The Livengrin Foundation’s decades of providing personalized rehabilitation and detox treatments for individuals battling addiction comes into sharp focus during the holiday season.
In his recent proclamation that declared December “National Impaired Driving Prevention Month,” President Joe Biden noted how “too many families know the pain of losing a loved one to a drunk or drug-impaired driving accident.”
Every day, about 37 people in the United States die in drunk-driving crashes, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The quick succession of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s can be a time of stress, hardship and heartache for those with issues of addiction. Philadelphia’s long-established Livengrin nonprofit facility is renowned for its compassionate and knowledgeable staff and willingness to work with each clients’ family and employer.
Helen Weigand-Kinback, Livengrin’s Director of DUI Services, makes certain that her program provides education and intervention for clients who are arrested for driving under the influence. DUI Services offers pre-screening tools, which recommend what treatments are necessary — if they are necessary — and follows up on that assessment in order to determine levels of treatment.
“Sometimes rehab is necessary; sometimes detox is necessary if people are physically dependent on the drug or alcohol; sometimes outpatient care is recommended; sometimes intervention or highway safety programs are recommended,” says Weigand-Kinback of DUI clients and their potential next move after arrest.
Three forms of care are available to Livengrin clients. There is Livengrin’s Partial Hospitalization Program of transformative individual therapy and group sessions and the option of medication-assisted treatment and psychiatric services. There is a flexible, three-day-a-week Intensive Outpatient Program where individual and group therapy, counseling, skill-building exercises and psycho-educational lectures guide you gently to recovery. And there is a General Outpatient Program filled with group sessions and weekly individual meetings, 12-step support networks and further care through Al-Anon and Livengrin’s family services.
Weigand-Kinback states that when she first started working at Livengrin, the majority of DUI cases were alcohol-related. Now, many of the clients who come in to Livengrin through DUI services have abused marijuana.
“People who have medical marijuana cards think it is OK to drive, and it’s not,” she says. “They show me the medical card and I tell them that alcohol is also legal, but it doesn’t mean that you can drive under the influence.”
What sets Weigand-Kinback and Livengrin’s DUI services apart from other rehab or detox treatment centers is their hosting of victims’ panels, where individuals impacted by alcohol and drug-related tragedies share the harrowing realities of their experiences.
“I had two speakers last week who took lives due to their DUI, one was a mother and the other was a 14-year-old boy who are both in recovery and turning their lives around,” says Weigand-Kinback. “I had a police officer who was hit by a drunk driver and lost his leg tell his story. I have told my story about how I lost my daughter, who died in a DUI. Telling these stories as part of our process makes Livengrin unique — it’s a powerful program. When any of our clients attends this… they’ll always say that this is the most important program they’ve been a part of.”
With December being the holiday season — often with more parties, more traveling, more imbibing — physical and psychological safety is of the utmost importance.
“The U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reports that four of ten traffic-related deaths between Christmas and New Years involve drunk drivers,” Weigand-Kinback states. “Livengrin’s outreach is excellent, and I make it clear to all of our clients, that this is a senseless crime that can be avoided, you know. We have Uber and Lyft. No one needs to drive while drunk. But some people don’t plan ahead – they take that first drink, and their decision-making process goes out the window.”
With that, Livengrin’s Director of DUI Services reminds us of one certainty: “No one wins with a DUI. Everybody loses. The person who loses the life, and the person who takes the life and has to live with that loses. Families on both sides have to live with that. There’s that horrible domino effect because somebody didn’t do the right thing…. All I want for the Christmas holiday is zero tolerance while operating a vehicle. Make my Christmas beautiful, and out me out of a job with no DUIs this holiday season.”
