Center Of Intention Area Tribes Pool Resources To Fight Alcoholism Among Youth

Janice McCoy says she started drinking beer at age 13, quaffing cans and bottles that friends and relatives gave her.

“Occasionally, we would do it in school,” said McCoy, a Coeur d’Alene Indian. “Some of my friends would come in and could barely stand up.”

Hoping to save youths like McCoy from a lifetime of alcohol and drug abuse, seven Northwest Indian tribes next month will open a new $6 million substance-abuse treatment center in the Spokane Valley.

There, 250 youths per year - mostly tribal members - will undergo an unusual blend of modern counseling and traditional native ceremonies, such as sweat lodges, drumming and singing.

“That stimulates their having ownership in the program,” said treatment coordinator Dick Jones. “The more they invest, the greater their potential for success.”

The federal Indian Health Service and Washington Department of Social and Health Services are paying construction costs and most of the center’s annual $2.5 million budget. Half of the 40 employees at “The Healing Lodge of the Seven Nations” are Indian.

Despite stereotypes of widespread drinking problems on reservations, a recent survey by DSHS suggests Indians drink less frequently than whites. Indians, however, reported higher use of marijuana and hard drugs.

National studies suggest that Indian youths try drugs and alcohol earlier than most children, said Joseph Trimble, a psychology professor at Western Washington University in Bellingham. Trimble specializes in substance abuse differences between ethnic groups.

But he said substance abuse rates among Indians mirror rates in the general population. Contrary to popular belief, Indians don’t seem to have any genetic predisposition toward alcoholism, he said.

“Stereotypes die slowly,” Trimble said. “Indian communities, more than any other ethnic group, are extremely sensitive about the stereotype and problems.”

In the late 1980s, the seven tribes got together and began lobbying for a local treatment center.

“Our kids were on waiting lists, being sent away to pricey places far away,” said Norma Peone, who represents the Coeur d’Alenes on the center’s board of directors. “We decided we need something on this side of the mountains for our tribes.”

They lobbied then-House Speaker Tom Foley, who won the necessary appropriation in Congress, then they set about seeking land.

The search took much longer than expected. In the five-year interim, the tribes rented a former alternative school at 1617 N. Calispel in Spokane and set up a small treatment center: the Inland Tribal Consortium youth center.

That’s where Janice McCoy went 4-1/2 years ago. At age 16, she was watching family members die from the effects of heavy drinking: car wrecks, alcoholism, drug overdoses. Her mother, aunts and an Indian Health Service counselor encouraged her to go to the treatment center.

“I was thinking I was going to be a drunk all my life,” she said. “I thought there was nothing for me.”

At the center, the 16-year-old DeSmet girl went to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings every day and discussion groups each night.

“There were 12-, 13-year-old girls who’d done acid, coke, crack,” she said. Hairspray, fingernail polish and alcohol facial swabs were locked away so the patients wouldn’t sniff or drink them, she said.

Staffers took the youths to Plummer, where they sat and prayed in a sweathouse. McCoy said she grew proud of her native heritage and - for the first time - was convinced there was more to life than partying.

“I knew I needed to start over. And when I came home, I found out who my real friends were,” she said.

Her former drinking buddies pushed her away, she said.

“They wouldn’t have anything to do with me. They said I’d changed.”

Some of the youths at the Healing Lodge will be ordered into treatment by courts. Others will be referred by tribal officials, families or social workers.

The youths will stay in dormitory rooms during the 45- to 90-day treatment program. They’ll attend classes, learn to use computers, go on recreational field trips and get counseling.

“They have a disease. They’re not bad kids,” said Roschel Peoples, the Healing Lodge’s administrative director.

The center isn’t a “locked down” facility, but is monitored by cameras throughout the building. A sound sensor is placed in the roadway, to alert workers to anyone driving up to the center after hours.

If the youths run away, police and their parents will be notified, Peoples said.

The center includes three apartments for parents who want to be with their children during treatment. By treating the entire family, counselors hope to create the support necessary for the youth to stay away from alcohol and drugs.

McCoy, now 21, is a mother of two sons and plans to get married in June. She’s worked as a receptionist at the Coeur d’Alene tribal Department of Education for the past two years.

Eventually, she wants to become a drug and alcohol counselor.

“I want to be there for the kids,” she said. “Because I was there.”

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