On September 10th, 2011 Center Point Inc. will
officially celebrate the agency’s Fortieth Anniversary.Incorporated as a non-profit social service
agency in 1971, Center Point has grown from a small addiction treatment program
with origins in San Rafael to a national leader in behavioral healthcare, providing
a full spectrum of social and rehabilitative services for individuals and
families.Historically, Center Point has
served the most vulnerable individuals and families within the community,
providing a foundation for change, self-sufficiency and self-worth.
Since 1981 Center Point has flourished and expanded under
the stewardship of Chief Executive Office Dr. Sushma Taylor who has developed
specialized and recognized treatment and social services for men and women,
women with children, adolescents, veterans, the homeless and individuals involved
in the criminal justice system.
Dr. Sushma D. Taylor, President and CEO of Center Point,
Inc. has stated “We maintain the belief that there is extraordinary potential
in the most ordinary person.This belief
is visibly demonstrated by our clients-individuals who have overcome literacy, poverty,
social dislocation and great personal adversity-to stand as exemplary role
models to help build and sustain our community.”
While Center Point’s roots and comprehensive service
delivery system are firmly established in Marin County the Agency has
experienced significant growth in the last forty years and now provides
services in the Bay Area, Central and Southern California, Oklahoma, Texas and
Louisiana.Serving more than 450,000
individuals and families in the past 40 years, Center Point has a success rate
that is well above the national averages.
Center Point is honoring US Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey,
State Senator Mark Leno and Assemblymember Jared Huffman for their on-going
support.
Pictures of event are available on our facebook page @CP Facebook 40th
Tulsa World By CARY ASPINWALL & ADAM WISNESKI World Staff Writers July 10th, 2011
Megan Olmstead has a tan now, one of the telltale signs that she's no longer living in a correctional facility.
She lives at her mother's house, where there's a pool, a dog and toys for her 3-year-old daughter Chloe - and no warden, no bars, no bed checks.
A few weeks ago, her Department of Corrections ankle monitor was removed, and the last remnants of her life as a prisoner began to fade like late summer tan lines.
The freedom will mean her first family vacation with her daughter, a trip to Branson next week.
But it's the small, everyday freedoms that Olmstead is most grateful.
Twists of fate
Her freedom disappeared after a string of bad choices she made in her mid-20s, after her life was struck by a series of tragic events.
She had a miscarriage and went through a divorce. Two of her best friends died. She totaled her car, lost her job and started selling meth - and using it.
Things quickly spiraled out of control. She got clean for a while when Chloe was born but relapsed soon after.
"I just gave in to life, I guess," said Olmstead, now 31. "I played 'Oh, pity me.' I thought I was the victim."
In December 2008, Olmstead was serving probation with a five-year deferred sentence for drug possession when she picked up another charge for drug possession. She was out of jail on bond awaiting trial on that charge when the house she was living in was raided by police.
Cops found drugs, guns, scales. The police took 1-year-old Chloe and Tanner, her 7-year-old son from her first marriage.
Olmstead was denied a shot at drug court and sentenced to six years.
But who would care for Chloe?
It was a question that left Olmstead in agony as she began serving her time at Hillside Community Corrections Center in Oklahoma City.
Tanner went to Houston to live with his father, who was granted custody.
Chloe's father's parental rights were terminated, and her grandmother had a medical condition that prevented her from being able to care for Chloe full-time.
At first, a family friend took care of Chloe, and then Department of Human Services' foster parents.
Prison gave Olmstead laser-like focus: "Get sober. Get out. Get my kids back."
A new home
After serving several months with good behavior, Olmstead got permission to move to Center Point, a transitional living facility in Tulsa for inmates struggling with substance abuse.
Olmstead was an ideal client, said Regina Price, the program director. She was willing to face up to the demons that landed her behind bars and take steps to change.
She landed a full-time job working the front desk at a Fairfield Inn. Soon, she was promoted to assist with sales for the hotel.
The DHS caseworker assigned to her case had an idea: What if Chloe came to live with Olmstead at Center Point?
They didn't need to convince Price. She believes, in her heart, that children should be raised by their parents, if the parents can provide what they couldn't before - a safe and loving home. No matter where that home might be.
Together, they were able to persuade a judge, and Chloe became the first child of a convict to live with her parent while still in Oklahoma DOC custody.
Oklahoma has the highest per capita rate of female incarceration in the country. An estimated 85 percent of female inmates in the state have children.
For a select few of those women, Center Point offers a unique opportunity: Children can stay with their mothers for weekend and overnight visits.
Many residents were eyeing Olmstead's arrangement, wondering what it might mean for them.
Olmstead was glad to be a test case. She hoped it would someday make a difference for other women who come to Center Point.
But really, she just wanted out.
The call
For a month, she waited on the call. It came at the last minute, close to 5 p.m. on a Tuesday this spring.
On the bus ride home from work that day, she was distracting herself, trying not to think about it, as she sometimes did.
She'd gotten excited before, only to be let down by what seemed like an unnavigable bureaucracy.
When she walked in the door at Center Point and heard the news, she broke. The tears began flying.
She would be released a few months early, with a GPS ankle monitor.
Olmstead quickly pulled flattened cardboard boxes from behind her metal storage cabinet. She'd been saving them for this day.
A few of the center's 32 women entered the room for a high-five or a hug.
"I'm going to be right behind you," one woman said.
While Mom was packing, 3-year-old Chloe shook down her regulars for treats and attention. She got lipstick and a piece of gum from the facility manager. She begged another to perform a trick where she turned her eyelids inside out. She had their undivided attention.
Some told Olmstead she had been their hero. They, too, have custody battles, and nights when they cry for their kids. They, too, have decorated their recovery binders with cards and love notes and photos of their families. And because of Olmstead's story, they believe they might be closer to getting to be with their kids.
In May, Oklahoma passed a package of landmark corrections reforms that aims to increase the number of Oklahoma offenders eligible for electronic monitoring and community sentencing programs.
A child who has a parent in prison is five times more likely to end up in the correctional system, Gov. Mary Fallin noted as she signed House Bill 2131 into law.
Onward
With removal of her ankle monitor June 23, Olmstead officially left the prison system, hoping to make a new life for her children and keep them from taking the same path.
On that day, Olmstead begged her mother to take off work the next day to give her a ride downtown. A busy DOC worker handed her the wire cutters without looking away from his computer.
She snapped the plastic ring on the ankle monitor and set it on the desk. "Thank you, Jesus!" she said. Her mom smiled, and she smiled. It was finally over.
Olmstead's parole officer handed her a certificate, she filled out five minutes of paperwork and left.
"At least I know they can't take anything away now," she said.
But freedom isn't carefree. There are loads of responsibilities Olmstead must face.
She works Monday through Friday at the hotel and buys groceries and helps pay utilities at her mom's house. She cleans and takes turns cooking dinner.
Chloe started at a day care center closer to home after leaving Center Point. But Olmstead still depends on her mom and city buses for rides, because she'll need to save $1,500 to get her driver's license reinstated. She owes nearly $2,000 in utility bills she'll have to pay before she can get her own place.
And $50 per month of her salary goes to pay the $6,700 in court fees she owes.
In September, Chloe will turn 4, with a proper birthday party. Olmstead had to miss the past two.
"Now that I'm out, I take her to everything. I just want to do all the fun things with her that I couldn't do before," she said.
They go to the zoo and take every outing possible. Olmstead is saving money to put Chloe in gymnastics classes.
She wishes she had a car and driver's license so she could take Chloe for Happy Meals at McDonald's. That used to be her mother-son date with Tanner.
Although they talk on the phone regularly, she hasn't seen her son in 2 1/2 years. She misses Tanner and hopes she'll get a chance to visit him next month.
She has a handful of pictures and a DVD he made at school for a Mother's Day present. Tanner talked about how he loved his mom's "dorky laugh."
"I lost it," she said. "It was just hard to watch."
July 25 will be monumental. That's when Olmstead will have her DHS hearing to determine whether she gets full custody rights of Chloe - no more visits, no more caseworkers. Just a mother and a daughter. And maybe someday, a son.
Chloe was young when they were separated, but she remembers her brother. She keeps a picture of him near her bed.
Olmstead looks forward to the day when it's all a distant memory for her and her children.
"I'm the kind that it only takes once," she said. "I'm not going back."
Center Point serves as DOC facility for inmates in rehab
Tulsa World CARY ASPINWALL World Staff Writer
February 27, 2011
This is the latest installment in a continuing series of stories in which Oklahoma Watch, the Tulsa World and The Oklahoman are examining the issue of Oklahoma's female incarceration rate. For more, visit tulsaworld.com/okwatch
"Good morning ladies," the women of Center Point greet one another.
It's part of a daily ritual at the house, a transitional living facility north of downtown Tulsa for Oklahoma Department of Corrections inmates who are struggling with substance abuse.
The women who live at Center Point have made bad choices: drugs, alcohol, forgery, theft, abusive relationships - exposing their children to their behavior and crimes while under the influence.
Some residents at the therapeutic center are on their fourth or fifth prison sentences, for mostly drug-related and nonviolent crimes.
Regina Price, the program director everyone calls "Miss Regina," is trying to teach these women that a history of bad decisions does not doom them to failure.
"My concepts for the day are empathy and pride," one woman tells her roommates on a cold winter morning at the home.
The women are sitting in a circle, discussing their thoughts, feelings and concerns as part of their daily therapy. They greet one another, choose a concept or two for the day, talk about what's on their mind and what they are grateful for, and then share a positive affirmation. Each woman in the house must participate daily in chores and therapy sessions, unless she is further along in the program and can leave during the day for a job or job training.
California-based Center Point has drug rehabilitation centers in California, Texas and Louisiana, and contracts for rehab-based department of corrections transitional housing in California and Oklahoma. The Tulsa facility opened in 2007 and nearly 120 inmates have completed its program since then.
The women here are still technically in DOC custody. But there are no bars, no jail cells; everyone gets called by her first name, not an inmate number.
There were more than 2,700 women in Oklahoma prisons last year, but for the nearly 1,350 who are drug offenders, there are only 32 beds at Center Point's Tulsa facility.
Fewer than 3 percent of those women will get a spot at Center Point, which reports a nearly 100 percent success rate in preventing its graduates from re-offending. It is a yearlong intense therapeutic program in which they attempt to confront and change the behavior and decisions that led to their incarceration.
"We have not had any women who've completed the program return to prison," Price said.
It costs $40.26 per offender per day to house inmates at Center Point, compared with $37.12 each per day at Eddie Warrior and $40.42 at Mabel Basset (the state's only medium/maximum security facility for female inmates), according to Department of Corrections estimates.
And for the estimated 85 percent of women inmates in Oklahoma who have children, there's an important difference: At Center Point, children can stay with their mothers for weekend and overnight visits - or even longer.
Parolees in Oakland now have a center that will help them navigate the return to their families and communities. The Oakland Day Reporting Center, at the corner of 33rd Street and Telegraph Avenue, opened its doors in late January.
“We still have to work on the outside. We’re hiring staff and doing training,” said Laura Lambe, executive vice president of Center Point, the San Rafael based non-profit organization that runs the center, under contract with the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
The center will offer a range of services to help parolees re-integrate in their communities, including life skills such as how to dress for an interview, GED preparation, job search assistance and anger management. Lambe said it will serve a maximum of 100 people at a time with a morning and an afternoon session. Clients will participate for six to nine months.
“There will be a service plan for each person with links to community resources, individual counseling, family counseling if necessary, parenting education, substance abuse counseling, money management,” Lambe said. The men and women will be referred by their parole agents, but participation is voluntary.
While this is the first center in Oakland, Lambe said similar centers are “sprinkled” around the state, including one in San Francisco.
“Center Point is very experienced in working with criminal justice, rehabilitation and community re-integration,” Lambe said, underscoring the importance of re-entry services as budget restraints force the Department of Corrections to downsize and release more inmates from prison.
News of the proposed center sparked community concern in the fall. Merchants and residents of the Koreatown/Northgate area said just as the neighborhood is turning around and beginning to thrive, the opening of the center would be a step in the wrong direction.
“Resistance from the neighborhood is not unusual. We’re used to that,” Lambe said. She said Center Point has built strong relationships with the neighbors of facilities it has opened in the past. “Everyone is concerned about safety and security. But we’ve worked out agreements that are important to both sides.” Based on community concerns in Oakland, the lighting will be improved. And according to the center’s policy, the ids of participants will be checked when they enter the building.
“We have a policy of no loitering. That was a big concern. There aren’t going to be groups of people hanging out. Participants will sign a code of conduct - no loud voices, things of that nature,” she said. Further, members of the neighborhood community association will sit on the community advisory board.
If the center has won over some of the area merchants, there is still opposition. Osman Othmann, owner of the Oasis Food Market down the street from the center, said he still doesn’t want it to open.
“We’re trying to fix the neighborhood. Since we opened, the area has become like a mall, with more businesses opening. We don’t need to interrupt the growth. Some of us have invested and risked money to improve. We’re trying to have the neighborhood go up, not down. Why don’t they put it in a different neighborhood? In East Oakland? Or in Piedmont,” Othmann asked. He was under the impression the city was still debating whether to allow the center to open.
The way Lambe sees it, however, the center enhances rather than detracts from the public safety of the area.
“It’s important that we work with parolees so they have an opportunity to participate and learn a pro-social way of life, to become employed and be contributing members of community. To be taxpayers,” she said.
Proponents of the center have pointed out parolees are already in the community. Citing data from the corrections department, they reported that nine parolees live within one block of the center and 50 live within a couple of blocks. Oakland has an estimated 2,500 parolees. The center will serve Oakland residents.
“For the safety and well being of the community, you have to promote successful re-integration. It reduces recidivism and helps minimize crime in the community,” Lambe said.
Women in prison: Mini Film
A deeper look into the lives of women caught in the grip of addiction living in the State of Oklahoma. For several years, Oklahoma has ranked No. 1 in the nation in the number of women in prison. The state incarcerates 134 women per capita, compared to the national average of 69, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Center Point is dedicated in the effort to reduce such baffling statistics.
This video highlights the effort in Oklahoma to cut down on the female incarceration rates. Center Point is featured as one of programs aiding in this cause.
On Wednesday January 19th Center Point Inc. and its board members were presented with a $5,000.00 contribution from the Wells Fargo Housing Foundation. Center Point was selected for this contribution because of their many years of dedicated service to the community, specifically helping those that are homeless by providing supportive housing and encouraging them to become self-sufficient.
Traditionally, Christmas plays focus on some sort of redemption story, inspired by the magic of the holidays.
The message at Tulsa's Center Point residential rehabilitation facility is no different, but it does feature an nontraditional mash-up of Reba McEntire, Eminem, "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" and "Silent Night."
The women who live at Center Point, near 36th Street North and Lewis Avenue, are struggling with substance abuse, most of them serving the final portion of drug-related sentences for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.
Their holiday play, for an audience of roommates, staff members and family, focuses on messages of recovery, sobriety and sisterhood. Grandmas and husbands bring presents to place under the home's Christmas tree.
Many of the women here are mothers, and this may be their first chance since entering prison to spend part of Christmas with their kids. Children are allowed to stay for overnight visits with their mothers at Center Point.
"Believe it or not, I have some actresses here," program director Regina Price says at the introduction.
A sheet with tinsel stapled to it stands in for the stage curtain. Two women read some history about holiday traditions: Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa.
Lacey James takes the stage for a skit about a woman named Fancy who becomes sad because of haunting memories from the past. Hailee Bullock and Debra Hassinger act out scenes from the Reba McEntire hit "Fancy," while Lacey sings: "Here's your one chance Fancy, don't let me down." In the skit, Fancy realizes she's depressed about her tough past, so she calls her friends. They come over and cheer her up.
It's a lesson the women have learned at Center Point – lean on your friends and loved ones in tough times, not drugs or alcohol.
Another skit about avoiding the usual relapse traps at the holidays ends with the women singing the chorus from rapper Eminem's hit "Not Afraid," about his own recovery from drug addiction:
"We'll walk this road together, through the storm, Whatever weather, cold or warm Just let you know that you're not alone."
There's a reading of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" for the children in the audience, and then a little humor from Amy Cassell and Medea Glass: "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer," complete with forehead hoofprints and Beyonce dance moves.
Cassell's mother, Anita Miller, dabs tears at the corner of her eyes while recording it with her iPhone. She's caring for Cassell's three daughters while Cassell serves time for felony DUI charges. Cassell chose to come to Center Point, even though it added time onto her sentence. She wants to get sober, but Miller says she knows the road Cassell faces after her release will be tough.
"Being a single mom, there are so many battles," Miller says. "When she's sober, she's an incredible person."
They have a moment of silence for addicts and their families who are still suffering. Then they sing "Silent Night," all three verses.
"Silent night, holy night Son of God, love's pure light Radiant beams from Thy holy face With the dawn of redeeming grace." The play is over, and Cassell's three daughters rush to hug her. Radiantly beaming, with the promise of redeeming grace.
Women in Prison
For several years, Oklahoma has ranked No. 1 in the nation in the number of women in prison. The state incarcerates 134 women per capita, compared to the national average of 69, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. While the number of women entering Oklahoma's prisons each year has remained somewhat stable in recent years – 1,284 in 2009 – the number of women in the system has grown to a high for the decade as tougher sentencing laws have passed. In coming months, the Tulsa World will focus on the issue of female incarceration, writing stories about women in the system and programs to help them. Original Print Headline: Focusing on redemption
On the evening of August 31st 2010, in San Rafael, Ca, CEO Sushma D. Taylor looked over at the Center Point graduating class and spoke these words at the close of her congratulatory speech:
“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle awakens knowing that it must outrun the fastest lion if it wants to stay alive [and] every morning a lion wakes up knowing it must run faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. [So] it makes no difference whether you are a lion or a gazelle.When the sun comes up, you will have to be running” –African Proverb
This metaphor fit perfectly for the occasion - a celebration to honor an achievement as well as recognize the work that now lies ahead. Alumni, graduates, clients and families alike gathered to celebrate Center Point’s annual graduation ceremony.The annual ceremony is held to honor those who have successfully completed Center Point’s treatment program, an accomplishment that provides a solid foundation to support a new life.The program consists of a year long journey through residential treatment, outpatient, continuing care and aftercare…certainly calling for celebration upon completion.The graduating men and women, including women with children, have made a choice to change their lives, become productive members of their society, and above all, reestablish a role in their families.
Center Point, Inc. believes that adversity can be overcome and the extraordinary can be achieved. And it is nothing short of extraordinary when a client reaches his or her true potential, becomes a productive member of society and realizes their self-worth. In return, our community now includes a cadre of citizens who have proven to be productive, responsible and hardworking individuals. They reflect the values that society honors, and stand as a testament to the belief that adversity can be overcome. They serve our community well!
In August 2010, Center Point launched a new project that extends the agency’s veterans services to the Lone Star State.Texas Center Point Veterans Employment and Training Services (VETS) initiated services in the Austin area to address the significant problems associated with unemployment and re-entry to community and family life that many returning veterans experience after serving our country.
The goal of the Texas VETS program is to provide Persian Gulf War veterans residing in Travis and Williamson counties with the opportunities to gain stable, long term employment and to facilitate their transition to community life.Texas Center Point VETS recognizes that veterans have acquired experience, skills and maturity through their service and these assets are transferable to the workforce.The program reinforces that qualities such as leadership, commitment, positive work ethic and responsibility are mutually beneficial to employees and employers.
Texas Center Point VETS offers vocational interest, skills and aptitude assessment; vocational preparation; job seeking and readiness training; job placement and; case management services for those who have been deployed to the Persian Gulf from the period of Desert Storm to the present Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.Referral to supportive services for assessed needs promotes the employability and job retention for the program’s participants.Vocational preparation and placement services are also extended to the veterans souse and age eligible children in the interest of establishing family stability.
Employers recognize the value military service can bring to the workplace and appreciate the tax credits that are available when hiring veterans.Persian Gulf War veterans and their employers acknowledge that Texas Center Point VETS creates a solid transition between service to county and commitment to employment.
Center Point and Head Start Initiate Innovative Project
Center Point’s Lifelink Residential Women and Children’s Program located in San Rafael, CA provides an array of gender specific rehabilitative services in a therapeutic community setting. In addition to counseling; education; life skills training; vocational assessment, preparation, training, placement; and community reintegration support, women receive parenting skills and child development education from the Child Development Specialist in the therapeutic nursery and on-site child care center.
In January of 2010, Marin Head Start and Center Point initiated an exciting collaborative program to provide quality Early Head Start services for the youngest members of the Lifelink “family.” Very young children (ages 0 to 3) of parents participating in Center Point’s treatment program now receive “Early Care and Education” services from Early Head Start (EHA) teachers at two child care sites. Children under one year of age remain at the Center Point Lifelink child care facility with an on-site EHS teacher. Children one to three years old are transported each weekday morning to the nearby Head Start Pilgrim Way classroom dedicated exclusively to the new Center Point / Early Head Start project. Head Start provided start up funding for renovations and modifications at the Center Point child care center and also remodeled the Pilgrim Way center to meet the specifications of the program developed for Center Point toddlers. EHA provides one fulltime and one part-time qualified teacher at the Pilgrim classroom in addition to one Center Point child care worker. At the Center Point site there is one fulltime EHA teacher along with two Center Point child care workers. The Lifelink Program Director participated in the interview and selection process for the Early Head Start teachers, underscoring the collaborative commitment of both Center Point and Head Start.
Parents of children participating in the EHS program receive age appropriate parenting and nutrition education and have access to Parent Club opportunities. EHS also provides materials and equipment to meet best practices and quality programming objectives for early care and education at both locations.
The Center Point / Early Head Start project is supported by funding made avail-able through the Federal Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families stimulus money (ARRA). Marin Head Start conducted a community needs assessment prior to submitting a bid to DHHS and identified the children of women with substance abuse problems as a priority target population. Center Point mothers and children are now the grateful beneficiaries of the well designed project.
Center Point hosts a U.S. Department of State Delegation from South America
On September 19, 2008 Dr. Sushma D. Taylor, President and CEO of Center Point, Inc hosted a visit at Center Point’s corporate headquarters in San Rafael, California for a distinguished delegation from Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela and Uruguay. The international visitors were participating in a regional project for South America under the U.S. State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program, organized by the Academy for Educational Development.
The objectives of the project were to examine the overall U.S. strategy in addressing the problem of illicit drug use in the United States, with a primary focus on demand reduction efforts, and to provide an overview of U.S. public and private treatment, prevention and educational efforts at the National, State and local levels.
Dr. Taylor convened a roundtable discussion with the representatives that focused on the effectiveness of addiction treatment, particularly therapeutic communities, in the effort to reduce illicit drug use in the U.S. In describing Center Point’s comprehensive, integrated model of change and continuum of care for residential, out-patient, community corrections, and in-custody therapeutic community treatment programs, Dr. Taylor gave a detailed overview of the whole person care that Center Point provides for each participant. She highlighted Center Point’s community reintegration services which include vocational preparation, training and placement; transitional housing; life skills training; family counseling; continuing care and aftercare counseling and; relapse prevention training.
As described by Dr. Taylor, “By the time participants reach second stage treatment (re-Entry preparation phase), they have increased their sense of personal, social and familial responsibility. In the Re-entry phase participants begin to truly integrate the skills they have learned; are more involved with family reunification; begin seeking employment and; define plans for transitional or permanent housing. Post treatment and Continuing Care services allow individual to experience new and stressful situations, addressing these challenges in a group setting. Participants are encouraged to practice healthy behavior while adjusting, and to firmly develop a support network that will serve them in their integration to the community.”
Dr. Taylor emphasized that this approach has resulted in outstanding long-term outcomes for Center Point participants and their families, effectively contributing to the reduction of drug use in the community. Incorporated in 1971, Center Point provides social rehabilitation services across the states of California and Oklahoma with the overarching goal of improving the self worth, dignity and moral responsibility of those served.
After the enthusiastic roundtable discussion Dr. Taylor invited the members of the delegation to attend the XXIV World Conference of Therapeutic Communities held in Lima, Peru in February, 2009. The visitors were provided with a tour of Center Point’s Residential Women and Children’s therapeutic community in San Rafael, California.
