LONGMONT — Kathleen Cundall’s therapeutic approach for families coping with an addict begins with something she dubs “duct-tape therapy.”

Duct-tape therapy directs the client — the addict’s distraught friend or family member — to put an imaginary strip of the super-strong gray tape over their own mouths when they are tempted to react.

“If I didn’t react, it would throw my (alcoholic husband) off because he needed my reaction to justify what he was doing,” said Cundall, 63.

Last month, the licensed therapist opened The Family Recovery Center in Longmont with three counseling staff to give hope to hurting family members through her philosophy — one fine-tuned as much by her now-happy 43-year marriage to a recovering alcoholic as by her formal education.

What: The Family Recovery Center open house

When: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17

Where: 850 23rd Ave., C, Longmont

More information: call 303-776-0855

She holds a master’s degree in agency counseling from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley.

“sometimes, the family is sicker than the addict, but nobody treats them that way,” she said.

Cundall calls that sickness codependency, an unhealthy need friends and family members have to support — however unwittingly — an addict in his or her addiction.

Codependent behavior usually entails sheltering the addict from natural consequences, such as calling work to report that a hung-over alcoholic is sick.

While such behavior might begin innocently, with the codependent acting out of compassion for the person struggling with addiction, Cundall said codependency is an addiction unto itself.

“The addict is focused on the substance. The codependent people are focused on the addict and spend all of this energy trying to do better or be better to make (another person’s addiction) go away,” she explained. “when really, things only change when we take care of ourselves.”

Center board member Kim Jandro said family members sorely need the center when they reach their wits’ end over a loved one’s addictive behavior.

“Yet, some families are not open to the fact that they are part of the problem, that it really does takes a village to support an active alcoholic,” she said.

Cundall started her career in the addictions field in 1986 as a volunteer at the Addiction Recovery Center detox unit in Boulder.

She also worked for Longmont United Hospital, supervising its in-house Addiction Treatment Services and directing The Addiction Treatment Center. In 2007, she started a private practice.

“The greatest lie we tell is silence,” Cundall said. “our goal is to help people communicate without getting into the vicious cycle of reacting and shaming.

“It’s more powerful to say, ‘I’m scared to death that now there’s no money for food’ instead of saying, ‘why did you spend the money on alcohol?’ because when you deliver that shaming statement, you just bought them another drink.”

Pam Mellskog can be reached at 303-684-5224 or by email at pmellskog@times-call.com.

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The Serenity House is located in Wallingford Vermont and is a nonprofit private residential substance abuse treatment center and part of Recovery House, inc. The Serenity House includes a professional staff that helps people wanting to recover from alcohol and drug addiction begin their recovery process. Their staff is professional and dedicated to helping people accomplish their recovery goals from alcohol dependence, drug addiction or both and they provide a wide range of services to help their clients reach their goals. All of their services are based on the client’s individual needs.

Serenity House Services Provided for Their Clients

1. Medically assisted social detoxification
2. Medical consultation
3. Individual counseling
4. Group therapy
5. Educational groups
6. Self-help groups
7. Assistance in vocational and housing issues

Detoxification is the first step Serenity House provides for their clients keeping them comfortable and minimizing discomfort that can be experienced at this time. Detox takes place is a comfortable home like setting and atmosphere with around the clock nursing care. there is also a physician that’s on call daily around the clock if needed.

Detoxification from alcohol at The Serenity House in Vermont usually last around 4 days depending on the individual’s progress and needs. They suggest the use of Librium which is a benzodiazepine that’s used to treat alcohol withdrawal symptoms which include shakiness and to also prevent seizures. Other medications can be administers for the symptoms of nausea or diarrhea if needed.

Detoxification from opiates lasts for around 7 days but can be shorter or longer depending on the individual’s progress and needs as well. during the first couple of days their clients can be assessed 4 times which the client chooses. necessary medications are prescribed according to the needs determined by a clinical opiate withdrawal scale.

• Days 3 and 4, three assessments are done each day
• Days 5 and 6, two assessments are done each day
• Day 7, one assessment is done that day.

Chlordiazepoxide which is Librium is also used during Serenity House’s opiate detoxification protocol including other medications if needed for nausea, stomach cramps, aches and pains, and diarrhea.

There are standard protocols Serenity House follows during the detoxification process but they’re tailored to accommodate the needs of their clients individually because detox can vary for each person. The most common detoxification protocols that are accommodated at Serenity House are withdrawal from alcohol and opiates but they also provide detox protocols for benzodiazepine and cocaine as well.

The policy at Serenity House is to seek their clients input in all other phases of their residential treatment which includes:

• Screening
• Intake
• Assessments
• Development of the client’s treatment plan
• Weekly community meetings
• Daily Focus and Wrap-up groups
• Grievance procedures and through open door policy

Family Program

Growing Beyond Addiction is a program for families or close friends who are involved in the addicts life. They understand that the family also suffers when someone they love has a problem with alcohol or drugs, addiction affects everyone. Topics that are covered include Addiction and Enabling, Addiction and Co-Dependency, and Addiction and Detaching with Love.

For almost 4 decades Serenity House has offered a safe haven for treatment and sober living to alcoholics and drug addicts. Their primary purpose is to provide their clients and their families with information, skills, and the resources necessary to obtain and sustain an alcohol free and drug free lifestyle.

Copyright ©2010. the associated Press. Produced by NewsOK.com all rights reserved. this material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.  

Don’t call Oklahoma City’s new detox center a drunk tank, unless you want a lecture from those who run it.

It’s offensive to the staff, and besides, it’s not accurate, officials said. Those sleeping it off at the center each night might have other problems, said Ann Simank, executive director of the group that runs the center and a former Oklahoma City councilwoman.

“Not everyone in here is drunk,” Simank said. “Some people are abusing prescription drugs. Some are mixing prescription drugs with alcohol. I have staff members with master’s degrees in counseling. they don’t work in a drunk tank.”

Simank and her staff held an open house Tuesday, showing off the center at 1940 Linwood Blvd. to media and city and community leaders. it has been open since July, when it moved from an old fire station north of Bricktown.

The old detox center was tiny by comparison. it didn’t hold enough beds, and staff members were crammed together in one small room. the new building is 2,000 square feet larger, with offices for OKC Metro Alliance, the nonprofit which runs the center, along with the first Step inpatient drug and alcohol programs.

The detox center has 45 beds for men and 30 beds for women. the floor is made from an epoxy that is easy to clean. the beds are cots with washable fabric, a big step up from the plastic-covered mattresses at the old center.

“I think it’s everything we hoped for plus more,” Ward 6 Councilwoman Meg Salyer said. “It is serving a really important need.”

Without the detox center, everyone picked up by police for public intoxication would go to jail. it can take hours for an officer to book someone into jail, time police aren’t on the streets. at the detox center, it takes just minutes for an officer to check someone in before the officer is back on the beat.

Keeping someone in detox for a night also costs about half the price of locking a person up in jail or prison.

“We know the Oklahoma County jail is overcrowded,” Simank said. “So you are keeping nonviolent intoxicated people out of jail. they don’t get a criminal record.”

Those arrested for public intoxication and taken to jail must appear before a judge and can be convicted of a misdemeanor. Those eligible for the detox center must stay 10 hours to sober up before they are released, but they aren’t convicted of a crime and don’t clog up the legal system.

It’s an approach with broad support from city leaders. Simank said only a handful of cities have similar programs.

The building is owned by the city and is run by the OKC Metro Alliance by contract.

Not everyone can go to the detox center. Intoxicated people who commit other crimes will be arrested, and those who are too belligerent or combative also will go to jail. Those drunk or high enough that they might be at medical risk are taken to a hospital.

For the average Bricktown partyer who went a bit too far, detox is a better option than a night in jail. Simank said the staff can help those who need and want help get connected to treatment programs such as first Step.

But it isn’t a perfect answer for everyone. Simank said chronic alcoholics who might spend several nights a week in detox or in jail will likely die before they change.

“Rock-bottom for an alcoholic is a myth,” Simank said. “If they are spending several nights a week in here or in jail, they aren’t interested in help. we try to intervene before it gets to that.”

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an intervention is the first step in the treatment program. in this treatment, helping the family members of patients recognize their problems. Most drinkers on the fact that they have no problem in itself to refuse. Moderation is the next step for people who have problems with alcohol. in some cases, moderation is not working. Abstinence sun comes to the picture. others, however, manage to stop drinking and /> 2 the next step is detoxification, in which the antibody is produced to get rid of all toxic substances that were previously. This process may be at least two weeks. Some withdrawal symptoms include nausea, vomiting, sweating, tremor, shakiness, and anxiety. Some are on offer on the website or in the processing plant. While some centers, patients are to receive a different treatment center.

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On paper, it seems like a stretch — politically, at least.

Take chronic street alcoholics and put them up in a freeapartment, with very few strings attached.

They can even drink as much as they want.

Sounds like a good deal for the alcoholic, but what’s in it forthe rest of us in Flagstaff, the skeptic is likely to ask.

How about $2 million? That’s the cost of cycling just fivehardcore street alcoholics a day for an entire year through the”system”: the emergency room, jail, court, detox center and back onthe streets.

Flagstaff has been grappling with that revolving door fordecades. The city opened, then closed, a detox center in the 1970s.In recent years, a new detox center with ancillary services hasopened at the Guidance Center. The jail has added an in-custodyrehab program. a new men’s shelter has opened during the winter,with counseling and other services during the day in thesummer.

But still the door keeps revolving. There’s been some progressmade with those who want treatment and who have some local support.but when the same two dozen hardcore alcoholics keep reoffending,it’s hard to move the needle on that $2 million price tag.

One challenge is that detox and jail rehab are involuntary, asis participation in post-treatment follow-ups. also, under statelaw, it’s not a crime to be intoxicated in public, even though theact of drinking in public can be regulated.

As a result, recidivism into petty crime among a core group ofoffenders is high once they are back on the streets and homeless –peer pressure of the nonparticipants is high.

So the next step is to get them off the streets long enough togive them a safe, quiet place to rethink what their lives are allabout. They can go to AA by day and come home to more booze eachnight if they choose. but when the choice is theirs and the peerpressure of the street is off, experts believe many alcoholics willslowly come around to confronting their addiction.

Once they do that, the next step is to get reoriented towardskill training, education or a paid or volunteer job. It can beexpensive up front, but in Flagstaff, Catholic Charities already isputting up transients in 27 grant-funded apartments. It is hasreserved six for the new Street to Home Partnership, or StoHP. FMC,which otherwise would be treating the apartment dwellers in theemergency room, has contributed $75,000 toward hiring a programcoordinator.

And as we reported last Sunday, that coordinator is hard at workscouring the streets and shelters for the first six candidates froma list of 20 or so hardcore reoffenders. some express disbeliefthat they have been chosen for anything, much less a freeapartment.

At this point, the program is just a pilot, and at sixparticipants, the scale seems manageable. Supporters areoptimistic, foreseeing a time when demand will outstrip theavailable apartments once word gets out.

And that, of course, may be the problem. although the continuingcosts of the revolving door are high, how high will the costs of afree housing program become when combined with the costs to treatthe mental health and substance abuse problems that most occupantswill bring with them?

Also, how much accountability by the participants? Wouldrequiring community service work drive participants back to thestreets. And if service is required, who would supervise it?

At some point, as participants grow out of StoHP and into otherprograms offered by Catholic Charities and Flagstaff ShelterServices, should there be regular drug and alcohol tests? as a hostcommunity, do we have a right to expect those using our servicesand programs to at least demonstrate a commitment to breaking outof the revolving door?

It would be ideal, of course, if StoHP participants wouldgraduate to jobs that could help pay the rent and even move backinto the larger society. but many have criminal records that hindertheir mobility in the housing and job market. further, cutbacks instate-paid medical care for impoverished single adults means thefinancial burden for this population will be shifted even more tolocal taxpayers and health agencies like the hospital if they wantto fund these services.

We would hope that local nonprofits and grant agencies mightseek regional and national funding to supplement local donationsbefore turning further to taxpayers. The new housing for detox”graduates” is a good start, but close monitoring and fiscal aswell as behavioral accountability are needed if the community isgoing to put a StoHP to that expensive revolving door.