Carson City's Life Change Center has helped nearly 700 people fight opioid addiction

Life Change Center has helped nearly 700 Carson City and rural residents combat opioid drug addiction during its three years in the capital city, and they’ve been so successful they’re now going to be opening their third location in Reno.

Life Change Center, located at 1201 N. Stewart Street in Carson City, is currently one of two clinics, with the second location in Sparks.

The center first opened its doors in Carson City three years ago in order to combat opioid addiction and help residents rebuild their lives.

Kelly Johnson, site director of the Carson City center, said there has to be a multi-level program in order to successfully cure addiction.

“We treat opioid use disorder in several ways,” said Johnson. “We use prescription medication such as methadone and suboxone to control withdrawal side effects, and prevent cravings and triggers. In addition, we offer individual substance abuse counseling so each patient that enrolls in the program will receive a primary counselor that they do individual counseling with twice a month."

Having a multi-path plan is far more successful than abstinence programs alone. For example, according to Life Change Center’s website www.tlccreno.org, only 20 percent of people who attempt to quit using opioids without a program are successful. The national average hangs somewhere around 55 percent, while 75 percent of the Life Change Center’s patients have been successfully treated and maintain their sobriety.

At the Carson City Clinic alone, 649 residents have been treated, and some have even been able to turn around and become certified peer support specialists, who devote their time back into the program to help those still in recovery reach sobriety.

Social workers, counselors, psychiatrists, peer specialists, registered nurses, and more make up the multi-directional team at the Life Change Center, all of whom, according to Registered Nurse Cheyenne Fletcher, provide a completely judge free zone.

“The team of people that we have here is very warm and welcoming, and it’s a very judgement free zone,” said Fletcher. “If you come in here, know that there is no judgement and we just want to help you reach whatever your goals might be.”

In some specific cases, goals may not be to completely quit right away. Some of the clients are still using, but the ideal is to perform “harm reduction.” So, for example, if a client is shooting, or injecting, their drug of choice, this holds a much higher risk level. The first step would be to work with the client to start using the drug in a different, more safer way, and work toward becoming sober later on down the road.

“The epidemic we’re dealing with here has been around long before it was called an epidemic,” said Johnson. “We’ve been here for a while and we’re here to support everyone, including the clients that come through the door, the hospitals by keeping people out of the emergency room, and we support the jails by keeping people out of trouble. We try to contribute to keeping a safer community, even if we are a harm reduction community that isn’t widely accepted, it’s still a very beneficial program for the people that come in.”

At this time, patients can pay through medicaid or by cash. For those who qualify as being under the federal poverty level, a sliding scale fee reduction can be approved.

Intake is held every Wednesday morning beginning at 6 a.m., and it’s encouraged that clients arrive early as intake is done on a first come, first served basis, and generally only 3 to 4 clients are admitted each Wednesday.

Upon intake, clients will meet with a counselor to determine what their goals are, and a treatment plan will be drawn up. Every client is there on a voluntary basis, according to Johnson. Treatment can include receiving medication which is distributed by and consumed in front of a registered nurse, short-term detox, meeting with therapists in both personal and group settings, enrolling in marital or family counseling, a wellness program, being paired with a peer support specialist, and more.

To learn more about the Life Change Center in Carson City, you can visit their website at tlccreno.org.