Law enforcement deals constantly with the repercussions of drug addiction, which is often the root cause of much of the criminal activity, but now the Hot Springs Police Department is hoping to fight the battle in a new way.
Sean Willits, a former drug addict in recovery, is now working out of the department as a peer recovery support specialist as part of a new program designed to help recovering drug addicts get the resources they need to get clean.
The goal is "to give these people hope and show them they can overcome their addictions," Willits said, with the program funded by a state grant through the Arkansas Substance Abuse Certification Board and the Arkansas state drug director.
"I'm excited about it," Hot Springs Police Chief Chris Chapmond told The Sentinel-Record. "This is a real game-changer and something that's never been done at the department before."
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Chapmond said in the past they tended to only address the criminal aspect of drug addiction and overdoses, but this program tries to get at the core of the problem and "provide resources to help addicts and their families."
Willits understands the drug lifestyle because before his recovery he "went to rehab seven different times and throughout the course of that I overdosed 14 times," he said.
From the Little Rock area, Willits said his problems started when he was about 21 after he got out of the Army where he served "two years, 21 weeks and three days."
"It all started whenever I came home from the Army. It started with pain pills and I wasn't so much using them for pain as I was for stress," he said. "Stuff you're not supposed to use them for."
His use of pain pills soon progressed, he said, noting he was "taking more and more and eventually I started doing them different kinds of ways and I went up to harder drugs after that."
He switched from pills to heroin and other drugs because "it's cheaper. Pain medication was difficult to find and really expensive," he said, noting the other drugs were "cheaper and easier to get hold of."
Willits came to Hot Springs to get treatment at Quapaw House, now Harbor House, on Mountain Pine Road and "then I just stayed and kind of started my life over," he said.
The turning point came as a result of his multiple overdoses, he said, because "the last time I went to treatment I was at a point where I was desperate and tired and went in there with an attitude of listening to other people's experiences."
He said from the counselors who worked at the center who were in recovery themselves "I got a lot out of what they said and I listened to them and did what they suggested I do whenever I got out."
After 10 or 11 years of using, which ended on May 7, 2018, Willits said he has been "clean and sober" for over three years. After he got out of Quapaw House, he returned a year later and got a job and worked there for a year helping others.
The state of Arkansas is "attempting to combat addiction in a different way" with grants addressing the ongoing opioid epidemic and the grant that funded his position is one of those which "in particular focuses on overdoses," he said.
"People who have overdosed and survived. There wasn't a lot of help for those people before," he said. "You overdose, you go to the hospital and they just let you go. There's no follow-up and that's what we're trying to do."
He said the goal is to help those people but also to help the families of those "who don't make it" to provide support for them, as well.
The advantage Willits has in counseling addicts and those who have overdosed, he said, is "I can talk to them and I'm not being judgmental. I've been through it and I know exactly how they're feeling."
Willits went through a core training session through the state, receiving 30 credit hours, and then potential peer specialists must get 500 hours of experience to be certified which he achieved working for a year at the Quapaw House.
He noted there is a peer specialist at the Garland County Detention Center who works with the inmates and "that's part of what I'm doing too. The plans they help them come up with while they're in jail, after they get out they'll be able to call me and I'll be able to help them carry those plans out. So it's a little further than just what's happening in the jail."
Willits said he has been at the HSPD for only about a month so "we're just getting started with it all," but noted he went to the jail and met with three inmates who are getting out soon.
"We talked about what their plans are and what I'll be able to do to help them achieve the goals they have," he said.
The plan is to help them get involved with the intensive outpatient programs being offered and "if they're worried they don't have a ride, I'll leave, pick them up and take them to their outpatient group. I will help them get to the resources they need for recovery."
Asked how they find the ones who need help, Willits said, "The overdoses for one. People getting possession charges," and the repeat offenders or those on probation who keep going back to jail "for messing up."
He said the focus in the past was always on the dealers and "now we're trying to focus on the users and getting them healthy. Anybody who's using or drinking that's trying to get into recovery. Doesn't necessarily have to be somebody who has been to jail. Anybody who is seeking recovery."
Willits said he will check the detention center's inmate roster and "look up their charges and pick people and talk to them. See if they are interested in recovery."
The resources he can direct them to include Harbor House or any treatment center or medical detox. There are intensive outpatient programs, 12-step meetings, GED programs for those who want to go back to school, and chem-free housing with drug testing and other requirements in exchange for a place to live.
Asked about his overall goal, he said, "Hopefully to save some people's lives. We had three (overdose) deaths in Hot Springs last week. Saving some lives is the main goal and to bring these people into recovery."
In addition to helping the addicts, he said the program helps the community "in a lot of ways because those people who are addicted to drugs commit crimes and burglaries, (and) when they stop doing drugs they stop doing that so it helps other members of the community, as well."