Mental Health Council of Arkansas

Whenever there was a knock on the door, a three-year-old little girl would scramble under a bed or under the coffee table in the living room and silently cry in terror.  She was frightened that the police were coming again to take her and her mother to jail again.

That’s how Holly describes life for her daughter, Haley, now 7, back when she was addicted to methamphetamines and in trouble all of the time.

“You don’t understand.  When you’re addicted to meth, meth is your life.  I had to get high to get out of bed, get high to go to the store, and if I wasn’t high; I couldn’t move.  So, I’d get high again,” Holly said, glancing at the framed photo of her and her daughter. 

For Holly, drugs had always been a part of her life.  Her mother and stepfather were meth addicts in addition to smoking marijuana and crack.  It was not unusual for her to wake up in the morning and walk into her parents’ bedroom and find them smoking a joint, or snorting a line of meth. 

I didn’t have to sneak around to do drugs, I just asked for them and my parents gave them to me.  I start using meth heavily and became addicted when I was 16,” said Holly.

Everyone she knew was into drugs – all of her friends and her family – so she knew no other kind of life.  She became pregnant when she was 25 and remained addicted throughout her pregnancy.  The baby’s father was also a meth addict and what is known as a “cooker,” someone that manufactured and sold methamphetamine.

“Thank God, Haley’s all right.  She’s perfect,” Holly said.  “That is her right there in that picture.  I am so thankful that she’s ok.”

After her daughter’s birth, the knocks on the door became more frequent.  Finally, Holly was arrested for conspiracy to distribute, a felony, and she was placed on probation.  It was her probation supervisor that dragged her by the hand and through the door at the Wilbur D. Mills Substance Abuse Treatment Center on December 2, 2004.  Jim Clark, the Director of the Center, remembers the day well.

“When her supervisor dragged her through the doors, she sat there on the couch all balled up and wailed an cried, “No, I don’t want to stay here, no I won’t stay here for a good half hour,” Clark said. 

You see, I knew her when she was yay high and she was always this bright little thing.  Just like anyone else who comes to those doors needing help, I didn’t turn her away.  I couldn’t, and can’t do that.  I can’t put anyone on a waiting list.  I can’t take the chance that the moment to help passes by and risk it becoming too late,” he said. 

Like the 14 other substance abuse treatment centers in Arkansas, funding is limited.  A study done in 2006 by the Substance Abuse Mental Health Administration concluded that only five percent of the people who need substance abuse treatment in the state get it, and alcohol and drug abuse comprises the single greatest drain on Arkansas’ state budgets.  According to Clark, about $350 million dollars sent is associated with substance abuse treatment and drug-related crime.

One of the programs at the Wilbur D. Mills Center is the Specialized Women’s Services that services co-occurring females, those with substance abuse and mental health related disorder, a sorely – needed program that only has funding for four of the 14 units available.

“When Holly came through those doors, I had no place for her.  We were full.  So, we put her on day treatment,” Clark explained.

“I couldn’t do it in day treatment.  It was too much for me and I was crying all the time.  Then Jim found me a room and I moved into the Center.  I would be back in that life right now if Jim hadn’t found that room,” said Holly.  Holly then moved into the Specialized Women’s Services program and brought her daughter to live with her. 

I knew nothing about cooking because I never ate.  I didn’t know how to parent not really, and I learned that I hadn’t been such a good parent.  They taught me how to budget, how to write a resume, get a job and keep a job.  Haley loved it here too, and the Center even provided Day Care money so that I could go to school to earn a certificate in Medical Transcription.  This place is everything to me,” Holly Said. 

Laughing, Clark said, “she had to be dragged in and now, we can’t get her to leave.”

Holly applied for and was the most qualified applicant for a billing position at Wilbur D. Mills and was hired.  Now she works in medical records and is responsible for all the files of every client in the center.  She owns a car and is purchasing a house for her and her daughter.

For Holly and her daughter, the future looks bright.  She has been clean for four years now and realizes that she has self-worth and the ability for a good life.

The Evidence Mounts:

Treatment Does Work