The need for programs to help Colorado Springs residents beat addiction to substances is as great as the gap is wide, say those working in recovery, but they see hope on the horizon.
One huge hole: There’s no inpatient facility in the city for rehabilitative treatment extending 30 to 90 days, said Trudy Hodges, CEO of Springs Recovery Connection, a nonprofit that trains peer coaches to support people getting sober.
“We send people to Denver, Pueblo, Fort Lyon in Las Animas,” she said.
People are waiting six to 10 weeks for a bed in a residential treatment center, said Dawn Martin, owner of Recovery Unlimited, in business in Colorado Springs for 10 years.
“The places we do have are always full,” she said.
Dawn Martin, owner of Recovery Unlimited in Colorado Springs, has grown her office from one employee — herself — to 30 but says more staff is needed to meet increasing needs for rehab programs.
The city also needs “better and more extensive detox,” Hodges said, as well as additional outpatient programs.
The community has a shortage of counselors, too, Martin said.
“We could serve a whole lot more people if I could be fully staffed,” she said. “We’re not getting applicants to even look at our listings.”
Her company has grown from one employee in a small office — herself — to a staff of 30 in two buildings, who, at any given time are working with more than 400 clients.
They’re primarily the homeless, uninsured and underinsured — populations Martin said really need help kicking alcohol and drugs and have a hard time accessing services.
“We’re inundated,” she said.
Providers are lacking, Martin believes, because the Medicaid payout, is “next to nothing,” and “we don’t have enough residential settings when someone needs a higher level of care.”
Alcohol — already the drug of choice in the population pre-pandemic — has been even more misused during the loneliness, isolation, unexpected deaths and uncertainty of COVID, professionals say.
Nearly one in five veterans in Colorado admit to drinking more alcohol during the pandemic, compared with any previous year, according to a recent survey by VeteranAddiction.org.
Hodges calls the sharp increases in opioid-related deaths during the pandemic “astronomical numbers.” Fatal drug deaths in Colorado reflected the highest jump in 20 years, increasing by 38% from 2019 to 2020, according to the National Vital Statistics System. Nationwide, drug fatalities were up 31% last year over 2019, the agency reported.
Drug overdoses in El Paso County have increased significantly, from 130 in 2019 to 186 in 2020, according to the coroner’s office. Fentanyl deaths more than doubled, from 21 in 2019 to 47 last year. Deaths attributed to methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin all were up as well.
Fentanyl addiction is particularly heinous, Martin said.
“These pills are going around like crazy,” she said. “Once somebody does one, it just grabs them. Rarely did we see fentanyl in the past, and now we’re seeing a lot of it.”
AspenRidge Recovery’s CEO, Shannon Van Deman, said outpatient rehab expansion in Colorado Springs will help address growing demand for services.
Along with financial and physical health crises, the pandemic created a behavioral health crisis that won’t easily be fixed, said Shannon Van Deman, who left Children’s Hospital Colorado earlier this year to become CEO of AspenRidge Recovery, which recently expanded its Colorado Springs office.
“COVID is going to be gone at some point, but 10, 15, 20 years from now we’ll still be dealing with the behavioral health, from the higher incidents of domestic violence, child abuse and stress,” she said.
“At a time you had a behavioral health system that was already stressed, we’re struggling even more, as a state.”
New programs coming online
The cracks in the local system haven’t gone unnoticed, Hodges said, adding that she’s encouraged by what’s in the works.
Some recovery-oriented nonprofit organizations and government agencies have formed “significant large coalitions,” she said, to collectively work on solutions.
One group is considering opening a recovery community center that would “break down barriers” for uninsured, underinsured, homeless people and released prisoners, Hodges said.
Members have identified a building but have not secured it and have started a “silent” phase of fundraising, she said.
“Substance use disorder is a disease that needs ongoing support,” Hodges said. “This would be a place where we could coordinate efforts for a continuum of care on one campus.”
Springs Recovery Connection, which recently became the first accredited recovery community organization in Colorado and one of only 25 in the nation, has taken the lead on developing the idea, she said.
Springs Recovery Connection’s caseload has tripled in the past 18 months, during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Hodges, which has necessitated tripling the staff to 18.
The organization also received a $600,000 grant from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to expand its program in jails. Hodges said recent studies have shown that 65% of incarcerated people have an active substance use disorder.
Homeward Pikes Peak, an organization that provides housing and counseling for people in Colorado Springs who are homeless and addicts, is about two months away from opening a supportive sober living transitional residence for homeless, pregnant women or those with infants who are struggling with addiction.
Other providers are considering building residential rehab centers, Hodges said, but the projects are in the early stages.
Valley Hope of Parker, a 32-year-old nonprofit that offers medically monitored detox, residential, outpatient and telehealth, is overcrowded and has a waiting list for admission of one to five days, said Megan O’Connor, executive director of Valley Hope Foundation.
The organization announced last week the center will undergo a $12 million expansion to grow from 23,000 square feet to 43,000 square feet, with 16 detox beds, up from the current six beds. The center will add counseling rooms, expand the community rooms, kitchen, dining and lecture halls.
Upon completion in the spring of 2023, the facility will serve 300 more patients annually and boost capacity from 48 beds to 72.
“The need is extensive in Colorado,” O’Connor said. “Valley Hope has needed an expansion for more than 10 years, and we are stepping up to help the region.”
About $1 million of $2.5 million needed has been raised, she said.
AspenRidge Recovery, with addiction recovery, trauma and mental health services in Lakewood, Fort Collins and Colorado Springs, has expanding its local office due to the growing need, Van Deman said.
The program includes partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient treatment for adults with day-long programs, as an alternative to the more costly inpatient rehab.
“Five years ago, facilities like AspenRidge didn’t exist in the state of Colorado,” Van Deman said.
She left her job as an executive at Children’s Hospital Colorado in Denver after her brother’s alcohol-related death in January.
He was a quiet guy, likely had undiagnosed mental problems and was depressed, she said. He became an alcoholic in his teens as a means of coping.
He sought treatment several times but relapsed and never overcame his addiction. His health eventually worsened, and he died at age 47.
“It was hard for him and all of us to witness,” Van Deman said.
She started the job with AspenRecovery in March and is working to expand access to care.
The local office has been in Colorado Springs for about a year and recently moved to a larger location to expand outpatient services to a higher level of care.
“They’re with us all day, and we’re giving them extra support,” said primary clinician Sarah Hamilton. “It’s a safe place to come during the day, decreasing the likelihood of relapse.”
In addition to group and individual therapy, clients learn about nutrition and can do yoga and other activities that provide a holistic approach to recovery, Hamilton said.
“This is not a process anyone should do alone,” she said. “Humans are social creatures; inherently we want to connect with other people, and we need to build social supports to lean on.”
The military population in Colorado Springs is one target for the local office, since there are high instances of substance abuse among both active and retired military, Van Deman said.
“People often have a history of trauma and mental health and seek to medicate themselves,” she said. “The main thing for folks to know is that recovery is possible. I see it every day.”
This content was originally published here.
