Eric Doeh, left, CEO and president of Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network. George Arnold Jr., right, certified peer recovery mentor and recovery coach at National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence.
Photo courtesy of DWHIN and George Arnold Jr.
In Fall 2023, the Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network (DWHIN) is transforming a building in Milwaukee Junction into a Clinical Care Center for adults and adolescents struggling with substance abuse disorders (SUD) and mental health issues.
Eric Doeh, CEO and president of DWHIN, spoke with the Michigan Chronicle on the factors that motivated the center’s plans to provide centralized wrap around care support for those struggling with addiction and stabilized mental health.
“It was a combination of recognizing there was a need and really trying to establish a resource for our community, not just the law enforcement community but also families and our members. Seventy-five percent of people who need crisis services, they go without. So, what happens is that family members now have to deal with their loved ones,” said Doeh.
Doeh added that families often deal with the brunt of care support when there is a lack of a system to lean on. Families frequently find themselves with no other recourse but to either take their loved one to the emergency room or the police department.
“Neither of these places are fundamentally equipped to handle the kind of care these people need. Even hospitals, with knowledgeable health professionals of doctors and nurses, get overwhelmed by the amount of people seeking help and it’s just not a place to handle mental health issues. Law enforcement also are in a position where their arms are thrown up and they just don’t know what to do in the jails and are not connected to services. It’s just not the way to go.”
The $12 million Care Center is funded through Medicaid and will provide Medicaid services along with additional funding for mental health care. The space will provide 40 beds and collaborative services for local adults and adolescents, including Crisis Residential, Crisis Sober Living and Crisis Stabilization.
In 2017, the number of persons with a mental health diagnosis in the Wayne County Jail was 82 percent. Due to many of the programs that DWIHN has put in place with their jail navigators, including mental health diversion programs, treatment and prevention programs, this number has been reduced to 29 percent. All these cases are non-violent /non-assaultive misdemeanor charges.
Other initiatives include Crisis Intervention Training (CIT), which is the training of professionals in informed awareness and skills for engaging a person in crisis. To date, DWHIN has trained over 680 people in 36 agencies statewide and an additional 188 Detroit Police Department officers and executive staff in CIT.
According to a Detroit Overdose Surveillance 2012-2020 report by the city of Detroit’s Health Department, “During 2018-2020, there were on average 2,900 overdose ED (Emergency Department) visits among Detroit residents each year. Although the number of overdose ED visits decreased in 2020, the rate of overdose ED visits increased. This is due to a decrease in the number of overall ED visits given COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and precautions.”
The report found that individuals aged between 45 and 64 years, males, and Black/African Americans make up the largest proportions of overdose deaths in Detroit.
DWHIN’s Clinical Care Center Services and Citywide Outreach Trainings
DWHIN’s Clinical Care Center will be the first of its kind in the city. Residents can look forward to a one-stop shop facility running 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week equipped with stabilization services, in-house sober living up to 14 days, transitional housing options and on-site staff connecting people to providers for other high priority needs such as housing and employment.
Doeh said DWHIN is aware of long-term care necessary to factor into the Center’s sustainable recovery approach. Patients will be set up with outpatient service options to receive support from among 60 partner providers for behavioral health. The center will also have 11 providers for children with autism.
In addition, the Center will dispatch Crisis and Mobile Health Services to ensure accessibility is not a deterrence for residents all over the city.
One of the challenges many the SUD and mental health center are battling is the shortage of clinicians to support the project.
Doeh said DWHIN is working on incentives for high demand clinicians to broaden the center’s capacity.
“We have seen a huge uptick in people needing these services and then you have a reduction in the workforce. We have some of our partners, who are currently now in 20 percent or 30 percent of their clinical workforce. There are options for those wishing to get clinical work towards their school and also private organizations who are offering additional dollars for employee retention. The network we are part of has these partners to attract folks into the profession with flexible hours and income.”
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services provides an online data portal to compare the mortality rate due to opioid overdose from 1999 to recent years.
The MiTracking data portal found, “The number of drug overdose deaths among Michigan residents was five times higher in 2018 compared to the number in 1999. The 2018 number of opioid deaths was almost 18 times higher than the 1999 number. Opioids are implicated in the majority of drug overdose deaths.”
Detroiters’ Road to Recovery
In 2017, President Donald Trump declared opioid addiction a health emergency, calling it the worst drug crisis in U.S. history. That same year, many states followed suit to address the crisis.
In Michigan, state and local health officials, including the Detroit Health Department (DHD), grew its capacity to combat the local crisis via multi-sector partnerships.
According to a Detroit Overdose Surveillance 2012-2020 report by the city of Detroit’s Health Department, “Over the past decade, more than 2,000 Detroiters have died from a drug overdose, with 364 deaths in 2019 alone. Of the 364 deaths, 86 percent involved an opioid, 76 percent involved a synthetic opioid (e.g., fentanyl, tramadol) and 41 percent involved cocaine. Provisional mortality data suggests a potential decline in fatal overdoses during the COVID-19 pandemic, with 283 deaths in 2020.”
The DHD report identified the zip codes of 48219 and 48228 as having “a high number of fatal overdoses and naloxone administrations.”
DHD’s behavioral health program, 313 HOPE (Harm-reduction, Overdose Prevention and Education), provides thousands of residents with live and virtual trauma-informed training, intervention, outreach, screening and referrals.
313 HOPE’s Public Education Campaign focuses on “raising awareness about the impact of opioids/drugs on the community and reducing addiction stigma through digital storytelling, education and media messages generated by people impacted by substance misuse.”
The city also has a host of several other SUD-focused organizations, such as Team Wellness and Connor Creek Life Solutions, providing services ranging from inpatient and outpatient care options, detox centers, behavioral therapy, rehabilitation programs, short- and long-term treatment, and transitional housing.
Recovery is Possible and Can Happen with Dignity
For over 70 years, the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) has been a valuable resource for millions of people struggling with alcoholism and addiction. The organization aids residents with their recovery goals by offering various levels of care including prevention, intervention and treatment.
With over 100 affiliates across the country, NCADD carries out its “Recovery with Dignity” model with an emphasis to address the negative stigma people with SUD often face.
President and CEO of NCADD– Greater Detroit Area office, Benjamin A. Jones, Ph.D., MSW, spoke with the Michigan Chronicle on state of mental health and SUD during the pandemic.
“Isolation is always an issue,” said Jones, “Especially when COVID first hit, isolation was a major problem. We’re not going into the workforce; we are separated from loved ones for the last couple years. This causes so many stress factors and interrupts stability.”
NCADD is involved in different community initiatives, including “Michigan Celebrate Recovery,” an event with over two thousand attendees to be held at Belle Isle in September. It’s a place where people bring their loved ones and to gather, share stories and enjoy individual milestones.
“One of the biggest myths is that people think a person never recovers,” said Jones. “The other thing is that individuals don’t have control over their lives. That’s just not true. Or that people lack willpower. I saw it takes a lot of willpower to be using when everyone around you is saying stop and things are falling apart. Recovery is possible and can happen with dignity.”
Ten years in recovery, George Arnold Jr. has dedicated the last decade as a certified peer recovery mentor and Recovery Coach at NCADD, offering insight from personal experience to support Detroit residents struggling with substance abuse disorders and mental health issues.
“I remember standing in front of a judge at one point and saying, “I just want to stop getting high, but I don’t know how,” said Arnold. “And that’s how it feels, no one wants to live beyond their own control but it’s hard, it’s a disease and many need help but there is a stigma that still exists.”
Arnold said people in recovery often have other issues, namely lack of housing and employment.
“That’s one of the biggest hurdles that we had when you get out of treatment and go into transition. You go right back home to the same area where the dope man lives next door. Treatment programs used to be six months to a year and now it’s only 29 days, which is about the time just to detox.”
Arnold said DWHIN’s Clinical Care Center is valuable and a long time coming.
“Hopefully, this will force Wayne County to address the issues and provide the funding for more of these centers in the city. We need to address the root, 90 percent of people with mental health issues have substance abuse disorder issues. We can’t treat one without treating the other. They go hand in hand.”
Doeh said with the estimated population of Wayne County at 16 million people, in order to best serve the capacity of people in need, the community should have three centers available and is hoping the first one opening next fall is the first step.
More information about recovery treatment options is available on the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website at samhsa.gov.
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