trends

December, 1997

Publisher, Robert Csandl

Sales, Janis Knight

Production Manager, Janis Knight

Production Staff, Joan Allen, Betty Hammadi

Managing Editor, Janis Knight

Editorial Staff, Nikki Clark

Treatment Trends, Inc., 18-22 South 6th St., Box 685, Allentown, PA 18105

The advertiser assumes liability for all content (including text representations and illustrations) and agrees to indemnify Treatment Trends, Inc. against all claims. Upon acceptance, all articles submitted for publication become the property of Treatment Trends, Inc. No part of Trends may be reprinted without the express permission of the publisher.

 

Trends looks to the Future

Janis Knight, Editor

 Trends is an unique newsletter published by Treatment Trends, Inc., who are funded, in part, under contract with the Pennsylvania Bureau of Drug and Alcohol Programs.

Treatment Trends, Inc., (TTI)was created in 1989 as a merger of Keenan House (residential treatment), Confront (outpatient treatment), TASC and the Richard Csandl Recovery House. This merger allows Treatment Trends to better coordinate services and provide a comprehensive continuum of care for clients in the Treatment Trends service system. In 1990, Treatment Trends, Inc., developed the Treatment Trends Foundation, comprised of prominent citizens of the Lehigh Valley. The primary mission of the TTI Foundation is to assist the program services offered by TTI through financing and public relations.

The Trends newsletter is back in print after a hiatus of approximately one year. This issue will primarily serve as a re-introduction and is, therefore, shorter than our regular quarterly issues. All future issues will strive to maintain, if not improve upon, the standards set by our previous publication.

Trends will provide insightful, thought-provoking articles, which will strive to increase your understanding of how addiction and abuse impacts your community. We will report on the activities of TTI subsidiaries and offer perspectives of those involved in the treatment of addiction and abuse. You will hear from those who view the "big picture" of the community, to those on the front lines who witness and live the recovery process on a daily basis. Our goal is to provide our reader, the taxpayer, the parent, the community member, an opportunity to learn and increase your awareness of addiction, abuse and recovery. Your comments and suggestions regarding our progress are always welcome.

Advertising space in Trends is available in business card, ¼ page, ½ page and full-page sizes. Persons interested in supporting Trends or advertising in our newsletter may contact the editor at PO Box 685, Allentown, PA, 18105. Phone (610) 439-8479. Our first quarterly issue of the New Year will be published in March 1998.
 

 

Treatment Trends, Inc. Mission Statement

 

To provide rehabilitation and continuum of care services to drug addicts, alcoholics, abusers and potential users, persons manifesting anti-social conduct, victim survivors of sexual abuse, sex offenders, violent aggressive batterers and battered women through inpatient and outpatient treatment/intervention modalities.
To provide intake, evaluation, referral, urine testing and monitoring to the criminal justice client.
To provide public education and prevention of addiction and sexual abuse.
 

 

 

Treatment Trends Ongoing Events

 

Keenan House Brunch……….......…2nd Sunday each month

Training Institute Workshops……….Scheduled Fridays

For additional information, call 610-439-8479

 

 

 

Lehigh County Awarded $880,000 Grant

State funding provides new treatment model

Robert Csandl, Executive Director, TTI

 

 The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) recently awarded Lehigh County a grant that will divert Level 3 and Level 4 non-violent addicted offenders from incarceration to addiction treatment.

The Treatment Continuum Alternative Program (TCAP) grant was written in collaboration with the Lehigh County Drug and Alcohol Commission, Lehigh County District Attorney’s office, Lehigh County Department of Corrections, Lehigh County Probation, Court Administrator’s Office and Treatment Trends, Inc.

The concept, or model, offers treatment and tight accountability for a twenty-month period, along with diversion from incarceration for persons successfully completing treatment. All referrals to the program must have approval through the District Attorney’s office and undergo a pre-sentence investigation via Lehigh County Probation. Each referral must also meet the Pennsylvania Client Placement Criteria for Level 3-4c (inpatient treatment) and reside in Lehigh County.

Approved referrals will be assessed through Lehigh County TASC and sentenced to 20 months of treatment. Offenders will receive six months of inpatient treatment at Keenan House, four months of inpatient Halfway Home treatment and another 10 months of Intensive Outpatient (IOP) and Outpatient (OP) treatment at Confront.

Lehigh County Probation will provide a probation officer who will follow all cases from beginning to end, and electronic monitoring for the last ten months of treatment. Lehigh County TASC will provide ongoing case management and random urine testing for each offender through the twenty-month period.

This model gives judges sentencing options that will reduce prison overcrowding, rehabilitate addict offenders and help keep our streets safe for all of us.
 

 

 

TASC (Treatment Accountability for Safer Communities)

Then and Now…

 

After 11 years at 521 Court Street, TASC has moved...up the block. We are now located at 536 Court Street in  a modern, 1800 square foot, centrally air-conditioned facility!

In the past decade TASC has grown considerably from 4 full time and 1 part time staff to 10 full time and 4 part-time staff. The lab of 1986 manually processed 20,000 urine screens/year. Today the TASC lab is equipped to process 500 urine screens an hour! In the last fiscal year, the TASC lab processed nearly 100,000 urine screens for Adult and Juvenile Probation, State Parole, Pre-Trial Services, Lehigh County’s Office of Children and Youth Services and the Department of Corrections, just to name a few. The new technology allows TASC to test for dilution of the specimen and the presence of "Golden Seal," an adulterant. By the spring of 1998, TASC will have the additional capability of testing for LSD.

A state-of-the-art data management system has also been developed to provide for client tracking and reporting. This system interfaces with the lab to allow for drug screen requisition and results reporting directly to the database. A randomized system of selection assigns TASC reporting based on a color-coded principle. Simply put, this means that all TASC clients are assigned a color. A 24-hour "hotline" notifies the clients of the color for the day. Clients need to report on the day that their color is called. Colors can be called anywhere from once to 12 times a month.

This randomized call system, combined with the addition of Saturday collection time, has greatly reduced the possibility of client "planning" drug or alcohol abuse around a scheduled appointment.

In October 1997, TASC became a recipient of a portion of a PCCD (Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency) grant for Intermediate Punsihment. (See article, Page 2.) The Treatment Continuum Alternative Program (TCAP) as this state funded program is called, is an innovative diversion program for offenders in Lehigh County. Eligible candidates must be non-violent, chemically dependent individuals who would otherwise serve state sentences as mandated by Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing guidelines for a particular level of offender. The Program consists of 6 months of residential treatment followed by 4 months in a half-way home. The continuum includes an additional 10 months of intensive outpatient and outpatient aftercare treatment. Throughout the treatment experience, and for 6 months following successful completion of the 20-month treatment plan, the participant will be supervised jointly by an intensive TASC case Manage and Probation Officer. This team will operate from the TASC office and will be supervised by the TASC Program Director and the Chief of Lehigh County Adult Probation. There is tremendous support from Lehigh County’s Criminal Justice System for this appropriate means of dealing with addicts’ antisocial behavior.
 

 

Keenan House Residence Undergoes Renovation

 

TTI has developed plans to expand treatment facilities and services at Keenan House due to an increase in the numbers of dually diagnosed referrals and the obvious need to segregate their living quarters and specific areas of treatment. This will be accomplished by the addition of beds, staff offices, group and individual counseling rooms, a client lounge, shower & bathroom facilities, laundry facilities and an exercise room on the 4th floor of Keenan House. In addition, the Administrative Office, as well as a GED office, will be moved to the 5th floor of Keenan House, which will provide a non-smoking dining areas as well as staff offices on the first floor.

Architectural plans were developed in August and initially rejected by the Labor and Industry Board for several code deficiencies. A request was then submitted to the Industrial Board for a variance, which was received in October. Bids for the project were solicited from several contractors. Construction is set to begin in January 1998 and last for a period of approximately three months.
  

 

Acknowledgements

Treatment Trends, Inc., gratefully acknowledges the support of the following:

 

 

Thank you!