Pathways to Recovery

For many families on Long Island and across the nation, being affected by substance abuse means having to deal with uncertainty and unpredictability on a daily basis. Implementing structure into the life of the affected individual(s) often takes a great deal of sacrifice, time and resources to find what works best for treatment and recovery. Often times, it can mean trying multiple treatment programs with little to no avail or even being limited to a small number of programs due to health care costs and lack of community resources. Nonetheless, we must all continue to move forward in our pursuit of controlling this relentless and unforgiving opioid epidemic on Long Island in addition to alcoholism and drug dependence with education and improved access to affordable resources. 

In a previous Family and Children’s Association article titled, “Ensuring Recovery is Not Forgotten”, the importance of recovery after treatment was highlighted along with many of the measures that had been put into place in 2016 to combat the epidemic which we’re seeing roll out this year. This article will explore the different pathways to recovery that exist and how Family and Children’s Association can assist Long Islanders in need of addiction treatment.

Principles of Effective Addiction Treatment

Effective addiction treatment follows several key principles. Even though addiction alters the brain and creates new and undesirable behaviors, it is a treatable disease. Treatment modalities will vary in effectiveness from person to person. Treatment must take biological, psychological and social factors into consideration and treatment should be readily available to the person. Behavioral therapies (individual, family, and group) often encompass these key factors and require consistent follow-through to reach successful outcomes. For certain people, medication is imperative to complete treatment, and is often more effective when paired with behavioral therapy. However, it is important to note that medically assisted detoxes are only the first stage of treatment. Naloxone, an opioid antagonist (binds to opioid and can reverse the opioids) continues to be used by emergency personnel to save people from fatally overdosing on opioids. Naloxone can quickly and effectively restore a person's breathing who has overdosed on opioids but just because Naloxone saved someone from an overdose, it does not mean that they won't use opioids again.

While Naloxone may help reverse a heroin overdose, the use of Naloxone must be followed up by a licensed professional using an evidence-based treatment model. Once in treatment, continuous reassessments of the patient must be completed, not only to monitor the expected progress of decreasing drug levels, but to potentially diagnose other mental health disorders that may not have been present during the initial visits. Although many treatment centers function on a voluntary basis for the client, volunteering to receive addiction treatment is not necessary to achieve successful outcomes. Lastly, effective treatment facilities are testing patients for infectious diseases and providing education on reducing risk within and outside their community.

Five Effective Pathways to Recovery

12-Step Model

The 12-Step model presents people dealing with addiction the opportunity to help each other reach and maintain abstinence. 12-Step programs can be held in group meetings where individuals share their successful and unsuccessful experiences of substance use abstinence. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the 12-Step program has three key overall factors:

(1) Acceptance – patient recognizes the addiction has been (and may still be) in control and abstinence is the only way to gain back control

(2) Surrender – “giving oneself over to a higher power” (NIH, Principles of Drug Addiction Treatment: A Research-Based Guide - Third Edition) and learning to accept support from other individuals in the treatment and recovery process

(3) Active involvement – becoming a member of the recovery community by continuing to attend 12 step program meetings.

12-Step programs have been around for over 80 years and their effectiveness is seen throughout many types of addiction including drug, alcohol, sex and gambling issues. See the 12-Steps here.

Family and Children’s Association’s outpatient treatment programs hosts 12 Step programs.

Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT)

MAT is treatment which includes medication as a replacement for a person who is addicted to opiates. Suboxone and methadone are common medications used, for example, to treat someone addicted to heroin.

Although patients can take the appropriate medication for treatment, MAT specifically keeps a patient from having withdrawal symptoms. This means that underlying psychological and social factors must also be part of treatment through counseling.

MAT is a long term treatment which requires consistency and a plan to eventually gradually decrease the patient’s dependency on the medication.

In addition, to protect people who become dependent on opioid medicine, Vivitrol (naltrexone) injections can be administered to prevent relapse in those who stop using the opioid medicine.

Family and Children’s Association’s outpatient treatment programs offers Vivitrol injections.

Self-Management and Recovery Training (SMART Recovery)

SMART Recovery presents a four-point program:

1) Enhance and maintain motivation to abstain

2) Cope with urges

3) Manage thoughts, feelings, and behaviors

4) Balance momentary and enduring satisfactions

While this may seem similar to the 12 Step model, SMART Recovery prides itself in having more of a scientific foundation as opposed to a spiritual one. In SMART Recovery meetings, the premise is for individuals to talk with one another as opposed to talking to one another. Labels such as “alcoholic” and “addict” are often discourage within the SMART Recovery model there are no sponsors.

As for SMART Recovery’s scientific foundation, studies continue to show strong potential for successful outcomes.

Locations offering SMART Recovery meetings can be found here.

Cognitive Therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy can help a person in treatment for drug addiction recognize what the root cause of their drug or alcohol use is. Counselors teach patients skills and tool to help process and redirect their thoughts and reactions in new and healthier ways as opposed to perpetuating undesirable behaviors.

Family and Children’s Association (FCA) has licensed social workers, licensed marriage and family therapists and licensed mental health counselors with certifications in alcohol and drug abuse counseling who have experience with cognitive therapy.

Family Therapy

Engaging in family therapy helps individuals and their family members understand the root cause of the presented concern from a systemic point of view. The family therapist will consider, not only the individuals personal relationship to the substance being abused, but also the patient’s family of origin, family dynamics and the patient’s home and community environment.

FCA is staffed by several Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists with experience working with families dealing with substance abuse.

How Family and Children’s Association (FCA) Can Help

Family and Children’s Association (FCA) has two OASAS licensed outpatient treatment programs, one in Hicksville, NY and the other in Hempstead, NY. These facilities offer a variety of pathways to recovery for those in need of addiction treatment including many of the services mentioned above. Services can also be provided in Spanish. Additionally, FCA is partnered with the Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, whose main mission is to reduce the incidence and prevalence of the disease of alcoholism, other drug addictions, and related problems. FCA’s integrated network of services allows for clients to receive the exact care they need and be provided with the necessary resource information within their community.

As of 3/4/2017, FCA’s integrated network will expand by offering Long Islanders a place to go for recovery services. The new center in Hauppauge, NY, called THRIVE, will be Long Island’s first non-clinical Recovery Center. THRIVE is OASAS licensed and is in partnership with the Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (LICADD), Long Island Recovery Association (LIRA), and Families in Support of Treatment (F.I.S.T.).

About Family and Children’s Association (FCA)

Family & Children’s Association is a not-for-profit agency helping nearly 20,000 of our neighbors each year. For more than 130 years, we have worked to protect and strengthen vulnerable children, seniors, families and communities on Long Island.

Through an integrated network of services and counseling, Family & Children’s Association provides help and hope to under-served and disadvantaged individuals struggling to build better lives. We offer Addiction Treatment and Behavioral Health Services; Educational Opportunities and Life Skills for Youth; Strategies for Building Family Success; Counseling, Services and Support for Adults and Seniors; Shelter and Services for Homeless Youth, Adults and Veterans; and Innovative Approaches to Strengthening Communities.

Family & Children’s Association has been nationally recognized as a model of excellence, fiscally sound, well-managed and possessing an impeccable reputation in providing community-based social services. We embrace more than 200 individual volunteers, corporate groups, community groups and sponsors who join with us to be part of something bigger than them.

About Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (LICADD)

LICADD was formed in 1956 with a mission to educate the general public on the nature of alcoholism, with attention to therapeutic treatment for alcoholics and their families. As LICADD continued growing, they implemented a wider array of services from relapse prevention, family-based addiction support groups, anger management, and more. LICAAD’s Positive Connections program is designed to help individuals who are HIV positive that are not currently enrolled in substance use or mental health services. The mission behind Positive Connections is to get those in need of these services connected to treatment in an effort to build quality of life and reduce negative outcomes. LICADD is an affiliate of FCA.

About Family in Support of Treatment (FIST)

 Families in Support of Treatment (F.I.S.T) is a non-profit corporation created to help families who have loved ones that are struggling with the disease of addiction. Addiction causes devastation to individuals as well at their families. Often family members don’t know where to turn for help. Help is available and F.I.S.T was developed to help family members find and access help for themselves and their loved ones.

About the Long Island Recovery Association (LIRA)

Founded in January 2000, the Long Island Recovery Association is a grassroots organization of people concerned about the rights of those in recovery from or seeking help for addiction related illnesses. They look to bring together individuals in recovery, along with all impacted families, friends and allies, to advocate for the rights and needs of those affected by addiction.

Through education and advocacy, LIRA aims to eliminate the stigma around addiction, achieve genuine parity and treatment on demand for those seeking help to ensure that a compassionate, well-informed understanding of the nature of addiction becomes the norm not the exception among legislators, institutions, family members and society in general.

Addiction is a public health issue, the evolving science behind addiction is finally driving a system change away from a cruel and failed criminal justice focus to a healthcare approach.