BY ROB MORRIS
The Virtue Center
ON THE FRONT LINES IN THE BATTLE AGAINST SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH STRUGGLES
F
or more than 50 years, The Virtue Center has played a pivotal role in helping clients who struggle with addiction, trauma, and mental illness. Now the Cleveland County non-profit is building a brand-new facility that is specially designed for its work. Virtue Center Executive Director Teresa Collado says the new building will be a game-changer for the work done by the non-profit.
“The Virtue Center is an outpatient treatment center,” said Collado. “We offer a range of services, including individual therapy, family therapy, couple therapy, group therapy, case management, and peer recovery. We also have a paraprofessional who’s in recovery himself, and he works with people getting them connected in the community of recovery outside our doors.”
Collado says the Virtue Center also works hard to include the whole “First of all, the new building is ‘trauma-informed design,” said Collado. “There’s lots of light, lots of open space, and not just space, but a family in the treatment process. The new facility will have more famisafer-feeling space for our clients. It’s radically different than our cur- ly-friendly spaces and include a playroom off the reception area so that rent building, which is a former church building.” people don’t have to worry about bringing their children with them. “Family members don’t need to have the disease of addiction themCollado says that while the current building has served the needs of The Virtue Center well, it simply wasn’t built for the purposes for which selves to be profoundly impacted by it,” said Collado. “So, we treat them as well because of the way an addict’s actions impact the entire family.” it was being used. The pandemic has added stress to so many lives, and Collado says “We’ve been blessed by and are so very grateful for the current building,” said Collado. “You know, there’s such a stigma associated with she and her staff are seeing the repercussions of that stress over the substance addiction, gambling addiction, and mental health issues last year and a half. that we want our new building to represent their recovery and where “We’re seeing the severity increase, and that’s scary because addicthey’re going, not where they’re coming from.” tion is progressive and chronic,” said Collado. “So, we’re seeing a lot The Virtue Center was originally called the Norman Alcohol Informa- of trauma severity and relapses with people who have been steady in tion Center. Dick Virtue was a successful businessman in Norman who their recovery, but not the pandemic has been too much for them, and lost everything, including his family and children, because of alcohol- they’ve relapsed.” ism. Virtue dedicated his life in recovery to helping fellow alcoholics, which included those struggling with other addictions. Through that The Virtue Center serves clients across the area, including Cleveland, process, Virtue was able to rebuild his family. Garvin, McClain, and Grady County. Collado says they even occasionally get clients from Oklahoma County and as far away as Potawatomi CounVirtue was a lay minister in the Episcopal Church, and in 2017 the ty. Their capital campaign for the new building is still underway, and there non-profit decided to honor his legacy by renaming the non-profit to The is always a need for ongoing support. To find out more about The Virtue Virtue Center. The organization will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2022. Center, visit www.thevirtuecenter.org or call 405-321-0022. 16 | MOORE MONTHLY | DECEMBER 2021
