‘I refuse to take a 10-count’

The walls of Terry Sallis’ office at Integrated Treatment Services in Newton are peppered with icons of black history — posters of Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan, a pair of autographed boxing gloves and a photograph of former President Barack Obama. It’s easy to see that Sallis doesn’t let himself get backed into the ropes.

“It may sound cliche, but what I’ve learned is if you can look up, you can get up,” Sallis said. “I refuse to take a 10-count.”

Sallis founded Integrated Treatment Services with his wife and fellow certified alcohol and drug Counselor Karen Sallis and licensed mental health therapist Kim Zantingh in 2005, working to combat drug and alcohol dependency in central Iowa. For his community outreach, Sallis was honored Jan. 20 in his hometown of Waterloo with the Inspiration and Achievement Award through Social Action Inc. during the organization’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Banquet.

"It humbles me because I'm not that good," Sallis said. "There's something that's bigger than me that we've been able to accomplish.

“As an individual, we do stand on the shoulders of a lot of people, and I couldn’t have gotten to where I’m at right now without standing on the shoulders of a lot of people who supported me, who believed in me. They really helped us out a lot.”

In 14 years, the Newton-based ITS clinic has moved from a rented space in the Center for Arts and Artists to its own building at 303 S. Second Ave W., and expanded to a second location in Marshalltown. ITS has a team of 11 employees, and Sallis said they now serve hundreds of patients per year.

At last month’s banquet, Sallis’ childhood friend and Social Action Inc. founder David Goodson introduced the Newton counselor. Goodson explained his friend’s path to success had detours.

“His agency did not exist 15 years ago. He created it. His agency is across the state of Iowa. Why is that so important? Anybody can create a company, start a business but when you look at people who have weathered some storms of life, and then bounced back, this recognition is from my heart,” Goodson said.

The 67-year-old Sallis had his own struggles with addiction. He entered the system for the first time at 17, serving time at the juvenile detention center in Eldora. He graduated from high school at the juvenile center in Toledo. His wife, Karen, saw her husband’s struggles with dependency first hand.

After he was released from Newton Correctional Facility in 2000, Sallis focused on his education and family, graduating from the University of Iowa with his master’s degree in 2008. Sallis told the Newton Daily News in 2012, he would not have been able to accomplish his goals without the people of Newton who helped along the way. In 2003, clinical psychologist Dr. Thomas Thorpe “took a chance” and hired the burgeoning therapist. Sallis said it was difficult to get a job due to his criminal history.

When Sallis was trying to open ITS, he had trouble securing a bank loan. He said Newton residents Dale Maki intervened. Sallis said since that time, he “has repaid every cent, of course.”

“God has a way of putting the perfect people in your path at the perfect time. The time that you need them to show up,” Sallis said. “That’s what has happened to me.”

The award was presented by the banquet’s keynote speaker, Hollywood actress Vivica A. Fox. The two had met once before at an event in Denver, Colo., and despite the night’s accolades, Sallis said what made the evening was introducing Fox to his daughter, working Chicago theater actress Amber Sallis.

“To me, that was the highlight of the evening. They went out together Sunday night. She got home about 1 o’clock in the morning and her feet didn’t touch the ground.”

Contact Mike Mendenhall at 641-792-3121 Ext. 6530 mmendenhall@newtondailynews.com