ALCOHOL, DRUG ABUSE TREATMENT CENTER TO OPEN IN PRINCETON

PRINCETON - A residential drug abuse treatment center - something
sponsors say has been needed in Southern West Virginia for years -
soon will open in Princeton, officials say. Operated under the
auspices of the Southern Highlands Community Mental Health Center,
the new 10-bed center will be situated at 325 Mercer St., near the
Hillbilly Cycle location.

David Bailey, director of the Southern Highlands Substance Abuse
Unit, said sponsors hope to open the new facility sometime around the
latter part of this month. Open house activities may be held sometime
in February.

"What we will have here is a comprehensive residential abuse
treatment center," Bailey said. "We have had an outpatient program in
the area for a long time, but never a residential center. We finally
acquired some money to help us deliver this type of service, and it
is something we've needed here for years."

According to Matt Powell, who will be the coordinator at the center,
the facility will serve male adults who are addicted to alcohol
and/or other drugs in Mercer, McDowell, Wyoming, Logan and Mingo
Counties.

"We want to emphasize that this will be for male adults only," Powell
said. "This isn't a co-ed facility."

In addition to the 10 bedrooms, the facility will include a group or
community room with a TV, three full baths, a washer and dryer and a
"fully functional kitchen center where will be teaching these kinds
of life skills."

Powell said the center will take referrals from throughout the state,
but preference will be given to Southern West Virginia. He said the
center also will work closely with the Mercer County Fellowship Home
in Bluefield.

Bailey said while the program is designed mainly for indigents,
"We'll also take those who have the ability to pay."

Those who enter the program will be at the center for about 60 to 90
days, "probably closer to 90 days," Bailey said.

Powell said once a person goes through the program, "We'll work with
them to transition them back into the mainstream. We won't just say,
'good luck, you're on your own.' We'll be here for them."

Those who complete the treatment will be discharged or "will step
down to a less intensive type treatment, or at least be treated on an
outpatient basis," Bailey said.

When a person enters the program, Powell said those at the center
"will assess what their needs are regarding the addiction, the life
domain, so to speak, and take family and medical histories. We'll
know where they are and where they need to be in terms of treatment."

Participants will undergo daily activities, some one-on-one
counseling and will attend AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) and NA
(Narcotics Anonymous) meetings, Powell said.

"In addition to myself and a counselor - I'll do some counseling
myself as well - there will be a staff here to assist in other
areas," Powell said. "In other words, there will be someone here 24
hours a day, seven days a week. We are in the process now of hiring
the staff we will need."

The building has been owned Southern Highlands for years, Bailey
said. "I think it used to be owned by the railroad and I think at one
time it was a furrier," he said. "We came in and completely renovated
the inside. We tore out all the old plumbing and the old wiring and
put in all new."

Bailey said funding for the center came from the Division of
Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, through the Department of Health and Human
Resources.

"We will have daily educational groups and therapeutic groups," he
said. "It will be handicapped accessible. And, this will be a
no-smoking facility."

Cabinets in the kitchen area were made by former state police trooper
Danny Bowman, Bailey said.