Drug program ‘a dream come true’
Beginning later this month, Warren County High School will have its own on-site alcohol and drug treatment program which will provide intensive outpatient service to students – at no cost to parents or the school system.
“This is a godsend, a dream come true,” said high school counselor Lynn Seals, who works in a social worker-like capacity and focuses on student drug prevention. “There’s such a great need for this here.”
The program, known as the Adolescent Alcohol and Drug Day Treatment Program, is funded through the Tennessee Department of Health’s Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services. It will be administered by Centerstone, the largest behavioral health care provider in the state.
In a presentation made to the Warren County School Board last week, Centerstone regional director Ken Stewart, and program team leader Connie McCormack, explained their company had received the grant 10 years ago and implemented it at Cascade School in Bedford County. That school, however, because of its small size, could no longer meet the referral requirements of the grant, causing Centerstone to approach Warren County school officials, who enthusiastically accepted the program.
Targeted for the program are high school students who have been identified as having primary or secondary substance abuse disorders. These students will be referred primarily by high school faculty and staff, as well as Juvenile Court. Referrals can also come from students themselves and from parents.
The treatment program will be conducted by a two-person team, provided by Centerstone, which will be at the high school every day. Direct treatment will be provided after school from 3 to 6 p.m. four days a week, for 12 weeks.
Program treatment will be mainly done in group sessions, although individual sessions will be provided as needed. With a focus on education and personal empowerment, specific issues to be addressed during treatment include: understanding the effects of chemical dependency, anger and behavior management skills, academic success training, social skills, illicit drug legal issues, and relapse prevention.
“It is our hope that at discharge those students in the program will be discouraged from further use of mood-altering substances, but at the same time we want them to know if they relapse they need to tell someone and come right back into the program,” said McCormack.
Currently, anyone wishing to obtain intensive outpatient treatment similar to what will be offered must go out of town, where one could expect to pay thousands of dollars. This, said Seals, often discourages parents from seeking such help. But even though the high school’s new treatment program will be free, Seals still worries some parents won’t take advantage of it.
She explained that except when mandated by the Juvenile Court system, a student’s participation is dependent on the permission of that student’s parents, a stipulation she is afraid could be detrimental to the program’s success.
“The difficulty is that some parents are too worried about the stigma of drug treatment and want to keep up appearances. But the problem is that sometimes people die from appearances,” Seals said.