The organization had requested $1.2 million from the state.
“It just means that what we’re trying to accomplish will just take a little more time,” Moss said. “But we’re still going to accomplish what God has set out for us to do.”
If the $400,000 remains in the final budget, “We’ll just be the best stewards of the money that we’ve been blessed to get from the legislature and from the governor, but we’re still going to accomplish what we set out to accomplish…. The job is still going to be done.”
Gloria Charlier, chief operations officer for Dr. Moss’ Modern Psychiatry & Wellness and the Genesis Life and Recovery program, said Moss, who currently has psychiatry offices in West Chester and on F Street in Hamilton, will gradually merge his offices into the former school building at 621 S. Erie Blvd., offering his outpatient services in its lower level.
Moss, nurse practitioners, another physician and a staff of counselors will all work together out of the building.
Pastor Josh Willis of Grace Chapel of Praise, who owns the building and has had a residential treatment program for decades, has a lease-to-purchase agreement to sell the building. The Genesis Center has continued Willis’ faith-based treatment approach, only with more structure and evidence-based medical practices, Genesis officials said.
Since mid-March, 15 Genesis clients, men ages 18-50, have been participating in a three-month residential program, a number that should climb to as many as 25 in coming weeks.
“The next big phase is of course getting the practices here for the outpatients, but most importantly, getting the (10- to 12-bed) detox center going,” said Moss, who hopes that will happen as soon as the end of this year.
Clients will receive treatment for depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder and other mental problems, which tend to accompany drug addictions. Moss noted many clients will be able to walk to the center.
“The ultimate goal is to see if we can get by the fourth quarter of this year or first quarter of next year the detox treatment going,” Moss said. “Because that’s probably the most acute need for the county, is to have a place where people can go and safely be detoxed from some of these substances.”
Officials who deal most closely with fallout of heroin and pain-pill addictions say the problem, which crosses all geographic and socioeconomic boundaries, is quite severe.
Fairfield Police Chief Mike Dickey last week put it this way: "The average middle class person in any community cannot imagine the depth of the problem. They wouldn't believe it."
Moss said Dr. Anubhav Mital, an internal medicine specialist who will practice at the facility, was critical in helping educate local and state officials about the need for the center.
Patrick Owens, the organization’s recovery housing director, said the residential recovery program creates a very structured atmosphere for spiritually motivated Christians.
Participants rise at 6 a.m., have daily moral inventories, have a prayer time and write in their journals. Then they have a discipleship class where they hear Biblical teachings about life and recovery. Six days a week, they also receive three hours of intensive outpatient work with credentialed chemical-dependency therapists, along with two hours weekly of individual counseling, and also will work four hours a day.
The center in some cases will use Suboxone, a prescription medication that is used to treat dependence on heroin and other opioids, although the residential rehab program will be as free of controlled medications as possible, Moss said.
“We will try to match what’s best for each client,” Moss said. “If somebody we find that they’re a candidate for Suboxone, there are a number of factors that we look at. Many of the clients for Suboxone treatment can be done as an outpatient (process).”
Suboxone can be used as a pathway to using the prescription drug Vivitrol, which blocks the pleasurable effects of using opioids.
“We’re going to try to offer a range of treatment options for people, such that they can get access to what’s the best fit for them,” Moss said.
Rep. Retherford said he appreciated the “all-of-the above approach” to provide many services under one roof.
“They say part of the problem is, you get somebody clean and they don’t either have the ability or the transportation, or whatever it might be, to get to the other aspects of the recouperation process — getting mental-health help that they may need, getting pain-management they may need, job training, so they can get back on their feet and getting back employed again,” Retherford said.
Help with jobs is critical, Moss said.
“We find that when people are trying to manage this chronic illness — and addiction is a chronic medical illness — when they’re trying to manage that, and move forward with sobriety, they have greatest success when they can become more engaged in becoming gainfully employed, to be a contributer to the community and society that they live,” Moss said.
Many who will go through the program have educational or skills deficits, or have trouble getting integrated in their former careers, he said.
“So one of the things we want to see happen is the ability to partner with other community agencies,” Moss said. “We don’t want to reinvent something that’s already in place…. But we want to find stronger and more effective ways in linking our clients — not just for the people in this program, but anybody in the community — to these resources, so that they can have this as another tool to help them have longer periods of sobriety.”
About the Author