Saving Young Lives

Story by Melanie Jones

When teenagers struggling with addiction arrive at Sundown Ranch in search of help, many of them can’t imagine a bright future. But, according to Director of Organizational Excellence Kim Echols, these young people can live full, rich and productive lives with careers in fields ranging from education to medicine, law enforcement and beyond.

Graduates of the residential drug rehabilitation facility in Canton often express interest in coming back to work at Sundown Ranch. That’s possible if they’ve had two years of continuous sobriety and are of age. “We have had a lot of staff members over the years that were former clients, so they had seen both sides of it,” Kim says. “They have made phenomenal staff members.

“We’ve also had clients that have gone back into the world and are now sheriff’s deputies, lawyers, doctors,” she says. “We have clients that have become counselors, both licensed chemical dependency counselors and licensed professional counselors.”

Kim says many of the facility’s former clients keep in touch. That contact may fade as they grow up and have families of their own, but there are occasional letters or emails.

The Sundown Ranch campus looks like an old Western town. “People often come in and say it looks like the old Western town at Six Flags,” Kim says. “And yeah, it does. And sometimes it feels like the rides at Six Flags, just the highs and lows, but that’s not a bad thing. We have a bunch of kids that have made poor choices or have been put in situations that they should never have been put in.”

Many teens coming into the center have co-occurring conditions like depression, trauma or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. “It’s a matter of what came first, the chicken or the egg,” Kim says. “We have to figure out why they are self-medicating with illicit substances. Things like trauma happen, so we must treat it hand in hand.”

Sundown Ranch only admits adolescents who meet the criteria to be diagnosed with substance abuse or dependence. Once a client is admitted, the facility’s staff will also treat them for any additional disorders they’re grappling with.

In accordance with state law, Sundown treats adolescents ages 13-17. “I’m going into my 35th year here, and we receive calls for younger clients,” Kim says. “Although we get calls for admission on clients younger than 13, we cannot accept them in our program.”

Many factors can contribute to an individual developing a chemical dependency at such an early age. “Sometimes there’s a family system, sometimes it’s what they’re exposed to,” Kim says.

That’s why Sundown Ranch counsels not just the teens, but also their families. Clients attend weekly counseling sessions. Some of those sessions include their parents and some are with a Child Protective Services caseworker. “If nothing changes in the family system, that is going to set the client up for failure,” Kim says.

The center recommends families go to counseling on their own and with their children. Al-Anon or Celebrate Recovery meetings are also recommended so parents are prepared to reinforce their child’s sobriety once the family is reunited at home.

The ranch has therapists, chemical dependency counselors, two psychiatric nurse practitioners, a psychiatrist and a medical doctor. “So, we’re just like any other hospital,” Kim says. It is accredited by the Joint Commission on Hospital Organizations and licensed by the Texas Department of Health.

But it’s not all about counseling and psychiatry. The ranch has an equine therapy program where kids can brush, care for and lead the horses, and then, the most dependable teens get to ride the animals.

There are basketball, volleyball and four square courts. Residents can go fishing. There’s also a covered gymnasium. “We call it our big barn where they can do indoor activities during really hot weather or wet weather,” Kim says.

Sundown Ranch offers twice weekly worship services. “We do not dictate that for our clients,” Kim says. Residents who don’t want to go to the worship services attend Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous during that time. “There’s no mandating,” she says, “but I will tell you that the majority of our kids go.”

Then there’s the food. “One thing they’ve never complained about is the food because it’s home-cooking,” Kim says. Residents look forward to the days homemade desserts are served.

A charter school on the 450-acre property is open to all students in the county. The Sundown residents attend school there for four hours a day, though they and the students from the community attend classes in separate buildings to protect the anonymity of the center’s clients. “There are just things that they don’t need to be exposed to outside of here, that they may be exposed to at a regular school,” Kim says.

Sundown Ranch doesn’t do much advertising. Many of its former clients and their families recommend the treatment center to others who are experiencing similar struggles with addiction. “Our referrals have always come from word of mouth,” Kim says. “We always stay full.”