Of all the chemical dependency treatment programs at Kaiser Permanente hospitals in the San Francisco Bay Area, the program in Richmond CA is one of the smallest and least developed. Unlike most of the other Kaiser CDRP programs, it is still part of the psychiatry unit and does not yet have its own separate physical facility. The staff consists of only three counselors with a couple of interns and assistants.
We have a LifeRing meeting at this facility on Sunday mornings, and this meeting has generally had only a handful of people. For at least a year Sue T., the meeting convenor, and I have been begging, nagging, cajoling and pleading with the director of the program to allow us to present our "case" to the staff and to the patients so that, possibly, more people would know about and attend our meeting. I've left a dozen messages and sent several letters to the director over the past year, without any meaningful response.
Finally, early this month, I got a callback from the director and she was able to grant us ten minutes at the beginning of the staff meeting on Jan. 24.
Sue and I showed up and I did a condensed presentation to an audience of five. I mainly introduced them to our literature, particularly the "Presenting" book and the workbook. I left them each a copy of the "Presenting" book and I donated a copy of the workbook to their library. They did seem genuinely interested in both items and asked a few informational questions. One of the staff members said he "supported us 110 per cent," and we got promises that we could put our brochures into the literature racks in the lobby and that they would include us when scheduling outside support group speakers to their patient groups.
We'll see where that goes. If the program gives us a more level playing field than it has in the past, it will have been ten minutes well spent.
-- Marty N. 1/30/01