107TH YEAR

WINCHESTER, VIRGINIA

JULY 26, 2002

Families in Crisis Find Help at CLEAN
Program Gets Troubled Teens And Worried Parents Talking

By Robyn Fontes
The Winchester Star

When her granddaughter ran away from home, Clara Oliver posted fliers showing the most embarrassing photograph she could find of the 16-year-old.

Donna Steffey and Jeffrey Rodman lead the Family Intervention Program at CLEAN Inc.
(Photo by Ginger Perry)

“It worked. She came home,” said the 53-year-old Clarke County woman. “My granddaughter said, ‘I had to come home. I had to get you to take those pictures down. They look so ugly.’”

Oliver learned the unusual discipline technique through the Family Intervention Program offered by CLEAN Inc., a local anti-drug abuse program.

Since July 2000, CLEAN has offered a family intervention class for families coping with teens who are constantly running away, abusing drugs or alcohol, or having other troubles with the law. In order to attend, however, you had to be ordered to do so by a judge.

In July 2001, CLEAN received a grant from the state Department of Criminal Justice Services to offer classes to the general public.

“Before we ran any ads or printed any brochures, we already had a waiting list,” said program director Jeffrey Rodman.

The six-week class, attended by both teens and parents, focuses on improving communication, controlling anger, identifying hot-button issues, and setting limits.

The cornerstone of the program is a contract that teens and their parents create together, which outlines specific behaviors expected from the teen and what rewards will be offered by the parents.

“We put a lot of emphasis on both sides — both teens and parents must take responsibility,” said Donna Steffey, CLEAN’s family intervention specialist.

Along with the family intervention class, CLEAN offers individual family therapy, a parent support group, a one-night anger management class for parents, a two-night anger management class for teens, and a three-night alcohol and drug awareness class for teens.

“We don’t say that we can fix something in six weeks that’s taken 15 years to put in place,” Steffey said. “This isn’t a quick fix. This is the foundation. It takes more work and some talking to a therapist.”

***

The family intervention class for the general public meets Monday nights for two hours. Fees are based on a sliding scale and run from $50 down to $1 for each of the six sessions.

“Most of the families pay closer to $1 than $50,” Rodman said. “But if you’re paying for something, you tend to put more of a value on it than if you don’t.”

Individual counseling sessions and drug and alcohol testing are also available.

“There is ongoing support,” Rodman said. “It’s not just six weeks and you’re done.”

***

Oliver has gone through the family intervention class twice and still meets with a therapist regularly.

The second time around, Oliver attended the class on her own to prepare for her granddaughter’s release from a drug rehabilitation center.

“I wanted to learn how to cope — learn to write contracts, learn about button-pushing and stress busters. Get all my ducks in a row,” said Oliver, who has raised her granddaughter since she was 2 and a half years old.

Oliver has a written contract for her granddaughter. For each week the teen stays off drugs, she earns one CD. For two months without drugs, she may have a kitten. No drugs for six months and she can get a tattoo.

For every day she attends school, she earns one session in the tanning bed. For every day she misses, she loses two sessions.

“You have to find something that she really likes, so she’ll do what she’s supposed to,” Oliver said.

Even though the class didn’t solve all the problems, it did help — and Oliver won’t give up on her granddaughter.

“She’s a drug addict and she’s beat on me and she runs away, but I love her. She’s a nice kid underneath all that. She’s worth something. I can’t give up on her.”

***

CLEAN’s Family Intervention Program is based on the work of Scott P. Sells, a professor of social work at Savannah State University and executive director of the Savannah Family Institute in Georgia.

CLEAN began using Sells’s methods in spring 2001 because the problems the teens had were getting much more severe and dangerous, Rodman said.

“The old intervention style wasn’t working anymore,” he said. “We recognized we needed something more.”

CLEAN was the first place to pilot-test Sells’s program and the first to become licensed.

When CLEAN started offering the classes, Rodman was hoping that 50 percent of attendees would report an improvement in their family relationships.

But nearly 90 percent of attendees surveyed have said they’ve seen improvements in their communication skills and how they coped with anger, he said.

***

Although Oliver still struggles, “by coming in here she becomes much more empowered,” Steffey said. “She’s a testament to the struggle parents are going through.”

CLEAN has helped Oliver “think a little more outside the box” when it comes to dealing with her granddaughter, Steffey said.

Oliver uses the caller ID on her phone to track down her granddaughter’s friends. She conducts random drug screenings.

“I’ve gotten to where I do things I thought I wouldn’t have ever done,” Oliver said.

Now when her granddaughter yells out, “You’re not my real mother” — typically a hot-button phrase for Oliver — she doesn’t let the words bother her.

“I’ve learned to push this button in my head and I don’t hear anything she says,” Oliver said. “I’ve gotten the power back, and she hates that.”