Substance abuse recovery program targets neglected critical demographic

DETROIT - It's a program for a population that is often dismissed and disenfranchised. Since 2006, Guiding Light Sober Living has been providing recovery services for MSMs who are HIV-positive or at risk for HIV.

MSM is abroad-based clinical term used to describe men who sleep with men. These men may identify as gay, bisexual, curious, down low or even straight. At Guiding Light, they are not required to choose or conform to a label. And the program does include some men who are heterosexual and HIV-positive or at risk for the disease.

"When we opened, people were concerned that this wouldn't work, that people wouldn't come to the center and be tagged MSM," said Cornelius Wilson, GLSL's program director. "But the first week we opened the doors, we had 15 people."

At present, there are 24 people participating in-house at the large three-story building that houses the MSM program on Detroit's West Side. GLSL also has several houses around the city as part of their transitional living program and other buildings where the agency's women's program is run.

"The model we use is recovery management, which is commutative socialization," said GLSL CEO Darryl Dewberry.

There are three phases to the program, including residential treatment, outpatient treatment and transitional living, and independent living. As part of the final phase, GLSL has also implemented a new component called recovery industries, which helps members of the program with in-house employment.

"We found that one of the greatest hindrances for the success of our clients was employment," said Dewberry. "We find that they have almost no work experience and most have felony or misdemeanor records, which makes obtaining employment nearly impossible."

So the agency identified some employment avenues they could establish for their clients, including a catering team and landscaping service among others.

"They gain the work experience that can be added to their resume, and in the process we eliminate some of the barriers to long-term recovery," Dewberry said.

A different kind of treatment program

If GLSL sounds like a different kind of treatment program, it's because it is.

"We are a much more relaxed environment from the traditional treatment program," said Wilson. "It's almost boutique-style treatment. We're smaller and often times, much less restrictive. I agree that there needs to be some parameters and rules. But we have to respect where these men are. In a lot of instances some of these guys really don't have anywhere else to turn."

Steven, a 32-year-old man who identifies as gay, has been with the program for about six months. For him, it's the fact that the program caters specifically to MSMs that makes him so comfortable.

"It's been good not having to hide the fact that I'm homosexual and HTV- positive," he said. "It means being able to get the root of why I want to use drugs, to be able to tell the truth about it and knowing that the drugs and sex are connected. Andnot having to say 'a girl' when I'm talking a guy (in therapy sessions), not having to hide that, I've been able to be more truthful."

Darrell, 45, has also been in the program for about six months.

"Right now, I'm really just focusing on the need for validation, the need for purpose of self," he said. "I think that people give you that. And it doesn't take a certain type of person to give you that. It takes all people."

Identifying as straight, Darrell was unsure at first if the program was for him.

"It's given me an opportunity to grow. I have learned how to come together and bond, and it doesn't necessarily have to do with a person's gender identity or sexual orientation," he said. "Those are the restrictions that society has implanted in us. I had to undo what society had done to me. I had to refocus, stay more connected, and stop judging people."

Like Steven, 40-year-oldPatrick Stephens identifies as gay. He had only been sober for 14 days when he transferred into GLSL from another program in June 2008. By November he had finished and was volunteering for the agency. And since January, he has been GLSL's administrative assistant.

"I went through the program quickly because I was very focused," said Stephens. "My background is in community health. I went to school for it. It was just a problem with addiction that kept me from continuing my career."

At Guiding Light, Stephens embraced the culture of inclusiveness and it helped him reclaim his calling.

"I was free to address the issues that were affecting me as a gay man," he said. "And we addressed those issues without my feeling alienated or targeted. So I don't feel that there's another program like this in the city at all."

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"It's been good not having to hide the fact that I'm homosexual and HIV-positive* It means being able to get the root of why I want to use drugs, to be able to tell the truth about it and knowing that the drugs and sex are connected. And not having to say 'a girl' when I'm talking a guy (in therapy sessions), not having to hide that, I've been able to be more truthful,"

- Steven, 32, who has been in the Guiding Light Sober Living program for six months