When Rhonda first decided to seek treatment for opioid addiction, she didn’t want to be seen walking in the door of Volunteer Comprehensive Treatment Center.
She’d been given painkillers after throwing out her back and became dependent on them. Before she got treatment, she said she was judgmental of people who needed treatment for addiction.
The clinic, operating on Rossville Boulevard in Chattanooga for 30 years, offers counseling and medication to help people quit opioids and stay clean.
For years, clinic director Lana Holsomback said in an interview, the clinic was one of few in the area offering medications including methadone and suboxone, which ease withdrawal symptoms and help block cravings. Now, there are more options in and around Chattanooga, though not all offer the wraparound approach that aims to address the underlying causes of addiction, she said.
“You put people in categories without meaning to, and I’m so much more compassionate,” Rhonda, who declined to give her last name, said in an interview at the clinic Thursday. “There’s not just one story, there’s thousands of stories, and there’s no two that are just alike.”