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‘Shame on us’, CT lawmakers, union and others demand restoration of substance abuse recovery programs for women and girls

Hartford Courant - 3/9/2023

Connecticut state employee Latoya Pemberton acknowledged right away that she was nervous  about speaking in front of a crowd, but also said she knew her message was too strong to let fear stop her.

Pemberton is a recovery support specialist for the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, and she joined other SEIU 1199 unionized mental health providers, community leaders, and elected officials in a call for Connecticut to restore certain substance abuse recovery programs for women and girls.

“I also crawled into an addiction facility. I did not know where my lifeline was going to come from. And I thought I was dead,” Pemberton said of her own experience. “The only thing that was alive about me was that I was blinking. And they took me in. I didn’t have to concern myself with dollars and cents, because I needed to save my life that day. I’m so thankful for that amount of love that was given to me when I walked into that detox,” she said.

The providers and advocates made their call for restoration as part of International Women’s Day at the State Capitol; SEIU 1199 members said the state is turning women and girls away from receiving “life-changing and lifesaving services due to the staffing crisis.”

Specifically, they said the DMHAS in-patient treatment STAR program for women had 30 beds that have been consolidated with the men’s units since the beginning of the COVID pandemic and has not been restored, and the Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility for girls was closed by the Department of Children and Families.

Pemberton said these closings are deeply personal to her, as she understands the critical importance of STAR program offerings and similar programs for girls and women, as she was in need of and received those services at a point in her life.

“They deserve the right to live, and not have to worry about criteria, dollars, and cents. They should not have to worry about that, Pemberton said.

Others agreed with Pemberton and called for Gov. Ned Lamont to meet with frontline staff and with mental health and addiction advocates this month, in hopes of finding solutions to lead to the reopening of the STAR program and DCF’s Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility for women and girls after three years of temporary closure.

Donna Brooks, retired director of the STAR program for women at Connecticut Valley Hospital, said part of the need is demonstrated by what she has seen: when a woman starts a journey towards recovery, they can become contributing members of their communities, and often inspire other women to embark on recovery journeys.

“She becomes a mentor. She becomes a sponsor. She becomes a speaker at AA meetings, they do all kinds of things. We never turned a woman away before [when} she met the criteria for admission. But women are being turned away now in droves,” she said. “Their very lives depend on that. If anyone’s seen some of the recent statistics on drug deaths, it’s astronomical.”

Brooks also said that after the units were taken offline, many women are showing up in emergency rooms, being sent to prison, or they are dying.

“Where are these women going to get recovery if we are taking these units offline?…We have billions of dollars in surplus money. We know how to solve this problem. We need to staff these services and reopen these units,” she said. “And we are demanding that Governor Lamont meet with us to discuss his plan to recruit, staff and reopen these units. Connecticut is one of the richest state in the richest country in the history of the world, and we have an opportunity to lead the way for women and girls.”

The state’s answer

Department of Children and Families Commissioner Vannessa Dorantes said, about the units of the Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility for girls closing, that during the global COVID-19 pandemic, the census at the Albert J. Solnit Children’s Center South Campus was actively managed to ensure safety and well-being of all children, youth and employees at the facility.

She said the Acadia unit in the psychiatric hospital was offline for use as a COVID quarantine/isolation space and was brought back online for full use in July 2021, currently serving 11 females out of 24 total youth.

Dorantes said that the Lakota unit in the psychiatric residential treatment facility was offline for use as a COVID quarantine/isolation space, and is intended to reopen when staffing levels permit.

“The current barrier to bringing the Lakota unit back online is staffing resources and in particular, nursing, which is reflective of the national workforce shortage. The PRTF is currently serving 8 females with the capacity of 14 total youth,” she said.

She said the Pueblo Cottage has not been operated as a patient living unit since the closure of the Connecticut Juvenile Training School girl’s unit.

“Despite these challenges, our staff at Solnit South continue to provide compassionate and outstanding care to youth with complex behaviors across our state,” Dorantes said.

Further, Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services Director of Communications Arthur Mongillo said the department offers a full continuum of substance use treatment services for women including withdrawal management, residential care, medication management and outpatient services.

He also said the department’s gender-specific services demonstrate an ongoing commitment to women’s behavioral health.

Some examples, the department said, include pregnancy and parenting programs that strengthen personal supports while providing treatment for substance use disorder recovery programs.

Mongillo said the department also invested in the capacity of diverse community providers to serve women and their families through initiatives such as ACCESS Mental Health for Moms and the Trauma and Gender Collaborative.

In a statement to The Courant, Lamont’s director of communications Adam Joseph said both the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and the Department of Children and Families are providing outstanding services and care to women and girls.

He also said that with respect to both the STAR and DCF’s Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility programs, the agencies hope to reopen them once they have sufficient staff.

“The state of Connecticut has a multi-agency effort to recruit nurses and care professionals to address these needs. The state is facing the same nursing shortage [as] private sector care institutions, which is why the governor and legislature are committed to continuing to fund job training programs in the healthcare industry long-term,” he said.

Staffing issues

Pemberton said her heart broke when she recently checked in with women and children at a program, as they shared that they would be displaced in two days with their babies, due to staffing issues.

She said that before the pandemic addiction services in Middletown offered detox and rehab for up to 110 people, with 30 beds for the women’s-only STAR program and now, with staffing shortages, there are just 15 beds available for women in a co-ed unit.

Pemberton said she has witnessed women in treatment come into co-ed groups only to be confronted with men who had caused traumatic experiences for them. She also said she has seen women and their children displaced and in one facility, where 21 beds were dedicated to women, 11 of those beds were taken away and repurposed to treat men.

“Women deserve to be safe. We deserve to have a right to feel [safe] and have recovery without our abuser worrying about traumatizing us even further,” she said.

She said she hopes Lamont hears their pleas to have a meeting to talk about helping women.

“We just want to have a meeting and talk to [him], so [he] can help us prevent our daughters, sisters, nieces, wives, mothers, and grandmothers from dying in the streets alone or hit their head or in the bathroom of a Dunkin Donuts overdosing on fentanyl, we need help. And I’m here to ask for that help,” she said.

Saleena White, a child services worker at DCF’s Albert J. Solnit Children’s Center South Campus, a state-administered Psychiatric facility for Connecticut’s children younger then 18, said her unit was closed in 2019 and COVID-19 took them offline, due to staffing shortages and now only two of three units are open.

Her unit admitted adolescent girls 12-18 years of age, taking clients in from all walks of life.

“They needed us, we needed them. What we need is staffing. We need money. We need help to help them,” she said, noting they had 24 clients three years ago, but now are only serving seven girls.

“Something is wrong in this system. I don’t know what it is. I don’t know how we’re gonna fix it. But that is not fair to these young girls that need us. Twenty-four beds, seven girls right now. All these girls are in our local hospitals, waiting eight months to 10 months to come to our program. Why?  Where is the money? Help us,” she said.

White said these programs also are needed because many of the girls are on the street and dealing with serious issues, including teen pregnancy and sex trafficking.

“The kids that are going through tough times. The world is on their shoulders, they have enough to deal with every day. They need us to give them a foundation, to make sure we give them the life skills…who else is supporting these girls, except us?,” White said.

Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund Executive Director Janée Woods Weber said while the state has declared itself a leader in women’s health care, it can only back up this claim when talking about reproductive rights, and is falling short with not prioritizing women’s mental health services and reopening the STAR program.

“Those of us who live at the intersection of gender oppression, economic disparity and racial injustice, women of all backgrounds, but especially women with low income have been shouldering the biggest responsibilities and burdens for our families and communities,” she said. “It is time for Connecticut to reciprocate by ensuring that women and girls have access to critical and life sustaining mental health and addiction services. That’s why we need help.”

State Sen. Saud Anwar led the crowd to chant “actions, not words,” to encourage participants not not accept the facility closures.

“Today, everybody will have on their Facebook, they will have [a post] about International Women’s Day…and how are we going to respond to the challenges that the women are facing and the most vulnerable women that are facing at this time? Actions are needed, and the words don’t matter when the actions aren’t followed,” he said.

He recalled going to Connecticut Valley Hospital with the late state Rep. Quentin Williams a few months ago where they encountered a woman who was abused and traumatized and was in the unit with her abuser in the same place.

“Shame on us. Three years ago, the facility that was to take care of the women was combined with men and women together, when the women were supposed to find a safe space. There was no safe space. That was why we were there,” he said.

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