Over the last 17 years, the Forrest and Perry County Drug Court has served 1,000 participants through their addiction treatment program.
Judge Bob Helfrich started the program in 2003 through an Asbury Foundation grant with the intent of helping 40 people.
Referrals from the justice court, law enforcement, lawyers and counselors soon surpassed that modest goal.
“We had 300 at one point,” Helfrich said. “You can’t just turn them away.”
The program consists of four nine-month phases, starting with evaluation and initial treatment. Helfrich manages a team of counselors, parole officers and case workers that help identify participant needs and available resources throughout their time in the program.
Most of the team has been together since the beginning, and that familial atmosphere carries over to their clients.
“My entire life is different, and it’s all because of them,” drug court graduate Shayna Clark said. “Honestly, they were the first people to ever look at me in the eyes and say, ‘You can do better than this, and we’re going to help you.’ It just changed everything for someone to believe in me.”
At Monday check-ins, Helfrich personally greets each participant by name. Men and women often open up to him about their struggles or celebrate their success. The exchanges are brief, but they are full of respect.
“(Being personal) is important because they aren’t doing this for me. They are doing this for themselves, but they also don’t want to disappoint,” Helfrich said.
Even after graduation, the team remains in contact with graduates.
One graduate recently contacted Helfrich to request that he officiate her coming wedding.
The graduate said, “I couldn’t think of anyone that made a bigger impact on my life.” Helfrich proudly agreed to be a part of her special day.
The men and women that come through drug court come from all different backgrounds, but Helfrich said that they all faced trauma that led to their addictions.
“I always felt like I wasn’t good enough,” Clark said. “My mother was sick as I was growing up, and it was hard. She passed away during my senior year of high school. It sent me off the rails, and I kept making bad decisions and getting into bad relationships. None of those things are to blame. It was 100% me, but I just kept on that pattern. I kept reaching out for this pill to fix it or this drug to fix it or this alcohol to fix it. I just kept searching for wholeness and connection, and I never got it.”
Over the course of her struggles with addiction, Clark went to prison four times.
She said the last time almost felt like a relief.
“It was like I was running, tired, hungry and homeless. I was just done,” Clark said. “They put me in lockdown because I just looked so pitiful and dirty and worn out. In there, I cried out to God. I said, ‘Is there is anything left for me?’ I told him to just let me die or to do something because I can’t do this anymore.”
Clark believes that God did do something by giving her the opportunity to go to drug court.
She was in the program for three years.
During that time, the resources at the court helped her regain her driver’s license, find employment, establish safe housing and receive treatment for her mental health.
She even found a new passion for helping others overcome their addictions, and she now works as a peer support specialist at Clearview Recovery Center in Moselle.
“Drug court saved my life,” she said.
Fellow 2020 graduate James Tyson also believes the program completely changed his life.
“Before I got in drug court, I was the worst of the worst,” Tyson said. “I was a known drug dealer. I was a known drug user. I was a known thief. I was a known everything. The last time I went to jail they gave me this opportunity, and it saved me.”
Tyson explained that it was difficult to follow the program at first.
As he worked through the first phase, he said that he began to understand that there was a better life than what he had before.
Tyson now has his driver’s license, owns three cars and works as a foreman at his job.
“If it’s in your heart and you really want to quit and do the right thing and live like a citizen, then you need to go to drug court,” said Tyson.
While the program is primarily funded through grants, they have also partnered with the Pinebelt Foundation for community and charitable donations.
Helfrich said he hopes that more people will learn of this program and provide support for the men and women working to change their lives.
For more information on the drug court program, visit their Facebook page at http://bit.ly/sigdc.
