Bryan BainBridge on the Opioid Crisis in Tribal Communities

Frederica Freyberg:
Tribal nations in Wisconsin want to build an adolescent recovery and wellness center in Oneida County about an hour north of Wausau. The Youth Recovery Center would be a 36-bed residential facility for teens aged 13 to 17 with substance abuse disorder. Board members of the town of Cashen where it would be located oppose it, citing safety and reduced property values, among other concerns. The recovery center has been on hold because of local government opposition. Meanwhile, the opioid crisis has overtaken Native American communities in Wisconsin where overdose deaths are three times the state rate. The Menominee tribal chair saying our nation is in crisis. The Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council is building the center. We sat down with its CEO, Bryan BainBridge, following the State of The Tribes address. So describe for us what that opioid crisis looks like among tribal nations in Wisconsin.

Bryan BainBridge:
Well, the opioid crisis looks like any other community throughout Wisconsin, not just tribal. As we move forward and the tribes are seeing the crisis and needing to react, we need to make sure that we have a place, safe place, safe space where we can have an opportunity to save our kids, save other people’s kids throughout the whole state. And so as this facility is planned, you know, over 20 years in the making, the thought and moving forward and the need, you know, it’s — it’s really about, you know, making sure someone has a good place to go and, you know, it’s — with just about any type of trauma or incident, there’s a background, there’s a story to that, for each individual. We need to have a place where they’re comfortable telling that story in order to move them forward.

Frederica Freyberg:
What do you think about the concerns on the part of the local government?

Bryan BainBridge:
Well, I respect their concern, and even through — from the beginning after we purchased the — the tribes purchased the land, that was the first thing I did was reach out to the local government, the town board and said, hey, I want to be a good neighbor. I would like to share what we’re planning on doing here with this project and even invited the chair to my office. She showed up and we talked about it. I had conceptual drawings of the facility because there was some fears of thinking it was a detention center or a juvenile prison-type setting and the purpose isn’t that. It’s for individuals that really want to be in a place and get to a place of wellness. And it’s not meant to be institutional, because that’s not conducive to healing. You know, the stigma is already there and when someone is going through it, having a problem with substance use or even mental health, we really want to de-stigmatize that and keep those elements out of the property. So, you know, moving things forward and explaining just that, too, when we talk about concerns of the local government of making sure they have that understanding of really what the project is and the efforts that the tribes are putting forth, not only for our tribal member children and families, but for non-tribal as well. If there’s a need and it’s only 36-bed with very limited resources and facilities within the state, we want to make sure if there’s — if there’s a place and someone has a need, no matter who you are or where you come from, that we’re going to try to help. And we want to do that in a way to really set the gold standard.

Frederica Freyberg:
Did it surprise you, the opposition?

Bryan BainBridge:
It did a little bit, but with anything, any new development, without all the information, you know, people speculate and that goes through the community, and I wanted to get ahead of that. We’re actually going to do things as we develop to bring resources to the community with upgraded broadband. We’ll need that for our facility. Upgrades in the power. And upgrading the roads. Those are all things that benefit everybody within that township, that community.

Frederica Freyberg:
When a child comes out of this recovery and wellness center, what is the hope for that person?

Bryan BainBridge:
The most important part is to acknowledge the person and let them know it’s okay to be vulnerable for a second but get past that vulnerable point to be able to function and do good. And as we’re working with them inside the facility, we’re also preparing for that true wrap-around service. So when I say, what is our hope, you know, that is truly what we hope for, is to give a person an opportunity to define their own success and what that means.