12 SEPTEMBER 29 - OCTOBER 5, 2017 BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP
Local center squares in on addiction issues
BY DYLAN CAMPBELL
EDITORIAL@BROOKLYNREPORTER.COM
When Joshua (not his real
name, made his way to
the Bay Ridge Resource
Training and Counseling Center last
year, he had been drinking since he
was 14. Drinking led to cocaine, and
a back surgery led to pills. He had relapsed
several times and strained his
relationships with his family.
Now 16 months later, he makes his
way to class. For the first time, he
is completely sober, rebuilding his
relationships, and sees a future for
himself.
His recovery and the first time he
was completely sober began with
Max Schwartzberg, substance abuse
therapist at the Resource Center,
offering him a cup of coffee and grew
into an individualized path for trust,
discussion and care.
Joshua said he put recovery in
“terms he could understand.
“This is the real deal,” he said. “I’m
either going to keep putting my hand
in the pudding and squishing, or I
am going to put my hand around the
rough end of a baseball bat and hit that
home run and go for it.”
The Bay Ridge Resource Training
and Counseling Center is a branch of
the Sunset Park-based drug and alcohol
rehabilitation center founded by
Donna Mae DePola. While the original
location has been operating for two decades,
the Bay Ridge location has only
been open for three and a half years.
The center has its doors open to all
those struggling with addiction. The
center serves a majority of individuals
there of their own accord and a few
court-ordered individuals, and provides
substance abuse assessments,
outpatient chemical dependency
treatment and detox in partnership
with NYU, as well as medication management,
counseling for addicts and
their families.
Despite its young age, the center
has helped hundreds. Being one of the
only addiction centers in a community
with a growing addiction problem, the
center arrived at a crucial time.
In Brooklyn, among the neighborhoods
with the highest levels of both
smoking and binge drinking are those
in the Bensonhurst/Bay Ridge area,
according to the Brooklyn Community
Health report from SUNY Downstate
Medical Center.
Brooklyn also has a growing opioid
and drug problem, and while not at
the level of Staten Island or the Bronx,
heroin, opioids and other controlled
substances have taken lives. In 2015,
223 deaths of Brooklyn residents due
to unintended drug overdose were
reported, 136 of which were due to
opioids or heroin. These numbers are
up from the prior year which saw 195
drug overdose deaths, 116 of which
were caused by opioids or heroin, according
to the New York City Department
of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Schwartzberg said the center serves
anywhere between 70 and 90 individuals
a week.
Within seconds of calling or buzzing
the resource center, potential
patients are answered.
From the moment they enter the
small waiting room, their comfort is
the counselors’ goal.
“That's the sweet spot,” said
Schwartzberg, explaining why hospitality
is the first concern. “Because
when a person has walked through
that door, they've already gone
through emotional turmoil, struggle
and conflict just getting to that door.
So when the doorbell first rings, it’s
answered as immediately as possible.
We try to eliminate as many reasons
as possible for that person to turn
around.”
From there, confidentiality and
basics of care are explained and then
an individual's needs are assessed.
Whether the plan of treatment
involves medical detox, personal
counseling, group counseling or
medication, the counselor at the center
designs a path to a personal set of
goals. This individualized care is key,
said Schwartzberg.
“To generalize and generically care
for somebody is not in anybody's best
interest," he said. "If everyone If everyone
is getting the same care, then that
means there's a lot of people that are
going to miss out on what they really
need.”
Schwartzberg said the goals for each
patient are different and their struggles,
especially with opioid addiction,
do not just go away overnight — it
is painful, physically and mentally.
That, he said, is the hardest part for
a patient to realize and accept. He
said patients may use the center for a
couple months, some may visit several
times, before they are ready to follow
through with their goal, and some may
need constant assistance and years of
support.
“It's a very very insidious experience
for a person," Schwartzberg
stressed. "And it's going to take a lot
of time because just because a person
isn't using, it doesn't mean they're
better… A person needs to be cared for
in a non-judgmental way, a non-moralistic
way, a non-punitive way,” he
said. “I do believe that part of this job
is, that it needs to be, that you care, and
to understand what the person that's
coming to see you needs.”
This care — the open discussion,
the advice when he needed it, the
friendship that developed — is what
got Joshua to sobriety today.
“There’s love that’s given. It’s not just
somebody coming to a job to talk with a
bunch of addicts about getting clean,”
said Joshua. “There’s love behind it.”