Ex-Patient Praises Rapid City, S.D., American Indian-Run Treatment Center
Story-Date: 05:24 p.m. PST Sunday   , September 20, 1998

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Ex-Patient Praises Rapid City, S.D., American Indian-Run Treatment Center


By Jennifer Peterka, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D.
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Sep. 21--RAPID CITY, S.D.--After feeling dead inside for a very long time,
Scott Means applied for treatment at Hope Lodge.

"I picked Hope Lodge because I heard about it. It was Indian run and that
they were sensitive and encouraging towards the Indian ways. That was
comforting to me," he said.

Before his treatment at Hope Lodge Mr. Means said he felt like he had
failed at everything. He had four children with three different mothers
that he didn't see. He was in the chronic stages of alcoholism and was
using and transporting drugs.

He didn't start drinking until he was out of high school where he said he
had shown a lot of potential. He attended a private school, did well and
served in many leadership positions.

"I drank to cover up pain I didn't want to feel. By the time I graduated
from high school the pain was unbearable. I didn't know what to do. At that
age everyone was partying. I didn't know about alcoholism. I thought I was
just going to have some fun for awhile," he said.

Mr. Means tried for three years to quit on his own. "The longest I ever
went totally clean was for two months," he said. The disease progressed for
him and eventually he was in the chronic stages of the disease, where only
one or two beers got him drunk. "I was obsessed about it. I was just
focused on my drinking."

In January of 1994 he came to Hope Lodge feeling like a nobody. "I just
felt lost. I thought I was a failure at life. I had failed at everything. I
let myself and everyone I cared about down. All I knew is I had to quit
drinking," he said.

Hope Lodge counselors got his attention. During a peer evaluation, Hazel
Stands told him that if she were closer to his age and a single Indian
woman, being healthy and living sober, and met him, she would turn around
and run the other way even though he is very attractive.

"That hit me because I had an ego about that. I wasn't very responsible.
That's evident with my children. I didn't have any respect for women. That
got my attention," he said.

After Miss Stands grabbed his attention, she told him he was heading
straight for his grave or to prison. "I was scared of prison. I got busy
with myself then. I really started being honest with myself."

The day of graduation Candace Pourier told the group statistics support the
fact that only one or two of them were going to stay sober. "I remember
saying to myself I'm gonna be that one. I really appreciate that. It gave
me a little bit more determination," Mr. Means said.

Hope Lodge became a safe haven for him. "There's people up there who care.
I see them out in the community and I know from my relationship outside of
Hope Lodge that they really care about me specifically. They're like my new
family. It's always comforting to know that they are right there. That's
one of the main reasons I haven't moved," he said.

"I know they are a consistent force in my life. There is always a core of
them that are always there and have been for a long time. I think they're
really committed to what they're doing. I am thankful for Hope Lodge," he
said.

The American Indian community needs Hope Lodge., he said, since alcoholism
is rampant in American Indian communities. "They really help Indians
because Indians have this idea that treatment is a white man thing. They
have already been such a force not only in this community, but in other
Indian communities. They've sent people home who are successfully staying
sober," he said.

Mr. Means has been sober for more than three years, He raises his youngest
daughter by himself and is a student at the School of Mines and Technology,
studying electrical engineering. "I like to think I'm one of their success
stories. They sent me out and I've been doing pretty good in fact."

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(c) 1998, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Distributed by Knight
Ridder/Tribune Business News.



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