Addiction was never part of the plan.
“A lot of people come from a lot of trauma in their backgrounds. I’m blessed to say I didn’t have a super difficult childhood and upbringing. That shows how powerful addiction can be.”
Abby is a client services coordinator at the Community Medical Services (CMS) addiction treatment center in Roseville.
Her face is one of the first that people see when they walk through the clinic’s doors.
“You never quite know what to expect,” she said. “We do walk-in intakes. Sometimes it’s our regular clients and sometimes it’s a brand new face.”
Abby did well in school and had a great group of friends.
“I went off to college and thought I was just doing the normal college thing. It kind of sneaks up on you.”
It’s a story shared by many who suffer from addiction. Abby says she hid her addiction, which was compounded by isolation and believing the stigma surrounding addiction.
“There’s this stigma, and when you’re in it, you think about ‘How could this happen to me?’ I look back at that and you hear the stories about where people come from and think this couldn’t be me.”
CMS has two Twin Cities locations, including in Minneapolis and their newly opened treatment clinic in Roseville. The locations offer treatments to individuals suffering from opioid use disorder (OUD).
Taking those first steps towards finding help, isn’t easy.
“We have a lot of patients who walk-in and don’t start right away,” said clinic manager, Justin Vue. “The next week, they come back in and they’re ready. When they’re ready, they’ll come back.”
Abby said being honest with herself and those closest to her, is what finally pushed her to seek help.
“I had to the one to be honest about how bad this is and this is what I’m doing,” she said. “That’s when I had a turning point. I told a few friends and a few family members because I knew I had accountability.”
First impressions are just one of the many critical components to treatment at CMS.
“The longer that we’ve been open, the more we are getting referrals from patients to their family and friends,” said Seneca Krueger, a community impact manager at CMS. “I think that says a lot about how our patients feel about us and trust us with their friends and family.”
It’s that support, Abby says, is something that helps her keep moving forward.
“Maybe there are days where I don’t even realize that I’m off, but there are people who check-in and it helps keep me on track,” she said. “This isn’t something that at one point in my life I could have imagined ever doing, or wanting. That’s the plan moving forward. Keep doing this today, keep doing this tomorrow.”
CMS is an opioid treatment program that offers outpatient medication for opioid use disorder, along with counseling and peer support services.
Coming up on Tuesday in part two of WCCO Radio In-Depth, Mark Freie will dive into what that treatment process looks like inside the CMS addiction treatment center in Roseville.
As part of WCCO Radio In-Depth, this week WCCO Radio’s Mark Freie is looking at how Community Medical Services treats opioid addiction at its recently opened treatment clinic in Roseville. For more information about CMS visit communitymedicalservices.org.