Shawnee Public Schools has received a three-year, $750,000 award from the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services for school-based prevention services to prevent mental, emotional and behavioral problems.
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Addiction is time sensitive. Donna Woods says when someone comes to her ready for help she has to act fast.
“There’s a very small window when a person says, ‘I need help,’ Woods said.
“If there’s not a bed for them, 99% of the time they’re going to go back out to do what they know and that’s using – whether it be drugs or alcohol
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Woods is the executive director and founder of a peer recovery nonprofit based in Oklahoma City named OCARTA (Oklahoma Citizen Advocates for Recovery and Transformation Association). The organization offers community support to people who’ve decided to work towards sobriety.
Published June 3, 2021 at 10:07 AM CDT
Quinton Chandler / StateImpact Oklahoma
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Donna Woods has seen multiple people miss their chance at recovery over roughly 20 years. They couldn’t make it waiting for months to get into treatment while resisting addiction.
Oklahomans struggling with substance abuse no longer have to wait to get into some of the most intensive treatment for addiction. Treatment providers believe a $10 million increase in funding from the state Legislature two years ago is now saving lives.
Addiction is time sensitive. Donna Woods says when someone comes to her ready for help, she has to act fast.
“There’s a very small window when a person says, ‘I need help,’ Woods said.