I first discovered this unexpected side of our town when taking cabs on a regular basis to visit my mom. The drivers would point out this or that house as a residential facility for recovering alcoholics or addicts; presumably they would know as these are sources of business. More than one said that Prescott had a higher number of rehab clients (on a per capita basis, I presume) than most cities; furthermore, that every so often we even were host to Middle Eastern princelings or other VIPs with problems.
All by way of gossip, of course. I never saw anything in print on the subject until this year. Two articles: one in Yavapai College's RoughRider and the other in the A&E monthly PopRocket (scroll down to the July issue cover). Both tend to confirm the cabbies' observations. Still, few hard numbers, though everybody seems to agree that there are more than 200 12-step meetings per week in the Prescott area and maybe 32 addiction recovery related facilities.
Whether that includes group homes is questionable. Up to eight unrelated people may live in a sober living house in a residential neighborhood without being registered with the city; however, if any psychiatric or medical treatment is involved, registration is required. Providence Place is an example of a non-medical recovery program, which houses clients in four halfway homes and four apartment complexes; Chapter 5, another sober living program, provides housing in three units.Quite in contrast is Pia's Place, a center for women with complete psychiatric and clinical treatment. Decision Point Center, now HQ at the old Whipple Street facility left behind by Northeastern University when it moved to PV, includes an emphasis on outdoor adventures in its treatment program. And these are just a few of the programs I've found described on the web! FYI, there is a sober living house on my street; the main problem reported by a nearby neighbor is the usual -- parking.
Linkables: At the One Acre Wood, a lovely tale of a pet chipmunk. The Out West Food Review has a meal at Chi's over on Cortez. Now for a real adventure, from two points of view: hie yourself over to 1) Rich's further Airstream Chronicles and 2) Foolsewoode -- Rich and Sadira are photographing their way through southern Arizona ghost towns and Bisbee. Not only that, but Rich took a picture (and did some of his Sci-Fi processing magic) of the famous Lavender open pit mine just for me. It's great! And just for old times' sake, two collections of Chicago postcards, here and here.
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6 comments:
I would guess the climate and location has something to do with it.
steve -- location, climate -- and apparently our reasonably slow pace of life in a small city. But then we have a history of being a recovery town. Way back when, the Chapter 5 building at Gurley and Willow was the HQ of a small colony of TB patients who came here for the same reason -- recovery.
I knew about Prescott's recovery community, but not all the places you listed. This area seems suited to recovery and healing. Wickenburg has some famous, high end recovery centers too.
dagny -- at the web sites, I noticed that a couple of the recovery programs included staffers who earned their chops at The Meadows down in Wickenburg.
Yeah, the recovery scene is pretty big in Prescott. I have a few friends who have gone through the programs, and I am always amazed by what they tell me. People come from literally ALL OVER to attend our programs. And they aren't cheap. Anywhere from $3,000-$18,000 PER MONTH for a lot of these places.
If you see a group of guys with full grocery carts sitting outside of Albertsons, they are in the program and are not allowed to drive, so must wait for a chaperone to pick them up after getting groceries. You will also see them walking in groups up and down Sheldon and Gurley street a lot of times, regardless of the weather. Part of the required physical activity.
We also have numerous places in town for the assisted recovery of troubled youths.
Again, thanks, tombo, for updating me. According to one chap I talked to outside the offices of one recovery organization, clients in treatment are usually foot-bound (i.e., no cars) but for the follow up six months or so while staying in a sober living home, autos are ok, esp. as the residents are supposed to get a job (if they can find one.)
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