Jessica Horne
Current Needs Horne says the Cleveland UMADAOP provides a continuum of services that starts with prevention education, drug education and awareness, interim and recovery support and reentry supports for the formerly incarcerated. Interim services are provided when treatment beds are unavailable. The project provides supportive services that include education, food, clothing, transportation and assistance in securing shelter until admission to treatment is available. “We are trying to help them stay focused on treatment and freedom,” Horne says. “Upon release from treatment or
self-defeating behaviors.” Cleveland UMADAOP’s mission is to improve the quality of life in the African American community. Horne believes this mission can only be accomplished “when all African Americans in the community are free of those self-defeating behaviors that rob them of their capacity to function at their very best.” She also believes that substance abuse is often at the core of many of the maladies such as violence, mental and physical health problems, socio-economic issues and familial dysfunctions that impact African Americans. “This makes prevention crucial for the survival of the community and, when treatment is necessary, it must be comprehensive, culturally sensitive and appropriate.”
USING STREET - SMARTS TO BUILD A PATH TO RECOVERY Jessica Horne, executive director of the Cleveland UMADAOP since 1982, is a very resourceful leader. Horne and her staff have bypassed red tape and bureaucratic complications to develop a number of innovative, community-based programs to deliver help where, when and how it’s needed. Horne’s journey in the substance abuse profession began at Operation Newstart in Cleveland’s inner city, where she received a priceless education in the art of working with African Americans suffering from addiction. She started there with a college degree in political science, working with colleagues who did not have degrees, but were
“infinitely smarter in working with the target population, because they had lived the addictions. I was the new kid on the team, so the counselors watched—I’m sure in amusement—me trying to be everything to my first clients.” “The sessions with these old-timers were invaluable to my learning curve, eventually resulting in me becoming an effective street outreach worker.” Based on her experience, Horne believes that “seasoned recovering counselors provide wisdom—street smarts, life experience, mother-wit—and guidance that far exceed what you will ever get in a textbook. Street outreach gives you a real-time view into where and what people are coming from, as well as the complexities of addiction.”
incarceration the agency offers recovery and reentry support services, to help clients avoid relapses and stay free of
Resources For Kids The Cleveland UMADAOP prevention program is built on the belief that it is easier to prevent addiction than to treat it. The agency has developed a structured prevention program that utilizes a performance arts-based prevention approach. The arts-based approach engages youth in structured programming that offers substance use prevention education, character-building and life-skills, Horne says. “The Aiming Youth Program aspires to help young people become self-confident, self-reliant, self-motivated and independent; all attributes that we feel can help support them as they make life choices, including the choice to be drug free.” As the treatment field evolves, Cleveland UMADAOP continues to expand its services. The agency plans to begin offering outpatient treatment services by late spring of 2016.
Focus on Minority Clients In the mid 1970’s Horne joined Community Guidance, Inc., as a substance abuse counselor, where she was able to blend her street outreach and professional counseling skills and abilities. In 1980, she joined ORCA House under the tutelage of Gerald Johnson, Beverly Bell and Mary Gooden, three strong advocates of minority substance abuse services. Horne was able to access a network of growth and development experiences, including the Midwest Alcoholism Training Institute, Rutgers Institute, and NBAC (National Black Alcoholism Council). NBAC leaders were involved in framing a position paper presented to Ohio Black Legislators, which presented data to suggest that African Americans were being admitted to treatment programs, but were not completing treatment. In 1980, the Ohio Black Legislators introduced a bill to the Ohio General Assembly to create Urban Minority Alcoholism Outreach Projects (UMAOP). “Its passage was groundbreaking not only because of the funding, but because it put a much needed focus on cultural sensitivity in the professional workplace for both the client and staff,” Horne notes. The initial primary goal of UMAOP was to create culturally sensitive treatment environments for minority populations. Horne recalls, “We started going to treatment facilities—which were most often operated totally by white staff—to educate them about the black cultural experience, and help them understand that we were not a mono-racial group. Hence, one diagnosis or treatment plan could not fit us all,” Horne says. “We advocated strongly for a change in the field’s perspective about the minority client, because we believed that if you knew nothing of their cultural belief systems, nuances and personal history, then there would be a high probability that the diagnosis surrounding the addiction would be wrong. Hence the treatment and ultimate prognosis would be wrong, resulting in repeated relapses and a downward spiral for the client.”
“Street outreach gives you a real-time view into where and what people are coming from, as well as the complexities of addiction.” — Jessica Horne, Cleveland UMADAOP executive director
“The Aiming Youth Program aspires to help young people become self-confident, self-reliant, self-motivated and independent.” — Jessica Horne, Cleveland UMADAOP executive director
32
33
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker