A Member became known to Cenpatico Intensive Case Management in 2007 following three psychiatric hospital admissions related to suicide threats, alcohol and cocaine dependence, and bipolar disorder. He had abused substances since the age of 14, had been abused himself as a child, and was raised in an orphanage for much of his youth.

Our Intensive Case Manager (ICM) knew changes needed to be made if the Member had any hope of recovering. The first step was seeking a new Community Case Manager, since the prior one seemed unable to help. The Member was discharged home with a referral to a new community mental health center set up by the Cenpatico ICM. Unfortunately, the member never got there – returning to the hospital within just a few days after another suicide attempt.

The ICM worked to assist the Member in reaching the health center on discharge, but things took a turn for the worse. Within two weeks the Member was readmitted yet again to the hospital and had lost his place to live. He was now homeless.

At this point, the Member finally began to respond and decided to turn his life around. He began making references to wanting to be sober. Though he was irritable with hospital staff and other patients during his last hospital stay, he was started on new treatments to help him recover.

Meanwhile the ICM continued to encourage the Member to keep trying. The ICM was able to begin a referral process for a residential chemical dependency program for more intense substance abuse treatment as well as a place to go.

The Member completed the 30 day chemical dependency program – doing well there working on early recovery tasks.  In time he became less irritable and better able to relate to others than in the past. At the end of the program he was interested in continuing his recovery; however, he was still homeless.  The Cenpatico ICM identified a publicly funded program for homeless men in recovery from chemical addiction. The Member went directly into that program to begin a 90 day intensive group component, followed by continued housing for up to 2 years.

After one month, the Member reported to the ICM that he liked the program very much, was going to daily Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings and had an AA sponsor with 8 years of sobriety.  He was working the AA steps with his sponsor and was looking forward to plans for seeing his family at Thanksgiving.

Soon after, the Member reported a very happy and moving experience to the ICM.  He had his first sober New Year’s Eve in over 20 years.  He went to an AA dance, had a “great time” and was so happy that he cried.  He was also looking for a minister to help him complete his AA “5th Step”.

The Member is still working the chemical addiction housing program and continues to be in contact with the Cenpatico ICM team.

Recovery. Resiliency. Results. These are more than just words. These become real when people come together to make a difference.

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