Former offender turned social worker 
co-operates ‘best kept secret in Newton’

Terry Sallis stood outside of the Center for Arts & Artists on Friday having what appeared to be a casual conversation in a circle of people. Sallis, an average height 61-year-old African American, stood with his hands in his khaki shorts chatting with a young man in a plain white T-shirt and jeans who appeared to be in his late teens or early 20s. To his left stood Karen Sallis and Kim Zantingh. They all wore smiles.

But, as relaxed as the circle appeared, the implications of the gathering could have profound effects on the young man’s lifestyle and future — a path that Terry knows intimately.

“We were just talking to a guy out here a few minutes ago and he said, ‘I think I need a little bit more help than just myself,’” Terry said a short time later in his office. “And for the most part, addicts think that this is a disease or a disorder that they can fix themselves without the help of other people, and that’s just simply not the case.”

Together, Terry and his wife, Karen Sallis, have operated Integrated Treatment Services (ITS), LLC at the CAA for seven years. Both are licensed masters social workers, but in 2000, Terry had just been released from the Newton Correctional Facility with only an abstract plan. He had served time stemming from forgery charges and had been living a lifestyle of drug abuse. The drive for the financial means to continue using, he says, put him and his wife into bankruptcy.

Some addicts describe an “aha moment,” Terry explained.

It’s a moment where a light bulb turns on and a decision is made to quit using. The Newton social worker said he never had that moment, but a long process of realization that had a subtle yet powerful end point.

“A lot of people say they have that moment,” he said. “But when I was in prison, my wife brought my two youngest kids down to see me. They were 7 and 8 at the time. I was sitting out in the prison yard, just absorbing this unconditional love that my children have given me, and it dawned on me that I had no right other than to give them a healthy parent and a healthy dad. I really made my mind up with some degree of finality that I’m done with that life.”

The couple has been together since 1973, and Karen Sallis saw her husband in every stage an addict goes through. But she said her background serving people facing similar addictions gave her hope and perhaps a bit of intrigue.

“It was frustrating. I saw this man who was extremely intelligent who was self-destructive with drug use. I was powerless to make him stop, but I never gave up hope that he would turn it around. I found it relatively easy to believe in him because he was so intelligent. When he wasn’t using he was just great,” she laughed.

“It was kind of a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde thing,” Terry added.

“Frankly, I kind of counseled him, and I don’t know if most wives can do that.” Karen continued. Since I had been in this business a long time, and of course I got attracted to him.”

The Sallis’ use their first-hand experiences with addiction and its effects to relate to those they serve. A Waterloo native, Terry said he entered the system for the first time at 17, serving time at the juvenile detention center in Eldora. He graduated from high school at the juvenile center in Toledo. But the therapist stresses that he does not interject his personal story into therapy. It’s used as a starting point to gain trust, but detailed stories of his own abuse remain silent. Terry said that treatment needs to be about those being served.

“It gives me an acute awareness of the issues that our client base experiences,” he said. “Having experienced similar problems myself, I certainly have a better understanding ... It’s easier to build a rapport with them. They trust me when they come to the door. I don’t have a tougher problem as to getting their respect and gaining their ear. It makes the therapeutic process go a lot smoother.”

The clinic provides a base-level 10 hours per week treatment program and serves 50 to 100 clients a year. ITS therapists treat addicts from throughout the state. Terry said many of their clients come from Des Moines and Waterloo, a large percentage of their clients come from the African American community. ITS specializes in cultural specific and racial/ethnic specific treatment, and many of their clients are ex offenders recently released from prison.

"We pride ourselves on working on some of the most resistant clients resistant to treatment,"
Terry said.

The clinic does not have a direct relationship with state correctional facilities, but ITS receives many referrals from Spectrum Resources, a re-entrance agency where Terry held an internship.

But where the therapists at ITS pride themselves is their style of treatment. They believe in involving the entire family in the rehabilitation process. The Sallis’ will meet with the user and also with parents, children and adolescents to involve the entire family in the process. Zantingh is a Licensed Independent Social Worker (LISW) who also practices at ITS. She said it’s important to involve children in conversations to help develop an understanding of their parent’s addiction.

“They need to understand that it has nothing to do with them. It’s not their fault,” she said. “And try to help them understand in some kind of way the power that that addiction has over their parent and when the parent is using, they are not really who they are. They see that, but when they see their parent using, all those things the person said before are gone. They lied. When your parent is using, he’s not the same daddy that you know.”

Currently, ITS is taking steps to add mental health treatment to their service offerings. Terry said there are many co-occurring disorders with substance abuse that need to be addressed to mitigate relapsing. Isolating the underlying issues involved in the abuse, he said, make most other problems secondary.

“When clients go to get treatment for substance abuse, they rarely get diagnosed with a mental health piece,” he said.

Terry Sallis graduated from the University of Iowa with his master’s degree in 2008, eight years after leaving prison. He said that he would not have been able to accomplish his goals if it were not for people in Newton who helped along the way. In 2003, clinical psychologist Dr. Thomas Thorpe “took a chance” and hired the burgeoning therapist. Sallis said it was difficult to get a job due to his criminal history.

He said Newton residents Dale Maki, Curran Cotton and Spectrum Resources owner Gerald Bradley were all instrumental in helping him succeed.

“We want to give back to this community that has been very, very good to us. We love it here,” Terry said.

But above all, the support of Karen and his family were as instrumental to his recovery as any treatment.

“You have to have support,” Terry said. “And I dare say that my wife has been more than supportive. She hung with me through the years and dealing with the things that I did, dealing with my addiction, including putting us into bankruptcy. She stood behind me and supported me and continued to believe in me. And that’s critical.”

Mike Mendenhall can be contacted at (641) 792-3121 ext. 422 or via email at mmendenhall@newtondailynews.com.