Lytton Springs has a tradition of salvation

Rehab program gives alcoholics, addicts another chance
at lifeby
BERT WILLIAMS – Staff Writer
Tipton Krimont enjoyed getting stopped by a highway patrol
officer not long ago. “I knew I was only going to get a ticket,” he
said with a grin.
A few years earlier he wouldn’t have been grinning. In the
mid-90s, Krimont’s life was a mess. “I knew I was an alcoholic,” he
said, “but I didn’t think it was a problem.”
A judge disagreed and ordered Krimont to enter a rehabilitation
program. He chose the Salvation Army’s Lytton Springs Adult
Rehabilitation Center, north of Healdsburg.
“When I finally got clean and sober,” said Krimont, “suddenly
there weren’t police around anymore. I didn’t have to jump behind a
bush when they were coming down the street.” It was a new
experience, but one that Krimont decided he could learn to live
with.
After graduating in August 1997, Krimont attended school and
worked at a construction job for awhile, then three years ago he
was offered a job at Lytton Springs. He is now the Rehabilitation
Center’s Maintenance Supervisor.
Clyde and Nancy Curnow direct the Lytton Springs program.
According to Clyde, most people working in the Salvation Army’s 119
Rehabilitation Centers across the country would not want to be
assigned to Lytton Springs. “A lot of Salvation Army officers feel
like this is the middle of nowhere,” he said.
The Curnow’s have lived in four western states and several
California cities in the course of their Salvation Army work. “We
have no input on our assignment,” said Clyde. “When you graduate,
you sign on the dotted line to go wherever you’re needed, but
living here is just absolutely where I belong … All the other
Centers are surrounded by concrete. This one is one of a kind.”
Curnow believes the rural setting is an important component in
the Lytton Springs program.
“I enjoy skeet shooting,” he said. “When the guys from Oakland
hear me out there shooting, I tell them, ‘Fellows, you’re used to
hearing that all the time. I’m just trying to make you feel at
home.'”
Home is what Lytton Springs has been for a long time, but not
always for recovering addicts.
The Salvation Army purchased the property and opened the Lytton
Orphanage and School for Boys and Girls in 1904. Fire gutted the
central building in 1920, and it was rebuilt in its current,
imposing form in 1921.
Eleven thousand children lived in the grand old building over
the years. Then state lawmakers decided that foster care was a
better way to care for orphaned children, and funding for large
orphanages dried up. The facility closed in 1954, then re-opened in
1957 as the Adult Rehabilitation Center.
The 90-bed men’s facility runs a highly-structured program. Men
pay nothing out of pocket to join the program, which lasts a
minimum of six months. In return, they are expected to work every
day, processing donated materials for resale.
It is a successful symbiotic relationship. The Rehabilitation
Center both supports, and is supported by, the men who go through
its program. Last year the sale of donated items, including autos,
produced nearly $6 million to keep the Center operating.
The men’s work is not only for the benefit the Center, however.
It is also a key to their rehabilitation.
“This place taught me living skills,” said Steve Woods, a 2000
graduate, and now a dock foreman in the operation. “I learned to
get up, eat three meals a day, work eight hours … This was the
perfect place for me. It taught me how to do a daily routine.”
John Davenport is Lytton Springs’ director of operations. He is
responsible for a fleet of 13 trucks and oversees the processing
and shipment of donated materials to 11 North Bay thrift shops.
Davenport supervises 115 workers, but he has not always had this
sort of responsibility.
“I was in jail for awhile in San Jose,” said Davenport. “When
you’re partying you don’t obey the law. I had to learn that here.”
Davenport graduated from the Lytton Springs program in January
1997.
“I was homeless for six years,” he said. “I was down to 156
pounds. Now I’m 220 … My relatives let me drive their cars. I’ve
got keys to their houses. They trust me to be around.”
In addition to their work during the day, the men in the
rehabilitation program attend classes every evening. They are
required to attend five Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous
meetings each week. If they do not have a high school diploma they
attend GED classes. If they smoke they attend smoking cessation
classes. There are classes in anger management and relapse
prevention, as well as personal and group counseling.
The men are busy every evening from 5 to 10 p.m. “By the time
it’s lights out, they’re dead tired and ready to sleep,” said
Curnow.
A spiritual emphasis is a key element in the Lytton Springs
program. “When they first call they’re told that it’s a Christian
program with chapel and Bible studies,” said Curnow. “It’s basic
ministry, introducing them to the word and the Lord. We hope when
they leave they’ll get connected with a denomination of their
choosing.”
Woods said that before coming to Lytton Springs he had no
religious background. “But if it wasn’t for him (God), I wouldn’t
be here. That’s for sure.”
“If it weren’t for God in my life, I still wouldn’t be clean and
sober,” said Davenport.
“If it wasn’t for the ministry, I wouldn’t be here,” said
Curnow. “Anyone can run thrift stores.” Both Clyde and Nancy are
ordained ministers, with the rank of major in the Salvation Army.
They began their work with the organization as church pastors.
Not everyone who enters the rehabilitation program at Lytton
Springs is successful. In fact, the majority are not.
“The first 30 days are the toughest,” said Curnow. “We put them
on a real stringent regimen … If they can last the 30 days, they
usually make it and graduate.”
About a third of Lytton Springs’ clients do graduate. Curnow
estimates that less than half of those stay sober.
It can be discouraging, Curnow said, but he also noted that most
programs have a lower success rate.
“It’s disappointing when you see others fail,” said Woods. But
he is realistic, explaining that the disease of addiction often
seems beyond control. “This disease kills people,” he said.
Davenport observed that not everyone who comes to Lytton Springs
is committed to his own rehabilitation. “A lot of these guys just
want to get out of jail,” he said.
Curnow confirmed that, noting that 60 percent of Lytton Springs’
enrollees are there because of a court order. “They really don’t
think they have a problem,” he said. “It’s the cops’ fault or the
judge’s fault … part of our job here is to deal with attitudes,” he
said.
“If you’re going to succeed you have to change one thing,” said
Woods, “and that’s everything.”
The graduates of Lytton Springs are encouraged to move from the
rehabilitation program into a transitional program. The Salvation
Army operates The Bridge House on the Lytton Springs campus. The
Center also refers graduates to Serenity House, a privately run
transitional program in Healdsburg.
Graduates of the Lytton Springs program must find a sponsor — a
recovering person with at least two years sobriety — to help them
become re-established in the outside world.
Local businesses often employ Lytton Springs’ graduates.
Healdsburg Lumber owner Eric Ziedrich said he has hired at least 50
graduates over the last dozen years.
“We’ve had some great success stories. Some became great
employees for us,” said Ziedrich. “There’s more of a drive to
succeed in the guys that have been through the program.”
“We’ve also had some tragic stories,” said Ziedrich, “but we’ve
had sad stories from folks we hired off the street too.”
Some men who don’t make it the first time try again at Lytton
Springs. When coming back after a relapse they are required to stay
a minimum of nine months. After a second relapse, they must commit
to another full year at the Center.
“After that,” said Curnow, “we become a referral agent to
another program … We work really closely with probation officers …
We never turn anyone away, but if we’re obviously not helping,
sometimes a change of scenery does help.”
Lytton Springs has a long waiting list, but Curnow said that if
the wait gets too long, the Center will help with a referral to
another program. More information about Lytton Springs can be
obtained from Intake Coordinator, Lee Cox, at 433-3334.