Vantage Pointe, a residential drug and alcohol treatment center operated by Mental Health Services of Southern Oklahoma, will shut down Wednesday. The agency’s director said the closing is not expected to be permanent.
“The board voted (Tuesday) to close Vantage Pointe and then directed me to make every effort to make it a temporary closure, and I certainly agree with that,” MHSSO Executive Director Robert Lee said.
Vantage Pointe is a residential facility on the MHSSO campus that houses chemically dependent adults who are receiving treatment. It is fully licensed and certified by the Oklahoma State Health Department and the State Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.
Lee said the typical stay in the “treat to sober” program is between 30 and 60 days. All residents will have completed the program when it closes.
Lee said the closing is the result of two converging issues — a reduction in funding and a new state policy that requires residential treatment centers to have a licensed counselor on hand at all times.
The agency, which provides a wide array of services in nine southern Oklahoma counties, has been hit with large budget cuts as a result of the state budget shortfall. MHSSO lost approximately $200,000 during the last fiscal year because of cuts to the state Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services and anticipates a similar reduction in the fiscal year that began on July 1.
MHSSO took several steps to meet the funding shortfall during the last fiscal year, including reducing the number of clients in its residential substance abuse treatment program, consolidating positions and leaving job openings unfilled, moving drug court from downtown Ardmore and reducing some client services.
The temporary closing of Vantage Pointe is the agency’s latest attempt to keep its books in the black.
“We have to fill all 16 beds all the time (at Vantage Pointe) to reach the break-even point,” Lee said. “All our other programs are supporting that program.”
Residents are not charged to receive substance abuse treatment. And state regulations say the agency must have a licensed counselor on hand for initial evaluation, diagnosis, treatment plan development and to oversee all treatment.
Lee said those positions are extremely had to fill, especially in rural areas.
Seven MHSSO employees are scheduled to lose their jobs with Vantage Pointe’s closing, but they will be eligible to reapply with the agency once the program is revived.
Lee said he plans to meet with the state deputy director of mental health soon to make sure the program is closed for the shortest time possible. For the time being, other MHSSO staff may move into the Vantage Pointe building, but Lee stressed any such moves will be temporary and the need for residential substance abuse treatment programs has not diminished.
“We still need beds across the state,” he said.
Steve Biehn, 221-6546
