Alcoholics Anonymous Reviews

Alan Hauber readily admits he allowed alcohol, in past years, to “absorb me” and take over his life.

In 2001 he received his third DUI. Hauber, again ordered to take mandatory substance abuse evaluation and treatment, this time realized he had to change his life for his own sake and for the sake of his wife. Denial had to end.

“I knew I was an alcoholic and was creating a lot of heartache for people around me,” Hauber said this week from his office at the Alcohol Drug Dependency Service, or ADDS, in Ellensburg. “In past treatment I was doing it for my parents. In that last time I had to do it for myself. And I did it for my wife, too, who I was really hurting and stressing out. It got my attention.”

Hauber, now 44, wants to help others who are chemically dependent reach sobriety as he did and maintain a daily lifestyle of recovery from addiction.

Since September 2005 Hauber has worked and studied to become a state-certified chemical dependency professional, or cdp. While completing course work at Yakima Valley Community College, he began work at ADDS in October 2005 as a chemical dependency professional trainee, a required step toward final certification by the state.

His work is supervised by an already certified and experienced chemical dependency professional.

In December he takes his state tests toward official certification.

“I feel I have a personal understanding of the real grip drugs and alcohol can have on someone; I know how hard they are to get off of,” Hauber said. “I’ve been through it.”

He also knows the additional consequences of past denials.

Because of his DUIs, the state will require a supervised probationary period for Hauber as he works as a cdp along with extra evaluations, background checks and other stipulations.

“They really put you through the ringer,” Hauber said. “It’s hard at times because it feels like I’m going back over all the past problems. I understand why they have to do it. I’m still living with the consequences.”

Demand is up

Skip Mynar, executive director of ADDS, welcomes Hauber’s work as a counselor. The demand for help is there; Mynar said there is a long-standing, nationwide shortage of certified cdp counselors at a time when the call for services has steadily increased.

“We really try to maintain, if we can, a minimum two-week waiting list between filling out paperwork and seeing a counselor,” Mynar said. “We don’t like to go beyond that time.”

ADDS is a nonprofit, community-based treatment center that has been designated by Kittitas County government as its publicly funded, outpatient service provider. ADDS provides services to indigent and low-income clients who pay on a sliding scale, but also serves people who can pay for their treatment or have health insurance that covers them.

Between ADDS and the other outpatient treatment provider in the county, the private Cascade Recovery Resource Center, Mynar believes people who need help can obtain it locally, whether they are ordered for evaluation and treatment, coerced by family, relatives or employers, or willingly walk in.

In addition, private support groups in the community, including Alcoholics Anonymous, also encourage a sober lifestyle.

Mynar estimated that 90 percent or more of ADDS clients are ordered for treatment by the courts.

Alcohol continues to be the most-abused drug of choice, said Mynar, who believes it is the toughest to treat because alcohol is legal, abundant and generally accepted in society.

He is seeing an increase in the abuse of prescription painkillers because of what he believes is over prescribing.

He said many are talking about the deluge of methamphetamine and the related personal and law enforcement problems it creates. He acknowledges it is popular because it is relatively cheap.

“Everything they say about (meth) is true; there is no way to minimize the terrible things it does to people,” Mynar said. “Yet it’s no more difficult to treat than other substances. The relapse rate isn’t as high as with alcoholics who can live longer with the disease. But that’s also because meth addicts don’t live as long as alcoholics.”

He asserts that alcohol, by far, is the most dangerous drug, overall.

Very few people seek treatment on their own, without some type of coercion, he said, because denial of a problem is usually always part of chemical dependency. Denial is the hardest part to overcome because the substance changes the way one perceives reality.

Hurdle

Pam Stoneburg, a cdp counselor and administrator of Cascade Recovery Resource Center, said denial is the biggest hurdle because people don’t realize chemical dependency is intertwined with their body and brain chemistry.

It’s also usually symptomatic of reactions to life’s problems that need to be dealt with, she said.

Substance abuse also can trigger genetic predisposition to addiction, and the person must realize that a life of abstinence is their only hope.

“The change involves treating drug dependency first and then dealing with the recurring problems,” said Stoneburg who has helped others in recovery for 21 years.

She said meth addiction is somewhat easier to treat with someone willing to change because the destructive social and physical effects of the drug are so immediate compared to alcoholism.

Most coming to her recovery center have the means to pay or have health insurance coverage, she said. The center also has been made a subcontractor by ADDS to provide two, state-funded services: treatment for families where children are at risk and for people on medical coupons for services.

“Very seldom do we have someone coming in on their own, without pressure, to get help,” Stoneburg said. “It usually takes outside pressure.”

Yet, she said she and her husband, Don, are in that category because they both realized their addiction and were helped through their voluntary participation in Alcoholics Anonymous.

She said the insidious nature of alcoholism is that those with a problem believe they’re doing just what everyone else is doing when they drink. It’s not until personal, legal and family problems related to alcoholism mount to prove otherwise.

Stoneburg said it is essential for a recovering chemical dependent person to be involved in a support group of others in recovery.

“It’s been proven over the decades that Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step resource groups are good for most people in recovery,” Stoneburg said.

The Daily Record