From the Director

Triumph Treatment Services began the administration of Casita del Rio in April 2003.  We were very excited to be able to do this at the request of the Division of Alcohol & Substance Abuse (DASA).  Triumph Treatment Services operates the oldest gender-specific chemical dependency (CD) treatment program for women and their children in the state of Washington .  Riel House will be 14 years old this spring.  We have paved the way for the development of 10 such programs in the state, including Casita del Rio . Our Riel House program has been presented at national conferences, and I have sat on the development of two CSAT TIPS.

I have, along with the rest of our administration, a passion for helping moms and children to be able to establish healthy families.  We are about families at Casita.  The CD treatment is as important as the parenting component.  Both these work together to provide an integrated individualized opportunity for Mom and her children. 

We could not be more pleased to be providing these services at Casita del Rio in the Tri-Cities area.

It was an interesting process when we first opened Riel House in 1990.  Having children with their parent in a CD treatment program was certainly “out there.”  Some folks thought we were a little – maybe a lot – crazy to attempt such a thing.  There were a lot of “what ifs, but we did it anyway.  We know that not being able to have her child with her is an impediment for many women who might otherwise come to treatment.  Conversely, the possibility of having her child with her is an impetus for a woman to come to treatment.  And we take our responsibility in this area VERY seriously.  All of the staff are mandated reporters.  We report any incident we feel is in any way abusive or dangerous to the child.  We also report those incidents that will not result in any action because we want the CPS social worker to know what is going on.  Additionally, we want to teach Mom to consider her CPS caseworker an advocate and a resource for her to be successful.

Because most (if not all) of our moms have not been well parented themselves and have experienced abuse, we are hyper-vigilant.  We do not allow spanking, yelling, shoving, or pulling.  Nothing abusive is tolerated.

It needs to be understood that learning a completely new way of relating to and parenting one’s child takes time.  Those, coupled with other huge changes in behavior and thinking around her chemical dependency and life in general, are very big tasks for Mom.  We need to be consistent, supportive, and kind.  And we depend upon the support of the community in assisting her in these changes.