Page 19 - Sonoma County Gazette April 2017

ARRESTED cont’d on from 18
Joe spent seven months at Lytton Springs and left without graduating the program, but he hasn’t gone back to using meth. He now has a job, a home, a car, is in a healthy relationship with a supportive and loving partner, and is enjoying a “normal” life. He’s living among people who show him love and support, has been clean from meth for 5 years, has a good outlook on life, and is doing well. He ran into the police officer in Sebastopol that used to arrest him all the time and he thanked the officer for saving his life.
Lytton Springs was sold in January by the Salvation Army who had owned the property since 1904. The sale forced the closure of the thrift store and rehabilitation program, which had a 100 bed capacity and offered treatment to about 250 men like Joe every year. The property was purchased by a
local Native American tribe, the Lytton Band of Pomos, seeking to establish a Homeland in Windsor. They are planning to build a luxury resort hotel, winery, and plant a vineyard on the property.
Sonoam County Treatment Options
Georgia Berland from Sonoma County Task Force for the Homeless said that a new program called “Sober Sonoma” has been started this year to encourage homeless people with addiction issues into treatment. An outreach worker has been hired by the county, and the goal of the program is to have 10-20 people a year placed into residential addiction treatment at Turning Point. Berland said there is a lack of available residential treatment within the county, which limits the number of people that could be processed through the program. “Sober Sonoma” only has five beds reserved at Turning Point, which are already filled, for the next six months, assuming no one drops. Sources reported that there is a need for at least 100 more beds that could easily be filled by indigent people who want to go through treatment, however there is no treatment available for them.
There are approximately 2,900 homeless people in our county, about 600 who are located in unincorporated areas. The best national average statistic I could pin down from the 2014 HUD Count was that about 20% of homeless people have chronic substance abuse disorders, which would be about 600+/- people for the entire county, or about 120+/- for the unincorporated areas. Severe mental health illness is also estimated at about 20%. For the Lower River homeless population of about 200+/-, that translates to about 40+/- people that need treatment for chronic substance abuse, and about 40+/- people that need treatment for severe mental illness.
For a service provider in Sonoma County to provide substance abuse treatment, they must have a specific license from the State of California to do so. West County Health Centers has been exclusively providing health care services in the lower river and West County area; however they do not currently hold a license from the state to provide substance abuse treatment, which is desperately needed.
With the possibility of a new homeless service center being established in the lower river area, it seems appropriate to address the need for substance abuse treatment if we are to solve the problem. Lynda Hopkins has welcomed new ideas, possible solutions, and has requested statistical data. Here it is. We would like this obvious need to be a consideration in the planning process. Treatment saved Joe’s life, and could save many more like him. It would go a long way in restoring the health of our community.
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