(Cleveland) – The 71st Graduation Ceremony of the Greater Cleveland Drug Court was a lot different last Monday. The ceremony took place at the Cleveland Aquarium and included graduates from the Cleveland Municipal Court’s Mental Health and Community Court Dockets, 16 graduates total.
(Cleveland) – The 71st Graduation Ceremony of the Greater Cleveland Drug Court was a lot different last Monday. The ceremony took place at the Cleveland Aquarium and included graduates from the Cleveland Municipal Court’s Mental Health and Community Court Dockets, 16 graduates total.
“Since this event was a celebration of sobriety, we wanted to be away from the Justice Center in a totally different environment,” said the Honorable Lauren Moore who has presided over the Drug Court program since 2015.
Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, City Council President Blaine Griffin and Former City Council President Kevin Kelley were in attendance and all gave words of encouragement for the graduates, along with Judge Suzan Sweeney who oversees the Mental Health Docket and the Honorable Michelle D. Earley, Cleveland Municipal Court’s Administrative and Presiding Judge.
The keynote speaker for the ceremony was Brian Bailys, a Certified Public Accountant who founded a company based on his experience being treated for substance abuse. Bailys told the crowd he had his first drink at the age of 12 and blacked out drinking three years later. He was called an alcoholic in school and was proud of it. Years later he started his own business and that’s when life got out of control and his family intervened.
But the journey to sobriety was not quick or easy.
“What I learned was that the real gap in treatment was continuing care. What do you do after treatment,” he said.
In 2015 Brian founded Ascent, a company that developed an app to provide 24/7 treatment and today Brian is the CEO of Thrive Peer Support which employs 150 people and has helped over 5,000 people struggling with substance abuse in the State of Ohio. Going on eight years of sobriety, Brian Bailys is a changed man and a happy one.
“Now I have my wife back, I have my children back and I have the trust of my children back,” he said.
The Greater Cleveland Drug Court was established in 1998 under Judge Larry A. Jones Sr., who presided over the docket until 2008 when he was elected to the Eighth District Court of Appeals. Judge Jones passed away suddenly last October. Originally called the Mentally Disordered Offenders (MDO) Docket, the Mental Health Docket began in 2005 under the direction of Judge Kathleen Keough. Both the Greater Cleveland Drug Court and Mental Health Docket have received specialized docket certification from the Supreme Court of Ohio.
In order to receive the certification, the Court had to submit an application, undergo a site visit, and provide specific program materials in response to certification standards that went into effect in January 2014.
Specialized dockets are courts that are dedicated to specific types of offenses or offenders and use a combination of different techniques for holding offenders accountable while also addressing the underlying causes of their behavior.
More information on the Court’s programs can be accessed by visiting www.cmcoh.org