Grand Isle mother urges Vermont to expand long-term addiction treatment after son's out-of-state stay

Carrie Kelly, a Grand Isle resident and mental-health advocate, told the Health & Welfare committee that gaps in Vermont's continuum of care forced her family to send her son to a long-term recovery program out of state and personally shoulder most of the cost.

"Mental health care is certainly health care," Kelly told the committee, describing parallel experiences raising twins: one received expected medical supports, while the other faced escalating mental-health and substance-use problems that schools and short-term crisis services could not resolve.

Kelly recounted that her son, after years of school-based struggles and repeated crisis responses, eventually found a nine-month program, Mountain Valley Recovery in Holden, Utah. She said Vermont Medicaid initially "approved... $23,000 in coverage," but the residential provider billed roughly $7,500 a month and would not accept the $23,000 as payment in full. Kelly said the mismatch left the family unable to use the Medicaid offer and ultimately paying about $110,000 out of pocket after tapping retirement accounts and taking a second mortgage.

"Two weeks is really detox. It's not recovery," Kelly said, arguing that many available programs in-state were short-term and not designed for sustained recovery. She praised peer recovery coaches and a recently opened mental-health urgent care as effective crisis tools but said they do not replace longer-term residential support.

Kelly asked the committee and lawmakers to consider shifting resources toward longer-term treatment options so young people can stay in Vermont rather than requiring expensive out-of-state placements or paying the fiscal and human costs associated with incarceration. She noted that incarceration can cost "$100,000 plus a year" and said repurposing such expenditures toward treatment could yield better outcomes.

Kelly concluded with a report of progress: her son has been sober for 18 months, is employed as a tow-truck driver in Wisconsin and is interested in becoming a peer advocate. She offered to provide further details to staff and committee members.

The Health & Welfare committee did not take immediate action during the session; members thanked Kelly for her testimony and indicated they would continue to consider needs for expanded treatment capacity in Vermont.