Published: October 09, 2008 10:33 pm      

UCO student helps recovery facility

EDMOND — A University of Central Oklahoma student found a way to earn college credit while helping women at an addiction recovery facility in Oklahoma City.

Stacy Bond, criminal justice major, volunteers at Firstep for Women, a nine-month program for chronic relapsive individuals, as a practicum through the Department of Criminal Justice, Sociology and Substance Abuse Studies.

“Drug and alcohol addiction is a habit and it takes longer to get over it,” Bond said. “You have to learn to live sober. The girls that graduate from Firstep know what to do on their first day out. They know how to function.”

Oklahoma City contracted with OKC Metro Alliance for Safer Cities in 1975 to provide the Public Inebriate Alternative, which provides a safe place for people to get sober without having to process through the jail and the justice system. In response to chronic clients of PIA, Firstep was created for men who wanted to get sober and reclaim their lives. The program expanded in 1989 to include a women’s facility.

Bond goes to the facility every Monday to visit with the women, do office work and use her knowledge as a former legal assistant to help both Firstep and individuals with legal needs. She currently is focused on helping the facility complete a dorm, which would house more women, already in the construction phase.

“The meth epidemic has really been a burden for the treatment facility,” said Deborah Kaczmarek, director of Firstep for Women.

The current women’s dormitory has 34 beds. Kaczmarek said there usually is a waiting list of 10-20 women seeking treatment.

“What’s unique about Firstep is we don’t get funding from state or federal (government),” Kaczmarek said.

The women support the facility by working and then keep their pay from the last two weeks before graduating from the program.

Kaczmarek said they had planned to pay for the new dorm, which would have about 52 beds, on their own and use the old dorm for storage and additional activities. However, two unexpected problems have halted construction. The women’s facility has outgrown the existing wastewater lagoon and the septic tank is old and compromised at the men’s facility.

“To be blunt, our very existence depends on installing two new lagoons and pump stations at an estimated cost of $300,000,” Richard Hutton, executive director of Metro Alliance, wrote in a letter.

Kaczmarek said this is a unique situation because the organization doesn’t normally campaign for money since they stay on budget and pay for everything themselves. Metro Alliance for Safer Cities needs about $3,000 to pay for the lagoons, $75,000 to finish the women’s dormitory and $150,000 to expand the kitchen, dining and meeting areas at the women’s facility to accommodate the increase in clients.

TO MAKE A donation to the women’s facility, make out a check to Firstep and send to 12511 S. Sooner Road, OKC, 73165.