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Tulsa Sobering Center Celebrates 5-Year Anniversary; More Than 4,000 Served, 600 Engaged in Services

5/30/2023
This article was archived on 7/9/2023

This month, Tulsa Sobering Center celebrated its five-year anniversary, serving more than 4,000 people and helping more than 600 engage with life-saving services since it opened.  

“Tulsa Sobering Center has been a huge success for our city, and it’s helping us address the complex challenges of addiction and mental health,” Mayor G.T. Bynum said. “This program delivers better outcomes by addressing root causes, it makes better use of police officer time than checking people into jail, and it is more cost effective for taxpayers than repeated incarceration. It is a win all around for Tulsans.”
Tulsa Sobering Center, which is operated in coordination with Grand Addiction Recovery Center,  streamlines the Tulsa Police Department’s efforts by providing a designated drop-off point for individuals who are under the influence, effectively freeing police officers from the time-consuming process of booking.
"The Tulsa Sobering Center is a valuable resource for our community,” Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin said. “It provides a safe and secure place for people who are intoxicated to sober up, and it also offers them the opportunity to connect with resources that can help them get on the road to recovery. The center has been shown to reduce crime, improve public safety, and save taxpayer dollars."
Individuals who are dropped off at Tulsa Sobering Center are given time to detox, get engaged in life-saving services, and go on their way without going through the criminal justice system or having the incident on their record.
“I had lost everything,” said Jeff Graves, a Tulsa Sobering Center employee who utilized the program before joining the staff. “I started with nothing, just my two feet, and I have a little more than that now.”
For more information about Tulsa Sobering Center and other mental health and special services programming efforts spearheaded by the City of Tulsa, visit www.cityoftulsa.org/mhss. 
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