SPONSORED SPECIAL SECTION CP DAAC
Pulling treatment from the abyss I t’s challenging enough getting a person afflicted by addiction into recovery just once. Kai Denis, of Santa Rosa treatment nonprofit Center Point DAAC, will never forget the man who came back again and again. And again. The man was on parole and enrolled in the By Jason Walsh
With addiction at a crisis point, Center Point DAAC looks to take its recovery model statewide
reaching the people we should—and not getting them into treatment fast enough.” Geiger is the interim regional vice president at Center Point DAAC (Drug Abuse Alternatives Center and Center Point, Inc. entered into a management agreement in 2012) which, along with a host of diversion and outpatient services, runs the residential Dr. Sushma D. Taylor Recovery Center. The $7.6 million facility celebrates its year anniversary in operation in Santa Rosa this fall. DAAC was founded in Santa Rosa in 1969, when
addict on an eventual career path toward social justice and working in recovery. “[Addiction] led to a really interesting career,” says Geiger. Geiger has experienced substance abuse and treatment from all sides—as an addict, as a person rehabilitating and as a leader for recovery programs—and it’s given him perspective on the necessary facets for effective treatment. And he believes Center Point DAAC has honed its operations into a model that works.
recovery center’s intensive outpatient program, recalls Denis, DAAC’s (Drug Abuse Alternatives Center) current director of medication assisted treatment, who was the man’s counselor at the
time. Disillusioned by a lack of employment, money and prospects, he would place Denis on the receiving end of his loud frustrations— angrily vowing to give up his recovery efforts and be sent back to prison, which would be “easier than doing all this.” Despite his initial dedication to the program, within a few months the man suffered a relapse. But he pulled himself together, re- enrolled in the program and graduated. Six months later, he suffered another relapse. But, again, he re-enrolled in treatment—this time in DAAC’s residential program. By then, the man was so familiar with the program, “he could
High-quality, low cost “Nowhere else in Northern California are you going to find a MAT [medication assisted treatment] detox with this level of care that takes people on Medi-Cal,” Geiger says about Center Point DAAC and the medically managed withdrawal process at the heart of many of its treatment regimes. In other words, Geiger believes addiction treatment can and should hold up to that shopworn business maxim: Great service, at an affordable price.
Members of the DAAC team, from left: Alisha Pepper, Sara Glashan, Chris Geiger, David Buelle, Kai Denis, Dr. Kristin Kolbinksi and Dr. Marie Mulligan. [Duncan Garrett Photography]
He not only sees it as a system for improving recovery
almost run the place himself,” says Denis. The staff was invested in his success and held him to a high standard, while newer DAAC clients looked to him as a role model. After nearly three years of struggle to overcome the grip of addiction, this time his recovery stuck. “It was significant,” Denis says of that success story. Because not all people who need treatment are as determined to make treatment work. “He was aware that [DAAC’s] resources were out there [for his own benefit]—he knew he had no excuse not to use it.” Today, the man has a “pretty decent paying” job in the transportation industry, says Denis. Unfortunately, not every user is as committed to climbing their way out of addiction—and delivering the message about what recovery centers such as Center Point DAAC have to offer is a critical priority for the nonprofit. ‘We’re not reaching the people we should’ “We’re trying to address a statewide problem,” says Chris Geiger, of Center Point DAAC. “We’re not
drug abuse was growing in the area and effective treatment and recovery services were rare. It was a time and place very familiar to Geiger, who grew up in Sonoma Valley and battled drug problems of his own as a teen. “Around that whole period free love and drugs and rock ‘n’ roll was happening and I dove headlong into it,” recalls Geiger. His father, an orthopedic surgeon, had befriended “gonzo” journalist Hunter S. Thompson, who at the time was living with his young family in Glen Ellen. In fact, says Geiger, “the first time I ever got high with anybody” was with the Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas author (who had dedicated the book to Geiger’s father, Robert). “That whole scene was pro drug, so I was kind of set up in a way to be a drug addict,” Geiger says. By the time he was 18, Geiger was addicted to heroin and committing various forms of theft to support his habit. Encounters with law enforcement led to treatment in the Walden House program in San Francisco which, once clean, hired Geiger to help with special projects—taking the former
outcomes, but as a model other treatment centers throughout California could follow. “Our approach to doing treatment has been to provide what would otherwise be provided at high-end treatment programs—think Betty Ford,” says Geiger. “But for people who are low income.” Geiger cites DAAC’s withdrawal-management programs as being “as good as any in the state,” supported by 24-hour nursing staff, an addiction- certified medical director and an addiction-certified physician serving as the onsite director. He says DAAC approaches treatment from a holistic standpoint, with a menu of services including evaluation for anxiety and depression, blood/lab work and assessment of physical health. If there’s a level of care needed that DAAC doesn’t offer, they’ll refer patients to the necessary medical provider. “It makes us unique in anything else you’re going to find in Northern California,” he says. David Panush is president of California Health Policy Strategies, a Sacramento-based consulting firm shaping policies to improve the state health- care system. He’s worked with Center Point DAAC
40 NorthBaybiz
November 2025
Made with FlippingBook. PDF to flipbook with ease