Inside This Issue
Volume 3, Issue 2 June 2013
A Publication by the
2013 Officersand Directors
Tennessee Association of Drug Court Professionals
Blount Woman’s Journey From AddictTo Board Member2Eat The StreetFood TruckFest3Blount County Can’tAfford Not To FundDrug Court3The President’sCorner331st Judicial DistrictGraduation4MembershipApplication4
PresidentMary SchneiderVice PresidentTracye BryantTreasurerBrad PriceSecretaryRick TaylorWest Tennessee DirectorAngela ParkersonMiddle Tennessee DirectorMarianne SchroerEast Tennessee DirectorJudge Charles CernyAt Large DirectorsRon HanaverKevin BattsJill Barrett
The 27th Judicial District Drug Court held a graduationceremony on May 24th at the Obion County Courthouse inUnion City,Tn. Therewere 14graduateshonoredfor theiraccom-plishmentsin success-fully com-pleting thedrug court program. The ceremony was scheduled for 8:30a.m. and was attended by approximately 150 family andfriends of the participants as well as local government offi-cials, drug court team members and drug court steeringcommittee members. These 14 graduates bring the totalnumber of participants that have graduated from the pro-gram since its inception in 2002 to 125.Guest speaker for the occasion was Delbert Boone, oneof the nation’s foremost authorities on addiction and crimi-nal behavior. He established this identity through his abili-ty to consistently help drug offenders and substance abusecounselors understand the parallels between addiction andcriminal behavior. He related his own struggles with addic-tion and incarceration to the graduating class. He congratu-lated them ontheir accomplish-ment and chal-lenged them toremember and usewhat they hadlearned in the drugcourt program.
27
TH
D
ISTRICT
G
RADUATION
14 G
RADUATES
H
ONORED
The 23rd Judicial District Drug Court hon-ored its 100th graduate, Ashley Lloyd, in agraduation ceremony on May 16,2013 as part of National DrugCourt month festivities. The DrugCourt began serving the citizens of Cheatham, Dickson, Houston,Humphreys, and Stewart Countiesover 12 years ago.A packed courtroom watched asthe Honorable Robert Burchpresided over a traditional Drug Court sessionprior to the graduation. Those in attendanceincluded Dickson County Sheriff Jeff Bledsoe,District AttorneyGeneral DanAlsobrooks, DistrictPublic DefenderJake Lockert, StateRepresentativeMary Littleton,Ellen Abbott andLiz Ledbetter fromthe Department of Mental Health and SubstanceAbuse Services, and TADCP Executive DirectorMarie Crosson. Commissioner Doug Varney of the Department of Mental Health and SubstanceAbuse Services sent Ashley a very nice congrat-ulatory letter.After the traditionalcourt session, JudgeBurch called Ashley to thefront for a special presen-tation of a graduation cer-tificate and plaque. Hethen gave Ashley a per-sonal gift from himself, abeautiful, Special Moments bible.Ashley then spoke a few words from herheart. She thanked those in the courtroom, say-ing they were the loving family she need-ed during the past two years. She thankedGod for moving her into recovery. Shethanked the Drug Court team for showingher that there is a much better life andfuture for her.Following the ceremony, Ashley wassurrounded by friends and family, congrat-ulating her on her great accomplishment.It is a huge step toward her lifetime walk insobriety!
23
RD
D
ISTRICT
D
RUG
C
OURT
H
ONORS
100
TH
G
RADUATE
Page 2Tennessee Association of DrugCourt Professionals
B
LOUNT
W
OMAN
W
ENT FROM
A
DDICT TO
D
RUG
C
OURT
B
OARD
By Steve Wildsmith | (stevew@thedailytimes.com)
The last time Karla Sells-Gourley was on thefront page of The Daily Times, she was an inmate atthe Blount County Jail.As a gesture of kindness, a corrections officerallowed her to read the story. Local Realtor chargedwith three counts of prescription fraud — it washeadline news and would be one of the most-viewedstories on The Daily Times website for 2009.She wasn’t allowed to keep the paper; all she took back to her cell was the knowledge that her uglysecret was now public knowledge, and upon herrelease she’d face judgment, scrutiny and publiccondemnation.After 67 days, she was released, and so began thelong journey back for the William Blount HighSchool graduate and Blount County native. Thanksto the Blount County Drug Court program, she did-n’t make that journey alone.“It gave me something to focus on that’s posi-tive,” she told The Daily Times recently. “It allowedme to prove myself through my actions rather thanrunning my mouth. I learned good things will hap-pen when you’re doing the right thing, and I realizedthat if I can get through that, I can make it throughanything.”Acceptance, powerlessness, humility, honesty,willingness, faith: Such spiritual principles are foun-dation stones for a life in recovery, and through ther-apy, Drug Court, God and family, Sells-Gourley hasembraced them — perhaps more so than she everdid before. Looking back, she can see how herinability to accept — her desire to do and to fix andto make right — led to her addiction.
The trigger
Her son, Keaton, was born in 2007. When he was3 months old, he was diagnosed with craniosyntosis,meaning his skull bones had fused together prema-turely. Sells-Gourley and her husband, Kevin, wentfrom Children’s Hospital in Knoxville to Erlanger inChattanooga, where the first meeting with doctorsplayed out like a horror movie, she recalls.“I just remember them saying it would be a mas-sive surgery, that they would have to peel his faceoff, and they gave me a book that had these graphicdetails of this surgery,” she said. “I became con-sumed with it. If I looked at it once, I looked at it amillion times, and the more I looked, the madder Igot — at God, at other people who had healthy kids. “I was playing the poor, pitiful Karla card. I wassad because I wanted to fix it, and for the first timein my life, I couldn’t.”She had prescription narcotics left over fromchildbirth, and in an attempt to get a few hours of restful sleep one night, she took some. Whateverbiological marker lurked within was instantly pushedinto the “on” position, and her addiction soon mani-fested itself with frightening force.“They gave me energy,” she said. “I could takethem and conquer the world. And when you add thatinto a situation where you feel helpless, the pillsgive you false hope. It was a recipe for disaster.”
‘Nobody knew’
The first warning sign was when she ran out of the original prescription. That fleeting moment of panic seized, and she soon turned to shady onlinepharmaceutical sites that charged $400 per prescrip-tion. The entire time, she continued to sell real estateand maintain a front of domestic bliss.“Nobody knew,” she said. “It was a secret. Ithought that if I didn’t take them, if I didn’t havethem, then I couldn’t cope. And if I couldn’t cope, Iwould be a failure.”She convinced a physician friend to write her aprescription, and soon she began altering the pre-scriptions. She remembers clearly the first time shesuccessfully had one filled: the heart-pounding terrorof waiting at the pharmacy counter, and the exhila-rating thrill of walking out with the pills.“You live in such short-term little periods,” shesaid. “There’s not much of a future,because your future is the next 20days until you run out of pills again.By the grace of God, I didn’t have anactual street dealer, or I would bedead.“Nobody wanted to quit morethan me, I just wasn’t capable of it.It was overwhelming. I would try fora day or two, and then I would getsick. People have asked me, ‘Didn’t you love yourson more than that?’ But it had nothing to do withhim. You simply can’t, because you’re incapable.”
End of the road
Like all addicts, Sells-Gourley eventually came tothe end of her road when the 5th Judicial DistrictDrug Task Force was alerted to her prescriptionscheme. They questioned her in the parking lot of CVS and told her they would be back in touch.Despite her denials on the spot, she drove home witha sense of both dread and relief.Her first call was to her husband; her second, toher mother. They both rushed to her side, and Sells-Gourley admitted she needed help. She left for aFlorida rehabilitation program that day.It would be a year before charges were eventuallyfiled against her, and during that time, she workeddiligently on herself. In 2009, however, her attorney,Joe Costner, called. She was on vacation in Floridawhen he gave her the news: Face trial, or agree toDrug Court, which would include more than twomonths in jail.“For a fleeting moment there, it would have beenreal easy to stay in Florida, or take Keaton and justgo, because I was terrified,” she said. “But what elsewas I going to do?”She returned home and made preparations toreport to the jail. The night before, unable to sleep,she tip-toed into her son’s bedroom and watched thegentle rise and fall of his chest as he slept. Her tor-mented mind was a storm of fear and dread.“People think 67 days isn’t a long time, but beinga mom and having been through all that with him, Iwas terrified,” she said. “I kept thinking, ‘What if heforgets me? What if he thinks I’ve left him? What if he thinks I don’t love him anymore?’”
‘Really was a blessing’
Her time in jail — which began with stripping off her street clothes and being given lice shampoo dur-ing intake — wasn’t easy. She refused to let familymembers bring Keaton to visit her, for fear he wouldbe traumatized by seeing his mother behind glassand unable to embrace her. She called home once aweek. She prayed. And she began the next phase of her self-improvement.“It really was a blessing for me, because it took me out of all the pressure and isolated me and mademe focus on myself,” she said. “I made friendshipsin there, too, because I was no different than theywere except for family support and a little bit of money. And in the end, none of that matters. All youhave in this life is God and family, and that’s all thatmatters.”After her release,Drug Court served asher anchor. Shereturned to work with-in a week of herrelease; in 2011, sheadvocated for theappointment of TammyHarrington — theassistant district attor-ney general who prosecuted her case — to theCircuit Court bench.“At that time, it would have been super-easy forme to fall off the wagon,” she said. “I’d like to think I would have stayed on my path, but I can’t say forcertain.”These days, she’s more successful than ever —Coldwell Banker Wallace & Wallace announced lastweek she was the top closing agent for the first quar-ter of 2013 — in her professional life. Throughwork, commitment and time, she and her husbandare closer than ever and now have another son —Kollin, 2. And she serves as a member of the non-profit Blount County Drug Court Foundation, theorganization dedicated to providing financial supportand publicity for the very program of which she wasonce a part.“It makes me feel good, and I’m honored to doit,” she said. “For me personally, the most importantthing in life is to have a purpose, and maybe I wentthrough what I went through to help others and showthat people can change and come out on the otherside. Anybody can. It’s not a death sentence. Lifewill go on.”
“It really was a blessing for me, because it took me out of all the pressure and isolated me and made me focus on myself.”
Photo by TOM SHERLIN | THE DAILY TIMESKarla Sells-Gourley, once a participant in the Blount CountyDrug Court program, is now on the board of the program’sfoundation, a nonprofit organization that raises funds for reha-bilitating repeat nonviolent drug offenders in the community.
Page 3Tennessee Association of DrugCourt Professionals
TADCP M
EMBERS
E
NJOY
....
B
Y
M
ARY
S
CHNEIDER
•
C
ONTINUING
E
DUCATION
O
PPORTUNITIES
(NAADAC
AND
CLE)
•
A
NNUAL
TADCP C
ONFERENCE
•
Q
UARTERLY
N
EWSLETTER
•
R
EPRESENTATION THROUGH THE
TADCP L
EGISLATIVE
C
OMMITTEE
•
F
REE AND
D
ISCOUNTED
T
RAINING
O
PPORTUNITIES
Tennessee Recovery Courts. Sounds upbeat andpositive, doesn’t it? At the Coordinators’Conference, Commissioner Varney met with us.DMHSAS is encouraging us to call ourselves"recovery courts". This puts the emphasis onrecovery, which is positive, instead of drugs, whichhas a negative connotation. We were even givensome goodies with Tennessee Recovery Courts on itto encourage our use of this term. I presented thisto my staff at our staff meeting and they like it andagree it is a better term. So we are changing ourletterhead, name, etc. to reflect this change. Ouradministrative assistant started answering the phonewith "Recovery Court" and got some hang-ups. Soit will be an adjustment! But we thank DMHSASfor putting thought into how to better present our-selves to the public and to the legislators. DMH-SAS definitely has our backs!Another thing that was really obvious at theCoordinators’ Conference is there is a lot of changegoing on in our recovery courts across the state.We had at least two coordinators that had been onthe job less than a week. There were lots of newfaces that had come on board since the last confer-ence a year ago. In the next five years we will belosing some of our veteran coordinators to retire-ment. So once again that old adage is true….theonly thing that is constant is change. But with change comes opportunity! I continueto be impressed by DMHSAS and their efforts tofind ways to support our courts. The ProblemSolving TN-WITS database will be a huge adjust-ment for all of us, but it means we no longer haveto do State Reports! We will also be able to runany number of reports that our stakeholders may beinterested in. And Commissioner Varney has theear of the Governor, and he is actually listening!So, yes, the future could be a rollercoaster ride, buthang on, because the fun is just starting! Regards,Mary Schneider, LAPSW
T
HE
P
RESIDENT
’
S
C
ORNER
Do not read this. Not unless you can risk getting hooked— hooked into something that could do more for BlountCounty than anything you’ve ever done before. Not unless you understand the tremulous truth behind thisphrase of unknown origin: “There but for the grace of God,go I.”On May 1, The Daily Times published a Special DrugCourt Section. It was the endeavor of a staff writer whoknows whereof he speaks. And speak he does. WeekendEditor Steve Wildsmith writes regularly of his own continu-ing recovery from substance abuse in his very personal col-umn, Just For Today.His honesty in baring his demons allows him to gain thetrust of others who’ve pulled themselves from the hellishdepths of addiction. Karla Sells-Gourley is one of thosefaithful.On the front page of that edition of The Times, Wildsmithwrote the centerpiece story under the headline RedemptionSong. The story highlighted the life path of Sells-Gourley, ajourney that almost ended in the quicksand of prescriptiondrug addiction.The photograph with the story shows a smiling Sells-Gourley, standing on a deck overlooking the Pistol Creek lake in Maryville’s Bicentennial Greenbelt Park. She lookslike a smartly dressed model posing for a fashion catalog.That wasn’t the first time Sells-Gourley made Page 1A.There wasn’t anything pretty about the first time. In 2009,her story was topped with these words: Local Realtorcharged with three counts of prescription fraud. She read theheadline while inside the Blount County Jail.Today, thanks to her perseverance, her determination, hercourage, she is in recovery. She’s also back with her family,back at work, and giving back by serving on the BlountCounty Drug Court Foundation.Thanks to the Drug Court, Blount County native Sells-Gourley is an active contributor to her community. She, too,knows whereof she speaks. Like Wildsmith, she’s been there,done that — and still truckin’ one day at a time.As Sells-Gourley told Wildsmith: “Maybe I went throughwhat I went through to help others and show that people canchange and come out on the other side. Anybody can. It’snot a death sentence. Life will go on.”Sure it can. But there’s no guarantee the Drug Court will.Founded with the aid of a federal grant of almost $400,000awarded in 1998, the Drug Court — just like its clients —has gone through hard times. Grants run out. Recession hitsrevenues. Budgets get squeezed. Bottom line: The DrugCourt has exceeded its fund balance and come up $27,000short. The dad-gummed stupid part about that is the DrugCourt, aside from saving lives from ruination, saves dollarsby the truckload — far more than $27,000.Take an example: Three women in the Drug Court pro-gram gave birth to babies who likely would have been bornaddicted. Cost of medical care for three baby addicts:$750,000.Based on information from the National Institute on DrugAbuse, substance abuse costs Blount County more than $100million annually. Law enforcement officials estimate 85 per-cent or more of crimes committed in the county are drug-related. There are skeptics. There are those who believeaddiction is a symptom of personal weakness or moral dep-ravation. There those suspicious of a program that can countmore failures than successes. Amy Galyon thought that, too. She investigated childabuse cases for the Department of Human Services and forthe Blount County Sheriff’s Office. She worked for BlountCounty Probation. She visited drug-addicted children in thehospital and thought the worst of their parents.“I thought they were bad. I thought they were bad people,they made bad choices, and they needed to rot away under-neath a jail cell somewhere for the rest of their lives.” Then Galyon was named director of the Blount CountyDrug Court program in 2010 to get it back on track. Her new job was a revelation.“Our biggest challenge? People not understanding addic-tion as a disease and not looking at it as a disease. Yes, thatdisease causes bad choices; but we can address the badchoices; it just takes time and the willingness to change per-spectives.” You were warned not to read this. But since you’ve gottenthis far, do this: Log onto http://www.blountcountydrugcourt-foundation.org . Find out what you can do for BlountCounty. Double-dog dare ya.
B
LOUNT
C
OUNTY
C
AN
’
T
A
FFORD
N
OT TO
F
UND
D
RUG
C
OURT
P
ROGRAM
More than 25 of the area’s most popularfood trucks came together on May 10th indowntown Franklin for the second Eat theStreet Fundraiser benefiting the 21st DrugCourt.In addition to noshing on the varied culi-nary offerings created from mobile kitchens,attendees enjoyed live music and a kids area.The event lasted from 4:00 until 8:00 pmwith a special event at the Franklin Theatrestarting at 7:00. The Theatre event includedlive music, a silent auction followed by amovie.Puckett’s Grocery, one of the food trucksinvolved in the event, stated. “We gotinvolved because it is a great cause and wehave worked with (drug court coordinator)Marianne Schroer, who is a wonderful lady,and the 21st Drug Court before”, said MaxStephenson, Jr., General Manager atPuckett’s. “We got our new food truck lastyear so being involved in this event was a nobrainer for us.” This year‚s event was a bigsuccess with over 6,000 people in atten-dance! It served the dual purpose of raisingawareness and money for the 21st DrugCourt program.
www.eatthestreetfranklin.com
E
AT
T
HE
S
TREET
F
RANKLIN
’
S
S
ECOND
A
NNUAL
F
OOD
T
RUCK
F
EST
B
ENEFITTINGTHE
21
ST
D
RUG
C
OURT IS A
H
UGE
S
UCCESS