CPC taking holistic-treatment approach
excerpt reprinted with permission from the University Herald & North Central Outlook
By Russ Zabel

King County and the Community Psychiatric Clinic (CPC) in Wallingford are teaming up in a new approach to treating both drug and alcohol abuse, and mental illness. In the past, CPC development director Joan Hudson explained, chemical dependency and mental illness were treated separately and monitored by different governmental agencies. But now the approach is changing to one of "integrated services," she said.

"The problem was, people kept falling through the cracks," Hudson said. That was because, in many cases, a person suffering from mental illness also abused drugs and alcohol, and vice versa, Hudson said of conditions known as "co-occurring disorders."

"What's happened is people only got half their problem solved," said Christine Trevithick, the CPC's clinical director. "Typically, if you don't provide treatment for both at the same time, the person generally doesn't recover." Research backs up that belief, Trevithick said, and the King County government sees value in the idea, as well, she added.

While CPC receives money from the county and the federal government, it is not a county or government organization, Hudson noted. "We're a nonprofit," she said, "but our chief executive officer, Shirley Havenga, has really embraced the concept."

CPC used to deal only with mental disorders such as depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorders and schizophrenia, Trevithick said. The organization—which has been around since 1952—has an annual budget of approximately $14 million, serves between 3,000 and 4,000 clients a year, and has an extensive residential program, Hudson said. But CPC expanded its focus only three years ago to include chemical dependency, she added.

According to statistics Trevithick provided, alcohol abuse—at 86 percent— is the most common problem for CPC clients. That is followed by marijuana use at 60 percent, cocaine use at 39 percent, opiates at 20 percent and amphetamines at 13 percent. The CPC also deals with clients who have problems with hallucinogens, inhalants, and barbituates, according to the organization's statistics.

Dealing with those substance abuses gave the organization a firm grounding for integrated-services approach. And treating both substance abuse and mental disorders at the same time appears to be bearing fruit— at least anecdotally, Hudson said.

CPC held an open house Dec. 7, and one of the speakers was an 18-year-old boy who had been addicted to marijuana, she said. "When he went off grass, he became terribly depressed," Hudson said. However, CPC was able to treat his depression, which stopped him from going back to smoking marijuana, she said.

Norma Jaeger, section chief for Treatment and Rehabilitation Services for the King County Department of Community and Human Services, agrees the integrated services approach is the best one to take.