It’s also a job Nugen would be pleased to be put out of.
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Named for her parents, Leonard and Henrietta Nugen, Nugen-Logan started working at the ranch in 1985 and takes her work personally. She recalls growing up in a home where her parents were alcoholics, which is one reason Nugen’s Ranch sponsors Red Ribbon Week in local schools.
This year’s observance begins Friday and runs through Oct. 31 in an effort to encourage students to pursue a drug- and alcohol-free lifestyle, she said. Nugen’s Ranch provides area schools with red ribbons students can wear, along with red and white elastic bracelets.
With Red Ribbon Week about to begin, Nugen-Logan sat down with the Frontiersman to answer questions about drug and alcohol abuse and Nugen Ranch’s mission in the Valley.
Frontiersman: In your nearly 25 years at Nugen’s Ranch, can you identify trends in alcohol and drug addiction?
Nugen: Yes, actually. When the ranch first opened, the average age of our clients was in their 50s. It’s dedicated to the chronic people who haven’t been able to stay sober. Now, the average age is down to the late 20s, early 30s. Their choice (of drug) before was alcohol. Now, it’s more like meth, cocaine, heroine.
F: What do you think those trends show?
N: Actually, they’re using younger — and the free access is there. If they cannot get the hard drugs, they can always go to the alcohol. Alcohol is their secondary drug now. It’s changed over the years.
F: Explain your involvement with Red Ribbon Week in local schools. How important is it for education to begin early?
N: Years ago the message was “Just say no,” and that really didn’t work. It’s so important to start young to teach them what drugs and alcohol can do. And even then, when they hit (adolescence) or middle age, they still might use, but you hope you’ve planted a seed and it’s not going to be a lifetime or addictive-type of disease where they need a place like the ranch.
F: How many clients do you serve?
N: We’re funded for 25 long-term (six months to two years) clients. When the ranch first opened, it was 40, then we went down to 30, and it was all because of funding and the configuration of this very old building. When your funding decreases, you tend to condense.
F: From your experience, how do addicts rationalize their drug and alcohol use?
N: Basically, it’s “I can handle it,” or “I’m not a drunk,” or “I’m not out on the street.” But, sooner or later, it catches up to you. Those are things we hear all the time. Alcohol and substance abuse is a disease. It’s a chronic disease and it’s a progressive disease.
F: What are signs to look for to recognize if someone close to you has a drug or alcohol problem?
N: Well, if they drink alcohol every morning to wake up and go to work and start the day. You can notice people start getting shaky; they give the excuse they have the flu, but still drink all the time. They can become paranoid, shaking and having a lot of uncomfortable behaviors. A lot of people will actually turn to stealing to get money for their drugs. Anything to get the drugs — it becomes the focus of their lives. Unfortunately, by then they’ve lost their families or anything that means something to them, because their main focus in life has become getting high. Then, it’s progressed to a point they really need help.
F: What keeps you working with drug and alcohol addiction after nearly 25 years?
N: Part of it is, you have to understand that my parents were both chronic alcoholics. So, I’ve gone through the disease since I was a child. They both spent a lot of years in recovery. (Before their recovery) there was a lot of yelling, and my brother and I looked at how we want to raise our children compared to how we were raised. It made me more aware of alcohol and drinking. Do I drink? I used to, but I choose not to anymore. I’ve seen the bad side of it, and (alcohol is) just not that important.
F: How has that experience influenced your work at the ranch?
N: It’s something I want to continue. My father, he spent a lot of years struggling with that. He’s sober and he has dedicated his life to this facility.
F: In a perfect world, you wouldn’t have a job, right?
N: That would be the ultimate. In a perfect world, there wouldn’t be a need for a place like the ranch. That would be the greatest thing. Unfortunately, we’re still a society that glorifies alcohol and drug use. You can see it all the time on TV. I just look at that and think, “Oh my God, future clients.”
F: How does family experience contribute to addictive disease?
N: The biggest pressure is peer, and it’s my understanding that with the kids, it’s gotten worse over the years. We deal with a lot of parents every day too, they’re looking for the signs. Over the years, when dealing with parents or families, they say, “I knew there was a problem, but I didn’t think it was that bad.” No. 1, you need to get help for the person, then you need to hook up the other family members with support so they can understand the disease.
F: What is an “enabler?”
N: An enabler is someone who knows there’s a problem but isn’t willing to change and will help the alcoholic or the drug user continue their use. They’ll buy for them or they’ll call their work and say they have the flu and cover for them. You have to be able to make that choice and realize there are consequences for what people do.
F: What do you think when you see someone who’s made it back into society and is doing well, and others who don’t?
N: The ones who are a success and you can see out there in the community, it’s great. The ones who come through the ranch and stay sober, maybe six months, then they go back to using, you start to say to yourself, “What didn’t I do? What could I have done different? What didn’t I give them?” It is their choice, but you always ask yourself.
Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.
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1 comment(s)Cakes wrote on Oct 20, 2009 10:22 PM: