Pubdate: Thu,  6 Feb 2003
Source: Tahlequah Daily Press (OK)
Copyright: Tahlequah Daily Press 2003
Contact:  http://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2636
Author: Betty Smith

TREATMENT CENTER EMPHASIZES UNDERSTANDING ADDICTIONS

In the past six months, no one has sought to return to the residential
program. A generation ago, people thought one of the only things that could
be done for alcoholics and drug addicts was to lock them up. There were a
few high-profile treatment centers, such as the Betty Ford Center, but they
were out of the reach of most people - especially those who were nowhere
near being well-heeled. For about three decades, the Bill Willis Mental
Health Center has operated a treatment center for men. Last year, the
program was expanded to include women, and the center - now the Herb Rozell
Chemical Dependency Unit - moved to its new home just off Fourth Street. The
center also got a new director - David Berry, who said he's sometimes asked
if he's any relation to the popular humorist, "especially when I try to be
funny.

People remind me that I'm not him." Berry spent most of his life in trucking
and the oil field industry before he went into treatment in 1995. "I was
very interested in working with other people in the drug and alcohol field,"
he said. He started by working at a detox center and gradually earned a
two-year, bachelor's a master's degree.

He worked at a halfway house with alcoholics and addicts, and with VA
clients at Fort Sill. He managed the drug court program in Holdenville for
the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health, and served as president of the
state drug court association. "We had a very successful program there,"
Berry said. The drug court program attempts to keep people out of prison by
supporting them with counseling and peer support groups. "I think drug court
is going to be the wave of the future for drug and alcohol treatment," Berry
said. "I've seen miracles happen in drug court that nobody thought could
happen.

I've had people go to college that would have been going to prison." It does
no good just to incarcerate someone and not address the drug and alcohol
program.

The person will just begin the same behavior when he gets out. Over the
years, Berry and his peers have learned more and more about successfully
treating alcoholics and addicts. "The field of addiction counseling is
leaving its infancy stages as a profession and it's growing into a bona fide
clinical training," Berry said. To become a drug and alcohol counselor in
Oklahoma, a person must have a bachelor's degree and certification from the
Oklahoma drug and alcohol professional counselor's board. "Right now,
there's a shortage of certified drug and alcohol counselors. It's a field
that's going to be growing the more that different elements of society
realize many of the problems we're having are substance-abuse related,"
Berry said. Frequently the crimes involving drug users go unreported because
it's crime by one drug user on another drug user. The treatment center can
accommodate 16 men and 14 women. "The men typically come in on an indigent
contract with the state," Berry said. The women are clients of the
Department of Human Service or Temporary Assistance to Needy Families TANF.
Berry said about 80 percent of the welfare and child abuse cases involve
homes where substance abuse is going on. "Now that DHS is recognizing that,
they're having them tested for substance abuse and getting them into
treatment," he said. They also receive parenting training.

The goal is to reunite the family. Berry also has received training from
White Bison Inc., a Colorado-based organization that supports recovery
programs designed to meet the needs of Indians. This program has gotten
through to people who got nothing out of regular 12-step programs because it
recognizes cultural diversity issues. "Treatment involves understanding of
the disease concept of addiction, the process of addiction, the process of
recovery, relapse prevention and preparedness," Berry said. "We get into the
psychopharmacology of addiction, how my brain becomes addicted to drugs or
alcohol." People in treatment also study healthy relationships. Many have
grown up in alcoholic or addicted families and have never experienced a
healthy relationship. "We rely on our local 12-step groups to come in and
give us support," Berry said. Sometimes people in treatment attend local
meetings, while people in recovery also come in and conduct meetings. When a
person enters the treatment center, he or she is assessed with an addiction
severity index.

The counselors discuss psychological, social, spiritual, family and
job-related aspects of the disease. "We measure how a person's life has been
affected in all those different spheres," Berry said. Some people may
qualify for outpatient treatment, while others require residential
treatment. Treatment for men lasts between 28 and 45 days, while women
remain in the program 30 to 90 days. They receive a year of outpatient
aftercare and are expected to attend Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics
Anonymous after returning home. "In the last six months, since we've been
here, we have had no retreads - no client that has successfully completed
this program applying for residential treatment," Berry said.
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MAP posted-by: Josh