LEBANON, Pa. (AP) - Lebanon native Andrew Beenick checks all the boxes for a tragic story of opioid abuse.
He started using drugs to have a good time. It began with pills like OxyContin but progressed to crack cocaine and his drug of choice, the dreaded heroin.
Soon, Beenick wasn’t even getting an enjoyable high; he was using to just survive each day. He wandered in and out of jail before landing in prison for 15 months in October 2014 on drug charges.
But Beenick’s story doesn’t end in tragedy.
Instead, he beat the odds and is two-and-a-half years sober - thanks in part to the support of the Salvation Army Rehabilitation Center near Harrisburg.
“It’s been working for me. It’s been great. And I thank God for that, I really do,” said Beenick, who is now a resident manager at the live-in center.
Yes, we’re talking about the same Salvation Army famous for its thrift stores and Christmas-time bell ringers. All proceeds from six central Pennsylvania stores - including the thrift store at the eastern edge of Lebanon - support the rehab center at 3650 Vartan Way, said Ryan Reed, director of operations.
As a result, the Salvation Army helps substance abusers free of charge to the addict or their insurance. It’s a deal that sounds too good to be true, yet the 106-bed center sometimes has unfilled openings, Reed said.
Spiritual approach to substance abuse
Reed thinks beds may go unfilled because the Salvation Army doesn’t like to brag and as a result people don’t know about the facility. However, Reed recently started promoting it because not all stories of fighting addiction are as uplifting as Beenick’s.
At a recent central Pennsylvania forum on heroin use, one father explained that his daughter was seeking help for her addiction but was so frustrated with insurance obstacles at treatment centers that she gave up on treatment and fatally overdosed, Reed said.
“I felt a little bit of responsibility for that. Why didn’t they know about our program?” he said. “We are the very best rehab center that is free.”
Reed is clear that the center isn’t licensed by the state of Pennsylvania for clinical treatment. It focuses on a holistic approach to self-improvement, ranging from three counselors with backgrounds and degrees in counseling, to a weight room for physical training.
At the core of the program, though, is spiritual training. Although the Salvation Army accepts people of all faiths, or no faith, it is committed to its traditional Christian principals.
Services are held daily in the center’s chapel. Men and women are separated in different wings of the building, and a man is required to announce his presence when entering the women’s section (and vice versa).
The program is also a commitment, with completion taking a minimum of 6.5 months.
While there is no charge, residents are required to work in various roles for the Salvation Army thrift stores while at the facility, and they are not paid. Working helps them maintain day-to-day structure in their lives, Reed said.
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“You’ve just got to want it for yourself, you know what I mean? Nobody can help you and hold your hand through this process.”
Andrew Beenick, Salvation Army Rehabilitation Center
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Residents are not allowed to use a telephone during their first week at the facility, or leave the property unsupervised or have visitors for the first two weeks, said Erik Hohn, the center’s head counselor. They are gradually permitted more and more freedom throughout the duration of the program until, in the final phase, they are allowed a full weekend pass per month to leave the center and spend time as they choose.
“If you get somebody brand new into a program, and they can immediately go out and have contact, they’re probably not going to have contact with the best people,” Hohn said. “So we want to really kind of shelter them a little bit, until they can get on their feet, get their head thinking clearer, and start having some counseling to make some better decisions.”
“Anybody can do it”
Criticisms of Salvation Army rehab centers have sometimes focused on the unpaid work requirement and the relatively low “graduation rate.” Only 30-40 percent of people at the Harrisburg center successfully complete the program, mainly because they choose to leave or fail to comply with program rules and procedures, Hohn said.
But the Salvation Army is serious about not “graduating” people unless they have the stability they need to maintain their sobriety, including a means of income, a place to live, and a sponsor. They don’t track people on a long-term basis after they leave the facility, so they don’t know the relapse rate, Hohn said.
The program has “quite a few” residents from Lebanon, he said. Sally Barry, director of Lebanon County Probation Services, confirmed that they have paroled jailed offenders to the Salvation Army center.
Beenick believes the support he received from Salvation Army has been a godsend, and he recommends it to anyone struggling with substance abuse. Ultimately, though, an internal desire to conquer addiction is the most important ingredient to success, he said.
“You’ve just got to want it for yourself, you know what I mean? Nobody can help you and hold your hand through this process,” he said. “If I can do it, anybody can do it.”
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Information from: Lebanon Daily News, https://www.ldnews.com
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