Dec. 18, 2020: On a chilly November day, residents of The Circle, a Mind Springs Health program in Clifton, Colorado, gathered themselves—fittingly—into a circle. Wearing masks and sitting six feet apart, clients celebrated the first graduate who had successfully completed treatment for his co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders.
The completion ceremony opened with a song that captured the client’s personal journey to recovery. Then, fellow residents passed a serenity coin around the circle, sharing words of encouragement to the graduate. The ritual, The Circle program coordinator Megan Navarro said, helps clients remember how far they’ve come when times get tough.
“Since it’s a new program, the clients bonded so well together,” Navarro said. “I don’t think one person wasn’t crying. It was so inspirational to see.”
Navarro said the graduate was a “high utilizer”—someone who frequently wound up in local withdrawal management centers and medical and psychiatric hospitals. His transformation is just the first of many The Circle program hopes to see over the coming years.
“It was really uplifting to see a grown man cry, and not because he’s broken or distressed or feels grief. His head was just so high as he walked out, and he was so excited and proud of himself,” said Navarro.
Treating the mind, body and spirit
The Circle in Pueblo and Clifton are the only state-funded intensive residential programs designed for people with co-occurring substance use and mental disorders and address clients' criminogenic risks in addition to their behavioral health needs. SummitStone Health Partners will launch a third Circle location in Fort Collins early next year.
The Mind Springs Health program opened its doors in July and is the first co-occuring residential program for men on the Western Slope. Their Circle facility offers 16 total beds--eight for those who identify as female and eight for those who identify as male.
“The main benefit of the co-occuring treatment center is we don’t have to refer out anymore for different care,” Narvarro explained. “Here, we can address everything in the same facility, which really lessens the barriers for the client.”
The Circle takes a “mind, body and spirit” approach, Navarro said, offering everything from lifeskills and yoga classes to exercise and art therapy courses. Each week, clients meet with a substance use counselor and mental health therapist and participate in 40 hours of group therapy for up to 90 days.
“We really believe addiction is a symptom of something else. Most of that something else is complex trauma as well as other mental health diagnoses,” Navarro said. “It really makes us unique because we’re able to, all at the same time, treat the core root of the addiction as well as the symptoms that surface.”
Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, The Circle has been at capacity since its opening and welcomes clients from all over the state. Navarro says she’s coordinating with the original Circle Program in Pueblo to make sure everyone who needs specialized care can receive it.
Looking ahead, The Circle hopes to expand services such as accu-detox services, an acupuncture-based therapy. In the spring, clients can take advantage of horticulture therapy, tending to the facility garden and learning to cook healthy meals with the fresh produce they’ve grown.
And over the next two years, The Circle staff will continue to check in with their first graduate to make sure his recovery stays on track.
“We already talked to him a couple of times and made sure he got to his residence, we made sure he got to outpatient services,” Navarro said. “Because he has processed his grief and his loss, his life will forever be changed.”