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New program helps the LGBTQ community with substance abuse
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CINCINNATI (WKRC) - Substance abuse impacts 10 percent of people. A study for the Journal of Gay and Lesbian Mental Health shows in the LGBTQ community that number is tripled. A new program started to help people struggling with identity and addiction.
Jenn Barber is one of the first people someone struggling with addiction talks with when they call BrightView. She knows what some of her callers are dealing with. She spent 14 years battling with drugs and alcohol. At the same time, she was struggling with love.
Barber said, “Knowing deep down I was not happy with choosing the people that I was with as men.”
She has been sober since November 2015. An addiction program with her church helped change her life.
Barber said, “Just totally got myself better and focused on myself and my three children. Now, I’m happily married to my wife and everyone says they’ve never seen me happier. It’s like when you come out and are who you are meant to be. It’s the best feeling in the world.”
BrightView’s new Kaleidoscope program will help people like Barber. The idea came from case manager Beth Andriacco. She says her patients were using substances to dampen feelings about sexual orientation and no program was designed to help.
“All of our folks who are part of our Kaleidoscope program work with Mary, who is studied in queer theory and queer studies, and I work with them in case management and together we run a weekly group therapy session,” Andriacco said.
The downtown Cincinnati location of BrightView is the first -- and so far only -- spot where the Kaleidoscope program is run. The hope is to expand it to BrightView’s eight other locations statewide. Kaleidoscope was started in January. Five months in and Andriacco says they are making a difference.
“We want to support you and help you and help you find a way to have the life you want to have,” she said.
Besides BrightView in Cincinnati, there’s a peer support group called GLAST, which stands for Gays and Lesbians Achieving Sobriety Together.
Jenn Barber is one of the first people someone struggling with addiction talks with when they call BrightView. She knows what some of her callers are dealing with. She spent 14 years battling with drugs and alcohol. At the same time, she was struggling with love.
Barber said, “Knowing deep down I was not happy with choosing the people that I was with as men.”
She has been sober since November 2015. An addiction program with her church helped change her life.
Barber said, “Just totally got myself better and focused on myself and my three children. Now, I’m happily married to my wife and everyone says they’ve never seen me happier. It’s like when you come out and are who you are meant to be. It’s the best feeling in the world.”
BrightView’s new Kaleidoscope program will help people like Barber. The idea came from case manager Beth Andriacco. She says her patients were using substances to dampen feelings about sexual orientation and no program was designed to help.
“All of our folks who are part of our Kaleidoscope program work with Mary, who is studied in queer theory and queer studies, and I work with them in case management and together we run a weekly group therapy session,” Andriacco said.
The downtown Cincinnati location of BrightView is the first -- and so far only -- spot where the Kaleidoscope program is run. The hope is to expand it to BrightView’s eight other locations statewide. Kaleidoscope was started in January. Five months in and Andriacco says they are making a difference.
“We want to support you and help you and help you find a way to have the life you want to have,” she said.
Besides BrightView in Cincinnati, there’s a peer support group called GLAST, which stands for Gays and Lesbians Achieving Sobriety Together.
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