Pubdate: Tue, 25 Sep 2007
Source: Great Falls Tribune (MT)
Copyright: 2007 Great Falls Tribune
Contact: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/customerservice/contactus.html
Website: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2502
Author: Erin Madison, Tribune Staff Writer

GATEWAY RECOVERY CENTER ENJOYS NEW EXPANDED HOME

About three or four years ago, Gateway Community  Services began to
see a growing demand for its  services.

Before long, they had outgrown their 7,650-square-foot  building
located north of the Cascade County  Courthouse, said Judy Kolar,
Gateway's executive  director.

Gateway Community Services, which is an umbrella agency  for the
Gateway Recovery Center, Grace Home and drug  and alcohol prevention
services, leased some extra  space downtown for a time. About three
years ago,  Gateway administrators and its board of directors  started
looking for a new building.

It took them a while to find an ideal location, but in  January, they
moved into a medical office building at  1220 Central Ave.

They were housed in temporary office space until  recently, when a
remodel of their current office space  was complete.

"This move was a huge step for us," Kolar said.

A new building had to meet three criteria: it had to be  located
downtown, have more parking than the old  location and be handicap
accessible. It took a while to  find one, she said, but this one is a
good fit.

Gateway shares its new building with some other  tenants, but with
almost 18,600 square feet, it's a  majority owner of the building.

"We've got a lot of square footage in this building,"  Kolar
said.

Right now, it's more space than they need, she said,  but she's sure
they'll grow into it.

"Our numbers keep going up every year," she said.

Last year, Gateway Community Services saw a 13 percent  increase in
patient care, Kolar said.

The Gateway Recovery Center offers alcohol and drug  intervention and
counseling through group sessions and  one-on-one therapy.

Most of its patients are there because of court orders.

"The majority of our population doesn't come here  because they want
to," she said.

Gateway is seeing a rising demand for its services for  a number of
reasons.

One is that drug treatment courts are becoming more  prevalent, which
results in offenders being referred to  Gateway rather than being
incarcerated, Kolar said.

Methamphetamine use also plays a role.

Alcohol and marijuana are the two addictions Gateway  sees most
frequently, but the psychological effects of  meth make it more
difficult to treat, Kolar said.

"It just affects people so severely," Kolar said.  "That's what's
scary about it."

There also seems to be a growing awareness about  addictions and less
of a stigma associated with them,  she said.

As for some of Gateway's extra space, Kolar hopes to be  able to move
Grace Home to the top floor of the Central  Avenue building.

They'd like to term the new building "a recovery  campus," she
said.

Grace Home, currently located at 2211 5th Ave. N.,  offers a
transitional living program for alcohol- and  drug-addicted women who
are pregnant or have dependent  children.

The building can house six families in a dorm-style
residence.

"They've always got a waiting list," Kolar said.

Kolar would like to remodel part of the Central Avenue  building with
small, independent-living apartments.  There still would be a
community area and a common  kitchen, but the apartment-style living
would offer  families more privacy.

Along with the new building, Gateway also purchased  three lots in the
rear of the building that it will be  able to develop down the road.

The building was initially priced at $600,000, but the  Great Falls
Clinic, the previous owner, sold it to  Gateway, along with the three
lots for $250,000.

Gateway never would have been able to afford the  building without
that generosity, Kolar said.

The Great Falls Clinic once housed its immediate care  center in that
building, but had since outgrown it,  said John Kinna, assistant
administrator for the  Clinic.

In the bigger picture of health care in the community,  Gateway's
services are extremely valuable, he said.

Helping them get into a large building was a great way  to allow them
to grow, he said.

"For us, it was just a natural fit," Kinna said.
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