Treatment center aims to help women overcome addiction, eating disorders

Near the city line between Columbiana and Chelsea is a road many pass without noticing. For some, however, this is the road to recovery.

A few miles off Chelsea Road and down Crenshaw Road is Magnolia Creek Treatment Center, a residential treatment facility for women that specializes in eating disorders and substance abuse.

When Magnolia Creek opened in 2007, it was intended to be a small, quaint treatment location. Since Chief Operating Officer Linda Smith started four years ago, they have worked to reach out to the community and make the center available as a resource.

“It was like a hidden secret at the time, and the original owners did that for a purpose,” Smith said. “A lot of people in this area still don’t know we exist, so our goal is to get our name out there because we are the only residential program in the state of Alabama.”

The 36-acre property’s remote location helps clients get away from a busy lifestyle and focus on treatment, Smith said.

“If you have a mother who has children or she has a job, she’ll be able to come to a place where she is away from everything that kind of goes on in life,” Smith said. “I think it’s a healing that takes place here.”

The campus initially included the office building, a 14-bed residential building, a 10-bed partial hospitalization program, outdoor therapy areas and a small lake. In October, Magnolia Creek opened its substance abuse facility, which doubled the available beds on campus.

Residential treatment is for clients whose acuity, or need for medical care, is high, while partial hospitalization is for clients who have made progress and do not need 24-hour care. Smith said they accept many clients who might be turned away from other treatment centers, but because their team includes 24-hour nursing in addition to a psychiatrist, psychologist, family therapist, individual therapist, dietitian and physician, Magnolia Creek is able to help high-acuity patients.

“A lot of places, due to liability purposes, they won’t accept those clients, but because we offer such a huge team here, and the 24-hour medical care, we’re able to help those clients,” Smith said.

Clients adhere to a strict schedule which includes a variety of activities, ranging from group cooking classes to outdoor therapy to art groups, and Smith said they open up lesson topics to client suggestions.

The center works to focus on life skills, she said, such as job-interview preparation or writing a check, which can help clients readjust to everyday life following their treatment.

“We make them do the work,” Smith said. “They have a very structured schedule every day, and we have to hold them accountable.”

Magnolia Creek also takes clients on “experientials,” where they travel to and from the center’s property in a day-to-day setting. Taking clients out to a restaurant and observing their behavior can help normalize life after treatment, and allow that client’s treatment to be tailored to their needs, she said. 

“To see the beginning [of treatment] to the end, that experience — no words can describe saving someone’s life, and to me, being able to offer that in a state that doesn’t have many resources, that is beyond amazing to me,” Smith said. “You have to love the work you do to be able to do this.”

For more information about Magnolia Creek, go to magnolia-creek.com.