A Network of Partnerships and Technology Makes "Safety Net" Work for Delaware's Severely Ill

One year ago, Brandywine Counseling began an ambitious, multifaceted project targeting Delawareans with some of the most severe needs for substance abuse, mental health, and HIV risk reduction services. Never before in the state had all of these services been connected under one umbrella. Safety Net Services has changed that, and the results so far indicate this approach is working.

We started this program last October with a 5 year grant from CSAT, and admitted our first clients in January. Many of them enter the program through Christiana Care’s Wilmington Hospital. They come to the hospital for emergency care, OB/GYN care, or other services, but also have substance abuse and/or mental health needs which the hospital system is not equipped to treat. Through Safety Net Services, we’ve established a partnership with Christiana Care and other agencies so we can link these patients to appropriate care, whether it’s medication management; HIV outreach, education and risk reduction counseling; or substance abuse treatment.

We are reaching people who could otherwise get “lost in the cracks.” On one occasion, a woman we encountered during street outreach tested positive for HIV on our mobile van. She was ready to be linked to medical care and other services, and also was ready to enter substance abuse treatment. We got her admitted to our program that day, enrolled her in our on-site HIV medical clinic so her health could be monitored, and also connected her with our HIV case management program (NSAFE). She now has easy access to all these services under one roof, increasing the likelihood that she can adhere to medical care and be successful in treatment.

Safety Net Services owes much of its success to technology. Staff have the ability to do “mobile intakes” out in the community, which creates a path of least resistance for clients to enter treatment. We use laptops with wireless air-cards for Internet access to remotely dial into the Brandywine Counseling servers. We also depend on cell phones to keep our team in constant communication with one another, whether it be for a new referral or to contact a client who has been absent for treatment. Constant communication among our staff from various programs lets us assist each client with managing their time and responsibilities, such as keeping appointments.

In the past year, we’ve seamlessly transitioned 75 clients to co-occurring treatment, in which substance abuse and mental health disorders are treated simultaneously. Our average client is 40 years old and female. About half the population is minority. Of the 75, 42 clients had medical problems in addition to HIV that required medication management at our “one stop shop” clinic, with an average of four medical problems per participant. Most (83%) of the clients also have a mental health diagnosis, most commonly major depression. They are also seeking greater stability in regards to living situation, employment and income.

Six months after admission, we measure several indicators of recovery and stability. Our clients show good progress on all measures. None had dropped out of treatment after six months. Two-thirds reported no drug use, half reported no alcohol use, and 40% reported no alcohol or drug use.

Overall, Safety Net Services is making recovery and stability possible for many Delawareans with severe substance abuse and mental health issues. This program has allowed us to focus on some of the most needy individuals in this community, simultaneously addressing multiple critical issues. The interagency partnerships with organizations like Christiana Care, and the new technology available to us, make it possible to reach people who would otherwise have no contact with treatment providers.

5 Questions for Frank Cassidy, Counselor/Case Manager

5 Questions is our ongoing feature where we introduce you to the people who make Brandywine Counseling run, spotlighting a different staff member every two weeks.

Name: Frank Cassidy
Job: Counselor/Case Manager, Georgetown Center
Time with BCI: 2 years

1. How did you get started in the field of addiction treatment?
When I first got into recovery, I went to school - like all of us do when we first get into recovery, we think we have a niche - we say, “That’s what I’d like to do, I’d like to help other people, and the best way to do that would be to become an alcoholism counselor.” I was a journeyman plumber prior to going to school, and I was incarcerated for a while, and was able to get my degree when I got out and started my recovery. I decided I would apply up in Syracuse, New York for a counselor’s position at the Salvation Army. The entry level position paid about $8,000 a year, and as a journeyman plumber I could make $60,000 a year, so it was not very difficult for me to make the choice. I went to the plumbing.

Then I worked in nuclear power plants for some 7 or 8 years, moved to Delaware when I got transferred down to the Hope Creek project. And I had been here about 5 years, and they laid me off, and I went back to my home territory, which was in New York City. I went to work for about 6 months and I was injured on the job. The doctor suggested if I had another occupation, I could do [that] until I was fully healed. And I just sat around at home doing nothing, and a good friend of mine in this field, who also worked with my wife, was working for detox. She put my name in to the Delaware Drinking and Driving program, and they hired me, and I started out there.

And next thing I know, I was in this field. And after being in this field about 7 years, my wife and I decided to open our own business, and we had an outpatient counseling facility for 12 years. And then we retired, and my wife won the gardening award, and I played golf every day. And she said, “I have to keep up with this, I’m going back to work,” and she went back to work at KSI, and I decided, well, I’d seen the job for Brandywine Counseling, and I knew Shay [Lipshitz]. And I talked to Shay, and Shay said c’mon in, and next thing I knew, I was working at Brandywine. This is the only position for counseling that I have ever applied for, with Brandywine Counseling. All the other positions, I never applied for any of those positions, people always came in and asked me if I wanted to come and work there. So I came in off of retirement, I got tired of playing golf, and decided my first love was working with people with problems of addiction.

2. If Brandywine didn’t have Project Renewal, where would homeless substance abusers in Sussex County be going for help?
That’s a very good question. Unfortunately we don’t have a lot of programs [in Sussex] for indigence, so I think the people would be hanging around the park. What would happen is, as I remember when I first started out in this field, detox was a revolving door. You’d have people coming into detox, they would be out of detox in one or two days. And there was a group of people that had made detox probably twenty, thirty times a year, [and would] go back out, get back into detox again, the whole thing like that.

We’re seeing people here who have lost everything, and they’re homeless, and they present a much greater challenge because there’s a whole new array of needs. Whereas, most of the people in the other treatment programs that I worked for, they were still functional. They hadn’t lost everything. They were getting into treatment before they’d lost everything. Their “bottoms” were not quite as low as the bottoms that we’re seeing here.

So the case management is a real big component. What we’re doing is, we’re putting the pieces back together here. I mean, this person’s broken, now we’re trying to put them back, piece by piece. Someone requires housing, someone requires a support network, an understanding of recovery and the disease of addiction. These people also have a lot of medical issues [and] comorbidity. The people who were coming to us in the past in treatment, they may have had some mental health problems, but they weren’t as severe as the population over here. There’s a lot of comorbidity now, that’s the special challenge of this program.

3. What would people be surprised to know about your job?
I love it. I love it. I mean, I’m 64 years old, and I can’t think of anything that I would rather do. I’ve done a lot of things in my life, but I just like talking with people. And I like especially, when they’re open and they’re receptive, and I can lean in, and they’re leaning back and they’re interested. One of the things that I tell people, I say, “Basically, I’m a pretty lazy person, and I will sit back on my laurels, and if you don’t tell me that you’re having problems, I will assume that you’re doing okay! If you want what I have, you’ve got to turn around and question me. You’ve got to pull it out of me. Because I have a wealth of information to give. I don’t know what you need! You’ve gotta ask me.”

And that’s how I get these people motivated to turn around and seek questions, more and more information about themselves. And when they do that, they start to get into the flow, and when they start asking questions, the more questions they ask. Questions breed questions. And they just keep going and going, and they get the activity in the group, and y’know, the group starts to bubble, the person starts to bubble. It becomes interesting, the quest of knowledge about addiction.

I’ve been in recovery for 33 years now, and I’ve been working in the treatment field for over 25 years. I never, ever thought I could stop using alcohol or drugs. If you’d asked me that question 33 years ago, I’d say never. Today’s a different story. I look forward to each day, and I think the people that I deal with see that I have a zest for recovery and life, and that I like the idea that I’m not drinking and I’m not drugging.

I believe that the more you know about your enemy, the greater your probability of defeating it. If your enemy is addiction, learn as much about addiction as you can. And that’s what I say. “Challenge me. Keep asking me.” If I don’t know it, I’ll get the information for you. There’s a lot of stuff I don’t know about this disease. I know I’m just coming out of the cave, I’m just starting to see the light. I mean, 33 years in recovery, I’m still just seeing the light! I come out and I look, and every day is a new experience. Every day I learn something new.

4. You can tell a lot about a person from their office. Tell us what you have in your office.
Well, books, that’s number one. There’s plenty of books here, and these books are open to anybody who wants them. I try to supply as much literature as I can. That’s a major part of my counseling philosophy, is to provide people with access to this information. I shop all the thrift shops in my spare time, and I look for self-improvement books, especially 12 Step oriented stuff. And I might pick up the book for a quarter, or fifty cents, or a buck, and I bring that stuff and I put it on the shelf. And most of the stuff that I have in here, I have read myself and is part of my own recovery experience.

The other thing as you look around is, you’ll see the camels. People ask me about the camels, and of course we realize that camels are a symbol of sobriety. They’re an animal that goes a long time without a drink. It’s an animal that goes to its knees twice a day, and it’s symbolic of prayer. It’s an animal that lifts its load with greatest of ease, and walks with its head held high through the course of the day. So there’s a whole little poem that goes along with that. But I took it one step further.

When I had my own treatment program, I decided I was going to get a camel for every year of sobriety I had. Well, my clients started catching on to this thing, and next thing you know, every time they see a camel, they would bring a camel in to me. And it got to the point where I had about 200, 250 camels around my facility. And I said, this was getting out of hand. When we closed the facility, what I did was I gave camels away to all my clients, but I also had a lot of them left over, so I kept them. And now, when I came [to Brandywine] I said, well, let me bring the camels back. So I started my collection over again, and whenever I see a new camel here or there, I pick one up.

But one of the ones that I got, which was a long, long time ago, and it’s hidden in the back over there, it’s a teapot. And it’s a camel teapot, and it has a monkey sitting on its back. And I said, “Oh, that is so ironic! Here it is, the symbol of recovery, with a monkey sitting on its back!” So I turned around and I said, “Well, let me start getting these monkeys.” And I started getting all these little monkeys, and I put them on the camels’ backs. So here it is: It helps remind us that, not only is it a symbol of sobriety, but we can’t forget the monkey that we have on our back. It’s real important for us to remember that, because that is the key to recovery, to remember our pain and remember that we are addicts, and that we are alcoholics, and we do have that addiction. So camels are a major part, and I love that, because everybody comes and says, “Oh, what’s with the camels?” And it’s a distraction, but it’s a wonderful distraction too.

5. What’s the most rewarding part of your job?
I just had a woman who came in, and was pregnant at the time, and she was drinking, and got involved with DFS because she had her baby. And she brought her baby in and I got to hold the baby. That was rewarding to me.

Rewarding is all these people coming through the door. That’s all the rewards. When I walk into the supermarket, or I go to a Wal-Mart, I’m running into people that have been in recovery, that have been there. And they say, “Hey Frank, still doin’ it! Still doin’ it! It’s a year, it’s two years, it’s five years, it’s ten years, it’s fifteen years, it’s twenty years! And I remember you and your wife.”

Those are the rewards that we get. And one thing I say to all my clients: Don’t forget us. Even if you’re out there, don’t just call us when you’re doing bad, call us when you’re doing good. Let us know that you’re still doing good. That’s the reward, when a counselor gets a call from a past client, and the client says, “Hey Frank, just wanted to let you know I’m doing okay,” that’s a reward. That makes it worthwhile. I’m here to save one life, that’s it. If I can do something to save one life, that’s all I need.

5 Questions for Marty Nagy, Counselor

5 Questions is our ongoing feature where we introduce you to the people who make Brandywine Counseling run, spotlighting a different staff member every two weeks.

Name: Marty Nagy
Job: Counselor, Drug Court Diversion Program
Time with BCI: 6 years

1. Tell us about your job and what brought you to BCI.
I work in the Court of Common Pleas Drug Diversion. Basically, it’s a first offenders’ education program. So I do groups three times a week, see clients individually as needed, get them back on track, and educate them on addiction. I think if we can keep an open mind, and learn to listen to the client, and have the ability to go where they are, then we can perhaps bring them to where they can be.

I wanted to give back what I was given. I’m a recovering person, and I just owe a lot to the counselor that I had when I was in rehab. She inspired me to want to do this and make a difference. I worked in Core [BCI’s methadone program] back in the 90’s, and left, and then when I came back, the Diversion Program was available. And I’ve really been grateful that I’ve had a second chance, and have enjoyed everything. It’s just been a great place.

2. What can I expect if I come to your group?
I do three education groups a week. I think my years of experience in the field [makes the group unique.] And I do have a sense of humor that I try to bring to group, and not downplay the seriousness of addictions, but bring a little levity, so that they’re not ill at ease to learn.

We have a group on marijuana. And so, I’ll open up group by saying that the first person that was clean from marijuana developed the Weed Eater, and became famous. Just goofy little stuff like that. And they laugh, and they say, “All right, c’mon now!” And then I get on with the facts. So I try to kind of catch their attention.

3. Tell us your favorite client success story.
There was one person that was able to manage their mental health needs. They saw Gordon [Pizor, our psychologist,] and they got some help through him. Then, they were able to get on some medicine through their doctor, and they were able to stay clean. They had been smoking marijuana, kind of as an adjunct. They successfully completed our program, they got a job, they got better relationships with their children, and their marriage improved. So it was pretty successful that, all the way around, things clicked once the abuse had stopped.

4. Many of our staff decorate their office with personal items. Tell us what you have in your office.
I have some educational posters. I have a picture of a natural park. I do have a couple of handouts on marijuana and some information on other agencies. And I have three cartoons that are my favorites. One is a person standing in line between alcohol and drugs, and Krispy Kreme. And they’re choosing the doughnut line. Which is good, y’know? And the other cartoon is a bunch of deer looking at the hunters and they’re commenting on how stupid they are.

5. If you had $30,000 to donate to BCI what would you do with it?
I’d like to see it go to HIV prevention and to the outreach. I just feel very strongly that, of all the many things we do, that’s sort of at my heartstrings. And I think that’s where I would like it to go, if I could give it.

5 Questions for Jeremy Zane, Therapeutic Supervisor

5 Questions is our ongoing feature where we introduce you to the people who make Brandywine Counseling run, spotlighting a different staff member every two weeks.

Name: Jeremy Zane
Job: Therapeutic Supervisor, Lancaster Center
Time with BCI: 4 years

1. Safety Net Services is one of the BCI programs you’re involved in. How are you addressing an unmet need for substance abuse treatment and HIV/AIDS services in Wilmington?
Our main focus is getting people into treatment. The [Christiana Care] infectious disease clinic, who is the largest HIV treatment provider in the city, was referring a lot of people to Brandywine, and a lot of people weren’t making it. The first thing that we’re doing is the seamless transition. A lot of times we get referrals from the infectious disease clinic the day people find out they’re HIV positive. In fact, in the first five months, there’s already been 4 or 5 where we were at the infectious disease clinic the moment they found out that they were positive. So from day one, we’re linking up these two services. We want people to understand that HIV is treatable, that it’s not a death sentence anymore, as long as a person takes care of their body, and takes their medication. Also, substance abuse treatment can coincide with HIV.

We’re talking about a population that is probably taking the bus everywhere, or needing to get rides. Transportation can be a very significant barrier in itself. We’re talking about a person who could be going, in one day, from substance abuse counseling, get on the bus, go downtown, go out to the infectious disease clinic, sit all day out there, get the things that they need to get done, and then go back into the middle of town to Connections or Community Mental Health for their mental health services. That’s a lot of running around. And if the person is in a lot of need, and needs services every week, the chances they will get those services consistently, decreases greatly, having to run around town that much.

Having Christiana Care’s remote site here, a person can come in, get their substance abuse treatment, see the nurse practitioner, get their HIV meds, and they’re able to do it all under one roof. The mental health component also can be contained here. A person with mental health issues can have their evaluation done here, can have their medication management done here, can get their prescription through here. Everything that person needs is contained under one roof.

2. You also helped start Recovery Counts for people who weren’t succeeding in the usual track of treatment. What is this program and how did it come about?
I remember the day, there was a particular client who came over and said, “They’re discharging me off the clinic, but right now, I’m clean. I can give a clean urine right now, but I’m being discharged.” And from that moment, Basha [Silverman] and I kind of looked at each other and thought, “I wonder how many other people there are like that, who are being told they’re discharged, and now, this is when they’re going to decide to make that change?” And after looking at it, we found it to be quite common. So what we wanted to do was to come up with a program that, we say in a very concrete way: This is your last chance at treatment. If you do not demonstrate changes now, you’re going to be referred to a higher level of care, and you’re going to be discharged from the opioid treatment program.

We started a pilot program of about a dozen people. And what we were able to do was, really offer them more intensive services. We’re going to have a couple of groups a week, we’re going to be meeting for an individual session every single week, until we get through this and over this hump. And from that point, it started to grow. And then what we started to realize was that, maybe we should start working with people at the beginning. Anybody who’s on contract at all is then going to go into this program.

The reason they’re not succeeding in treatment is because, maybe we’re not offering intensive enough services. This person needs to be seen more than once a month, and they need a case manager, they need to be coming to group. And the same person running the group needs to be running their individual counseling sessions, so they can incorporate what’s going on in group back in the individual session, in a seamless way.

We also look at an outcome questionnaire. By decreasing incarceration risk, housing need, [and increasing] interpersonal relationship skills, education and employment, it has a correlation with their urine screens. As negative urine screens go up, these factors improve.

3. Recovery Counts and Safety Net Services could both be described as harm reduction approaches to addiction treatment. Do you have an opinion of whether harm reduction or traditional treatment is more effective for clients?
I personally believe that a harm reduction model is more effective. Now, you have to really define what harm reduction means, because it means different things to different people. Some people who are on the liberal side of the harm reduction model say that no one should ever be penalized for urine screens, ever. That a person should never have negative consequences, should never have hard holds. I’m certainly much more on the conservative side than that. I believe that a person needs time to change. They’re going to be positive while they’re in treatment, and the day they walk in the door, you can’t possibly expect them to just, all of a sudden, start submitting negative urine screens. So where is that point? Is it two months into treatment, eight months into treatment? And from my point of view, that’s going to be different for everybody. That toleration, that acceptance that a person’s going to be positive while they’re beginning treatment here, in my opinion, is still part of the harm reduction model.

I also believe, however, that there’s also some point where, if we’re not demonstrating changes at this level of care, and allowing the person to continue their behaviors at this level of care, it’s more detrimental than it is helpful. And we need to make efforts to get a person into a higher level of care, which can be perceived as punishment. If we’re discharging a person because we believe they can’t succeed at this level of care, and they don’t want to go inpatient, then that person’s probably going to perceive what we’re doing as punishment, and I think some of the purest harm reduction model thinkers would also think that that’s punishment as well.

4. How did you get into the field of addiction treatment?
I got introduced to Brandywine when I was at Wilmington College with my undergrad degree. Basha had come in and was doing a presentation about the outreach services that Brandywine had to offer. And at that point, I really didn’t know what I was going to do with an undergraduate degree in psychology. And that was the first time that I became interested in outreach in general, and in getting into the substance abuse field. So I came in for an interview, and there was a project they had just gotten some funding for, and I just kind of fell into it that way.

And once I’d gotten involved and started working with the population… you grow into it. It became something that was very interesting to me. The substance abusing population has mental health issues, they have medical issues, and counseling people with substance use disorders, you get a little piece of everything. So, as opposed to just working with people with depression, or just working with people with post-traumatic stress, you get all that here, but the common thread is, everybody’s also abusing substances. So you get a more complete package, and a more dynamic caseload, in my opinion.

5. What is rewarding about your work at BCI?
I think everybody says that they’ve got a couple of clients who’ve really made changes, and with some of the clients that I’ve had now for 2-3 years, you see them struggle and struggle and struggle, and then finally get to this ultimate goal. The first time a particular client gets travel bottles. When somebody is detoxed successfully who was about to be kicked off the clinic a year ago. Everybody’s got those two or three clients that they’re always going to keep with them. That type of satisfaction, that type of reward and internal satisfaction that you get, I don’t see how you could possibly get that at any other job.

5 Questions for Kim Ortiz, Nurse

5 Questions is our ongoing feature where we introduce you to the people who make Brandywine Counseling run, spotlighting a different staff member every two weeks.

Name: Kim Ortiz
Job: Nurse, Lancaster Center
Time with BCI: 2 years

1. What led you to work in addiction treatment rather than a doctor’s office or hospital?
Three experiences have prompted me to go into an addiction treatment center:

In addition to being a nurse, I am a musician also. I became acquainted with a fellow musician who started playing for one of my choirs years ago. I found out that he was an addict and learned about his cruel childhood and what triggered his drug use. We still managed to become the best of friends. On one occasion, I didn't hear from him for two days, which confirmed my suspicions that he must be using. By Monday, he came to my door, asking to take a shower. I refused to let him in my home. In fact, I packed his clothes, gave him $5 for gas, kissed him farewell, closed my door, and then slid to the floor in tears. He was as close to me as any brother could ever have been. It hurt to have to practice "tough love." But I did. The story goes on, [and] through his recovery process, we stayed in touch. It was this friend that taught me to have an open mind about people and not to be so judgmental.

Before I came to Brandywine, I worked at the Veterans’ Hospital. Many of the patients were current drug users. They were introduced to drugs while in the military, serving in various wars. While assessing some of my patients, I got to know many of them. I loved working there. To see the things they were having to struggle and deal with, it’s become a desire of mine to help people.

[Also,] I love psychiatry, getting to know people and what makes them tick. One of my dreams is to further my study so that I will better equip myself to counsel those that are in need. I play a major role in scheduling Dr. Tavani's appointments (the Psychiatrist here at Brandywine.) It's interesting to hear the experiences and challenges that our clientele have endured. The past-to-present stories of some of our clients would make the top best book seller's list and it wouldn't even be fiction! What better place to work than Brandywine, to touch these areas of interest for me?

2. The nursing staff sees our clients every day, when they come to your dispensing window. What’s your relationship like with your clients?
They feel like family to us. We get to know what's happening in their lives on a regular basis. They bring their children in, bring us pictures of their families. When a client comes to my window, if they’re having a problem with anything, I can talk to them. I think they feel comfortable at confiding in us about their lives, things that they might not tell other people here. I love talking with people and I love helping people, so I really count that as a privilege.

The thing that I value most in working here as a nurse is, that I am working with people that are the same as you and I. I believe most people have some type of addiction, whether it be food, sex, drugs, or working too much. It's what we do to try to make up for the off-balance that is reflected in our lives. I hate the stigma that's placed on [addiction]. We sometimes put people in this little box, and think that they all should be labeled as such, as an "addict." But the fact is, that these are real people, with real issues, real problems, and real concerns. If we treat them as such, I think we get back the same respect that we would expect. I wish our society would get out of the mindset that, "They are just addicts." Yuck!! No!!! A lot of them didn't ask to be in this position. If we could just be understanding about that, the world would be a much nicer place, as far as I'm concerned.

3. The BCI medical staff has been very involved in our P2R efforts to improve access to treatment. We’ve become less like a doctors’ office and more like an emergency room, with all walk-in intakes, no appointments. Do you think those changes have helped the clients?
I do. I think that it makes it easy. I can get a call on the phone today from someone asking, “How do I get into this program?" And I can say, "We're open every day of the week. Be here by 5:00 in the morning, Monday through Friday, first come, first served." If they want treatment right away, they know that we're available, we're flexible, and all they have to do is get here. Once they get in here, we take their names, and, 1-2-3-4-5-6! We take six people, Monday through Wednesdays, and two clients on Thursdays and Fridays. As long as they're willing to get here by 5:00 A.M., their chances of being seen are really good.

4. What advice do you have for someone who would like to do the job you do?
My advice would be to go in with an open mind, and to not have that judgmental stigma of people that are addicted to a substance. If they can block that out of their mind and realize with every client, there is a story. There's background history. And God knows, that if we read all of the background history that Dr. Tavani compiles on each client that she sees, some of our stigmas would definitely change. In many instances, it may not have been that client's fault that propelled them into substance abuse. What caused that client to use? Were they born addicted with an addicted parent to govern them?

If we could just get that stigma out, I mean, throw it out the window, and realize, these are people, just like those coming out of the hospital with physical ailments. Our clients have major physical impairments going on, maybe stemming from the experiences that have happened in their lives. Whether it was just choosing the wrong friends and someone starting them on the drug-use trail, as innocent as that may sound, now they're stuck with a habit that they wish they had never started. In all of this, remember that, many of our clients are here because they want help desperately. Do everything that you can to give them that help without enabling them.

5. What is the most rewarding part of your job?
There are several rewarding aspects of my job.

[First,] being able to run to emergencies. Just recently, we had somebody who had a seizure, and he fell out in the waiting room, and hit his head, and we had to call 911. I like trauma type settings, so when that kind of thing happens, it’s an adrenaline rusher for me. Being able to get that person revived, and get them back conscious. That’s firsthand nursing experience right there.

When a client comes to my window and tells me that they're going to a job interview, and they're afraid to reveal to the employer that they are on methadone, I feel their fear. I enjoy encouraging them, “Think positive! Hold your head up, and smile, smile, smile!” Reminding them that they are doing this for themselves, and they are doing all within their power to heal themselves, so they can do better in their lives. This is all that any of us want in our lives ... to do better. “So, go get that job! You're gonna do this for you!" Then, it really makes my day when they come back to report that they did indeed get the job, and thank me for being so supportive. Hallelujah!!!

Lastly, when a client finally gets to zero milligrams of methadone. It's a day of rejoicing!!! They've done their part in their treatment, and are finally able to walk away from here without any withdrawal symptoms. To God be the Glory!!!!

5 Questions for Danielle Ennis, Therapeutic Supervisor

5 Questions is our ongoing feature where we introduce you to the people who make Brandywine Counseling run, spotlighting a different staff member every two weeks.

Name: Danielle Ennis
Job: Therapeutic Supervisor, Drug Diversion Court of Common Pleas Program
Time with BCI: 2 years

1. Who are your clients in the Drug Diversion program?
Our client base is generally 18-24, because it’s a first time offenders program. Sometimes this is the only thing that a client has ever been in trouble for. It’s a good program for people to keep their criminal record clean. We’re not a treatment program, we’re more of an educational program. Most of the clients are younger, and don’t have a whole lot of underlying needs that would prevent them from getting through the program, but if they do they can get their proper referrals.

We serve a lot of clients. We have about 250 active clients, and to have that many clients and run efficiently like we have, it’s pretty amazing. Our counselors have between 60 and 90 people on their caseload. We do see our clients every week, [and] I get to know a lot of them. You can’t save every person, you just have to give them the information to help them make better decisions.

2. What’s your responsibility as program supervisor?
I oversee the program, just make sure that everything runs smoothly as far as our relationship with the judge, and the counselors. I don’t do groups, but in case something comes up where a client has a problem that the counselor can’t necessarily address, if they need help with a referral, or there’s some sort of miscommunication, something that arises, I step in and help with that. Pretty much, help everything run smoothly.

3. What made you decide to work in the addiction treatment field?
I have a lot of addiction history in my family, so it was something that I was interested in. Honestly, when I applied for the job, I wasn’t really sure, because I started out as the court liaison, who’s the go-between, and talks in court for Brandywine. But I think the reason that I’ve stayed in it, just for the couple years I’ve been in the field so far, is because of family. I’ve had a long history of seeing how [addiction] can affect someone. With the Drug Diversion program, because most of the clients are marijuana users, that can sometimes be a stepping stone to something that could possibly be worse, like I’ve seen in my family.

4. What's been the most rewarding moment for you at BCI?
Seeing a particular client graduate, who I didn’t think would ever make it through. He had a lot of mental health issues, but we referred him to [Connections] where he needed to be. He always kept in contact with us, even though we weren’t the one providing any of the services, and he never really gave up. He would relapse here and there, and have to start over, as far as how many weeks of urine [drug tests] he had, but he never gave up. A lot of the clients end up giving up, and he didn’t, and he made it through finally. It took him about a year, which is a long time for a short term program. And when he graduated, it was great, because I knew that I helped him get the referral, and on to the agency, and see him go through, and it was really rewarding.

5. If you could introduce any new service at BCI, what would it be?
Efficient mental health. We have Gordon [Pizor, the psychologist] and we have other doctors that the [methadone] clients see, but our clients don’t usually see any of the psychiatrists here. Something that would be a little bit easier for our Drug Diversion clients to stay here with us, but also receive mental health treatment, like medication, and monitor that they are actually taking it. Mental health is huge, and a lot of times it can be hard when referring [clients] out. If they don’t want to follow through by going to a different agency, because they don’t feel comfortable, then it leaves us in limbo on what to do. So I would like to see more of a mental health piece at Brandywine.

5 Questions for Wendy Geist, Assessor

5 Questions is our ongoing feature where we introduce you to the people who make Brandywine Counseling run, spotlighting a different staff member every two weeks.

Name: Wendy Geist
Job: Assessor, Probation and Parole/Alpha Program
Time with BCI: 1 year

1. You’re a BCI employee, but you do assessments on site at Probation and Parole. How does that work?
I’m here [at Cherry Lane] two days a week and I’m at Hares Corner two days a week. Everybody that comes in to see me is on probation. The probation officer does a referral form for us that includes collateral information regarding any previous mental health and/or substance abuse treatment.

Brandywine Counseling assessments at Probation & Parole are more for the convenience of the clients than anything. Instead of the P.O. giving the clients a list of places that they can go to for an assessment, they can go to our sign-in book downstairs and directly schedule the client for an assessment on site. Sometimes it works out pretty well for the client. They can see their probation officer and the assessor the same day so that they don’t have to make two trips.

2. What does an assessor’s job involve?
I do the mental health/substance abuse evaluations. We have other assessors that just do the substance abuse, but I do both pieces. I’m usually with people an hour and a half to two hours. I only see them one time, and then with what we find out through the evaluation, we make referrals as needed. I see up to three people a day, because it takes a couple hours to do each assessment, and then also to do the reports I have to do. So it’s kind of a simple day, but it can be time consuming, depending on what the client brings.

You have to be very nonjudgmental, because you’re not with clients for very long and you have a lot of information to gather. If you appear to be judgmental, clients won’t feel comfortable with you and they won’t be very forthcoming. So, you have to hide some of your initial reactions to some of the crimes that you hear that people have committed. You just can’t tell by looking at somebody what his or her history is. I’ve had people that are sex offenders. I’ve had people that have murdered people. I’ve also had people who have just been caught with small amounts of drugs. There’s such a wide range that you just never know what you’re going to encounter.

3. What made you decide to work in the addiction treatment field?
I have family history of addiction, I wanted to learn more about addictions, and I wanted to get my CADC. An opportunity opened up where I could come here and use my mental health background, and then learn on the job about the substance abuse piece. It’s interesting, a lot of times you have people that have mental health problems who self-medicate with illegal drugs. In my eyes, quite often, substance abuse and mental health go hand in hand. I’ve worked at other places where the primary focus was on mental health; they didn’t want to focus on substance abuse at all. I would prefer to do both. I think it’s important to teach other ways to handle psychiatric symptoms besides self-medicating with illegal drugs.

4. What has been the most rewarding moment for you at BCI?
I had a client who was suicidal, somebody that was in crisis. We were able to make arrangements for the family to take the client over to Rockford Center for crisis stabilization and an evaluation for treatment. That was a high point for me, because I felt like the system worked as it should. It might not sound like a high point, but in this field, I’ve found that sometimes it’s hard to place people with services in a timely manner, or to place people with services at all.

5. How do you get through the day doing work that can be draining and repetitive?
I like to have a peaceful place to function. Especially if you have to be at work so many hours, you want to be happy with your surroundings. I have a picture of my husband and me on our honeymoon in Jamaica. I have plants and flowers that I believe are pleasing to the eye. And then there’s music; for some reason, I can work better with music as opposed to silence. Then I’ve got my picture of the rainforest and waterfall; that’s my idea of the perfect place to go, where there’s no honking horns, there’s no telephone calls, there’s no TV, just a place where you can really be in awe of your surroundings, nature, and beauty. This office I just moved into at Cherry Lane is my own place, and to have a window, because I like natural light, this is heaven! I could stay here all week, that would be wonderful!