Pubdate: Tue, 8 Jan 2002 Source: Bluefield Daily Telegraph (WV) Copyright: 2002 Bluefield Daily Telegraph Contact: http://www.bdtonline.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1483 Author: Jim Terry Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) 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. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh