Daybreak Youth Services shifts to provide inpatient drug treatment for girls only

Girls ages 12 to 17 are more likely than boys to become addicted to prescription drugs.

Nearly half of the 2.1 million admissions to drug and alcohol treatment facilities in the United States in 2013 were for females, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Washington has 246 beds to treat 12- to 18-year-olds for drug and alcohol addiction. Until now, only one-third of those inpatient slots have been for girls.

Daybreak Youth Services’ leadership is trying to balance the gender inequity by converting its inpatient treatment facility for adolescents to all girls, and adding 20 more beds to the state system.

“This gender-specific program is essential to fulfill the tremendous needs of female teens in our region,” said Annette Klinefelter, the facility’s new executive director.

Spokane will have half the state’s beds for girls.

At the same time, the nonprofit is adding mental health treatment to its services, becoming the state’s sole facility to treat mental health and drug addiction at once in a residential facility.

“There’s a huge need. It’s so pervasive,” said Dr. Matt Layton, Spokane Regional Health District’s medical director for the opioid treatment program. “It’s been underrecognized and undertreated for a long time.”

Studies show that of people with mental illnesses, about 60 to 70 percent also have addictions, he said. These two issues have often been treated separately. “It’s best to provide treatment in the same setting at the same time.”

Of girls staying at Daybreak, 90 percent have been abused physically, mentally or both, Klinefelter said.

“This reality contributes to drug and alcohol abuse, and criminal activity,” she said. “Girls have been at a disadvantage because there is not a capacity for them.”

Daybreak is a private, nonprofit organization founded in 1978 by members of the Whitworth Community Presbyterian Church. The first outpatient services program helped high school students who had been expelled for using drugs.

The facility added inpatient services in 1984 and grew to 40 beds in 1998. Daybreak is one of five inpatient drug treatment providers statewide, with facilities in Spokane and Vancouver.

While boys are no longer staying at the facility as of this week, Daybreak is continuing to serve girls and boys through its daytime drug treatment program.

Klinefelter, who has a background in public health and mental health systems as well as public policy, took over the reins of the nonprofit in December when Tim Smith retired after 30 years.

The new director has moved fast to make changes.

Jillian McMahan, 17, arrived at the facility in early January. Patients stay for a minimum of 45 days, but can remain for six months. She’s witnessed the transition to an all-girl facility.

“It’s such a great idea to go all girls,” she said. Boys “are such a distraction. There was constant drama over who liked who, a couple girls were jumped.”

McMahan ran away from her Bremerton home at age 12 and became addicted to heroin, methamphetamine and alcohol. This is her second time in treatment and first time at Daybreak.

“The first couple weeks are rough … you’re stuck here,” she said. “Being able to make friends and know they’ve been through what you did is what helps.”

She’s never attended high school. While staying at Daybreak, she’s passed one of four GED sections and expects to pass a second exam before exiting the program this month.

McMahan and Yennifer Avila, 16, are roommates. Avila arrived Feb. 2.

The boys were “troublemakers and overly cocky,” she said.

Both girls participated in a meeting on Tuesday night in which Klinefelter picked their brains about ways to improve the stay for patients.

“The patients are the best people to ask about how to build your product,” Klinefelter said. “They are the ones that are going to use it.”