Tammy Whitener said growing up in the projects of Florence, Ala., with lots of crime — including physical and sexual abuse against her — had an adverse effect and led to years of substance abuse.
“We definitely lived on the poor side of town,” she said. “I remember at age 5 I had feelings that this was not how other people lived. Then when I started going to school I asked the other kids about it and they said they had never gone through that.”
Whitener, 38, moved to Dalton with her family at age 7 and said she got some relief from being molested by several people, but years later after a divorce she began hanging around with people who drank a lot. Eventually she rubbed elbows with another group — methamphetamine users.
“I was really selfish, but I felt like I fit in,” she confided. “I was staying up with them (without sleeping) for three or four days.”
But her low point came while she was in jail and got word her children had been taken away from her.
“Every chance I had to get high I got high,” she said. “I felt like I just wanted to die.”
She washed out of one treatment program and got “cross addicted” to pills, then was kicked out of another rehab program.
“One night I took a bunch of pills and prayed to God that if he’d let me wake up, I’d do something about (my addiction),” she said.
One year ago this month she went to see Dana Cooley-Keith, the director of women’s services and group homes — and a counselor— at Providence Ministries.
“Dana asked me, ‘What’s going to be the difference? What’s your motive this time?’” Whitener recalls. “I told her if I don’t get help I’ll die.”
Now after a lot of counseling, mentoring and soul-searching on her part she has her family back and only has one word for the Providence rehab program — “lifesaver.”
“I had no life decision skills and there was no structure in my life,” said Whitener. “I knew I needed something more, and I knew it would take God. We could talk in Bible study about addiction without being ashamed.”
‘A lot going on’
When Roy Johnson, the founder and director of Providence, is asked what’s happening with the ministry, he replied, “We’ve got a lot going on.”
Specifically, he talks of dual plans of starting a 90-day residential program for women struggling with alcohol and drug addiction, and finishing a restoration project at a former carpet warehouse a few blocks away that will be used as a homeless shelter.
Men’s recovery programs have been up-and-running for years at Providence. But why one for women?
“Just calls for help,” Johnson said. “There are as many women who need help with this as there are men. (But) there are not as many places for them. It’s harder for a woman, too. They deal with a lot more issues sometimes about being able to go into recovery than men because of child placement, and the social image of ladies needing recovery is frowned upon since they are the nurturers, a lot of things like that. But the need is certainly there.”
Cooley-Keith will be the director of the facility located between Rocky Face and Tunnel Hill, and Barbara Purchas will be the live-in supervisor and counselor. Both are certified alcohol and drug addiction counselors.
“Some of the rest of us who are also certified will play a role,” said Johnson. “It will be a good program for these ladies. We’ll have room for 10 with several on a waiting list.”
‘Unfortunate’ job security
Providence currently has seven drug and alcohol counselors with another one going through certification testing. Chuck Smith, director of the Carter Hope Center, which is a low-intensity residential rehab program in Dalton, has helped teach the certification process at Providence as a clinical supervisor.
“We collaborate together,” he said of the relationship. “Sometimes when we have a patient who is not successful in our program that needs more structure we will refer them down to Providence because it’s an intensive program and they don’t go out into the community for several months. Then they have some (clients) — either after they complete the program or if someone is not successful in their program — (that) we try another mode of treatment and they will refer them to us. We stay full all the time, and a lot of the time we get in a situation where somebody really needs to get in right away and we don’t have a bed available, they will go down and stay at the shelter part there (at Providence) and come up here during the day for their treatment and therapy ... so we do a lot of working together. Especially in this area, it’s more important to cooperate than it is to compete. That’s what we do with all the treatment facilities in the area. There’s a whole lot more cooperation between all the treatment areas around here than there is competition.”
Smith was asked about the extent of the drug problem in the Whitfield-Murray area.
“It’s just like everywhere else in the country, it’s a tremendous problem,” he answered. “We’ve got a 35-bed facility here that stays full with a waiting list, and Providence is usually full so that’s some indication of how much a problem it is in the community. If you talk with law enforcement, they’ll tell you that probably 90 percent of the people that are incarcerated are there for some type of drug-related problem, whether it be burglary, robbery, (drug) possession or whatever. All the treatment centers are fighting hard to address the problem — it’s unfortunate, but we have plenty of job security.”
‘Just sleeping on the floor’
After spreading blueprints on his desk that detail the Oxford Street facility that is to be used as a homeless shelter, Johnson motions and says, “Let me show you something.”
Down a hallway and then into an open area where chapel services and classes are taught, the space is filled with cots and sleeping bags.
“We have about 30 to 35 men just sleeping on the floor,” he pointed out. “These are homeless. See those bags and plastic (bin) holders there? That’s 100 percent of their self-worth. We’re seeing more mental health challenged people coming in since they closed down the (mental health) hospital in Rome. The homeless people are now taking up space that could be used in the recovery program.”
But Johnson said funds are needed to transform the approximately 8,500-square-foot area on Oxford Street into a building code approved facility.
“We’re repainted it, and we’re taking one side and closing it in and putting doors in,” he said of the new men’s shelter. “This is transitional living. We’ve got that in the works and I really need some help with that if the community wants to get behind something. This thing is costing a pretty good bit to redo. It’s already been approved by the state for 60 men, which we feel like will meet the need we have.”
Johnson said he has “proposals” for needs and the shelter for heating and air work, $40,000; wiring for about $12,000 to $15,000; and sprinkler work for $25,000.
“Then we’ve still got to go in there and build these offices and furnish our kitchen and bathrooms,” he said. “So we’re looking in the range of about $100,000 to get this place operational. It’s a warehouse we already had, so we’re dedicating about 8,000 square feet of it to this homeless project. It’s going to be nice. We touch a lot of lives, but there’s a lot of need.”
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Former user now helping others
Brian Croft, a seven-year employee of Providence Ministries, once wondered if he would ever break the cycle of drug abuse in his own life — he went through the rehab program at Providence twice before he had a breakthrough.
The program coordinator and now a Level I certified addiction counselor, he was asked what’s new at the multi-faceted outreach these days.
“What I see here at Providence is that the homeless needs are definitely increasing,” he said. “We are excited about the new homeless facility (at Oxford Street) and the opportunity to meet more needs in the community there. Relocating the shelter there will allow us to expand our drug and alcohol program, which has been operating out of our main location (at 711 South Hamilton St.) for 15 years now.”
Donations may be sent to Providence Ministries, P.O. Box 4598, Dalton, GA 30719. Online donations made be made by visiting providenceministriesinc.com/donate.
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