WCCO Radio In-Depth Part Three: Finding hope in opioid use disorder recovery

There is no normal path when it comes to recovery and battling addiction, but there is hope.

At their opioid treatment clinic in Roseville, Community Medical Services sees almost an immediate impact the clinic’s outreach can have in creating a new life for individuals.

“We see folks who have been living outside for while move into housing and we see people rebuilding relationships with their families,” said CMS Community Impact Manager, Seneca Krueger. “We also see people going through and dealing with some of the legal stuff. People really start to come to a place where they’re not just feeling stable, but their lives are looking more stable.”

This week, as part of a three-part WCCO Radio In-Depth series on opioid addiction and treatment, readers have had the opportunity to learn about addiction battles and how Community Medical Services uses medication assisted treatment to help individuals battling opioid use disorder.

Abby, a Client Services Coordinator at the CMS Roseville clinic, says some days are harder than others when it comes to recovery, but having support helps keep her on track.

“There are some days that I don’t even realize I’m off,” she said. “But someone will check-in and say, ‘Hey, how are you doing? You’ve been a little different.’ And it just helps keep me on track.”

In addition to medication, CMS offers individual and group counseling service to patients. Counselors help clients develop healthy coping strategies and work on problem solving skills to address substance abuse.

“Our main goal is just doing community outreach,” Clinic Manager, Justin Vue, said. “Reaching out to other clinics and places to let them know we’re here. We have them come to our clinics and explain to them what we’re doing here. Letting people know that we are here.”

Making treatment low-cost and low-barrier is also a critical component at CMS.

“If they don’t have insurance, we don’t really charge, we’ll help them figure it out,” Vue said. “The main issue is making sure we’re getting their intake done and getting them medication on the same day. The billing and all of that stuff, we can worry about that months into treatment. We have peer support and counselors to talk to and help. We want patients to get here every day and then we’ll figure out insurance with them down the road.”

And for many in recovery, there’s a desire to start over and create opportunities that maybe they did not realize were possible before.

“The opportunities and possibilities that come in recovery are personally things that I would’ve never even imagined for myself,” Abby said. “It was so much about the fear of where I was going to go next and how was I going to go back to my life before.”

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, visit communitymedicalservices.org .