Treatment Court Celebrates First Commencement Of New Decade

The Washita-Custer County Treatment Court Program celebrated the first commencement of the year at Custer County Courthouse on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. A visitor to the courthouse on that day might have been puzzled to hear clapping, laughter, and praise ringing from the large courtroom.

Treatment court dockets are not your typical court dockets. Setbacks and violations are confronted and sanctioned, yes; but victories are celebrated. Sobriety, meeting treatment goals, getting a job, completing a high school equivalency exam, visiting one’s children, getting a driver’s license, and advancing in the program are some examples of positive events celebrated by treatment court staff and participants. Visit a treatment court and one will see treatment court staff celebrating participant victories alongside program participants.

Treatment courts are diversion programs for those with non-violent felonies and a history of substance use disorder. If accepted to the voluntary program, instead of going to prison, the participant actively works a program of recovery which includes mandatory treatment services, self-help meetings, volunteer work, court supervision, and following a strict performance contract. Participants who successfully meet all requirements of this 18 to 36-month program complete the program on scheduled quarterly commencement dates.

Last week, we celebrated the commencement of nine participants. Each participant had completed hundreds of self-help meetings, outpatient treatment services, over 300 hours of volunteer work in their communities, paid their treatment court fees, created an extended recovery and relapse prevention plan, had full time employment, and a driver’s license. Many had successfully been reunited with their children.

Before receiving a completion certificate and a commencement token commemorating their journey, each participant addressed the Court, their treatment court peers, and their families in their last letter.

A participant read, “The tools I learned [in treatment] gave me a better understanding on how to live sober with a long-term result. I know now that I am a productive member of society. I have been sober two and a half years now, and with this under me, I know it is possible for long-term sobriety.”

Another participant recounted his victory, “I cannot believe I am already here, at Commencement. Now this is where the hard part begins. Sobriety to me is more than just being sober, it is staying sober and building a life that I am proud to have and do not want to lose or go back to who I was before with drugs and alcohol. I know without a doubt that I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for this program.”

Another addressed all participants still working the program, “My advice to everyone in treatment court [is to] take this opportunity and run with it. Make it happen. There is so much more to life than being high and fast money.”

Lastly, one participant read, “Coming from someone who had no intention of sobering up, always finding an easy way out, running from my responsibility, I entered this program with nothing but hope that this had to work.” She described the rewards of working the program, “I gained reality, responsibility, stability, accountability. I gained back my role of mother, grandmother, aunt, sister, and daughter.” That participant, after three years in treatment court, successfully completed the program with much applause, and pride visibly shining on the faces of her children and family. She concluded, “We are all here, they are all I have, and I am all they have, and together we will make it.”

The nine participants that completed the program on Jan. 8 are a few of many success stories; Washita-Custer County treatment court has had over 250 participants complete the program since its inception in 2005.

This program saves lives, reunites families, and saves tax payer dollars (it costs approximately $5,000 dollars a year for each participant in treatment court versus approximately $19,000 a year to house an inmate in the department of corrections).

Congratulations and best wishes to the Washita-Custer County Treatment Court class of January 2020!