The Mini-Twelve Step House will continue to lease a city-owned building for $1,000 per month.

The organization provides outreach, outpatient, recovery programs through its Solution Family Resource Center, 200 N. Long Beach Blvd.

The program is designed to help recovering addicts reconnect with their families, said Bobbie Owens, manager of the center. “We serve clients who have just come out of rehab,” said Owens. “They are referred to us by the court, social agencies and state programs like CalWorks.”

“But that doesn’t mean we don’t take walk-in clients,” said Owens. “If a drug abuser suddenly decides it’s time to change her life, we will refer that person to a rehab program and will continue to provide support services at our center.”

The Solution Family Resource Center is not a residential facility, but it can refer clients to organizations that can provide a place to stay on a temporary basis.

“We focus on services like crisis intervention, individual counseling, group counseling, HIV and AIDS awareness education and family reunification,” said Owens. “People who have abused drugs or alcohol for many years often cannot relate to their children or other family members. They want to put their life back together and their families are the backbone of their lives. We provide counseling that can help them bridge the gap and start to form a new relationship with their families.”

The center’s group counseling includes Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and Cocaine Anonymous.

The center’s services are for women. Men are referred to other services. Women who have abused drugs or alcohol for a lengthy time often do not know how to conduct themselves in situations with children. They are especially challenged in situations with their own children.

“When people come out of chronic drug abuse they are free to reconnect with their families,” said Owens. “But they don’t know how to accomplish this. It’s important for them to start working on it right away. There is usually an immediate breakdown at first, but if the person has demonstrated that she really wants to recover and become a responsible family member again, they need help in relating to their families again.”

Families of chronic drug abusers learn to continue with their lives without the addict, who is often physically absent and always emotionally absent. Once that individual begins to recover, it is difficult to understand what has transpired for the family during her years of addiction and how they have been changed.

Children who were toddlers when the drug abuser left the home are often teenagers or even grown up when the addict begins recovery. Services that help rebuild family relationships are crucial to recovery.

“We don’t do family counseling,” said Owens. “We provide support counseling to the recovering drug or alcohol abuser that is focused on re-establishing family relationships.

For more information about the Mini Twelve Step House Solution Family Resource Center, call 310-608-1505.

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