YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Drug courts and additional programs are helping those with substance abuse disorder get back on track in Columbiana and Mahoning counties.
Bringing a combination of tough love, compassion and accountability, drug courts and connected programs are not the easiest road but have proven successful for those who commit to changing their lives.
The Columbiana County felony-level drug court started two years ago. Six graduates of the program are leading productive lives, employed and law-abiding, according to Judge Megan Bickerton of common pleas court.
For 16 others who were charged with mostly lower-degree drug offenses, the challenge remains to maintain sobriety.
“I think a lot of people believe that drug court means just passing drug screens,” Bickerton says. “But that’s really not our ultimate goal. That’s like the very first level. We want them to be productive members of society. What we are doing is getting them stable housing, transportation, getting their license, getting them employed.”
A Disability
Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Jack Durkin points out that Ohio recognizes substance abuse disorder as a disability, opening new opportunities through the Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities.
“We are really fortunate to have the OOD at the table through the state of Ohio,” Durkin says. “We’ve always recognized that providing treatment is just a small part of what we need to do to attempt to ensure that individuals maintain a lifetime of recovery.”
Durkin said OOD case agents attend staff meetings and drug court hearings each week and provide services such as résumé building and vocational rehabilitation and they seek opportunities for those in recovery that match their needs, abilities and interests.
“It’s a perfect fit for individuals who are going through our program to link with the services that ODD provides,” Durkin says, adding the disability piece was missing or overlooked before. “Someone wants to maintain sobriety and yet they struggle finding employment because of, quite frankly, the stigma attached to substance use disorder.”
Durkin, who started the second drug court in Ohio more than 25 years ago, says he is amazed to see more than 160 across the state now.
“The fact that we started it and continue to preside over it is a blessing and the absolute best part of my day. As struggling and frustrating as it can be, it’s also that rewarding,” Durkin says. From getting a GED to a reinstated driver’s license, Durkin says the drug court helps recovering people overcome those roadblocks to employment and sobriety.
In Bickerton’s court, the OOD through Mahoning County helps drug court participants get grants for training. For instance, Bickerton says one person currently in the fifth and final level of drug court with prior nurse’s aide experience, is getting funding to get her Licensed Practical Nursing level training.
Myriad Issues
Bickerton says people coming through her drug court have many issues that go beyond addiction. There are underlying reasons they were using and untreated health conditions that they ignored while using.
It can mean overcoming generational drug or alcohol abuse.
One person weeks from graduating drug court dropped out of school in the eighth grade and told Bickerton later she was so high when she entered her plea she barely remembers it. Now she has been sober for two years, is employed full time, earned her GED, graduated the Eastern Ohio Correctional Center, lives on her own and has both her driver’s icense and a car.
“She’s 25 years old and she has a whole life ahead of her,” Bickerton says. “That gives you the joy in your job because sending people to prison time and time again, is not in any way joyful or giving you any sort of purpose.”
Bickerton adds drug court is time intensive and the penalties for failure can be harsher than serving time. Successful completion of drug court means working a case plan, finding a job, calling every day, meeting with the judge once a week and being randomly tested. Each of the 16 people there has an individualized plans.
“I tell my drug court the easiest thing for me to do is just send you to prison,” Bickerton says. “I think a lot of people think that it’s the easy way out.”
Increased Accountability
Bickerton credits Sara Norris with upgrading the drug court technology with a kiosk for individuals to sign in and the Ohio Community Supervision System program that allows the court to track every drug screen, office visit, phone call and text message between probation and the probationers. Norris says that OCSS is something the state wants everyone to use because it makes it easier to supervise probationers, even when they are living elsewhere.
“Accountability, I think is the biggest thing, especially through our first couple phases of drug court,” Norris says. “It’s accountability and getting them in that routine.”
She says it takes the entire treatment team to help people and credits Bickerton with understanding one size does not fit all.
The next few years may be more challenging, Durkin says, noting moving forward it is hard to determine what insurance looks like for those in recovery. Additionally, while the state has been allocated treatment dollars following the opioid lawsuits, going forward funding may have to be adjusted.
Day Reporting Center
A new initiative for Columbiana County is the Day Reporting Center. Bickerton says court personnel are determining what level of reporting would best benefit the rehabilitation of those going through the drug court and other defendants.
Doug Koffel, who is director of both the center and the specialty program, says some offenders come to the office certain days and make phone contact on others, giving them a higher level of accountability.
Another key component is education – Moral Recognition Therapy (MRT) is one of the key programs used.
Koffel said MRT training is a core curriculum that works on cognitive behaviors, helping people with changing lifestyles, criminal thinking and substance abuse.
The speciality programs are tailored to help people navigate roadblocks. Koffel notes when someone is trying to maintain sobriety, helping them overcome barriers can be key.
There are classes to help with marijuana use, for example, which still is prohibited while on probation.
Another class for domestic violence offenders is a new twist, according to Bickerton, who says studies now show anger management is not necessarily helpful. Koffel says there is trauma resiliency training that helps people learn they can overcome their challenges.
Additionally, the Day Reporting Center offers special classes to help people get employed and to start making regular child support payments. Bickerton hopes to add GED to the offerings.
Koffel says those choosing intervention in lieu of conviction may find themselves in Day Reporting and the MRT program, giving them some additional skills instead of just asking them to complete counseling. Those struggling on probation can be placed into the program to help them get back on track.
“One of the things we hope to accomplish is to help people see new or different opportunities – different roads to travel,” Koffel says. “Ultimately, they have to do the work.”
Most importantly, Koffel says it is about helping people see themselves and what pushes them to make decisions, then teaching them to make better ones.
Koffel says he learned from one of the people on probation that there are two sides – while one person may ask ‘why do you always take the hard road?’ another might respond ‘what makes you think I can see two roads.’
“In a sense, that’s what we’re trying to do here,” Koffel says. “That’s my vision, helping the person see a different road.”
The Day Reporting Center opened this month at 7556 state Route 45, Lisbon, but the program began seeing people in June. The MRT program is ongoing and allows people to join at any time. There are two groups of between eight and 15 people in the MRT and overall, 53 people are active in the center’s various groups.
Pictured at top: Judge Megan Bickerton oversees Columbiana County’s felony-level drug court.