When a group of women living at the Recovery House visited the Greater Columbus Learning Center, volunteer George Courington was surprised by the socioeconomic diversity of the group.
He, like many, thought most the women getting treated for drug and alcohol addiction at the Lowndes County facility were poor.
“I was really surprised with the socioeconomic difference in these people,” Courington shared Wednesday, during the Kiwanis Club meeting at the Columbus Country Club. “It was people who only finished school up to the fourth grade to people with an MBA.”
Cori Hanson, the club”s speaker for the day, also believed addiction was primarily a problem of the poor, before she started working at Recovery House in 1998.
“There was a guy who used to walk around, with a black trench coat, and he was homeless,” Hanson recalled. “That was my idea of an alcoholic.”
Since then, Hanson has worked with doctors, social workers and fellow counselors who have gotten addicted to drugs or alcohol.
“This lady with the MBA was absolutely brilliant, and was hooked on drugs,” Courington said, adding she got addicted because her wealthy parents used cocaine and often left her unattended with the drug around the house.
Recovery House is a residential chemical dependence recovery facility; it requires a minimum 90-day stay. After the initial 90 days, there also is a transitional facility, where women can get back into the workforce, pay debts and save money before setting out on their own.
During rehabilitation, residents wake up at 6 a.m.; they participate in morning devotion, exercise and chores before starting classes and therapy, which lasts until 4-4:30 p.m. The facility is staffed 24 hours a day.
Though some women leave the program, “not ready” to give up their lifestyle, Recovery House has many success stories.
“We do have a good success rate. It”s hard to put a number on that, but we find if they stay with us the 90 days and (sometimes) after, they are successful,” Hanson said.
One woman spent three years in the program, taking advantage of the transitional program. She recently bought her own home and regained custody of her children, Hanson noted.
Many of the women have either lost custody of their children to the Department of Human Services or family members or are in custody battles. Others have allowed a family member to take care of their children because they are not capable of taking care of them.
“We tell them, you”ve got to be able to take care of yourself, so you can take care of your children,” Hanson said.
Recovery House serves women from all over the state and Alabama; it also takes out-of-state referrals.
The treatment center has four rooms and 12 beds. It currently is full, but Hanson keeps a waiting list and makes adjustments based on greatest need.
Alcoholics or those addicted to prescription drugs must undergo medical detox before they can be accepted into the program.
“With alcohol and most prescription narcotics, such as Lortabs, if they have been taking this for a long period of time and come to our facility (without medical detox), then it can be fatal,” Hanson said. “They have night sweats and all the symptoms you hear about with withdrawal.”
The program costs a total of $5,550, and participants are asked to pay a $1,000 admission fee before reporting to the facility. Service Rehabilitation often picks up the tab after the admission fee, Hanson said.
“Their goal is to rehabilitate people back into the workforce,” she said.
And grants are available for women who cannot afford treatment.
A new trend in drug abuse is use of synthetic stimulants marketed as bath salts, Hanson said. The “bath salts” are sold in convenience stores and can be inhaled, taken with liquid or smoked.
The “new cocaine,” as it”s being called, has become a serious problem in northeast Mississippi, Hanson said, noting Recovery House has received calls from women addicted to the drug.
Florida already has banned the substance; other states are considering similar legislation.
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