B.A.S.E.S. Teen Center 208 W. Lincoln Charlevoix, MI 49720	Phone: 231-547-1144 Fax: 231-547-4970 Email: info@BASESTeenCenter.org
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From Petoskey News-Review, January 24, 2000

Touching BASES, touching lives
Charlevoix couple leaders in substance abuse education
By Steve Zucker, News-Review staff writer

CHARLEVOIX - Like most people who have played baseball or softball, Scott Kelly knows the mettle it takes to stand in the batter's box and stare down a pitch when the game is on the line.

But for Kelly, a baseball standout both at Charlevoix High School and Ferris State University, the true forging of his mettle came at a point when he was getting loaded more than the bases.

Although he had begun using alcohol as a teen-ager, it was at the end of his freshman year of college that Kelly knew he had a problem and checked himself into rehabilitation at the age of 18.

"I tried to control it myself," said Kelly, who started drinking at age 15. "I wanted to be a good kid."

"I was scared going into rehab. There were all these people there in their 30s and 40s. I didn't want to end up like that," Kelly said.

Today, at age 35, Kelly is back in Charlevoix and sober. Now he and his wife, Celia, are working to help Northern Michigan teens avoid or get treatment for drug and alcohol abuse problems by filling a different kind of BASES - Bay Area Substance Education Services.

After completing his rehab program Kelly returned to Ferris State University and promptly changed his major to social work. When he graduated, Kelly returned to Charlevoix and worked for Harbor Hall, a residential substance abuse treatment facility in Petoskey.

The Kellys were married in 1989 and set the stage for more unions to come.

After noticing gaps in the substance abuse education services offered in the area, the Kellys started BASES in 1994 as their own substance abuse education and prevention service, offering programs to many area schools and other organizations.

It was in 1995 when officials from a Charlevoix teen recreation center called Club 77 asked Kelly to head up the floundering organization

Started in 1990 by a local ministerial association, the teen center had about $5,000 in debt and a less than stellar reputation in the community.

"I was at a point where I was going to have to choose between BASES or the teen center," Kelly said. "I talked to a number of people in the community and they all said, "Yes, we need these services."

It was then the Kellys took the next logical step: BASES took responsibility for the teen center.

"It was all by chance, but it's been a perfect match," Kelly said.

Today the center, located at 208 W. Lincoln St., employs six people in addition to enlisting the services of numerous volunteers, is funded entirely through donations and grants, and serves some 500 teens each year.

Celia Kelly, a Colorado native, brings her own experiences and background to the BASES team. In addition to also having struggled with substance abuse problems of her own, she has also served as the Chip Counseling Center prevention supervisor and has earned national recognition for her innovative programs.

"When we started out, we were both on opposite ends of the spectrum. I was doing prevention and (Scott) was doing treatment. Gradually, we met in the middle with the teen center," she said.

The teen center, with its appearance of the ideal teen-agers basement, is open daily after school and offers teens a host of things to do from computers, darts and pool, to movies, dancing and karaoke.

In addition to offering a host of support and intervention groups for both teens and parents, BASES is now also part of a program called Recovery High - a cooperative effort with the 7th Probate Court and Boyne City Public Schools Alternative Education. The program offers counseling, support groups, schooling, substance abuse education and social and recreational activities.

Both Kellys pointed to eduation as the key to avoiding substance abuse problems.

"Our jobs are crucial," Scott Kelly said. "People need accurate information. I'm convinced we have an intelligent society and they'll make healthy choices if they have the right information."

They attribute some of today's use - especially that of marijuana - to what they call generational forgetfulness.

"Many of today's parents were the hippies of the '60s. They don't think (marijuana) is that bad. What many of them don't know is that today's marijuana is much stronger than what they had back then," Kelly said.

He cited a 1997 poll in which 12 percent of area eighth-graders reported having used marijuana in the past 30 days.

Asked if they feel they're making an impact, Celia Kelly said, "You have to look at what impact it will have years later - when you don't see their name in the paper for being in court or in the obits."

Scott Kelly said, "Sometimes I get down when a kid has a major crisis, but we have to look at the big picture. Having kids come back several years later to say their lives are different helps me get through the struggles now."

"I was given many opportunities here. I'll spend the rest of my life repaying them."

For more information about BASES, call 547-1144.