By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
LIMESTONE — Despite the elimination of funding in the upcoming state budget for the Limestone Recovery Treatment Facility (aka The Farm), the Aroostook Mental Health Center (which oversees the facility) hasn’t been told to shut their Limestone operations, but should AMHC choose to keep The Farm’s doors open they’d have to find a way supplement a $200,000 loss in state funds.
Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet
AMHC’s Limestone Residential Treatment Facility, known as “The Farm” may be closed down if the state’s FY11 budget is not altered to include funding for the facility.
This has raised the question “will AHMC lose The Farm?”
If the FY11 state budget is passed as it currently reads, 10 of 13 residential programs for substance abuse recovery will be eliminated in the state, according to Peter McCorison, director of behavioral health services for AMHC. The Office of Substance Abuse is facing a $4 million cut in the FY11 budget (and with that cut comes the loss of an additional $1.6 million in federal funds). The $200,000 that The Farm receives from the state is included in the $4 million currently on the chopping block.
“We’re working very hard to come up with a plan on how we would be able to keep providing that service in Limestone [should funding be lost],” McCorison said, “but in all honestly, we’re going to be very challenged to do that.”
The 12-bed facility already runs consistently at 80 percent operational capacity 24/7 by eight staffers who are passionate about recovery, but even increasing the number of customers isn’t going to fill the facility’s financial gap.
The Aroostook County Democratic Committee is one organization that is, to put it softly, less than pleased with the proposed discontinuation of funding for The Farm.
Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet
Ashley Ouellette, alcohol and drug counseling aid, looks over materials in the Limestone Recovery Treatment Facility’s library with Andrea Kjenstad, licensed alcohol and drug councilor. Staff of The Farm lead three group sessions a day covering a wide range of topics to develop recovery efforts in their clients and provide them with the life skills they’ll need to stay clean and sober once they graduate from the program.
“None of the other facilities do what The Farm does,” said Troy Haines, president of the Aroostook County Democratic Committee. “The amount of people who’ve benefit from treatment at the facility and their success rate is phenomenal.”
Haines also mentioned that a reduction in substance abuse recovery funding will actually increase the tax burden for the state because when individuals dealing with substance abuse issues aren’t able to get the intensive help they need, they’ll wind up in the states correctional facilities and dependant on the state’s health services.
McCorison confirmed that many clients who receive care at the Limestone Recovery Treatment Facility are either coming from jail or would face incarceration if they didn’t receive treatment.
“That is something that the public needs to be aware of; the projected savings by closing the facility aren’t fully true because a percent of individuals would be staying in a correctional facility or going to one, and both come with a cost to the community,” McCorison said.
“It’s a lot cheaper to help people than it is to imprison them,” Haines added.
The Farm is the only co-ed classic residential treatment facility in Maine where customers can go for a number of weeks to learn life skills, begin the development of positive behaviors and establish a discharge plan — all of which are tremendously crucial to the success of substance abuse recovery.
“Life on The Farm” lasts a median of 28 days for approximately 150 customers that visit the Limestone Recovery Treatment Facility.
The reason why the facility has been dubbed “The Farm” — a name that has stuck despite AMHC’s efforts — is because it occupies a 100-year-old farmhouse surrounded by potato fields.
“Miracles do happen there,” McCorrison said.
Crediting the staff as the primary factor for the success of the facility, he also touched on the effectiveness of recovery efforts in such a warm, home-like environment.
“There are 10 people at that facility tonight,” McCorison said on Friday. “These 10 people are from all walks of life, men and women, and they’re all getting along and they’re all focusing on making changes in their lives. Some are successful, some are not, but the location and the staff have a lot to do with that.”
At the facility, customers are incorporated into a rigid schedule. Group sessions are three times a day, everyone is expected to do their share of the chores (cooking, cleaning, shoveling in the winter, caring for the facility’s cat), everyone eats together at mealtimes and each customer has a number of book reports, personal reflections and readings to complete. With no television, no access to outside literatures, no cellular phones, MP3 players, Internet or other distractions, there’s not much to dissuade individuals from obtaining the skills and lessons they’ll need to stay clean once their time at The Farm is over. And focused attention on recovery is necessary, considering how short a 28-day span really is.
“I think we give them a really good foundation and the tools they’ll need to use in the community in order to keep themselves sober,” said Andrea Kjenstad, licensed alcohol and drug councilor at the Limestone facility. “In recovery, we highly recommend they participate in AA or NA, or any support group of their choosing when they return to their community, but when they walk out of here — if they really worked with the program — attitudes have changed, behaviors have changed, negatives are now turning to positives, self-esteem is higher, and they want to remain in recovery.”
But what the individuals get out of their 28 days at the facility is paramount of what they put in.
“Some of them will sit here and do their work, but they’re not progressing internally,” said Ashley Ouellette, alcohol and drug counseling aid. “Other people can make dramatic life changes in terms of where they want to be when they leave and looking at themselves and being ready to stay clean and sober.”
With almost half of The Farm’s customers coming from Aroostook County annually, the Aroostook County Democratic Committee is looking for ways to keep the facility open.
“Many of us know people who’ve had life-changing experiences after being involved with this program,” Haines said. “We need to step up and get involved.”
Individuals interested in making their voices heard regarding the possible closure of the Limestone facility are encouraged to contact either their local legislator or Haines at 551-1301 or by emailing him at gyre1976@yahoo.com
