GREAT FALLS — After only about a year in business, Seeking Recovery addiction counseling service in Great Falls is expanding due to high demand. Owner JoAnn Malone was happy to show off the addiction counseling service's new office in Great Falls on Thursday even though it wasn’t completely finished.
She was not anticipating needing the new space when she opened the old office: "There is a major addiction problem here in the town,” Malone said.
The new office is double the size and includes more rooms for counselors and a large space for case management.
"A lot of times, people come in (and) they don't have housing, they don't have food stamps, they don't have Medicaid. They don't have a lot things and they're not going to focus in on treatment,” said Malone.
The extra space is even more important during the pandemic, she said. People who have addictions and mental illness, the isolation was making it worse,” Malone explained.
Cecilia Lenahan is one of Seeking Recovery's licensed addiction counselor. She hopes to start specialized groups now that she has more space. "Specialized groups target what we call special populations, like if you were to have an all men's group, all women's group. Then, there are different levels of treatment and addiction medicine that we can separate out for the intensity level,” Lenahan said.
Malone struggled with addiction herself and uses her personal experiences to help relate to her clients. “Thirty years ago, I was on the street using drugs. I know what it’s like to go through withdrawals. I know what it’s like to not have your family talk to you. I know what it’s like to live on the streets. I know what this is like but you can do this there’s life after addiction. And I'm living proof of that.”
