Mineral County Drug Court holds graduation

Andrew Waite

Mineral Independent

When Jeremy Tjensvold, 30, had pain in his shoulder nearly two years ago, he started drinking to cope with the discomfort.

He quickly became dependent on alcohol. Tjensvold said he would consume one fifth of liquor per day.  

“I was drinking myself sick,” Tjensvold said.

 Things got worse. Sometimes when he drank, he became dangerous, belligerent.

One February evening, Tjensvold was charged with assaulting his wife. That’s when he says he finally realized he needed to take control.

On July 15, Tjensvold graduated from Mineral County’s Drug Treatment Court.

The program offers personal attention to every participant and guides them through the 12 steps of recovery.

The process usually takes a little more than a year.

When the former addicts are finished with the counseling, the participants stay connected to the program by helping to mentor people who are still in the process of recovering.

Tjensvold was one of two graduates at last Wednesday’s ceremony in the Mineral County Court House. The other requested not to be named or photographed.

Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock attended the graduation because he wants to see Montana create more programs like the one in Mineral County and believes it is important to highlight successful results.

“I don’t know that there is a county this size or as rural that puts as much time and effort into [drug treatment court]” Bullock told the Mineral Independent. “Mineral County started out on it, they continue to be strong and they continue to be leaders.”

But the county’s program, one of about 20 in Montana, would not be successful without the hard work put in by people like Tjensvold.

When Tjensvold entered the treatment, he was required to attend counseling three times a week.

“I had it harder than most,” he recalls. “I was half-dead when I first started.” Tjensvold said his liver was almost useless when he entered drug treatment.

Nancy Smith, the counselor who worked with Tjensvold, said she remembers how grim the situation was at the beginning. Smith forces her students to write self-evaluations at the start and at the conclusion of the program so they can see how they’ve grown.

“In the beginning, they were self-centered, resistant and in denial,” Smith said of the graduates.

Slowly that started to change. Smith said she is a tough counselor who does not let her students move ahead a step if they are not ready. Smith knows the importance of the recovery process because she has dealt with alcoholism in her own life. Her ex-husband was an alcoholic for 28 years and passed the trait onto her children.

“If I can give something back to help people to not have to go through what I went through for all those years, it is well worth it,” Smith said.

Her meticulousness paid off. Tjensvold started accepting her message and was eventually allowed to decrease his appointments to once per week. He stuck with the program and completed it, even though he said it seems like it took him forever to do so.

“To give up in my eyes would be like spitting on their faces,” Tjensvold said during a short speech he gave at the ceremony.

Father Jerry and Tjensvold’s wife Kat were on hand at the court house to watch Tjensvold complete his recovery process.

“He’s put his heart into it,” Jerry Tjensvold said. “All the people that he used to hang out with were really glad to see him graduate.”

But Kat was not sure what to think of the ceremony. She said she was happy to watch her husband complete the program, but she was not convinced that all of their problems were solved.

Alcoholism has put the couple through so much, and Kat Tjensvold said she could not be certain that a relapse was completely preventable.  

“I think everybody has that worry,” Kat Tjensvold said after the meeting. But she said she will stick by her husband.

“There’s a point in your life where you can’t run away from what’s going to happen,” she said. While the future is absolutely uncertain, the moment of triumph was concrete at the graduation.

“This is an opportunity to celebrate the victories,” Bullock said during the ceremony. “But it’s more than just a moment. In some respects, you are given a second chance – you earned a second chance.”

Smith said she knows her students are ready to make the most of that chance.

“In the end, they’ve come to see themselves how I have always seen them,” she said.

And Tjensvold is confident in himself, too. His self-evaluation at the end of the program has the proof.

“I like who I see in the mirror now.”