A drug rehab center located in West Palm Beach that helps women with substance use disorders across the South Florida region is expecting to lose funding by the end of the week.
Members of the rehab center, Mango Bay Retreat, learned this week that the funds that they receive from the state will no longer be provided. The facility learned about the cuts after being notified by its managing unit, the Southeast Florida Behavioral Health Network.
The addiction treatment center features certified addiction professionals and rehabilitation programs specialized in assisting women who are pregnant or have young children. But all women who want to overcome a substance use disorder are welcome.
The rehab center supports 12-step models that are implemented through traditional and intensive outpatient rehabilitation programs as well as a series of holistic treatment programs including acupuncture, life skills training sessions, parenting classes, yoga, massage and art therapy. Specialized services such as partial hospitalization are also offered by the center to the patients in need.
The pregnant women at Mango Bay Retreat have been able to receive not only psychological and emotional treatment services for their substance use disorders but also have been able to access prenatal medical services.
At the moment, the drug rehab center is assisting roughly 30 women. Seven patients at Mango Bay Retreat are currently pregnant. Due to the fact that the drug rehab center does not require patients to have health insurance, many of the women are afraid they would not be able to afford to pay for addiction treatment services elsewhere.
The members of the drug rehab center were told to not accept any more new patients at the moment.
Local officials, such as the Palm Beach County Mayor, have publicly expressed their concerns regarding the situation.
According to Mayor Melissa McKinlay, the drug rehab center is one of the single places in the West Palm Beach region that provide specialized professional help to women who have substance use disorders — particularly to those who will soon become mothers or do not have the ability to fully pay for an adequate addiction treatment services by themselves.
She also stated that she believes there may be issues with the paperwork that is the treatment center is required to submit to the Southeast Florida Behavioral Health Network.
The representatives of the drug rehab center explained that they have reached out to members of the Southeast Florida Behavioral Health Network but no explanation about the funding cuts has been provided yet. The representatives also stated that if there are any problems with the documents that are required from the facility, they should be easily fixable.
The staff at Mango Bay Retreat is currently asking the local community members for financial contributions that can help maintain the addiction treatment center operational.
So far, a donation that has been made by an anonymous source is going to be allowing the drug rehab center to continue to provide addiction treatment services to the women of the community for approximately one more week.
Author: Livia Areas-Holmblad
Livia Holmblad is an editor at Addiction Now and covers breaking news, features and everything in between. She moved to SoCal after living in NYC for about 10 years, where she worked for VICE and SinoVision as a writer, editor, host, producer, and director. Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro. Contact Livia at liviah@addictionnow.com
