Transcript Staff

Five Norman programs are among 15 model programs statewide now offering services designed to improve treatment for people suffering from both addiction and mental illness, also known as a "co-occurring disorder."

The co-occurring treatments being developed in the programs are made possible by a five-year, $3.2 million federal grant awarded to the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services in 2004.

The Co-Occurring State Infrastructure Grant (CO-SIG) was funded through the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment and is intended to improve the way treatment is offered in existing programs.

In Norman, the five agencies participating are Griffin Memorial Hospital; Norman Alcohol and Drug Treatment Center; Norman Adolescent Center; Oklahoma Youth Center; and NAIC-Center for Oklahoma Alcohol and Drug Services Inc.

"Simultaneous addiction and mental illness can be complex to treat," said Todd Crawford, ODMHSAS co-occurring programs coordinator. "Typically, people diagnosed with both disorders are treated in a mental health or substance abuse facility, or both, many times throughout their lifetimes. This repeated cycling through treatment is frequently the result of treating one issue and not fully recognizing the other.

"Treating a person for substance abuse but not fully recognizing their psychiatric diagnosis, or treating their mental health problems but not fully recognizing their addiction to drugs or alcohol, often results in setting the person up for relapse on either or both disorders. With the resources provided by the CO-SIG grant, we are working to develop a system that treats both addiction and psychiatric problems at the same time," Crawford said.

Crawford said the state agency's goal is for every treatment facility in Oklahoma to become capable of providing co-occurring treatment.

"Such a system could dramatically reduce the number of times a person would require crisis intervention," he said. "Unfortunately, during fiscal year 2005, nearly one-third of those treated for co-occurring disorders ? 755 of 2,258 ? returned to either the same level of care or a more intense and expensive level of care. This area could definitely use improvement, and we hope the CO-SIG grant will help us do that."

In all, 15 treatment facilities in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Norman and rural northeast Oklahoma are being developed into "model programs," which, ultimately, will be used to train staff and people receiving services from other agencies across the state.

A number of nationally recognized experts in the field of co-occurring disorders will provide consultation and training, including Dr. Kenneth Minkoff, a founder of the co-occurring treatment disorders movement, and Dr. Wally Kisthardt, a trainer of "person-centered" case management principles.

ODMHSAS is also training facilitators for "Double Trouble in Recovery" self-help groups around the state. Double Trouble is a 12-step program based on Alcoholics Anonymous, but intended solely for those with a mental illness as well as an addiction.

For more information about the grant, call Crawford at 522-0218.