Center's programs fill a need for some residents

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Recovering from addictions requires taking steps, and some may stumble as they take the steps out of the safe environment of a treatment center and back into a world that reminds them of their addictions.

This transition often can be difficult, both financially and psychologically, and now recovering addicts in Calvert have an additional step they can take toward independent living.

The Carol M. Porto Treatment Center in Prince Frederick offers a low-cost place for people to live who have had treatment for their addictions and are actively recovering through Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous and need a safe environment in which to build on their recoveries, a Calvert County Department of Economic Development press release stated.

It is a place for people who have sobriety skills and are stable in their recoveries "but need a little more support to stay clean," the center's clinical director Doris McDonald said. The living space is dormitory-style, set up for six people who can use the treatment facilities' recreational area, kitchen and dining room, but their living quarters are in a separate area, she said.

They still have access to the treatment, McDonald said, adding that it gives those trying to get their budgets in order a safe, sober and low-cost alternative.

Founder of the treatment center, Carol M. Porto, said, "It takes years to rebuild" from addiction with recovering addicts having two goals in mind: "financial recovery and staying sober."

In the new recovery house, people will have a special relapse prevention group and individual counseling if needed, she said.

Porto, who has a master's degree in psychology and addiction counseling, said some churches with the Calvert Interfaith Council also have provided faith-based programs, and counseling at the center, for those who ask for it.

"They've just overwhelmed me with wonderful things," Porto said. Every Sunday night they have a nondenominational service and on Saturday nights clergy people are available if someone wants to talk to them, she said.

Porto and her business manager and sister, Barbara Bowman, have been receiving business counseling since 2006 from the Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) and the Calvert County Department of Economic Development, and they were encouraged to purchase — which they did — the 14,400-square-foot, 48-bed building, appraised at $2.5 million, that they were renting from Anthony and Tony Williams. They also researched ways to improve cash flow by enhancing and expanding services and the Porto Recovery House program came out of the businesses counseling as did certified outpatient programs for pain pill addiction and gambling, the press release stated.

The treatment center offers opiate dependence treatment with Suboxone, a medication that reduces withdrawal symptoms and cravings, and last year a counselor was certified by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in gambling addictions counseling, she said.

This year the state is expected to receive funding in July through a federal grant called "Access to Recovery," and Porto said she hopes the treatment center will receive some of the funds for outpatient counseling for those who might need it once a month instead of every week.

"It's another level of care," she said, and it's aimed to close the gap on some people relapsing after leaving treatment.

Since 1985, the Carol M. Porto Treatment Center has provided substance abuse treatment to thousands of individuals and their families in Southern Maryland. The program never has operated for profit and currently has 35 staff members treating 150 patients. In June 2009, the SBDC selected the Carol M. Porto Treatment Center as Small Business of the Year at the Leading Edge Awards ceremony, according to the press release.