OUR VIEWS: TREATMENT PROGRAM IS UNDER WAY

Thurston County will be the first in the nation to treat post-traumatic
stress through its Drug Court program.

It is not surprising that Thurston County will lead the nation in this
effort given the success of the local program to treat men and woman
addicted to drugs.

Superior Court Judge Richard Strophy and Drug Court administrator Ellen
Goodman landed a $275,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to
establish a two-year trauma treatment program. Thurston County received the
award because of a successful pilot project here several years ago.

While Strophy and Goodman are the heart of the Drug Court program -- and a
big reason for its success since May 1998 -- Drug Court works because it
brings all the players together working as one team. The prosecutor, judge,
defense attorney, treatment specialists and law enforcement officers work
together to help Drug Court defendants break their addiction. Those who
relapse or stumble are held accountable but can be given a second chance.

That second chance is what turned Tom Poage's life around. The 43-year-old
Tumwater native suffered from trauma after a terrible accident in which he
ran over his brother while driving a tractor-trailer rig. Poage held his
brother in his arms as he died.

"My addiction to drugs and alcohol started right there," Poage said. For 10
years, Poage used alcohol and illegal drugs to escape the guilt and
self-blame for what happened to his brother.

"Every time I thought about my family, every time I thought about my
brother, I couldn't take it," Poage said. "I'd medicate. That's the only
way I knew how to deal with those problems."

On his second attempt at Drug Court, Poage became part of Thurston County's
pilot project helping the chemically dependent deal with trauma issues.

"What we found is that, in many cases, people with a chemical addiction
have something under the surface that's driving it and keeping them from
becoming relapse free," Judge Strophy said.

Sometimes, it is men dealing with the trauma of the battlefield. Other
times, it is women suffering from the after-effects of spousal abuse. In
other cases, it is abuse in the home, an accident, natural disaster or some
other traumatic event.

"What we found with the pilot program is that we need to fold treatment for
those underlying issues into the chemical dependency treatment," Strophy said.

Timing is key, he said. A person has to be strong enough and stable enough
in their chemical dependency treatment before counselors can begin working
on the underlying trauma.

"I'm a firm believer in it," Strophy said of the two-pronged approach to
treatment. Judge Strophy said he can't think of any defendant in the pilot
trauma project who has relapsed. And the statistics speak volumes about
Drug Court's success. In Thurston County, the recidivism rate for people
incarcerated in the jail varies from 50 percent and 72 percent depending on
whether the person is charged with a misdemeanor or felony. The recidivism
rate in Drug Court is below 10 percent, Strophy said.

Incorporating trauma and drug treatment makes a great deal of sense. Part
of the $275,000 grant will be spent measuring that success. If it works,
trauma treatment should be incorporated into the already-successful Drug
Court program.