The Oglala Sioux Tribe is using a 10 million dollar federal grant to establish a recovery program. “Access to Recovery” provides vouchers for people facing roadblocks in treatment programs—from transportation, to child care, to insurance co-pays. Program Director Trina Janis says the OST’s program takes a different approach to recovery.

“Some people have a little bit of trouble wrapping their mind around that, because providers are used to— you know, the client comes in, the therapist tells them, ‘this is the problem—this is what you need to do,’ and this is where you need to go.’ And Access to Recovery is the total opposite. You know, the client comes in, the client tells the person doing the assessment— this is what’s wrong, this is what I wanna do, and this is where I wanna go. And the concept behind that is that, people will make it their own.”

Janis says Access to Recovery accepts Native American patients between ages 10 and 80, who live in western South Dakota or Western Nebraska, and who have a diagnosed abuse disorder. She says officials are working to promote the program through provider trainings in the service area.