Eye on LSSI, Winter 2007 ( Download PDF of entire publication)

There’s nothing to distinguish the three-story building from the others along the tree-lined, one-way street, edged by parked cars, on Chicago’s north side. It is just another building on the quiet, residential block.

Once, the building at 5517 N. Kenmore housed a nursing home. But in 1976, Lutheran Social Services of Illinois (LSSI) bought it to use as a detox facility. Since then, as many as 5,000 people a year have passed through its doors, some brought by the police in their nightly “sweeps”; others brought by relatives, friends or themselves.

About 10 years ago, the program shifted its focus. Instead of offering “three-five days [of detox] and out,” the program extended stays to up to 14 days, decreased the number of beds to 23, and added two residential treatment units — Passages and The Women’s Residence. Today, the Kenmore site (unofficially known as “Kenmore Center” or “Kenmore”) serves about 2,744 clients a year, with between 1,300 and 1,500 in Detox alone.

Detox is now seen as “the first opportunity to engage [clients] in treatment once they’re clear-headed and OK,” says Kathy Dwyer, associate executive director of LSSI’s Behavioral Health Services. “It’s when they’re hurting the most that they’re most likely to be looking at change,” she adds. “We instill hope from the get-go … hope that things can change.”

And while it’s difficult to quantify hope, Detox’s success with getting clients on the road to recovery is remarkable. In 2006, 68 percent of the clients who completed detox services were successfully enrolled in step-down substance abuse treatment programs, a positive short-term predictor of long-term recovery from addiction.

Hanging on to hope

Tyrone, 43, needs hope. He was suicidal when he was brought to Kenmore’s back door.

This is Tyrone’s first time at Detox, even though he has been on drugs off-and-on since the early ‘80s. “I didn’t know a place like this existed,” he says.

“My biggest problem [was that] I didn’t know [what] my problem [was],” he explains. “I didn’t recognize that I had an addiction. I felt like I was OK, but I wasn’t.”

Tyrone, who spent 10 years in the correctional system, says he figured he could do things on his own. “That lasted a week,” he remembers. “[Then], I felt like it was the end of the world.”

Suicidal, he called one of his five sisters who lives in Atlanta. She was a federal police officer and told him that there were places he could go to for rehabilitation. “She told me to hang on,” he says. His sister then contacted a cousin, who had also once been on drugs and is now a substance abuse counselor in Florida. As a result of that phone call and others — including one to a man on an airplane — someone picked Tyrone up and brought him to Kenmore’s back door.

“People [here] treat me really nice and make me feel like [my] life was worth living,” he says. “I was ready to give up. I believe I can make it with the help of God and this program.”

Seeing ‘what being sober is’

“The sad part about addictions is the way people view excessive drug and alcohol use as a moral issue. Excessive use is because they want to — rather than they have to, because they have a disease. The addict may believe he or she is bad and lacks moral character, rather than understanding that he or she is a good person with a disease trying to get better,” says Al Zeitler, administrative director at Kenmore.

“[Addiction] is a terrible disease,” agrees Mayra Williams, day supervisor for the EMTs (Emergency Medical Technicians) at Kenmore. “If we can help by showing compassion and respect, that encourages them to see what being sober is.”

The EMTs play a critical role at Detox. Kenmore is one of three detox centers in Chicago that takes place in a social rather than a medical setting. This means that not only does the staff tend to clients’ physical needs as they go through withdrawal, but they also “emphasize that this is the beginning of recovery,” says Frank Harris, director of clinical services. “We [want them] to start preparing for the next level [of recovery] and think about what their next step [will be].”

Kenmore’s EMTs monitor the clients’ withdrawal period, taking their vitals (blood pressure, pulse, etc.) on a regular basis. “The EMTs get people stable,” Williams explains, adding that it usually takes one to three days for individuals to complete withdrawal.

“We see them [the clients] at their worst,” she adds. “We listen to them. [Most of the time] they just need reassurance; we do as much as we can. We make sure they are stable.”

In addition, the client is assigned a counselor right away, even though he or she may not meet the counselor until 24 hours have passed and he or she is physically stable. During that time, the counselor continues to check on the client’s condition.

This is Edward’s third time at Detox. “I’ve never finished [the treatment program],” Edward, age 49, says.

He explains that when he was young, his father “cut out” of the family that included five children. Edward was the oldest. “I had to raise myself,” he says. His drinking began at an early age; he started using drugs 11 years ago.

“Something is missing [in my life],” he says, “maybe because my father [went away], I [have] had a problem all my life of not finishing things.” This time, though, he’s determined to finish treatment. “I need to stick to it,” he says. “I’m here this time so I can see the miracle. I think I owe it to myself.”

About Detox, Edward says, “You get a lot of treatment here. It’s very professional; but they aren’t hard on you, because they understand the nature [of the disease].

“The people [here] are down to earth, God’s people,” he adds. “They target you to retain dignity and self-respect. The people here … they really want to help people get better. And detox is great preparation for treatment. It’s hard to keep a bad mood here because of how [well we are] treated.”

Joseph Winford supervises the four detox counselors who work 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., each working with about eight clients. They see their clients one or two times a week.

The counselors “try to help [clients] to get to a place [so that they can] see where addiction has affected them,” Winford says. And even though clients may not be ready to accept treatment — because they don’t realize that they have “reached bottom” — the counselors still continue to try to motivate them, to encourage them to change their lives by no longer using drugs. It is frustrating for the staff when clients don’t choose to go on for treatment, he admits, adding that many times, staff members see people who are homeless and are just coming in to Detox for meals and a place to stay — even though they’ve lost everything because of their addiction.

Looking for the ‘best fit’

It’s the second time at Detox for Mauro. He went through the treatment program once but relapsed.

“This is the only place willing to help me on short notice,” he says. “They take good care of you [here]. I don’t know where I would be without these people.”

Mauro, 20, notes that next he is going “upstairs” to the residential treatment unit (Passages) that is housed on the building’s third floor. “[There are] a lot of groups,” he says with a shy smile. “Upstairs, it is group after group.”

Not all Detox clients go into the residential treatment program. Some don’t want to, preferring to attend outpatient treatment … or they just want to get back on the street.

“We look for the ‘best fit’ [for the client],” Harris says. The staff may suggest that the person go to an LSSI outpatient or residential program, or “if we are full or think they would do better someplace else, we will refer them,” he says.

In addition, the number of times a person has been in detox also may influence where he or she will be referred. The client and his or her counselor work together to determine the next step in treatment.

Since LSSI’s is a voluntary program, “we can’t mandate anything,” he explains. “However, we may strongly suggest that a person who has tried the outpatient route may want to try an inpatient facility if we are seeing him or her [at] Detox again and again.”

“LSSI is an agency that cares about these clients, and that’s an important part of what we do here, to help clients help themselves,” concludes Harris.

For more information on the Detox Program, call 773/275-7962.