At San Quentin’s annual celebration of addiction recovery, prisoners honored two prominent California politicians for their support of public safety activities.
State Sen. Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, and Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates, received commemorative plaques. Two community-based addiction programs, Options Recovery Services and Support 4 Recovery were also acknowledged for their support of San Quentin’s Addiction Recovery Counseling program.
Prisoners certified through the California Association of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Counselors along with community volunteers organized the event on the prison’s Lower Yard. Newly appointed Warden Kevin Chappell and his staff also attended.
The California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs estimates three million people in the state need treatment for substance use disorders.
“ARC is a tremendous program,” said Hancock. “It helps the inmates, both participants and counselors. Substance abuse is an area in which there are jobs and the work in that field is needed. We know it is effective in reducing recidivism, if they walk the walk. The work of the men is needed.”
Several recovering addicts from the community gave testimony, including a retired Berkeley police captain and founder of Options Recovery Services Davida Coady.
Coady said, “The mayor is always looking for ways to improve lives.”
The ARC program is a 16-week comprehensive treatment program. Participants learn about addiction, relapse prevention and life skills through a combination of education, group counseling, and reflection and process groups. According to inmate Robin Tunzo, ARC has been providing comprehensive counseling to San Quentin’s men in blue for the past six years. The program has been replicated at Solano State Prison.
The program could not operate without the support of Options Recovery Services and Support 4 Recovery, said Administrative Director Kiki Kessler
In 2009, Support 4 Recovery took 11 men with life sentences and began training them to become certified alcohol and drug counselors. Many of those that took the training have since been released and continue their work in the community.
Later, Options provided training, continuing education and funding for certification for a second group of counselors.
CAADAC President-Elect John Madsen, the certification board for alcohol and drug counselors, said counselors are “saving lives, one soul at a time.”
California prison officials recently awarded a contract to CAADAC for training and educating inmates to become substance-abuse counselors through its Offender Mentorship Certification Program.
“OMCP is a phenomenal program that gives inmates and mentors the chance to give back to society,” said OMCP Director Kristina Padilla.
Certified alcohol and drug counselors are now in nine California prisons. Padilla said the public should know the work they’re doing with inmates is a “grass-root effort that would really benefit from public support, financially and other ways throughout CDCR.”
Kessler recently started a non-profit organization called “Seeds.” She said she intends to use the organization to raise funds to expand recovery services.
Three lifers in the ARC program will soon parole, said Kessler. “To continue the program, we need to train new individuals,” she explained.
