02/03/09 -ATIN - Operators of sober living facilities in the Los Angeles area, members most of a 300 or so strong local sober living coalition, report that relapse rates at their centers skyroketed over the holiday season as the national mood darkend amidst economic stormclouds the likes of which current generations have never even come close to seeing.

"Our census tumbled over 20 percent during the holidays, as one client after another succommed," says Andrew Martin, CEO of Serene Center Long Beach, a recently opened facility that seeks to provide a highly structured therapeutic transitional environment, working with primary care centers on a cross referral basis to help realize more fully on a chronic disease model of care. "Others [sober living facilities] in our coalition have been making similar grumblings at recents meetings," he continued.

In an unrelated development, Martin said that the founder of the LA County  Sober Living Coalition, Ken Schonlau, has passed. "He was a pioneer in this business," Martin said.

Newswire Staff

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