Salvation Army Clitheroe.
- The Salvation Army got a lot of money from state and federal government for Detox. They provided almost none of the services that should be basic for a Detox, and none of the state funded, promised "extra" services.
There are a few very basic services in any Detox.
- Assessments. When somebody is physically in Detox, it is a good opportunity to thoroughly assess them. As motivated as they might be in Detox, a week after they leave their motivation is often gone (i.e. most people return to drinking or drugs shortly after leaving Detox). Detox clients were told that they could fill out an assessment packet, call outpatient, and there was a chance they might get assessed in Detox. In fact, very few clients got assessed that way. Most spent a few minutes talking to a PNA, who often knew less about addiction disorders and local services than the client.
- Referrals. If Detox just sent clients to the proper services, they would have been doing a good job. The "Treatment Care Plan" was an organized list of factors used to assess and refer clients. Unfortunately, most of the staff had no idea how to use the elements of the Care Plan. The Treatment Care Plan was used to show that Detox staff were "solving problems". In fact many clients were asked to sign their Treatment Care Plan without having spent 2 minutes on it.
- Counseling. This is discussed on the services page. Clitheroe's advertised 'edu' services did not exist. The thousands of dollars a month spent on marathon staff meetings could have hired a psychiatrist.
- Information. A lot of people who come to Detox have marginal education and limited access to sources of information. Detox had a circular rack that had some good materials. But clients were not supposed to get circulars on a number of things, including Naltrexone. Supervisors literally had almost no knowledge of basic Detox issues and what information might actually be useful.
Despite major grants from the state, and numerous resources, the Salvation Army provided minimal services.
The Salvation Army SARP program was the only Anchorage "treatment program" that always had space. We sent more people there than anywhere else.
The reason they always had space was... their "treatment" was considered more hype than substance. Some clients complain that there really weren't any services at all. That it was just day labor, except you got a bed and meals. And... instead of getting $12 an hour, you got $2 or so an hour.
"Clients" at SARP do most of the grunt work for Salvation Army thrift stores. [Those stores bring $5,000,000 to the Salvation Army every year]. The "clients" work full time, receive a tiny bit of money, and do not receive any kind of services until they have been working (almost for free) for several months.
It is very generous of the Salvation Army to give those people "services", but considering how important those people are to the Salvation Army's $5 mil a year thrift store operation, they should make the services adequate.