Pinnacle Recovery Housing Data
I analyze intake data, including drugs of choice, average age, and average number of times someone has been to treatment before.
One of the things I love about my job at Pinnacle Recovery Services is that I am usually the first person that someone talks to when they are entering our program. I screen them on the phone when they reach out, schedule their date to check in, and perform their intakes. That means I have a good opportunity to represent Pinnacle the best that I can and give them a good impression. I value treating people fairly and no matter what kind of background they come from, treating them all the same is important to me.
Another thing I like about doing intakes at Pinnacle is that I can compile and evaluate data. I am not a statistician, but I enjoy simple numbers that can provide a clear picture of what we are working with. I like to pick up on trends and patterns, with the hope that I can use those numbers to measure outcomes – or just be a nerd.
Pinnacle is a recovery housing provider in Lansing, Michigan. We house all males, and they typically come to us straight from residential treatment programs or local jails. Everyone that comes here is from a 21 county region in mid-Michigan, so this is not a reflection of all recovery housing providers in the state.
Here is a breakdown of the data:
In 2024, Pinnacle had 105 admissions. The youngest new client was 20 years old, while the oldest was 68.
-The average age of new intakes was 40.41 years old.
-Drug of choice breakdown (some clients list more than one drug of choice; for instance, one client may have entered treatment for alcohol and cocaine use):
· Alcohol: 51 clients listed alcohol (48.5% of all new clients)
· Meth: 30 (28.5%)
· Cocaine: 26 (24.7%)
· Heroin: 16 (15.2%)
· Other Opioids: 8 (7.6%)
· Marijuana: 5 (4.8%)
· Benzodiazepines: 4 (3.8%)
· Ecstasy: 1 (0.9%)
-Alcohol remains the most common substance that individuals come into treatment for. A staggering 48.5% of individuals coming into Pinnacle were there for alcohol, which is up almost 4% from 2022, the last time I tracked this.
-I thought meth would see a bigger jump, but that was also up by roughly 4% since 2022.
-The biggest increase was actually cocaine. In 2024, 24.7% of individuals listed cocaine as one of their drugs of choice, which is up 11% from 2022.
-Also noteworthy, heroin saw a decrease, as roughly 15% of new Pinnacle clients listed heroin in 2024, which is down by 6% from 2022. That backs what I have been noticing, which is fewer people are coming into treatment for heroin use. It seems like when I was in treatment several years ago that almost half of people were there for heroin use.
-Unfortunately, relapses are often common in the recovery journey. It took me going to treatment probably 10 different times before I finally got it. Not that I have arrived at some destination where I am immune to relapse; it is still a one day at a time endeavor for me. But by the grace of God, I have been sober for more than four and a half years. When individuals are checking into Pinnacle, I ask them about their past and whether they have tried to get sober before. Most people that come in have been to treatment more than a couple of times. That is just the reality of the beast. One thing that stands out to me is that the average number of times someone has been to treatment before coming to Pinnacle is 4.32. That means that on average, people coming into Pinnacle have been to rehab four times. It takes what it takes.
I want to add that people in recovery are not numbers. We are people with different backgrounds, experiences, and stories. I know people that have been to rehab 30 times who never get it, and I know people that went to rehab once that have been sober for years. I used to hate when I was in rehab when counselors would tell us, “Only one out of ten people in this room will stay sober more than a year, so make the most of this.” That’s why when I run groups, I don’t bring up the statistics. This is something I do for me to track data. Most of this is probably meaningless information, but I find it interesting.