30 Days To Focus On Life Without Drugs, Alcohol

A YEAR OF HELPING PEOPLE

The New River Valley's only residential substance abuse treatment center
marks its first anniversary this week.

FAIRLAWN - Clients get four days to talk crazy and insult the staff at
the New Life Recovery Center.

Then Kat McClinton has 26 days to work a miracle.

"The only thing we can wish for is the time they stay abstinent is
longer than the time they use," said McClinton, executive director of
the center.

In the last year, 75 people with substance abuse addictions have eaten,
slept and endured withdrawal at the New River Valley's only residential
substance abuse treatment center. They cook their own food, wash their
laundry and give up cigarettes for 30 days. They are taught to recognize
their feelings and learn how to live their life without their
addictions.

"There are some people that have a life today that didn't have a life,"
McClinton said. "I don't give a damn if it's just one. That's one more
family that's alive."

The facility, which operates through New River Valley Community
Services, opened a year ago this week. Since then it has served
residents from Pulaski, Giles, Floyd and Montgomery counties and the
city of Radford. Typically, clients are referred to the center through a
family member or the court system.

"There has traditionally been a shortage of residential

abuse centers," said Cynthia Dodge, a public defender with clients in
the New River Valley. "This has been a godsend."

The facility is sometimes an option for addicts instead of
incarceration. Dodge said it has been used for people who are on
probation and need substance abuse treatment or people who are on bond.
Before the center opened, people needing treatment were often sent out
of the area to programs with long waiting lists. The New Life center
averages a waiting list of 50 people each quarter.

The center provides residents a modest house setting. Clients sleep in
rooms with one roommate. In their free time they may play chess in the
living room or sit on the faded pastel-colored furniture. White poster
boards with inspirational messages cover the walls.

"They only put their disease in remission if they are honest enough to
share, open enough to listen and willing enough to work," McClinton
said.

When they first enter the center, residents with children typically
babble about how they were a good parent even when they were on drugs,
McClinton said. They say things that may not make any sense. McClinton
allows them to talk like that for four days - then she and her staff of
nine full-time employees get down to business.

"There were a lot of things I knew about myself, but I wouldn't believe
them," said 19-year-old Brian St. John, a client who spent most of
August in the center. "They would put them in my face."

The environment is somewhat restrictive with clients under constant
supervision when they leave the center. Clients are not constantly
confined at the center, but when they leave, they do so with
supervision. Residents take trips to the movies or other recreation to
find out what it is like to do things while sober. Visitors are allowed
on Sundays only if they come to family treatment sessions on Mondays.

St. John said he changed the people he hangs out with and his outlook on
life after he left the center.

"Instead of sitting in the passenger seat of my life, I had to get in
the driver's seat," he said. "I know if I get out of that driver's seat,
there is still another cliff to go over."

Eight people can be served in the center at once. During that time, they
are required to sit in on group sessions once or twice a day. They
attend meditation sessions that are led by a group member. They have the
option of attending a Bible class.

Although two-thirds of the people relapse after their first attempt to
get clean, McClinton believes at least 20 of the people who have gone
through the center have not relapsed so far.

"I haven't been in touch with myself like I've been here in a long, long
time," said 18-year-old John Goodrich, a client who is trying to break
his alcohol addiction.

After the 30-day treatment, Steve Harr, case manager, helps people find
jobs and places to live. He keeps an eye on them for six months to a
year, making sure that they go to work and attend any meetings they need
as part of their recovery program.

"I have a goal," Harr said. "Once they leave the program, in a year I
want to see them in a mall or somewhere looking good. They're living
their lives like everybody else."

Fees for the program are based on residents' ability to pay. Clients
without a job pay $150 for the month. The most anyone would pay is
$3,000.