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local temp agencies offer help. Around 4:00 in
the afternoon, dinner gathers the men around
the dinner table before they attend their AA
meetings.
In continuing their care at Bethesda,
the residents have completed an inpatient
treatment plan through a prison or an extended
outpatient treatment program. Bethesda’s goal
is to help the men incorporate the things they
learned in treatment to every day life. Everyone
starts out in a dorm which houses seven
residents and eventually moves up into a private
room. To help the residents learn responsibility,
everyone has a daily chore such as taking out
the trash, vacuuming the floors, washing dishes
and cleaning the bathrooms. Greene explains,
“We’re getting younger and younger people
who do not possess many life skills. When I first
started working here, our average clients were
45 to 50 year old alcoholics, but today we have
25 to 30 year old heroin addicts who started
using in their teens and stopped developing life
skills. We have to teach them how to separate
their laundry, use a lawnmower, and manage
their world.”
Over the years, the substance abuse
landscape has changed tremendously in Moore
County. “Twenty-five years ago,” tells Greene,
“we would have 14 alcoholics and one addict.
Over time, we have transitioned from alcoholics
to mainly crack cocaine addicts with very little
heroin. However today we are seeing a lot of
heroin come into this area. Within three or
four blocks of Bethesda, there are several drug
dealers. Since it’s not up to us to be the legal
police at Bethesda, we take care of the aftermath
of drug abuse.”
The complicated world of substance abuse
typically begins in the teenage years. Most
teenagers experiment with a little bit of alcohol
and marijuana, which are considered gateway
drugs that lead to others such as cocaine, and
users become addicted quickly. Users with
certain genetic pieces tend to become addicted
immediately; others become addicted over a
period of time. Greene explains, “It’s sort of like
when you put cucumber in brine, at some point
it becomes a pickle. Once they become addicted
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When Bethesda Presbyterian Church built
a new campus behind the lake on US#1, Larry
Johnson helped the halfway house purchase
the vacant facility which was the education
building of Bethesda Presbyterian Church.
Upon purchasing the facility, the Freeman home
became known as the Bethesda Halfway House
and has faithfully continued for 48 years. First
Baptist and Bethesda Presbyterian still support
the ministry as do many other local churches.
Just as the team at Bethesda makes the
commitment to serve, the residents make
the commitment to pursue a recovered life.
Previously working for Sandhills Mental Health
as a counselor before becoming Director at
Bethesda, Mr. Greene oversees the treatment
program. Greene introduces the rest of the team,
“Beuna Shields our secretary has been here two
years longer than I have with 32 years of service!
Our house manager Eddie Miller is a newcomer;
he’s been here 13 years. My cook A.D. Dickerson
has served for a year and a half, and he makes
sure we eat really well!”
With fifteen residents, the Bethesda house
operates with certain protocols in place. The
men pay rent, maintain an organized chore
list, attend either AA or NA meetings seven
days a week, and work an outside job. Bethesda
provides transportation to and from the job
sites; for those who may not have a job, the
and become a pickle, they never go back to
being a cucumber.”
In contemplating the progression of
substance abuse from alcohol to now cocaine,
I wonder if has society changed its view on
alcohol or if there are actually fewer alcoholics?
Greene answers, “In earlier years, people stayed
with alcohol and became alcoholics whereas
now they tend to go to other things quicker. Also
cocaine wasn’t available in this area 30 years ago.
Now you can buy it on the nearest street corner;
people get addicted quicker and more severely.”
Once addicted, the brain chemistries change,
and there is no cure for the crave. For instance,
cocaine changes the dopamine levels in the
brain to the point that the dopamine levels will
never, ever be the same again. Even after cocaine
addicts enter the Bethesda program, Greene
informs, “In about six months from starting the
program, residents will have the worst cravings
they have ever experienced because of what the
drugs do to the brain. By knowing what’s going to
happen, we ask our residents to stay a minimum
of six months, so that we can help them prepare
for the physical phenomena. Utilizing our team
and sponsors in place, the men are able to work
through it.”
The hardest thing for the men to overcome
is having to deal with every day life situations
as previously the drugs and alcohol offered an
escape. However with “the plug in the jug” so to
speak, they can no longer utilize the drug that
medicates them into oblivion. Basically, they
have to learn how to face life on life’s terms, and
daily living situations become very difficult.
“It is not that they’re bad people trying to get
better,” Green informs, “addicted people have
a disease much like someone with cancer or
diabetes. Addiction is not a moral choice; it’s a
disease factor. The AMA recognized this in 1956,
but most people—especially if they have family
members or friends who abuse—merely see
abusers as sorry people.”
The most important thing to remember for
those suffering from substance abuse is that
there is always hope! And Bethesda is always
available. Once someone chooses to break free
of the bondage of addiction, then they have to
do the hard work to make it happen. For those
who enter the Bethesda program and take all of
the steps, things fall into place pretty good for
them. For those who don’t make the necessary
connections, the difficulty increases. Greene
explains, “A couple of admissions came in
recently. One guy embraced a great treatment
program; he’s saying all the right things, doing all
the right things, getting involved with a job and
with a sponsor, etc. However the other guy just
wants to lay around and let the world take care
of him; he probably won’t make it. Personalities
play a huge role in determining whether one
succeeds or not.”
Bethesda performs drug tests on the
residents to make sure residents stay on track.
Greene assures, “If someone wanted to use, then
the other residents would tell on him. This is
their home. This is their sacred place. We don’t
have a prison mentality wherein you don’t tell—
but rather my life is on the line, I am going to
tell.”
In addressing the prescription drug problem,
Greene tells, “Because we live in an area with
more seniors than most, prescription drugs are
a much larger problem. Some seniors are selling
their drugs to buy food; some folks steal them
from the older folks.”
As for Moore County addressing the drug
problem, the bottom line remains that the
political folks in Moore County do not have the
available funds. When money is not available to
adequately address a problem, then it becomes
easier to ignore the issues. Greene assures that
the most difficult part of his work remains
to secure enough finances to keep the doors
open because the county no longer budgets
for programs like Bethesda and Bethany, the
halfway house for women.
Those who conquer their addictions remain
the inspiration to keep on keeping on. As young
as 18 years old, the residents cover the entire
Bethesda Halfway House in Aberdeen.
Mr. Glenn Greene, Bethesda House Director.
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