on
understanding addiction and
relapse as processes, and
identifying situations that
put them at risk.
They also delve into
their personal histories,
attempting to understand
what brought them to this
point, and working to for-
give themselves and move
forward.
One exercise is the
“breakup letter,” in which
residents write a letter say-
ing goodbye to whatever
substances they used.
Adriahna Ashard, a
21-year-old resident at the
women’s house, read two
letters — one to meth and
one to heroin.
“You’ve affected me
since I was born,” she said
in her first letter. Her father
had used the drug, and she
wanted to understand why
he was different when he
took it, which ultimately led
to her using.
Calmly, she said she
didn’t regret what had hap-
pened, because it gave her a
better understanding of her
father.
“Now, we’re fighting this
battle together,” she said. “I
don’t blame you or hate you.
But I no longer need you.”
After these exercises,
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Corey Michaels of Independence lays on his bed looking for
something to watch on Netflix in the dorm Wednesday at
the Power House Treatment Center ’s men’s house outside of
Hermiston.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Resident Taryn Yumiko of Corvallis snaps her fingers in support during a feedback portion of a
group counseling session Wednesday at the Power House Treatment Center ’s women’s house
outside of Hermiston.
other residents offer feed-
back and support.
“What I liked is that you
weren’t mad,” said a resi-
dent after Ashard read her
letter. “That logical response
— you made the decision
that it’s not part of your life
anymore. That makes me
confident in you.”
Many residents said it’s
been helpful to understand
that addiction is not simply a
choice to keep doing drugs,
but has a biological base and
changes the way the brain
functions.
“Growing up with my
mom as an addict, people
would say, don’t do drugs,
don’t do drugs,” said one
female resident during a
group session. “But nobody
explained it to me like that.
I wish someone would have
said that to me.”
Starting young
Though each person’s
story of abuse and recovery
is different, many of the res-
idents have faced adversity
that led to drug use.
Amanda Carey, 29, will
graduate at the end of this
week. The mother of two
started using pills in her
early teens, and heroin at
age 18. She got sober at 20,
and stayed that way for five
years, but then relapsed and
quickly started using fen-
tanyl and heroin.
“I think — I had a pretty
rough childhood,” she said.
“I had some childhood trau-
mas, and my parents didn’t
know how to deal with
them or seek help, so I kind
of pushed those traumas
down.”
Before arriving at Power
House, she described hitting
her lowest point.
“I had no fear of dying,”
she said. “I was hoping for
it, and I desperately needed
something different.”
She said the peer-led
community here has made
it a more comfortable place
for her to seek treatment.
“The way strong women
in recovery run this place,
we get to be strong women
in recovery,” she said.
Kaden Stice, 25, grew
up in Umatilla, and said he
started using drugs when he
was about 15. He said he had
issues of chronic pain, and
after one trip to the emer-
gency room doctors pre-
scribed him pain medica-
tions, which he soon began
abusing.
He was 21 years old the
first time he overdosed. He
said he remembers waking
up in the hospital and not
even knowing who his girl-
friend was.
“That OD really (exple-
tive) me up,” he said. “I
lost an entire month I can’t
recall.”
Despite several attempts
to quit, health issues and
family tragedies set him
back. But it wasn’t always
monumental events that led
to his relapse.
“One of the guys I grad-
uated with here,” he said,
“I offered to take him and
his girlfriend out to eat, and
they asked me to take them
to pick up some stuff. It
blew me away that that’s all
it took for me to go out and
use.”
He is in Power House for
the second time, and is set to
graduate Jan. 22.
“I’m trying to figure out
what I missed last time,” he
said. “I think the key for me
is to always continue doing
the next right thing. If I’m
always doing the right thing,
there’s not really any chance
for me to relapse.”
Jason Werder, a 34-year-
old from Toledo, said this
was his seventh attempt at
getting clean.
“Growing up was real
tough,” he said. “My mom
was a pretty severe drug
addict. She’s clean now, 22
or 23 years.”
Throughout his child-
hood he lived in tents and
trailers, even on mattresses
in the park.
“I started when I was
eight, smoking weed, huff-
ing gas, pills,” he said.
He entered foster care
when he was 14.
“I got to see the struc-
ture of a real family — even
just eating at a table, going
to school. So for four years,
ages 14 to 18, I didn’t do
drugs.”
But then he moved back
to the coast, started using
drugs again, and soon went
to prison. He’s been impris-
oned twice, and in county
jail more than 50 times.
Werder had been clean
for 10 months last year,
when two things sent him
back.
“My oldest son, who was
14, wrecked a truck and
died,” he said.
Shortly after, he found
out that his father had been
killed. At that time, Werder
was in Power House, but he
was allowed to leave to take
care of his father’s funeral.
When he left, he started
using again. He returned to
Power House in late Decem-
ber, after going to the facili-
ty’s detox center in Otis.
use for many residents,
a key part of treatment is
accepting responsibility and
acknowledging that their use
can have a ripple effect on
those around them.
Casey Sanders, the direc-
tor of the women’s house,
said she thinks often about
the way her own addiction
affected her family.
She started using drugs
recreationally in her early
teens, but her addiction
reached its peak a little later.
She had just had a baby
girl, but when her house got
raided, her daughter was
taken, and Sanders’ mother
ended up adopting the baby.
Through the next few years
she was in and out of jail and
her children ended up living
with her sister. She said she
went to treatment and was
clean for a while, and got her
children back. But it took
several attempts, and losing
her kids a few times.
Throughout her addic-
tion, she said her family
tried to help.
“My sister reached out
to me that day, and asked if
she could help me get away
from where I was.”
Sanders teared up.
“She just wanted to help
me. She was super sad.”
It took a while longer for
Sanders to accept that help,
but she finally did.
“Now, five and a half
years later, life is pretty
amazing,” she said. “My
kids are recovering. It’s not
just us that recover — it’s
our families too.”
Though many of the res-
idents are optimistic about
recovery, the work doesn’t
stop once they leave Power
House.
“It’s always ‘recovering,’
said Pearla Peña, a recov-
ering addict and women’s
house counselor. “It’s a life-
long process. Here, we don’t
even cover the basics of how
to live a recovery life. Three
months is not enough.”
Instead, she said, the cen-
ter focuses on the immediate
aftermath of getting clean,
cognitive restructuring and
healing — as well as con-
necting them with outpa-
tient facilities or sober living
houses when they leave.
GET HELP
Power House Treatment Center
Men’s House: 541-567-2593
Women’s House: 541-567-2949
Eastern Oregon Alcoholism Foundation
Main Office: 541-276-3518
Detox: 541-278-2558
Umatilla County Alcohol and Drug treatment
Hermiston: 541-564-9390
Hermiston New Horizon Drug and Alcohol Program
541-289-0190
The right path
As they go through treat-
ment, each resident learns
about what coping mecha-
nisms and techniques work
for them.
“We have a lot of free
time here,” said Men’s
House director Caryn Dunn.
“It helps them learn how to
cope with being bored, and
trying to figure out things to
do other than getting high.”
Some find it helpful to do
art, listen to music or focus
on specific programs in
treatment.
Ashard said she has
recently started poi, a form
of rhythmic dance that
includes swinging tethered
weights. She also said hear-
ing what others have gone
through, as well as sharing
her own story, has helped
her.
“Some days, something
just clicks for you,” she said.
“For me, it’s going to
church, Celebrate Recov-
ery and NA,” Werder said.
He said he has to make sure
he doesn’t hang out with old
friends who use. But the big-
gest motivator is his family.
Werder writes poems,
draws and sends artwork
home to his children, and
talks with them through
video messaging every day.
“I have three kids that are
still alive,” he said. “They’re
six, eight and 10. Being with
them, working, going to
church — I don’t have time
to use.”
The other side of the
table
Most of the counselors at
Power House are on a path
residents hope to follow —
recovering addicts who are
now helping others with
their treatment.
“It’s really hard to go to
treatment with counselors
who have never done drugs,”
said Werder. “They’ve gone
to school, have a degree in
it, but they never truly know
what you went through.”
Peña said it’s been a great
feeling to help others with
the struggles she had.
“The way I was treated
(in recovery) — that’s the
way I treat my clients.”
Some
residents
are
court-ordered to treatment,
and some are referred by
programs like Community
Corrections or the Depart-
ment of Human Services.
Jim Meyers, assistant
director of Umatilla County
Community
Corrections,
said a few years ago the
county did the “New Life”
program, where every-
one released from custody
had to go to inpatient treat-
ment. They had Portland
State University review the
program.
“We found that it was
largely ineffective for those
who didn’t want to go, but
were required to,” he said.
“But it was very effective
for people who did ask to
go.”
Dunn said people do
relapse, but with some, the
time that they’re back in
addiction before seeking
help again gets shorter —
someone may go from using
again for six months, down
to three, and then down to 30
days before they seek help
again.
“That means there’s
progress being made,” Dunn
said.
Residents said there is
no formula for recovery, but
rather a personal reckoning
that makes them decide that
they want to stay clean.
“I think a lot of it has to do
with if you’ve been through
enough pain,” Sanders said.
“I don’t think there’s a key.
When you’re ready, you’re
ready.”
Ripple effect
Despite the childhood
traumas that catalyzed drug
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