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DEDICATION–Retired Superior Court Judge Robert Pickrell speaks with a client at the Salvation Army Recovery Center about outstanding traffic violations.
“There’s something special about this place,” said Carol Sylvester, interim co-director with Karen Marshall of The Salvation Army Recovery Center (SARC), located on the DHQ campus. With room for 100 clients, SARC is “all about making a difference in lives.”
One of the largest residential drug and alcohol recovery facilities in Maricopa County, it has a 35 percent completion rate, “one of the highest in the county.”
The six-month residential program has two phases: the first serves to stabilize the clients, who typically come from jail, the streets, or other agencies. Here, clients participate in work therapy and relearn responsible behavior. In the second phase, clients undergo more intensive treatment, including addressing anger management, grief issues, sex abuse issues, healthy relationships, and esteem building.
After completing the six-month program, clients can apply for transitional living housing, where they can stay for up to 18 months.
In addition to cleaning up addictions, clients usually have significant legal problems to deal with. If left unresolved, these can be the start of a downward spiral after they graduate from the program. In 1991, retired Superior Court Judge Robert Pickrell started a program to help clients untangle legal situations. Four attorneys now help clients here and at the Adult Rehabilitation Center; all volunteer their services. “It’s a good feeling to work in a rehabilitation setting,” he said. “The need for legal services for these people is overwhelming: taxes, debt, bankruptcy. If you can talk over legal problems while they are going through rehabilitation, you can get things settled before they get out on their own.”