VENTURA COUNTY NEWS : Program Helps Women Beat Substance Abuse : Counseling: Tri-Valley Teen Challenge, which recently moved to a new site, enforces strict rules for residents trying to kick alcohol, drug dependency.

VENTURA —  “The rules are you can’t smoke and you can’t cuss.”

That’s Gerry Girafe, director of the Tri-Valley Teen Challenge, who is standing on a hilltop between Ventura and Casitas Springs. The 143 acres below are home to 50 women recovering from drug and alcohol dependencies.

Girafe, 51, is a program graduate and ordained minister. Like many graduates, he decided to make Teen Challenge his life. It’s where he met his wife.

Teen Challenge is a Christian program that started in 1958, when the Rev. David Wilkerson began counseling young gang members on the streets of New York City. Today there are more than 200 centers in the United States and abroad.

The Ventura site opened 27 years ago, on a quarter-acre lot on North Ventura Avenue. Although Teen Challenge serves men and women of all ages, the Ventura center focuses on women.

Ventura’s center celebrated its move to its current location in March. The new property was purchased through loans, fund-raising efforts and donations from friends and local churches.

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The program lasts a year, but participants can quit any time. After completing a 90-day induction at a detox center in Bakersfield, women are transported to the residential center to complete the remaining nine months of the program.

Participants are required to take part in daily fund-raising efforts, which are usually at post offices and drugstores around the county.

“People need help, but some programs cost so much money,” Girafe said. “This allows [them] to go through a program for free.”

Free doesn’t mean easy.

“You have to want to change,” Girafe said. “We don’t have a magic wand.”

On a recent morning, Katrina Cole, 28, sat outside a room used both as church and dining hall, reflecting on the morning’s Bible lesson.

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A former Oxnard College student, Cole lived within walking distance of another recovery center. But she knew that program, with more lax rules, would not have helped her kick her crack habit.

“It’s a secular program. You can watch TV there,” she said.

Cole said her uncle, a Ventura pastor, gave her an ultimatum: Check into Teen Challenge or I’ll take your son away.

Cole didn’t want to lose the 7-year-old and knew she needed help.

“Now he knows that mommy’s doing good,” Cole said.