Agency marks 30 year battle

Michael Cummins heads a clinic that has spent more than 30 years battling against a disease that infects every facet of society.

The staff's victories go unheralded while their losses make headlines. Cummins points to the sharp contrast between patients that beat cancer and those who triumph over alcohol or drug addiction.

"A banker's not going to stand up and shout, 'I beat my cocaine addiction,'" he said.

As executive director of the Flathead Valley Chemical Dependency Clinic, Cummins manages a staff of 16 serving Flathead County. In the last year, the agency added oversight of nine counselors in Lincoln and Sanders counties.

A private nonprofit agency, the clinic receives part of Montana's alcohol tax revenues as well as federal dollars for treatment and prevention of drug and alcohol addiction.

"We're a community organization," Cummins said. "We're not owned by anyone."

The clinic treats Medicaid clients and charges people below 200 percent of the poverty level on a sliding scale according to income. With broad support and referrals, the clinic has nearly outgrown the building it owns on Meridian Road in Kalispell.

"In the Flathead Valley, social services, the courts and law enforcement all have a pretty good understanding of how chemical dependency affects all of their work," Cummins said.

In its early days, the agency operated with grants of $10,000 to $20,000. In the last year, the clinic turned the corner to become a million-dollar operation.

A local board of directors has provided stewardship over those public dollars since the clinic organized in 1974. The current board recently marked the anniversary of three decades battling what has become accepted as a disease.

"It's a health issue, like cancer," Cummins said.

But unlike cancer patients, victims of addiction often deny the diagnosis despite all the symptoms. Clients at the clinic tolerate a wide range of turbulence in their lives before breaking through that denial.

According to Cummins, some people recognize their alcohol problem with the first DUI. For others, the loss of a job or a jail sentence makes them confront their drug or alcohol addiction.

In the last year, the clinic treated 628 adults. The staff also worked with 538 people ordered to take part in the clinic's DUI program. Those numbers do not include the minors sent over for possession of alcohol.

"That's nearly 1,200 people just in these two things," Cummins said.

The majority of the addicted adults seen by the clinic, 64 percent, were battling alcohol dependency. Others arrived dependent on marijuana, methamphetamines or opiates and synthetics.

External forces such as probation, parole and the courts brought more than half of those clients to the dependency clinic's door. Inside the clinic, counselors try to convert that external pressure to an internal desire to fight addiction.

"That's part of the challenge of treatment," Cummins said. "When it becomes internal, then it has a chance of success."

The protocol includes education about chemical aspects of addiction in the brain. By understanding the physical part of dependency, people get past viewing their problem as a character fault to cope with underlying issues.

Although counselors follow a treatment blueprint, Cummins said each dependent person brings a different background, unique experiences and levels of trust to the process.

"A good counselor strives to make the blueprint appropriate to the individual," he said.

Cummins emphasizes that people in treatment shoulder the work of curing themselves. He describes counselors as guides for the individual venturing down a new path free of substance addiction.

"We're part of the journey," he said.

It's a journey made more difficult by funding which fails to keep up with growing demand. Cummings said the staff now treats much more severe cases of addiction on an outpatient basis.

"Ten to 15 years ago, these clients would have been treated in a residential setting," he said.

Success stories have kept Cummins motivated through 22 years working in the addiction field. Many of those occurred during the 12 years he has served as executive director at Flathead Valley Chemical Dependency Clinic.

A recent survey of clients six months after treatment found 55 percent still attending some type of maintenance program. Of 92 people questioned, 75 percent reported no substance use and full or part-time employment for the last six months.

"There are people who leave here on a regular basis that have put their lives back together," he said.

Cummins makes clear that doesn't happen with all their clients. But he points out it would happen much less often without these services.

The executive director takes pride in the prevention portions of the clinic's programs. These include workshops and community education in concert with community groups in all three counties.

"I really believe in that," Cummins said. "You've got to be a part of prevention when you're involved with treatment."

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.