DR. BARRY KARLIN CRC WASHINGTON NEWS CONFERENCE POINTS, SEPT. 22, 2003
I am pleased to join Former US Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey, Washington Lieutenant Governor Brad Owen, and state and local alcohol and substance abuse treatment, education, justice, and workplace program leaders at today’s news conference here at the Washington Athletic Center.
We are joined by Doug Allen, Chief of Policy and Planning for the Washington State Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse, and representatives from the nation’s most progressive programs now providing fully integrated comprehensive care throughout the state of Washington, including: Pierce County Alliance, Advocates for Wellness, Shick-Shadel Hospital, Lake Chelan Community Hospital, Sunnyside School District, Jubilee Academy, Educational Service District 123 and Drug Free Business.
These leaders in the state of Washington are the first in the nation to respond to addiction through a new fully-integrated comprehensive approach that includes traditional facility-based services, medically assisted opiate services, and new online treatment services in all the key areas -- criminal justice, business, education, and healthcare.
Washington State’s school districts and treatment providers are integrating online programs into their substance abuse prevention education, early identification, intervention and treatment efforts.
Following our brief statements, we will demonstrate this dynamic online technology with a teen client and a counselor.
Today we are also announcing the first full one-year results of online drug and alcohol treatment by eGetgoing, the country’s only fully accredited online treatment program and a part of CRC Health Group. In the first full year’s data reflecting the involvement of over 600 individuals and more than 15,000 online out-patient sessions, we found an 80% program completion rate compared with 41% reported in SAMHSA’S Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS). Clients state the privacy and convenience of treatment through online technology is a major inducement for completing the full treatment program—leading to a completion rate that is double that found in traditional outpatient programs.
These numbers clearly demonstrate the importance of alternate online help, which adds to -- but does not replace -- the continuum of care. Online services in Washington State that we are recognizing today are powered by eGetgoing.
Solutions to the obstacles of access, stigma, privacy and cost must be overcome if lives are to be reclaimed. It’s time to end the suffering of drug and alcohol addiction.
We are demonstrating every day the importance of meeting addicts and alcoholics where they are, and creating the most appropriate treatment plan to support them in their life-long struggle against addiction.
For those who do not know, CRC is the country’s largest private substance abuse treatment organization, and offers the nation’s first fully integrated continuum of care including traditional residential and outpatient treatment, medically assisted treatment for opiate addiction and the online substance abuse treatment programs of eGetgoing.