NEW DRUG, ALCOHOLD TREATMENT PROGRAM FOR WOMEN TO BEING

A program to help chemically dependent women with young children break their drug and alcohol abuse habits will begin next month in Cape Girardeau County, Family Counseling Center officials said Wednesday.

"We want everyone in the community and the area to know that the women and children's Comprehensive Substance Treatment and Rehabilitation (CSTAR) program will begin in Cape Girardeau on Feb. 1," said Myra Callahan, executive director of the Family Counseling Center, headquartered in Kennett. Callahan was in Cape Girardeau Wednesday to meet with the CSTAR program staff to plan for next month's startup.

Last March, the Family Counseling Center was awarded an eight-year, $1.4 million grant from the Missouri Department of Mental Health to administer the CSTAR program in Southeast Missouri. Other CSTAR programs are already in operation in Columbia, Joplin, Kansas City and St. Louis.

Initially, CSTAR will be administered from the Family Counseling Center's Cape Girardeau office at the corner of Sprigg and Independence, across from Fire Station Number One.

But Callahan said plans call for construction to start this spring on a new facility to house the Family Counseling Center and the CSTAR program and residential treatment center.

The new facility will be built at the corner of South West End Boulevard and Linden.

"The original plan was to construct our new facility before starting CSTAR," Callahan said. "But because of the urgent need for this service in the Cape Girardeau area, we have decided to begin the program immediately."

Although somewhat similar to the now-defunct WISER program, CSTAR will move residential treatment into the 1990s, said Linda Thomason, program director for the Family Counseling Center office in Cape Girardeau.

"The basic contract the state had with WISER for drug and alcohol treatment services was the standard, residential, 30-day intensive program," said Thomason. "CSTAR is moving residential treatment into the 1990s. It's a very comprehensive, progressive, extremely holistic approach to treatment, which addresses the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs of each client.

"It's about two or three steps above the old WISER program in the total services it will provide to our clients and their children," she said.

Thomason said CSTAR treatment services will be available to women, 18 years and older, and their children, up to age 13, who reside in Cape Girardeau County, or any of the 23 Southeast Missouri counties served by Family Counseling Center offices.

In addition, CSTAR services will be offered to women under age 18, who are pregnant or those with infants.

Callahan said CSTAR will have three levels of service. Level One is primary treatment and is the most structured and intensive, she said. During the 30-60 day period, the goal is to interrupt the pattern of substance abuse and achieve abstinence from chemical use while providing treatment in a structured, drug-free setting.

Level Two rehabilitation is an intermediate care level, which addresses recovery needs, and provides individualized services to help the client with such things as family and relationships, work, school, personal health and money management. Level Two treatment can range from 45-90 days in length.

The third level, supported recovery, is designed to help clients avoid a return to drug and alcohol abuse by providing after-care options and early intervention should a relapse occur or seem imminent.

In addition to working with mothers, Thomason said CSTAR staff will work very closely with the children in the family to reduce or eliminate the risk of future chemical abuse by the children, and to help them cope with problems they encounter.

Callahan said, "CSTAR is designed first to intervene in a current chemical abuse problem that may or may not include some form of abuse of the children.

"In some cases there is no child abuse. CSTAR also attempts to prevent future chemical abuse situations by the mother or children."

Thomason said anytime a mother is in the CSTAR program, a professional staff of child development experts will also be working with her children.

"A key part of our program will be mother-child interaction," she continued. "When chemical abuse becomes involved in the lives of those adult women and their children, the children will be effected in some degree, either right away or later in their lives."

Callahan said that during the first three months of operation, it's expected CSTAR will serve about 30 clients and their children, most of them in the Cape Girardeau area.

"When we're in full operation, we anticipate there will be 20 clients in levels one and two, and 50 clients in level three treatment during any given time," said Callahan.

Other clients in the region will be served by other Family Counseling Center offices.

Callahan said the center will work closely with the Division of Family Services and other local, county and state offices and organizations.

Although CSTAR treatment is done on a voluntary basis, Callahan said some women who are under court supervision will probably be referred to the CSTAR program.

Callahan said the cost of the program will be based on the client's financial status and income. CSTAR services are also included under Missouri's Medicaid plan.

For more information about CSTAR, contact the Family Counseling Center office in Cape Girardeau, 651-3729 or 651-4177.