It’s been six months since Blue Valley Mental Health started an intensive outpatient meth treatment program in Nebraska City. Since then, about 40 people battling meth addictions have received some kind of help, said Jalyn Todd, the group’s substance abuse counselor.

Five have graduated from the program, she said. Others have told her they live for their group meetings, which last for three hours on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings.

Otoe County Deputy Sheriff Lynn Lyon has noticed a difference, too. Some of the people going through treatment — which involves group and one-on-one therapy — are people he and other officers arrested repeatedly for years.

This is the first time they’ve had an opportunity to get treatment without driving all the way to Lincoln or Omaha, he said.

As far as Blue Valley Mental Health Associate Director Jon Day knows, the Nebraska City program is the first of its kind in the state.

“It’s the only meth treatment program that we’re aware of in the rural communities,” Day said. “They have it in Lincoln, they have it in Omaha, but they don’t have it in the rural communities.”

And even if it’s not the only one, it’s one of just a few.

According to a recent University of Nebraska at Omaha study about meth treatment, the state faces a shortage of clinics and other programs so severe that every single one has a waiting list. 

Still, the Nebraska City program is already in danger of closing.

The program is funded through a grant to combat meth use that the Otoe County Sheriff’s office received about a year ago, Lyon said. That grant expires this summer.

In all, the sheriff’s office received $328,000, he said. Some of that money was used to establish a database to help the department keep track of meth-related offenses. The department also bought a response trailer, which will give deputies the proper tools to dismantle larger meth labs.

The remaining $75,000 or so was earmarked for treatment, Lyon said.

Working with Blue Valley Mental Health, a nonprofit organization that provides mental health services in 15 rural Southeast Nebraska counties,  the sheriff’s office quickly set up the intensive outpatient center.

Within a month of opening, Todd said, she had seven meth addicts who regularly attended the group meetings.

She set one of the meetings for Friday nights to help group members avoid some of the weekend temptation to use.

During the sessions, the group members talk about their lives and their families, they compliment one another for staying straight, they build self-esteem. They also discuss issues like nutrition and dental health, which often deteriorates with meth use.

“We’re treating the whole person,” Todd said.

The program itself lasts 16 weeks, Todd said. But meth recovery is a much longer process.

“Most of these people I’m going to have for the full year of the grant,” she said.

Among those is a 25-year-old mother of two who asked that her name not be used.

She started going to the meetings after reading about them in an area newspaper last summer.

At that time, she said, she had just been arrested on suspicion of prostitution — something she did to get money for meth.

Todd’s group has taught her to avoid people and places that could be bad influences, she said. It’s helped her to stop dwelling on the parts of her past that she’s ashamed about and to feel better about herself.

“I have a lot more confidence, and I feel that I’m more head-strong, and it’s definitely given me some inner strength to deal with life’s circumstances,” she said.

She credits it with helping her become a better mom to her young children, too.

“I started coloring with them and acting like a kid again,” she said. “Before I’d just sit at the table and watch them play.”

She’s worried about the program losing its funding, which despite its uncertain future, doesn’t charge for its services, except for a $10 evaluation fee.

Many of those who have taken advantage of the program had lost their jobs, Todd said. They didn’t have insurance and wouldn’t have been able to pay even for a shorter program.

“I truly believe this program wouldn’t have been successful if we would have had to charge,” she said.

At this point, Day is optimistic that the program will find funding.

Blue Valley Mental Health, he said, is looking for other grants.

And he’s encouraged that the Nebraska Legislature is looking for ways to provide treatment to people battling meth addiction, too.

Lyon said the last anti-meth bill the Legislature passed — one limiting the number of products containing pseudoephedrine a person could buy and requiring stores to keep such drugs behind the counter — has already led to a decrease in the number of area meth labs.

Pseudoephedrine, which is often found in decongestants, is a key ingredient in making meth.

He thinks more programs like the one in Nebraska City could make a difference, too.

“It’s not just an experiment to try,” he said. “It’s something that’s actually working.”

Reach Cara Pesek at 473-7361 or cpesek@journalstar.com.