FAIRMONT, W.Va. (WBOY) -- 12 News often reports on issues surrounding opioid and substance abuse, and over the past few days has focused on how these issues affect the region and what is being done. Valley HealthCare System has been providing substance use treatment for decades, serving as one of the first treatment centers of its kind.
Last year, Valley treated around 900 patients, and this year they treat an average of around 60 patients a day across all services provided, which includes mental health support and help with abuse.
Valley officials told 12 News that when patients first seek help, they can expect a warm welcome as well as thorough assessments of their needs.
"We're going to look at different levels, their medical needs, their biopsychosocial needs, their recovery needs, legal, all those sorts of things...And then they'll have a history and physical. If they need psychiatric services we'll get them connected up with our providers here with the agency. If they need medication-assisted treatment that's a big part of what the clients receive," Director of Residential Services Nancy Deming said.
Valley HealthCare can provide both short-term and long-term care, with short-term lasting around 30 days depending on the needs of the patient, and long-term lasting up to six months.
Assistant Director of Residential Services Sherry Bailey said that short-term therapy includes informing patients about what they are experiencing, whether it's addiction, mental illness or a combination. However, she said that long-term care can dive even deeper.
"A lot of my men's groups, they want to learn how to manage their anger, they're not used to being vulnerable and being able to share emotion and they've been trained in that box of how to be a man and not express emotion. And so it's really important to find a chink in the wall that we can crack open and just allow them just to like bloom, you can see the growth," said Bailey.
Group therapy experiences can include working together as a group on a project like building a poster board about a topic, like the cycle of abuse and then presenting it to the rest of the group. Bailey said this experience can add to creating pride within patients about something they created.
Bailey said that treatment can be multi-layered, as services for recovery also include mental health help. "There's a lot of underlying emotional regulation that needs to be captured, working on some basic trauma work. We have a lot of clients with trauma histories so we meet them where they're at and with empathy and positive regard and understanding and just wanting to equip them with coping skills to navigate all of life's bumps," said Bailey.
If it's determined that more therapy needs to be done, Valley will refer patients to care like trauma specialists.
Another service Valley has available to clients is a Recovery Peer Support Specialist, a certified and trained person who has shared life experience and has sustained recovery. "It can be such an isolating situation for folks and so to have somebody who can say 'Yeah I've been there, I know what that's like,' for them," said Deming.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance or opioid abuse, you can call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration for the 24/7 National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357.