WE’VE ALL SEEN the ads — wrinkle creams that airbrush age, diet pills that dissolve fat, exercise machines that etch your abs — and thought: The before and after photos are not real.
Last Thursday, the real thing was on exhibit in Jefferson County Superior Court: “before” photos of four people arrested on drug or alcohol charges, and photos taken after they completed Drug Court.
A combination of treatment, counseling, group support and oversight, Drug Court usually takes a year to 18 months to get through but, judging from the photographs, takes 10 years off a person’s appearance.
One example: Keven Guin, whose “before” image resembled a modern-day Mr. Hyde.
“The general consensus is he is Doogie Howser,” said Ford Kessler, comparing Guin’s second photo to the 16-year-old character in a television sitcom.
Kessler is head of Safe Harbor Recovery Center and one of the speakers at the graduation ceremony for Guin and three other Drug Court graduates: Eledia Fredrick, Marilyn Richards and Jonathan Page.
Held in the Superior Court courtroom, the celebration drew a full house of family and friends, who joined Drug Court officials in commending the graduates for choosing life over drug addiction.
“From the photo, you can see Eledia was almost lost, and we got her back,” said spouse Tracy Fredrick.
While the change in Eledia’s appearance was dramatic, the changes were more than skin deep.
Kessler said he watched her develop into a loving mother for her daughters and a loving spouse to her husband.
Scott Rosekrans, prosecuting attorney, said Eledia used the tools she was given in the program to repair the damage to her family.
A friend attending the ceremony said Eledia, who is attending Peninsula College, looked so radiant and transformed that it was hard to remember her looking like her mug shot.
‘Improved wife’
“I don’t have the same wife,” Tracy Fredrick said. “I have a new improved wife.”
Eledia Fredrick’s commitment to changing her life was a model for Richards, another graduate, who told her, “I knew I wanted what you have.”
Richards also thanked Kessler and Drug Court officials for reversing her slide into a state of delusion that was separating her from her children and husband.
“These guys gave me my life back and my family back,” she said. “This turned my life around.”
Drug Court is an option offered to nonviolent offenders who opt for treatment as an alternative to jail, Rosekrans said.
Most receive in-patient treatment, and all sign up for counseling at Safe Harbor.
Participants are required to undergo random drug tests, attend Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings and participate in a weekly round table at the courthouse.
Eledia Fredrick and Richards emerged as leaders of the weekly round tables, where participants discuss progress and problems.
Rosekrans said he knew he didn’t have to respond when he saw the two women leaning forward, ready to refute excuses.
“They became a force to deal with,” he said.
For Guin, being honest about his addiction was the turning point.
Attorney Richard Davies said when Guin was arrested for possession, he turned down an offer to try to get him off the charges.
“He said, ‘It’s not the meth in my pocket that’s the problem; it’s what it’s doing to my body,’” Davies said.
Guin said his path in life changed when he attended his first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting at the jail and found out he could get treatment.
And what someone told him became his compass: Be honest with yourself.
Addicts tend to believe their own lies, Rosekrans said.
Guin succeeded when he started being upfront about why he was arrested, even when he was applying for jobs.
“He said, ‘I was honest with an employer and got the job anyway,’” Rosekrans said.
The difference between before and after photos of Page was not as dramatic.
Arrested in Kitsap County for charges relating to prescription drugs, Page had been in treatment and recovery before, Kessler said, but had a relapse.
At the graduation ceremony, Peggy Ann Bierbaum, court commissioner, said that while other participants had their ups and downs, she noticed that Page was always smiling.
“I wondered why,” she said. “Then I saw Jackson, his son.”
Great things
Being in the same room with their children, saving their marriages, having their children not be embarrassed to have friends over, spending Thanksgiving with parents and siblings after decades of alienation — these were some of the things graduates said happened as a result of the program.
Page said it was the opposite of what he expected.
“I thought Drug Court was going to take away from my life,” he said. “It has given me my life back, a life greater, more fulfilling and happier than I could imagine.”
The Jefferson County Drug Court was started in 2003 by Thomas Majhan, former Superior Court judge, and Juelie Dalzell, former prosecuting attorney.
Since then, it has graduated 64 people, Bierbaum said.
To support people after graduation, Eledia Fredrick and Richards are organizing an alumni group.
“I’m grateful to have my life back and to have true friends,” Richards said.
Drug Court participants pay a fee and all fines related to their arrest before they can graduate, Rosekrans said.
On successful completion of the program, the charges against them are dismissed without prejudice, and at the graduation ceremony, their files are tossed into the trash.
________
Jennifer Jackson writes about Port Townsend and Jefferson County every Wednesday. To contact her with items for this column, phone 360-379-5688 or email jjackson@olypen.com.
