MEINERS OAKS : Now Old Pharmacy Is Recovery Center

It’s easy to find the new Ojai Valley Center in Meiners Oaks, one of three recovery centers run by the Ventura County Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs.

Just look for the rooftop sign that proclaims “DRUGS” in large letters that can be seen a block away.

The former pharmacy, which served the rural community for more than three decades, closed shop two years ago and the building’s owner has yet to remove the old sign, said Diana Sandefur, who staffs the new counseling center at 145 W. El Roblar Drive.

“We are working with the owner to get the sign down,” Sandefur said. “We wanted to get opened up first.”

Remodeled with a new lobby, carpeting, a kitchen with microwave and a classroom that seats about 20 people, the Ojai Valley Center opened in late June to provide counseling, referrals and a meeting room for groups that deal with alcohol, drugs and other problems.

The center, which is between a barbershop and a newly relocated pregnancy counseling service, is four blocks east of the busy Alano Club, where dozens of 12-step support groups meet from dawn to dusk seven days a week.

Unlike the Alano Club, the counseling center does not allow tobacco smoking because it is a county facility, Sandefur said. The center is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and some evenings for group meetings.

“It’s open to any 12-step support group,” Sandefur said, referring to groups that range from Alcoholics Anonymous to Overeaters Anonymous. However, she said, “we’re trying to open it up to more community services to get more services to people in the valley.”

One little-known service, anonymous blood tests for the HIV or AIDS virus, is conducted once a month by a Ventura County Health Department team and is free. Test dates and times are posted on the center’s door each month. Results are available in two weeks.

Other services include mental health counseling, assertiveness training and a court-mandated alcohol information school. A series of Sunday evening potlucks and games designed to bring families together will begin Sept. 23.

Soft “stress-reduction” music wafts through the building while Sandefur holds forth to clients. She also started a lending library of resource books that are, so far, mostly her own.

Established in 1987 as a satellite office to the West County Counseling Service on Main Street in Ventura, the center operated for three years in a downtown Ojai office building as the Ventura County Counseling Services.

When the lease expired, the county could not afford the new rent, said Judi Balcerzak-Dyer, the county department’s program manager for the alcohol services division. The satellite program is funded through state and federal grants, county allocations and low-cost client fees.

The new location was chosen, she said, because it is near the Alano Club and the rent is affordable.

“It seems to be centrally located and it’s on the bus line,” Sandefur said. “The neighbors around here are wonderful too.”

Debbie Pappas, owner of the beauty shop next door, said the center is a good neighbor. “They’re pretty quiet,” Pappas said.