Latinas Center Helps Women Break Addictions, Barriers : Oxnard: Problems with skeptical neighbors and an audit that found minor discrepancies in the residential program’s finances have been resolved, officials say.

While addicted to drugs and alcohol, Annabell Rivas was in and out of jail for 10 years, mostly for such crimes as petty theft and being under the influence of drugs.

Rivas, 31, the mother of seven, said her life was a pattern of drug-induced deliriums and jail terms. Her future looked dim until she decided to end the cycle.

“I was tired of going to jail,” Rivas said. “I said to myself, ‘I deserve better than jail.’ ”

She entered several recovery programs, but she said most were aimed at changing her religious persuasion. Rivas also found it disturbing that most counselors couldn’t speak Spanish and didn’t understand the cultural pressures she faced as a Mexican-American woman.

Then she discovered the Latinas Center in Oxnard, the only residential program in Ventura County that specializes in treating Mexican-American women addicted to alcohol and drugs.

Its 90-day program for up to six women at a time provides abuse therapy and stress management and employment counseling among other services. But unlike other programs, Latinas Center is run by Mexican-American women who are attuned to the cultural and language factors that make drug and alcohol abuse among Latinas a unique problem.

The program, which is funded by Ventura County, was formulated with the help of the California Hispanic Commission, which operates similar programs statewide, said Cata Gomez, Latinas Center executive director.

Carol Tirado, who graduated from the program two months ago, said Mexican-American women frequently have been taught to keep silent about personal problems. They are told that admitting an addiction would bring shame to a family, she said.

“The problem is, you can’t tell anyone what is going on in your life because it’s usually a tragedy,” said Tirado, adding that she realized she needed help when she gave birth to an alcohol-addicted baby.

Like its clients, the center has overcome barriers since it began operating seven months ago in a sunny, two-story house in a quiet residential neighborhood in north Oxnard.

After the opening, neighbors protested to city and state officials, saying they feared that the center would generate noise and violence, Gomez said.

Since then, Gomez said, most of the neighbors have learned that their fears were unfounded. “We can guarantee to them that there are no drugs being used here,” she said. “Other neighbors can’t.”

Several months later, a routine audit discovered minor discrepancies in the center’s financial reporting, said Steven Kaplan, the county director for alcohol and drug awareness programs.

Kaplan said the discrepancies were resolved.

“The audit was part of the growing pains of development,” he said. “They were learning the ropes on how to operate a nonprofit program.”

Although the county funds five other alcohol and drug rehabilitation programs, Kaplan said a study determined last year that a program aimed at Latinas would fill “a significant gap in our services.”

There is little data to document the extent of alcohol abuse in the Latino community and even less data on Latinas. But some studies indicate that the problem is worsening.

For example, a panel at Cal State Northridge reported last year that alcohol abuse among young Latinas is on the rise and that they could be on their way to developing the same kinds of serious alcohol-related problems facing Latino men.

In March, the Centers for Disease Control reported that women represented about 30% of all alcohol-related deaths nationwide in 1987. The federal agency does not keep statistics on alcohol-related deaths among Mexican-Americans.

Gomez said she believes that drinking problems among Latinas are seriously under-reported because of strong cultural sanctions against female overindulging.

“There are a lot of girls out there trying to reach out, and they just don’t know how to get help,” Rivas said.

Gomez said Latinas who abuse drug and alcohol usually have a history of domestic violence, divorce, dysfunctional families and crime. The women treated at the center have abused everything from heroin to cocaine to alcohol, she said.

In the Latino culture, a woman is expected to stay with a husband even if he abuses drugs and alcohol, she said. However, if a woman abuses, her partner usually will abandon her, Gomez said.

The only prerequisite for women entering the Latinas Center is a desire to stay sober, Gomez said, adding that clients’ costs are figured according to their income. Most clients’ children are housed with foster families while the mothers are in the center.

For the first 30 days of the program, every moment is scheduled, beginning with meditation at 6:30 a.m. and including therapy sessions, workshops, guest speakers and group discussions. The days end at 10:30 p.m. after a half-hour stress management session.

During those 30 days, women are virtually cut off from the outside world and are not allowed to make phone calls or have visitors, she said. This is done to separate the clients from the people with whom they associated during their abusive behavior, Gomez said. Women are given more liberties during the second and third months of treatment, she said.

Tirado, who receives follow-up counseling at the center, said the initial isolation period is necessary. “If I’m around people that use, it rubs off,” she said.

Tirado said she has been sober for seven months. “I’m on a natural high,” she said with a smile. “I just feel terrific today.”

When she entered the program, Rivas, who is pregnant with her eighth child, said she was skeptical about breaking her abusive behavior.

“I didn’t think that I was going to change my inner self,” she said.

But after 35 days in the center, Rivas said she has gained self-confidence and self-respect. “I have learned how to be a woman; how to act like a lady,” she said.

For More Information

For more information on the Latinas Center program, call the Ventura County Hispanic Commission on Alcohol and Drug Services Inc. at (805) 988-1560.