By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
LINK, based in Hays, has opened a dual diagnosis program for people who struggle with addiction and have disabilities.
Program clients participate in individual or group therapy. The program offers addiction recovery groups for women, men and will soon be starting a group for youth ages 13 to 17.
LINK also offers outpatient addiction treatment services in Spanish.
The program is the only one of its kind in the area. The next nearest dual diagnosis program is in Topeka.
Clients can be referred by social service agencies, medical providers or self-referred.
Angie Zimmerman, Link CEO, said disabilities, physical or mental, occur commonly with substance abuse disorder. This can include recovery from trauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, of the 20.3 million adults in the United States who have substance abuse disorder, 37.9 percent of them also have a mental illness.
Of the 42.1 million people in the United States who have a mental illness, 18.2 percent also have a substance abuse disorder.
Zimmerman said people who are suffering with mental illness may use drugs or alcohol to numb the pain of that illness.
The LINK program seeks to treat the whole person, she said.
"If you treat the addiction and not the mental health issue, then the addiction is going to be right back there," she said.
Alisha Hammerschmidt, lead substance abuse counselor, gave the example of someone who had an anxiety disorder but also uses marijuana.
"We have to look at the whole situation and understand if the weed that's causing the panic attacks. Is the weed actually helping the panic attacks?" she said.
"In the long term, there's so much that goes into that circle, we're going to dive into, and I don't want to discontinue one for the other. We need to look at all of it."
A LINK client in the program, who wished to remain unidentified, recommended the program to others with dual diagnoses.
"I have been an addict and dealing with mental illness for 15 years," the client said in a written note. "I have been through multiple treatments over the years, and this program with both mental health and addiction is the best program I have ever been in."
Addiction treatment models have lagged behind mental health treatment as a whole, Hammerschmidt said.
Instead of clients watching videos or completing worksheets, Hammerschmidt is using more interactive curriculums with her clients. She plans to use play therapy with the youth group.
"A big issue with teens is that they don't know how to have fun without substances," she said.
Adults also need to find ways to express themselves and self-soothe without using drugs or alcohol, she said. LINK keeps a cabinet with fidget spinners, stress balls and other similar items the clients can use during groups.
LINK offers case management to its dual diagnosis clients. That program can help participants with a variety of life skills. Those could be budgeting, scheduling or as basic as meeting food and hygiene needs.
Peer support is another component. Clients are matched with other clients in the program. It could be woman to woman, two people of a similar age or two people who have similar disabilities.
LINK offers paid recovery coaches who are peers who have been sober for at least one year.
LINK offers advocacy on both an individual and system-wide basis. An advocate recently helped a client resolve a landlord issue.
The center takes Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance. Treatment can be covered by Medicaid, which many people who are on disability qualify for.
The program recently received two grants to help pay for services for people who are uninsured or underinsured. Dane G. Hansen awarded the program $25,000, and the Robert E. and Patricia Schmidt Foundation awarded the program $100,000.
LINK has a coalition that meets quarterly that gives input on improving the dual diagnosis program.
For more information on LINK's services, you can call 785-625-6942 or 1-800-569-5926. You can also email Hammerschmidt at [email protected].
LINK serves 37 counties in western Kansas, including Cheyenne, Rawlins, Decatur, Norton, Phillips, Smith, Sherman, Thomas, Sheridan, Graham, Rooks, Osborne, Wallace, Logan, Gove, Trego, Ellis, Russell, Rush, Pawnee, Barton, Rice, Greeley, Wichita, Scott, Lane, Hamilton, Kearny, Finney, Stanton, Grant, Haskell, Gray, Morton, Stevens, Seward and Meade.