One Heart works to improve referral process

RAPID CITY, S.D. — Recently, the One Heart campus in Rapid City has run into a few problems with some of its clients.

The organization is dedicated to individuals and families who agree to live sober and works to help them escape poverty once and for  all. The campus provides transitional housing and services for those looking to get on the straight and narrow, but has received some ineligible referrals from partnering organizations. There have been several cases of people being admitted were still battling alcoholism and other issues, and who were not prepared or ready for the program,

“One-hundred percent of our referrals come through our partners, and the issue, we had some partners sending us people and then walking away from them,” said Executive Director, Charity Doyle. “And not disclosing key information that we needed to know. So, some folks just could not handle the freedoms that this campus affords and what they really needed was a treatment center, and we’re just not a treatment center.”

Doyle wrote a letter to all partner organizations expressing her concern and frustration with the incorrect placement of clients. It did create friction between those trying to live right, fortunately, the individuals in question self-checked out from the campus, hopefully to get treatment.

Doyle describes the campus as supportive community, and says people are already moving their lives in the right direction.

20 clients living at the campus are enrolled in educational programs, and six individuals from various families have found steady jobs.