A drug addiction recovery center located in Utica, New York is going to be expanding its services and has already started a new program to assist the local community members who don’t have access to treatment.
The drug addiction recovery center, dubbed the Neighborhood Center, offers professional outpatient services to adults, children, and families of the Utica and Rome region who have been struggling with substance use disorders or other mental health conditions. The center features a team of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and therapists who provide a number of services including behavioral health crisis stabilization, primary care, and care management services.
The latest program is an open-access program that allows people to call a number 24/7 to receive support and be in touch with a professional recovery advocate. The advocate is able to provide the callers with drug-related assistance until they can get into a program in a facility that is appropriate to treat them.
Until a treatment facility is found, the program allows the callers to meet with the recovery advocates — who are also trained to use naloxone — in their residencies or any other location they may desire.
Any person may call the number provided by the center to learn about drug addiction treatment services available in the area for themselves or their loved ones.
The representatives of the center explained that giving people access to treatment is a necessity in the area considering how overcrowded the local substance abuse facilities are.
The open access program is among many of the initiatives made possible because of the investments that have been made by the state of New York to boost addiction treatment services and curb the impacts of the opioid epidemic.
At the beginning of the year, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced that several open access drug addiction treatment centers would be receiving funding from the state and the Neighborhood Center was one of the grantees. The drug addiction treatment center received $450,000 in grants from the state of New York, which has been put toward recruiting and training staff members that are not only able to provide substance use disorder treatment services but are also qualified to address patients’ mental health conditions.
The funding was also utilized to better the existing mobile crisis assessment team of the center and allow them to provide improved responses to calls made by the members of the community who need immediate drug addiction treatment services or mental health support.
When Gov. Cuomo announced the allocation of the funds, in February, he stated that drug addiction treatment centers that offer open access services 24/7 are of crucial importance and serve the New York State population “when they need the most.”
The Neighborhood Center is also planning to establish a drug addiction treatment center that will offer inpatient services to the residents of the Mohawk Valley region by the beginning of 2019.
The center provides services to all people regardless of their financial statuses. Discounted treatments are also offered depending on people’s income levels and family sizes.
Author: Livia Areas-Holmblad
Livia Holmblad is an editor at Addiction Now and covers breaking news, features and everything in between. She moved to SoCal after living in NYC for about 10 years, where she worked for VICE and SinoVision as a writer, editor, host, producer, and director. Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro. Contact Livia at liviah@addictionnow.com
