Pierce County drug and alcohol treatment groups go virtual during the pandemic
Outpatient drug and alcohol treatment in Pierce County has been turning to telehealth in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Terree Schmidt-Whelan, head of the Pierce County Alliance, said video meetings between clients and providers seem to be going well.
“The counselors and the clients call into a Zoom number,” she said. “The counselors can see the clients, and they conduct the group therapy and their one-to-ones.”
Pierce County’s Metropolitan Development Council also has started using video for outpatient meetings.
Julian Marshall, 25 of Tacoma, said he had his first group Zoom session Friday as part of MDC’s intensive outpatient treatment program.
“It went great, actually,” he said. “It went just like it did when we were at the center.”
The group generally meets four times a week, and once a month he has a one-on-one meeting with a counselor, he said.
Now those meetings are virtual.
“I think it’s really good for us to get back to doing it,” he said. “... It was just good talking to them again.”
Being around others in recovery “helps you stay centered,” Marshall said.
In addition to telehealth, MDC spokesman Rob Huff said, the nonprofit’s withdrawal management and detox center has been operating in-person while implementing health protocols in response to the pandemic.
“We’ve managed to stay open,” he said recently. “We are serving a little bit fewer clients right now, but it’s still been open.”
Both MDC and PCA said a challenge is fewer referrals.
“We’re not getting new people in the door,” Schmidt-Whelan said about PCA. “It’s going to be a financial burden pretty soon.”
Many referrals come from the courts, which have limited operations during the public health crisis.
“I totally understand why this is going on,” she said. “It’s not that we don’t understand, but we will have a financial downturn for the month of April that I think will be pretty dramatic.”
They usually get 75 to 100 referrals a month, she said.
She guessed they’ll get maybe 20 in April.
Schmidt-Whelan said another challenge, for clients, is that many recovery support groups they might go to aren’t meeting in-person right now.
“I think that’s been difficult for some people who like to go to AA groups,” she said. “That’s part of their day. That’s part of their routine.”
Many of those meetings also are available virtually. Puget Sound AA’s website, for instance, has a directory of more than 100 online meetings.
Schmidt-Whelan also said counselors have been trying to increase contact with clients and encouraging them to call if they feel they need to speak with them.
“It’s rough for everybody, I think,” she said. “... Telehealth has been invaluable.”
