Rules are strict in challenge program

April 05--Why is Minnesota Adult & Teen Challenge a hard program to get through?

It's the rules, said William Beaston, a 24-year-old client from Delaware.

Clients have to adhere to housekeeping rules and do daily chores. They keep to a tight schedule that starts with breakfast at 6 a.m., includes treatment program classes throughout the day, choir practice and work-skills classes. There is some free time in the evening for watching TV in the lounge and hanging out, but it's lights out at 10:30 p.m., said Tom Truszinski, director of the new Rochester site of Minnesota Adult & Teen Challenge.

The long-term program has four levels for clients to complete. The purpose of Level 1 is to get to the root of what's causing an individual to abuse drugs and alcohol and to recognize destructive and habitual thoughts that lead to substance abuse, according to a MnTC brochure. Level 2 focuses on healing from past failures and broken relationships.

Level 3 helps clients work on character development and spiritual growth. And Level 4 involves planning for continuing care, which includes looking into education, employment, housing, financial planning, relationship skills, developing a support system and relapse prevention.

Residents are not supposed to leave the building without permission, and passes are given out sparingly. In the long-term program, residents get an eight-hour pass after being in the program for three months. After six months, they get a two-day pass, and after nine months, they get a four- or five-day pass, Mahoney said.

MnTC conducts random drug, alcohol and tobacco testing, and residents are tested when they come back from being away for any length of time. Sometimes people have relapses, Mahoney said.

"And if they come back and say 'I didn't realize how tough it was going to be,' or they may have hidden it and we found out in a drug test, we'll say 'you need more time,'" and their stay is extended, he said.

Origins in Brooklyn

MnTC is the official abbreviation for the program and how staff and clients usually refer to it. The original name, Minnesota Teen Challenge, came from the national Christian-based program started in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1958 by the Rev. David Wilkerson, according to the Teen Challenge USA website.

As the Minnesota program evolved to include adult clients, it changed its name to reflect that.

Beaston is participating in MnTC's faith-based, long-term program, which is funded through the state's Group Residential Housing program. It assists people who are vulnerable because of disabilities or chemical dependency.

The shorter-term program is state licensed, and clients choose either a faith-based or non-religious approach, said Mike Mahoney, the Rochester MnTC treatment director. It's funded through insurance company reimbursement. For those without insurance, there's the state's Consolidated Chemical Dependency Treatment Fund, which MnTC in Rochester will be able to access soon, Mahoney said.

MnTC also is funded through private donations. In fact, a single benefactor gave the Rochester organization $3 million toward its $5 million cost for purchasing and renovating the old Samaritan Bethany nursing home. Today, the center only has to come up with $500,000 for its first year of operation, Truszinski said.

"So, we have to fundraise. We go to churches on Sunday, and the (MnTC) choir sings, and we'll get anything from a couple of hundred dollars to many thousands," he said.

Returned from visit

Beaston recently came back from a trip to Delaware to see his family. The fact that he stayed away from the people and places that would have tempted him to use again was a significant achievement for the young man, Truszinski said.

"There were temptations that were very real, and he was able to persevere; and he came back. Sadly, there are people who don't come back," he said.

Truszinski, who has been sober for 18 years, said that watching people like Beaston change and progress inspires him.

"That's why I'm here. These guys are worth fighting for. They're amazing," he said.

The director had his own harrowing story of drug abuse and recovery. For 14 years during the 1980s and 1990s, he was a successful businessman working in the world of high finance.

"Tom was written up in the Wall Street Journal, Investors Business Daily and things like that," Amstutz said.

Motorycycle accident led to change

Truszinski had been smoking marijuana since the age of 13 and he continued it into his adulthood, along with drinking and other drugs.

"But I was one of those guys who could function anyway and have a successful career," he said. "You know, sometimes the way somebody looks on the outside is not what's really going on."

In May 1995, Truszinski got into a bad motorcycle accident that almost killed him. In the collision with a car, his right foot was severed from his leg and his hip was broken.

"I was lying there on the pavement and I saw my foot in a different spot," he said. "I wasn't religious at the time ... but I said something I never thought I'd say -- 'God, help me.'"

Truszinski, who is now a devout Christian, went through a number of treatment programs in St. Cloud and became involved in a church. Thinking back to that time in his life, he said the people who helped him then are part of why he works at MnTC today.

"Somebody was willing to fight for me. That's what we're doing for these guys," he said.

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