At the dedication of the Albert Long Residential Treatment Center in Holbrook on July 23, Northern Arizona Regional Behavioral Health Authority Tribal Liaison Gabrial Yavai (right) explains how rocks for the sweat lodge at the treatment center will be acquired from the seven sacred peaks, Mount Taylor, Mount Blanca, the San Francisco Peaks, Mount Hesperus, Huerfano Mesa, Gobernador Knob and Navajo Mountain.
Arizona nonprofit health services provider Community Bridges, Inc. enlarged its support of the community with the expansion of its substance abuse stabilization center in Holbrook last month.
The organization, which offers medical and behavioral health care throughout Maricopa, Pinal, Gila, Yuma, Navajo, Apache and Cochise counties, dedicated its Albert Long Residential Treatment Center July 23. Community Bridges operates three facilities in Navajo County, including one each in Winslow and in Holbrook, as well as one on the Navajo Nation.
Until its rededication, the Holbrook center had been operated by Community Bridges exclusively as a substance abuse detoxification facility since 2008. It was recently converted under the direction of the Northern Arizona Regional Behavioral Health Authority (NARBHA), a private, not-for-profit managed care corporation designated by the Arizona Department of Health Services.
The center is named after Albert Long, a longtime Navajo Health Department Behavioral Health administrator. NARBHA Director of Network and System Development Laura Hartgroves fondly remembers Long as “a highly respected, well-loved man who moved behavioral health services forward, and dedicated his life to expanding care and treatment. It has been named in his honor and by his inspiration.”
According to Hartgroves, NARBHA officials felt that the local and tribal communities would benefit from a more tailored approach to treatment efforts.
“In 2006, the Arizona Legislature approved funding for the building of two detoxification centers in communities that border tribal nations. NARBHA applied for and received those funds, and worked with community stakeholders to develop two stabilization centers for chemical dependency,” she explained.
“What we found was that we do not need many beds for a safe shelter for recovery from drug or alcohol overuse. So we have worked with our community partners, including the Navajo Nation Health Department, the Hopi Guidance Center and Community Bridges, who operate the centers.”
Gabrial Yaiva, tribal liaison for NARBHA, was specifically instrumental in contracting with the Navajo Nation to address its behavioral health needs.
“We have treatment centers in other parts of northern Arizona, but we have not had a residential treatment program in Navajo County,” he said.
This led to the structural expansion of the Holbrook facility, which now serves as a 16-bed chemical dependence stabilization center for adult males.
According to Yaiva, the program includes three daily meals, laundry and basic medical services. He pointed out that although the Holbrook facility serves adult men only, the Winslow facility does provide detoxification services for women, and he acknowledged the organization’s goal to develop a similar stabilization facility for women in the future.
Hartgroves explained that while “safe shelter” locations like the Holbrook facility provide a sheltered environment for persons wishing to detoxify from the initial effects of substance overuse, these stabilization centers do not administer drug or alcohol dependence therapies, but they do serve as an effective first step toward recovery.
“For persons who are committed to making a real positive change in their life we provide a continuum of individualized substance abuse treatment at the Winslow treatment center. Treatment is typically 30 days long, and also offers optional components of the traditional Native American sweat lodge and other practitioner healing methods for persons who are interested,” she said.
Services provided at the Community Bridges facilities are non-mandatory and based on patient discretion, meaning that individuals seeking therapy may discontinue their sessions at any point during treatment.
Hartgroves praised Community Bridges as “an excellent provider of these services.” The firm utilizes trained peer support specialists–persons who are in substance abuse recovery themselves–to aid patients through treatment, which also includes counseling and living skills training. Peer support specialists are hired because of their whole health recovery experience and not their clinical education. This means they focus on the impact of the illness while licensed clinical specialists deal with the symptoms of the illness, a method Hartgroves says is very powerful in “providing hope and healing to people.”
To schedule presentations, training, inquire about employment, or for questions about Community Bridges programs, call 1-877-931-9142.
