Substance abuse, behavioral health programs now offer online services
Counselors reaching out to clients dealing with extra stress during pandemic
With clients cut off from crucial visits with counselors during the COVID-19 pandemic, local substance abuse and behavioral health programs are offering online services to show that “help is still here for you.”
Beginning Friday, Aloha House Inc. transitioned its outpatient programs completely to a telehealth virtual platform, offering clients a safe way to connect to the services they need while social distancing.
The Residential Treatment/Inpatient program has remained operational, but procedures were adjusted to meet county, state and federal safety guidelines.
New clients will undergo additional screening precautions for the coronavirus.
“This pandemic is definitely a crisis for many individuals — people who suffer from the disease of alcoholism or drug addiction, or have a mental health diagnosis — who need support now, more than ever,” said Michele Navarro, the Aloha House clinical director of the Substance Abuse Division. “Providing opportunities to mitigate the crisis and keeping people connected is our main priority.”
Aloha House is a private nonprofit established in 1977 to provide outpatient and residential treatment to individuals addicted to alcohol and/or drugs.
While the outpatient services have been suspended and outside guests are not allowed at this time to the inpatient facility, Aloha House continues to serve people with mental health challenges through the Crisis Mobile Outreach program and community-based case management services.
“While in-person is ideal, telehealth supports socializing and connection on a different level that many individuals are aware of and comfortable with,” Navarro said Monday. “When accessed and utilized appropriately, they are extremely helpful and also beneficial to the individuals’ health and well-being.”
Telehealth can also be an effective and efficient alternative to face-to-face therapeutic interventions, CEO Jud Cunningham said, especially when there is a shortage of trained, licensed providers such as psychiatrists, nurse practitioners and other behavioral health providers.
“Insurance companies are becoming much more accepting of telemedicine as an alternative means of providing treatment,” Cunningham said. “Also, it is much more practical when there is an already established therapeutic relationship between provider and client.”
Kihei resident Guillermo Castro said Tuesday afternoon via phone that the Aloha House programs have been helpful to him amid the coronavirus outbreak, and plans to use the online services “to maintain sobriety that way.”
“We get changes day by day, but I feel like they are keeping us as safe as possible and taking all the steps needed to maintain our health and well being,” Castro said.
For those who may be going through the same experience, he advised them to stick to the program.
“Hold tight to your faith, and know that anything is possible if you put your mind to it,” he added. “Be up front with your counselors because right now is not the time to hide anything.”
Social distancing is a method to combat the spread of COVID-19, but isolation can be “extremely difficult” for many individuals who are suffering or recovering from addictions or mental health issues, Navarro added.
Socializing with like-minded people who have already achieved long-term recovery can help those in their earlier stages of recovery. Recovery isn’t a one-size-fits-all program.
“If left without options for connecting to the supports they know, it could potentially lead to relapse, loneliness; many, many other negative consequences,” she said. “This is why it’s important to Aloha House that we provide continuity of services and connectivity to programs as best as we can.”
She’s noticed that people have difficulty refraining from hugging and maintaining the suggested 6-foot social distancing standard, and said that it’s important that “aloha be practiced without hugging or any physical contact” during this time.
During this unprecedented event, clients likely need more support than usual as stress levels can increase dramatically, Cunningham said.
“Accessing necessary services during the pandemic is challenging for all of us, but especially challenging for those with fewer resources and less equipped to cope with the added stress,” he added.
Maui Counseling Group, a program of Aloha House, is still admitting and taking referrals from providers for clients, as well as offering services via telehealth.
Dr. David Wittenberg of Maui Counseling Group and the Maui Crisis Team works with individuals and couples coping with mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, parenting problems, trauma, bereavement and substance abuse.
He said that many couples or families are having “difficulty sharing small spaces and staying together for so long” while in quarantine.
And, those who usually live alone, or choose to be alone, are starting to feel lonely now that the option of socializing is not there. However, the program’s goal is to keep people from feeling distant.
“We have a lot of ways of supporting their well-being and coping strategies through helping them maintain their perspective and not watching social media, connecting and breathing, keeping moving and looking for the positives,” he said. “It’s been stressful for a lot of our clients, our consumers . . . . Our Maui Crisis workers have a lot of anxiety too because they’re trying to help people who think they might have COVID.”
Clinical Director Dr. Lisa Ponichtera said that the Malama Family Recovery Center is still operating its usual services and classes for those already utilizing the inpatient programs, but outpatient programs are now transitioning to telehealth services, which have individual or group session options.
Depending on the needs, the recovery center has continued to make accommodations to the families they serve during the pandemic.
“The biggest thing is just to reach out, reach out, reach out for help,” Ponichtera said. “If they have a need, call us and we’ll help put them through to the right resources. So if they are a woman and they have a child, or just a woman out there struggling with substance use, please call us and we’ll find a resource for them even if they don’t want treatment yet, we can just be that first phone call.”
The facility is mostly full with mothers and children for now, she said, with a few beds available just in case they need to offer isolation for women who display minor or moderate symptoms.
To combat the spread of COVID-19, visitation has been moderately cut back to avoid people from “going in and out,” and about 40 people have sheltered in place at both properties combined.
“We’re making it work, dipping into telehealth,” Ponichtera said. “Certain clients with more severe mental health concerns or different types of things going on in the home, where maybe they can’t find a private location to join in, but they are still able to do those individual sessions more times a week if we need to do that.”
Another partner agency, Maui Youth and Family Services, is offering school-based substance abuse treatment and prevention programs via telehealth for students of Maui High, Baldwin, Lahainaluna and Kihei Charter High schools, as well as Iao and Lokelani Intermediate schools.
Maui Behavioral Health Resources is an umbrella organization of the three nonprofit agencies: Maui Youth and Family Services, Aloha House and Malama Family Recovery Center. The three agencies merged in 2008 to share and maximize resources, reduce costs and eliminate service duplication.
Aloha House Development Director Malia Bohlin said Tuesday that the three agencies work together to provide residential and outpatient behavioral health care and other related services to almost 8,000 individuals and families in the Maui community each year.
“For current and past clients, pick up the phone and call your support system before you pick up anything else,” Navarro said. “Please stay safe, and be well during this time. It’s a kakou effort. We can do this.”
For more information, to make a referral, or set up a telehealth service with Maui Counseling Group, call 249-2121.
For more information about Maui Youth and Family Services, call 249-8691; or for Malama Family Recovery, call 877-7117.
For admission to Aloha House residential and detox programs, call 579-8414 ext. 8615; for outpatient services, call 242-9733 ext. 8700; or visit mbhr.org.
Those in crisis can also call the Emergency Crisis Hotline at (800) 753-6879.