MRC AT COBB COUNTY COALITION MEETING!
Our therapy office attended the Cobb County Coalition meeting this month.
The coalition works to bridge Mental Health professionals in private practice and the Cobb County schools.
Our clinical director, Scott Pennington, LPC, has been a member of the coalition since 2014. It was great to catch up with all the other members and meet new members.
The meeting was held at The Zone in downtown Marietta. The Zone is a recovery community center in Cobb County opened in 2014. It is part of the Davis Direction Foundation, an organization created to provide resources to people recovering from drug addiction. The building includes several rooms with the main attraction being a quaint coffee shop for recovering individuals to meet and mingle.
It could feel terribly isolating when recovering from an addiction as you try to avoid social gatherings in places that could trigger you to return to unhealthy behaviors. Because of that, the Zone was created as a safe place for people with a common struggle to meet without the pressure of avoiding certain settings. This created an environment always available where people meet their community in an inviting and familiar setting.
We also had the opportunity to tour the COPE house (Cobb Overdose Prevention Education), a trailer representing a teen’s bedroom and bathroom. It was designed to educate parents on what signs to look for when a parent suspects a teen might be using substances. In light of the overdose epidemic, it is refreshing to see all the initiatives taking place in the county to educate the public. This mobile trailer has already been visiting some Cobb County schools and parents.
There was also a presentation from Hillside Atlanta, a treatment facility for children and adolescents specialized in Dialectic Behavioral Therapy. A representative from KSU also talked about their program for children and families offering support around mental illness challenges.
Ollie, the Zone’s therapy dog, apparently bored with our conversations, crashed on the couch to take a nap. She was a gift to the Zone and is highly trained to recognize people needing emotional support and to provide comfort.