Ceres recovery center expanding drug, alcohol treatment

Stanislaus County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services is adding more group counseling space at its Ceres recovery center as it prepares to provide drug and alcohol treatment through the expanded Medi-Cal program.

The county department will pay $1 apiece for four modular classroom buildings at the Stanislaus Recovery Center on Richland Avenue. The county Office of Education formerly used the classrooms for Ceres Community School, which moved in September to a new site on Mitchell Road.

The purchase will triple the number of group counseling rooms from three to nine, a report said.

It was a “happy coincidence” that SCOE no longer needed the classrooms as the county was getting ready to provide Drug Medi-Cal services at Stanislaus Recovery Center, said Adrian Carroll, behavioral health associate director. The Affordable Care Act is funding a wider range of drug and alcohol treatment services for Medi-Cal beneficiaries.

Carroll said Medi-Cal has paid for methadone treatment and some outpatient counseling for pregnant women. But the expansion will include a lot more treatment services to help adults break drug and alcohol addictions, he said.

Counties are waiting for the state to write the rules and procedures for the expansion in California. The expanded services should be provided starting next year.

Carroll said more rooms are needed for counseling because changes in Drug Medi-Cal regulations will limit groups to 12 people. The current groups have 15 to 20 adults. The three-hour counseling sessions, held three days a week, help participants deal with cravings and break their addictions.

The Ceres center provides outpatient treatment for 40 to 60 clients at one time. The county expects to serve a larger number after it starts receiving additional funding from the Medi-Cal expansion.

“There are a lot of people who need drug and alcohol treatment, and many are not willing to go into treatment,” Carroll said. “As more capacity is available, you should have more people willing to go into treatment.”

Stanislaus Recovery Center has a residential facility for addicts who are detoxing, as well as outpatient and day treatment. Residential and day treatment also is provided for adults who struggle with dual substance abuse and mental illness.

With the expansion, the Medi-Cal program is supposed to fund voluntary inpatient detoxification, residential treatment, outpatient treatment and narcotic treatment services for beneficiaries ages 19 to 64.

Carroll said there is good evidence that the intensive group counseling helps people to break addictions and stay clean.

This story was originally published December 1, 2014 at 6:31 PM with the headline "Ceres recovery center expanding drug, alcohol treatment."