Incorporated in 1971 as a non-for-profit 501(c) 3 corporation, DAPC began as a 12-bed long-term residential drug treatment agency. Treatment is modeled after a modified therapeutic community (TC) concept

At first, DAPC was funded through private donations and with the support of local guilds. In 1976, DAPC became eligible for funding from the State of Washington Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse (DASA).

A statewide increase in the demand for residential beds resulted in DAPC leasing the former Toutle River Boys Ranch in 1998; thereby, increasing capacity to 38 licensed beds. In 2004, DAPC purchased the residential facility.

In order to provide our clients with a full continuum of services; in 1998 DAPC opened its’ outpatient clinic in Kelso, WA. Services were further expanded in 1999 when DAPC became a provider of Drug Court Services to the Cowlitz County Superior Court System. In response to community demand, in 2003, DAPC implemented its’ STARS (Sharing, Talking, Achieving, Recovering, Sisterhood) servicing pregnant/postpartum women and their families.In August 2005we opened a 16-bed residential program for pregnant, postpartum, parenting women in Longview, WA and a Parent-Child Assistance Program in Kelso, WA. On February 1, 2006, we became the provider to the family dependency treatment court called HOPE (Helping Our Parents Excel).

We realize getting clean and sober is just the beginning. Once sobriety is achieved, the process of rebuilding must begin. Often, an addict feels overwhelmed and receives little or no help.

Relapse occurs when people lack ongoing support, structure, guidance and the skills necessary to face the challenges of life after achieving abstinence. Therefore, DAPC’s programs focus on many areas of the client’s life, ranging from social and family relationships, personal and professional goals, health/fitness, and spirituality, to independent living.

The Outpatient Program helps our clients move out of their addiction and into clean and sober productive lives using a hands-on approach to help them achieve their life goals.

The goal of our program is to reduce prenatal substance use among patients to improve birth outcomes and infant development. Specific targets of the program are:

• To identify women with chemical dependency problems who are pregnant or are mother’s to children up to 1 year old.
• Increase positive pregnancy outcomes, healthy pregnancy and deliveries.
• Guide mom’s to more resources in the community; parenting classes, mental health, medical care, WIC, etc.
• Decrease hospital costs by having a healthy baby and mother for delivery
• Increase compliance between mom’s and CPS
  - Assist with homelessness and food needs.
• Increase social and primary support for moms
• Decrease jail for moms
• Increase knowledge about domestic violence
• Strengthening families

Data supplied by the Washington State Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse shows that:

• Providing treatment to substance abusing pregnant women reduced healthcare costs of their drug exposed infants
• Chemically dependent pregnant women who received treatment had healthier babies
• Substance abusing women who received chemical dependency treatment prenatally were less likely to have a low birth weight baby compared to women who did not receive treatment (8.7% versus 12.9%)
• Women who completed treatment had the best birth outcomes
  

In a sample of 365 substance abusing women in Washington State, birth outcomes of women who received no treatment or who dropped out of treatment early were compared to those who completed the full course of treatment. Results showed that women who received no treatment were over three times more likely to deliver a baby prematurely, had an increased frequency of placental abruption, as well as a higher frequency of fetal or infant deaths. (Washington State MOMS Project, 1999). Alcohol and drug abuse cannot be separated from the social, emotional, and economic conditions in women’s lives. As a community we must begin to develop systems that offer Cowlitz County women, children and families coordinated, comprehensive and multidimensional health, education and support services if we are to have any hope of preventing or intervening early in alcohol and drug problems in women and children.

The goals of the program are to: (1) assist mothers in obtaining treatment, maintaining recovery, and resolving the complex problems associated with their substance abuse; (2) guarantee that the children are in a safe environment and receiving appropriate health care; (3) effectively link families with community resources; (4) demonstrate successful strategies for working with this population in order to prevent the risk of future drug-and-alcohol-affected children.

The program does not provide direct alcohol, drug treatment or clinical services, but instead offers consistent home visitation and links women and their families with a comprehensive array of existing community resources. Paraprofessional advocates have a maximum caseload of 15 families. They visit clients with appropriate service providers, and work actively within the context of the extended family. Clients are not required to obtain alcohol/drug treatment in order to participate, and are never asked to leave the program because of relapse or setbacks. Advocates trace clients who are missing, stay in contact with the client’s family members, and provide advocacy services for the target child regardless of who has custody of the child.

Participants are high-risk substance abusing women. Criteria for inclusion in the program include chronic alcohol and/or drug use during pregnancy, and little connection with community service providers, including little or no prenatal care.

The intervention lasts 36 months. Advocates visit client homes weekly for the first 6 weeks, then biweekly or more frequently, depending on client needs.

Our TC emphasizes the integration of an individual within the community. Progress is measured within the context of the community and against the community’s expectation. It is the community, working with the individual, which accomplishes the positive change in the member. One’s ability to live up to the community’s expectations is taken as an important measure of readiness to move toward integration into the larger society outside of DAPC.