January 2017 Newsletter

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New Life Program

Rehabilitation is the purpose of our New Life Program. It is to restore men and women to a state of health and constructive activity. We prepare each one for employment and integration into society by removing barriers in the way of success. Those obstacles may be addictions, depression, mental health, physical health, learning disabilities, criminal background, poor work history, etc. Goal orientation is done from the very beginning to remove the stumbling blocks and focus on the personal outcome for each client. The end result is to graduate people from the Program and place in independent living arrangements. A person can graduate in one year. The process is a course of work training, Bible classes, life skills, addiction recovery classes and personal counseling.

This Program is not for everyone. Some do not need it, others may not be ready or are not eligible. When a person loses a job and cannot pay his rent, or just loses his place to live, then comes to the Mission, he needs only to look for another job and/or a new place to live. If a person has certain disabilities, we assist him outside the Program.

Intake screens for a person’s appropriateness for the Program. He or she must be serious. If chemical abuse is the issue, a person has to have achieved thirty days clean from drugs and/or sobriety from alcohol. If abstinence is gained through incarceration or a detoxification phase of some program, recovery rates are lower. Our efforts cannot substitute for personal determination. The individual has to want to overcome the addiction.

Pipeline is the initial phase of our Program. The term indicates a waiting in line that introduces and prepares a person for the main part of the Program. It can be used for an extended period of time as one may benefit from it. When addictions are the issue, this portion can get a person from their own sobriety to the time when he or she will settle down to enter our classroom work. It helps to keep a person from relapsing while stabilizing enough to participate and receive the benefit of group dynamics. Pipeline is work training with some program privileges. Work is the most time consuming area of Program life. Work in itself is therapy, learning a skill, accomplishing a task, working with others, taking instruction.

Phases one, two and three separate a person from our general population into Program living areas. Each Program pod has a kitchenette, living room, restroom, shower, and there are only six people in each area, many with private or semi-private rooms. These three phases have the classroom work.

Bible studies and chapel services are very important to meet the need of the whole person, including his relationship with his Creator and Savior. Weekly attendance at an outside church is required for our Program. We are not a church, nor a substitute for one. We want to connect people to a church that they will continue going to after graduation. It is not a requirement to be a Christian to be in our Program, but one must have a genuine openness to hear and receive the Truth. Religion is not forced on anyone here, any more than creation is forced on humanity; it simply is reality. Program sobriety without the Gospel would be the cruelty of false hope.

Life skills are taught. They can include GED preparation, computer use, resume writing, mock employment interviews, financial planning, cooking classes. For women, appropriate dress and use of cosmetics can be included. Even healthy means of entertainment is practiced, like staff taking Program groups to movies, bowling, fairground events, going out to play basketball, as alternatives to old, bad habits.

Addiction recovery classes are held. They are done using a well proven instructor guide and workbooks for each member. We teach a process that addresses obsessive-compulsive-addictive behaviors. This is not just about drugs and alcohol, but includes destructive behaviors like: being critical and judgmental, codependency, legalism, food, anxiety, anger, sex addiction, secrets, workaholism, isolation, any negative behavior or emotion used to cope. It is a Bible based program that teaches who we were created to be, what fulfills us, identifying what needs to change.

Personal counseling and goal setting rounds out the Program, tailoring it to the individual. A review is done of the following: criminal background, legal issues, financial obligations, DMV status, medical, dental, psychological, medications, Oregon Health Plan, addictive behaviors. Stumbling blocks to success are addressed. Goals are set for family relationships, employment or disability income, saving money, independent living.

Graduation takes place when the course work is done. When a person completes phase three, then he or she goes to a phase four to search for employment, or phase five which can be used as an extension for an internship to gain further experience in preparation for employment, completing GED tests, disability claims, social security or other approved circumstances.

Transitional Housing Program is a separate program. The Mission has two single room occupancy hotels with a total of forty rooms for rent. They are available to men that graduate from our New Life Program, have been in our general population for at least thirty days, or have been referred by a local social service organization. It is a program requiring a weekly chapel service and certain rules like a curfew.

“Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

2 Corinthians 5:17

Identity is the key issue. A person that has been addiction free, but still refers to himself as an addict or alcoholic, does not have a new identity, just a changed behavior. Recovery is a new identity, not a new behavior. Only the Lord can cause change, a transformation into a new creature in Christ, indeed a new life.