Local stakeholders discuss sober housing in Beltrami County

Sep. 13—BEMIDJI — With hopes to address rural disparities, representatives from several treatment and government organizations met on Thursday to discuss addiction program access and expanding services throughout the Northwoods.

Social services collaborative Northern Access sponsored the meeting, which was held at the Beltrami County Administration Building, and has met bi-monthly for more than 11 years.

Northern Access serves as a coalition of local chemical and mental health programs,

Beltrami County,

area tribes, PrimeWest and the Minnesota Department of Corrections regional probation office.

The collaborative worked with Beltrami County from 2018 to 2020 to address the accelerating rate of out-of-home child placements. Similarly, the thread of collaboration weaved its way throughout Thursday's meeting.

Ashley Wolf, project coordinator at the

Minnesota Association of Sober Homes,

or MASH, spoke about the need for collaboration to support recovery efforts for rural residents. MASH is a nonprofit organization tasked with training and certifying sober living homes.

"On addressing rural disparity, we will need collaborators within this area," Wolf said. "We would like this to be as community-led as possible."

Wolf defined a sober home as a residence where those in recovery reside with others in recovery, are actively supported in their recovery journey and are prohibited from using drugs and alcohol both inside and outside of the home.

"The purpose of sober homes is to provide those who are early in their recovery a safe and supported environment where they can more easily maintain their sobriety and build things that are integral to recovery capital such as employment opportunities, social connections and life skills," Wolf added. "Sober homes are most effective when they're part of a larger recovery ecosystem and actively collaborating with addiction treatment providers, peer recovery support specialists and other types of recovery-based community resources."

Given the small industry of sober housing, Wolf noted a lack of reliable data on where sober homes are located throughout Minnesota. However, a map created by Wolf depicted a vast majority of confirmed sober homes located within the Twin Cities-Metro.

Wolf offered three solutions to expand treatment access to the Bemidji area. "Solution A" would involve existing sober housing organizations being invited to the area, the option which would take the least amount of time according to Wolf.

"They already have existing revenue sources and connections that they can draw upon and use as capital for expanding into the community," Wolf mentioned. "However, an important disadvantage — since we're bringing people in from outside the community — is it's less likely to be tailored to the needs of people here in Bemidji."

"Solution B" would task a local organization with starting up and managing sober homes, allowing a nonprofit to leverage existing connections to tailor services to the community.

"Since this would be a new program, they would need to gather funds to cover the initial cost of purchasing property and setting up the program," Wolf said. "Compared to Solution A, the people involved with this would likely lack experience with directly managing sober homes."

Wolf described "Solution C" as a high-effort, high-reward option involving multiple stakeholders starting a new nonprofit organization to manage sober homes.

"It would take a lot of time and effort to get this up and running, and you would need to develop funding resources from scratch," Wolf said. "Since it would be a clean slate, there's a higher likelihood of being able to learn from the existing ways that people operate sober homes and avoid issues that exist within the field."

Those in attendance shared their preferences along with the possibility of a varied approach combining a couple or all of the solutions.

Alongside Wolf's presentation, attendees had the opportunity to highlight their respective organizations and roles as they relate to social services and support.

Carl Sewall, site manager for the New Day Center, provided an update on the facility that provides a safe space for those who are unsheltered.

The facility

recently completed an interior remodel

and is finishing construction on its new roof. Sewall also noted work with the Northwest Minnesota Food Bank, which provides the center with a pallet of frozen meals on a monthly basis for distribution.

"Just in the last month or two, for the first time in our three years of existence there, we had a surplus of food which is great," Sewall mentioned.

Sewall urged attendees to visit the Nameless Coalition for the Homeless website for a list of needed donations including hats, gloves, socks and winter clothing.

"Those are items that we go through in incredible numbers. We just ask that they're in good condition," Sewall left off. "If it's something you would wear, drop it off."

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