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Participants and staff highlight outcomes of Kalamazoo drug treatment courts during public comment
Summary
Multiple participants and program staff spoke at the May 20 meeting to mark National Treatment Court Month, describing program history, graduation counts and personal recovery stories; staff provided outcome figures for recent reporting periods.
Speakers at the May 20 Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners meeting recognized National Treatment Court Month and detailed program outcomes and personal recovery stories tied to the county’s specialty courts.
Michelle Dressen, life skills coordinator for the Ninth Circuit men’s and women’s drug treatment courts, told commissioners that Kalamazoo’s treatment courts have operated for 33 years and that the women’s drug treatment court was the nation’s first gender‑specific program. "Treatment courts have been in Kalamazoo for 33 years," Dressen said. "These programs remain in Kalamazoo because they work." She provided recent counts: 10 participants graduated from the men’s program and seven from the women’s program during the first half of the grant year; the family treatment court welcomed five new families and the juvenile drug treatment court welcomed six new youth.
Dressen said national data show treatment courts are among the most successful interventions for people with substance‑use and co‑occurring disorders, reducing crime and incarceration while improving employment and family stability.
Multiple program participants also spoke. Artesia Jones described her recovery and credited the program with helping her gain stability and sobriety: "Leaving this program, I have tended to every health concern regarding my daughter... I've learned how to become an active member of society and an active mother and overall a stronger woman," she said.
Denise Davis, a program graduate, told commissioners that after entering treatment court she secured stable employment and housing and had her children returned to her care; she said she will celebrate six years of sobriety in August. Gwendolyn (last name redacted in the record), a community advocate with Hope Through Navigation, congratulated graduates and credited the late Judge William Schmey for establishing the local specialty‑court model.
Board members and the chair thanked program staff, participants and supporters and recognized the outcomes and community benefits described.
Provenance: Michelle Dressen remarks (topicintro) at s=10989.745-e=11056.03; participant testimonials and community remarks (topfinish) at s=11309.53-e=11681.21.
