STAR Council on Substance Abuse is primarily a regional non-profit agency providing comprehensive drug and alcohol addiction treatment services and programs.
But they offer much more than that.
Terah Gibson on Wednesday outlined for Mineral Wells Rotarians all of the programs STAR Council offers, including their work in schools with youth offering Life Skills and anti-bullying sessions, as well as anti-drug and alcohol messages and even drug testing. STAR Council also offers a Battering Intervention Prevention Program (BIPP), and recently hosted a sexual assault training and education symposium in Mineral Wells. The council also works with other non-profit organizations, such as Back Pack Buddies and school free lunch programs, Gibson said.
Gibson, a Weatherford native who holds bachelor's and master's degrees in Counseling from Tarleton State University, has been with STAR Council just under two years as its program services coordinator. She recently was named the agency's interim executive director.
Stephenville-based STAR Council operates in seven counties, including Palo Pinto County, with program and treatment centers in five counties, including a Mineral Wells office at 4113-A U.S. Highway 180 East, Ste. C. The office and treatment hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, with drug-testing times of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. The phone number is 940-325-3402.
The agency began operations in 1981 as Cross Timbers Basin Council on Alcohol and Other Drug Dependency. In 1985 it received its first grant from the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse for adult prevention and intervention services. In 1990 it received its first grant to provide youth prevention and intervention services.
Its services and programs then evolved to include family counseling to help with recovery after addiction. In 1993 the agency changed its name to STAR Council. STAR is an acronym for Solutions Toward Addiction Recovery.
Gibson said this past year STAR Council conducted student Life Skills classes at the Garner, Gordon, Graford, Millsap, Palo Pinto and Santo school districts. Rotarian and Mineral Wells ISD Superintendent John Kuhn went to work during the meeting contacting his administrators to let them know about the STAR Council programs for students and spoke to Gibson about getting the school district involved with the agency going forward.
Since 2015 to present, STAR Council has provided adult drug and alcohol addiction services to 283 Palo Pinto County residents. Statistics presented by Gibson showed that for years 2015-2017, amphetamine addiction was the substance most commonly treated in county cases, though the early 2018 numbers indicate a trend reversal toward more marijuana cases treated.
Clients are typically referred to STAR Council through court order or in Child Protective Services cases involving children. Of the 283 Palo Pinto County residents treated since 2015, 176 are females, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the total cases. Of those females, all but three were classified as "specialized females," meaning they are single mothers, are pregnant, or are in jeopardy of losing a child, or children, to the state.
The agency's adult substance abuse treatment programs are highly structured and can be tailored for individual client needs, Gibson said. They are for people ages 18 and up seeking alcohol or drug addition recovery and help, but are not in need of more intensive levels of care such as detoxification or residential/in-patient treatment.
For more information on STAR Council, visit www.starcouncil.org/treatment. You can also find the agency on Facebook. Volunteers, new board members and tax-deductible monetary donations are always welcome, Gibson said. She is pictured above with Rotary Club President David Cairone.
Celebrating 100 years of "Service Above Self," Rotary Club of Mineral Wells meets every Wednesday at noon at Holiday Hills Country Club.