Sponsored
If the cost of addiction treatment has kept you from asking questions about it, a free webinar series running through September in St. Clair County, Michigan, is built to answer them.
Seventeen sessions are open to the public at no charge, and the opening session covers exactly how to qualify for and access publicly funded treatment in the county.
The series is hosted by St. Clair County Community Mental Health, a publicly funded agency, and runs from September 1 through September 29 during National Recovery Month. Every session is virtual, so attendance does not depend on transportation or on living in the county.
Who Can Attend at No Cost
Attendance is free and open to anyone. Registration is per session, which means you can pick only the topics that apply to your situation rather than committing to the full series.
The audience includes people with substance use disorders, family members, and professionals. Sessions were designed with all three groups in mind, and several are explicitly aimed at individuals and families rather than clinicians.
One cost detail is worth understanding clearly. Attending costs nothing, but continuing education credits carry a fee for people who need them professionally.
Those credits run $25 per session, or $100 for five or more sessions, and the fee is waived for St. Clair County Community Mental Health staff and contract employees. If you are attending to learn rather than to collect professional credits, there is nothing to pay.
How to Access Publicly Funded Treatment
The September 1 session is the most directly useful one for anyone worried about paying for care. Titled “Connecting to Care,” it walks through the services the county’s community mental health agency provides for substance use disorders and co-occurring mental health conditions, how to qualify, and how to start.
Community mental health agencies in Michigan serve people on Medicaid insurance and people without insurance, and they operate on public funding rather than private pay.
For anyone who has been quoted a private-pay figure at a residential program and assumed that was the only option, this session is a direct answer to that assumption.
The presenters include the agency’s chief executive officer, a clinical supervisor, and the supervisor of its integrated dual disorder treatment program.
What the Rest of the Series Covers
The remaining sessions span a wide range of practical ground. Family-focused topics include supporting relatives after an overdose death, presented by a professor of social work at Eastern Michigan University, and understanding adverse childhood experiences and trauma-informed care.
Several sessions cover substances and trends directly, including cannabis and cannabis use disorder, THC products, kratom, adolescent substance use patterns, and current drug trends presented by a local drug enforcement supervisor.
Treatment approaches on the schedule include mindfulness oriented recovery enhancement and the use of EMDR with people in recovery from substance use.
Other sessions address stigma and person-centered language, substance use among older adults, the role of spirituality in recovery, and the overlap between substance use, self-harm, and suicide risk.
Two peer recovery coaches from a local recovery and outreach center are presenting on recovery within the justice system, drawing on their own experience.
How to Register
Registration links are posted for each individual session on the St. Clair County Community Mental Health website, under the Recovery Summit page in its events section.
Each session has its own registration link, and sessions run between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. on weekdays through the month. The agency can be reached at 810-985-8900 for questions about the series.
Finding Free and Low-Cost Rehabs in Michigan
A webinar series is a starting point, not a treatment plan. If you need care now, several routes cost little or nothing.
Check whether you qualify for Michigan Medicaid, which covers substance use disorder treatment including outpatient care, residential treatment, and medications for opioid use disorder.
Contact your regional community mental health agency directly, since these agencies are funded to serve people who are uninsured or underinsured. Ask any program you call whether it offers a sliding scale based on income.
Rehabs.org lists low-cost and free treatment options across Michigan, filterable by payment type including Medicaid, sliding scale, and state-funded programs. Call
800-914-7089
(
Sponsored)
to speak with a treatment advisor about your options.
More Articles Like This
