The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence fights the stigma and the disease of alcoholism and other drug addictions.

Sobering Center

Midwestern Connecticut Council on Alcoholism
Danbury, CT

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Danbury, Connecticut, like many cities across the country, has tried for years without much success to deal effectively with the problem of public intoxicants, the majority of whom are alcoholics without access to treatment. Typically, these individuals have been picked up off the streets by the police or ambulance service, taken to the local hospital emergency room, held for 10 or 12 hours and then discharged on their own. Soon they resume drinking and the cycle begins all over again. Its victims arouse little sympathy among the public.

But NCADD's Affiliate in Danbury, the Midwestern Connecticut Council on Alcoholism (MCCA), is trying a different approach through its Sobering Center with the help of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The Sobering Center targets public intoxicants for intervention and uses its facilities and staff to get them off the streets permanently.

The mission of the Sobering Center, which since late last year has been providing shelter to homeless public intoxicants whose medical conditions do not require hospitalization, is twofold. First, it offers a "low tech, low cost" alternative to the ineffective practice of using hospital emergency rooms. Quick transfer of clients from this environment to the Sobering Center is a high priority. Joe Sullivan, MCCA executive director, is working with state authorities to establish regulations that would make such transfers routine immediately following medical clearance from emergency room staff. Unfortunately, like most states, Connecticut lacks any licensing standards for this type of service.

The second, and more important, part of the Sobering Center's mission is engaging the clients to accept other levels of care. Only when clients get the treatment they need will they be able to achieve longer term recovery. When interventions were limited to the hospital emergency room, fewer than 10% of the public intoxicants sought treatment for their addictions to alcohol or other drugs. But in its first five months of operation 75% of Sobering Center clients have been placed in continuing treatment following discharge.

"This has exceeded our most hopeful expectations," says Guy Grenier, program supervisor of the Sobering Center. "It demonstrates what staff trained and specializing in addiction work can achieve when they are sensitive and supportive of a long underserved population."

Chronic public intoxicants had posed a real challenge in the preservation and revitalization of City Center Danbury, the downtown special services tax district so it's no wonder that both the business community and the Mayor enthusiastically support the Sobering Center. As a direct result of the program's early success, consumers and prospective business and real estate investors have seen 45 fewer public intoxicants on city streets.

MCCA's willingness to tackle this problem has been extremely well received. Local funding partners--including both the city and state, the United Way, a local bank and hospital and several private philanthropies--match dollar for dollar what the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will provide over four years in a $405,000 grant.

"[The Sobering Center] is an excellent example of the public-private partnerships and community alliances that the city and my administration encourage," observes Mayor Gene F. Enriquez. The program vividly demonstrates how one city has worked to address a significant social problem and help troubled people get their lives back on track at the same time.

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National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc.

244 East 58th Street, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10022 phone: 212/269-7797   fax: 212/269-7510 email: national@ncadd.org   http://www.ncadd.org HOPE LINE: 800/NCA-CALL (24-hour Affiliate referral)