Expert

Neli Vasquez Rowland
View BioFacility Name | Address | State | City | Phone | Website |
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Facility Name | Address | State | City | Phone | Website |
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In September 2017, the State of Illinois presented its Opioid Action Plan, described as the state’s “call to action” in the fight against the opioid crisis. The plan’s goal is to reduce the projected number of opioid deaths in Illinois by 33% in 2020 by:
Drug Addiction Hotline: On December 5, 2017, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner announced the launch of a statewide telephone helpline, 1-833-2FINDHELP. The purpose of the hotline is to provide those struggling with addiction, and their families and friends, quicker, more convenient access to treatment options and other important resources.
Police departments in both Illinois and across the nation are joining the fight against the opioid crisis by implementing a new “police defection model”. The model helps individuals who voluntarily request treatment by pre-arranging services with appropriate treatment providers and, in some cases, providing transportation to treatment centers. As of September 2017, eleven departments in Illinois had active programs in place based on the deflection model. Contact information for those programs can be found here.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) reports the following Illinois addiction treatment stats:
596
188
35
13
25
49
95
33
4
4
5
7
537
161
32
11
21
45
80
30
7
2
2
7
143
49
7
4
3
10
305
105
12
7
8
16
398
106
28
12
15
39
The following are among some of the best addiction treatment centers in Illinois.
50 South Main
Naperville, IL 60540
(630) 333-9912
Located in Naperville and serving the greater Chicago metropolitan area, Banyan Treatment Center offers a number of outpatient-based drug and alcohol rehab services, including partial hospitalization (PHP), intensive outpatient (IOP), outpatient, and alumni programs. Based on the 12-step model and, alternatively, Smart Recovery, Banyan’s clinical approach to treatment is to, “address our patients’ substance use disorder alongside any co-occurring mental health disorders and life issues into an integrative, multi-disciplinary fashion.” Banyan Treatment Center additionally operates three Florida locations (Boca Raton, Stuart, and Pompano Beach), as well as centers in Wilmington, Massachusetts and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
KP Counseling in Rockford provides a number of drug and alcohol addiction services, including substance abuse assessments, individual and group outpatient for adults and adolescents, and intensive outpatient treatment for patients 18 years of age and older. Treatment at KP is tailored to meet the unique needs of the individual patient, and may include individual, couples, group, and family counseling sessions. In addition to its substance abuse programs, KP offers mental health related treatment services for a variety of issues, including anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, ADHD, parent-child problems, and sex and gambling addictions.
5409 N. Knoxville Ave.
Peoria, IL 61614
(309) 691-1055
With facilities located at the Unity Point Proctor Hospital in Peoria, the Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery (IIAR) offers treatment services to adults, adolescents, and families in the central Illinois area struggling with drug and alcohol abuse issues. Adult treatment services include early intervention, detoxification, outpatient, inpatient residential, and extended care programs. Treatment is tailored toward the individual and may include alternative therapies, such as yoga, massage, acupuncture, biofeedback, and others, to provide a more holistic approach to health and balance. Early intervention and outpatient programs are available to adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17. IIAR additionally operates treatment centers in Springfield, Normal, and Harvey.
Since its establishment in 1994, A Safe Haven (ASH) has served over 100,000 clients, and provides a wide range of services daily to over 1,200 individuals in social and economic crisis. Services offered include food, shelter, behavioral health treatment, education, job training, and access to employment and affordable housing. Substance abuse services include individual and group recovery education, meetings, counseling and other programs based on a 12-step model. Working in partnership with public, private, and corporate foundations, ASH is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization that is a hybrid not-for-profit/for-profit social business enterprise aimed at breaking the cycle of poverty and homelessness in its community.
The Edward Hines, Jr. Veterans Hospital, located 12 miles west of downtown Chicago, provides comprehensive treatment services to veterans suffering from drug and alcohol issues through its Substance Abuse Disorder (SUD) Program. Central to these services is the Substance Abuse Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program (SARRTP). Intensive outpatient, standard outpatient, and opioid treatment programs are also available. The VA additionally offers SUD Program services at four other locations in Illinois: the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago; the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center in Chicago; the Marion VA Medical Center in Marion; and the VA Illiana Health Care System in Danville.
2010 East Algonquin Rd.
Schaumburg, IL 60173
(847) 359-5192
Located just northwest of Chicago in Schaumburg, Families and Adolescents in Recovery, Inc. (F.A.I.R.) is a comprehensive, evidence-based provider of drug and alcohol abuse and addiction treatment for adolescents, young adults, and their families. F.A.I.R. offers intensive outpatient programs, continuing care, and family therapy based on neuroscience and evidence-based treatment interventions. Treatment focuses on client and family strengths to address issues of substance abuse, mental health, and destructive behaviors. Modalities include a combination of cognitive behavioral and multidimensional family therapies, and incorporate the community model and participation in 12-step programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous.
140 North Ashland Ave.
Chicago, IL 60607
(312) 850-0050
The Women’s Treatment Center (TWTC), in the Near West Side neighborhood of Chicago, is a 501(c)(3) facility that provides comprehensive, family-based treatment exclusively to women battling drug addiction. TWTC’s range of services includes: medically-monitored detoxification in its 16-bed unit; residential treatment; outpatient treatment for those who have completed the residential program or require a less structured environment; and transitional living for those who have completed residential treatment. Admission priority is given to pregnant IV drug users, followed by other pregnant substance users, other injecting drug users, and then all others. Under certain conditions, TWTC provides treatment to women with up to three children under the age of six.
333 Skokie Blvd., Suite 112
Northbrook, IL 60062
(224) 205-7866
Brightside Clinic is an outpatient treatment center that specializes in services for those suffering from pain medication dependency and heroin addiction. Brightside develops a recovery plan around each client’s current addiction or alternative treatment, life goals, and special needs such as pain management, pregnancy, or pre-surgery requirements. Plans combine medically-assisted treatment (Suboxone, Subutex, Bunavail, Zubsolv) with private and group counseling. Brightside’s mission is encapsulated in its PACT Promise: Programs that work; access to treatment; comfortable transition; and treatment designed for you. Brightside operates additional locations in Tinley Park and North Aurora.
120 Gale St.
Aurora, IL 60506
(630) 897-1003
In operation for over 40 years, Breaking Free is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation providing a range of important services to residents of Kane, DuPage, Grundy, Kendall, and Will Counties, including drug, alcohol, and co-occurring disorders treatment for both adults and adolescents. Programs offered include comprehensive assessments, outpatient and intensive outpatient programs (including programs specifically for women), as well as continuing care and support services. Family, parenting and child abuse services are also available. Fees are determined on a sliding scale, and all persons in need are served regardless of ability to pay.
1237 East 1600 North Rd.
Gilman, IL 60938
(815) 865-3282
Situated on 33 rural acres approximately 90 miles south of Chicago in eastern Illinois, Sunspire Health Heartland offers individualized, evidence-based comprehensive treatment for addiction and co-occurring mental health disorders. Services include on-site medical detox, 36-bed inpatient residential, and partial hospitalization (PHP). Sunspire believes that families play an integral role in the treatment process, and incorporates weekly family therapy sessions (in-person or by telephone) into the treatment process. Center amenities include an onsite 3-acre pond, walking paths, therapeutic community garden, and a fully-equipped gym. Payment is accepted from a variety of private health insurance providers. Sunspire Health operates seven additional facilities throughout the U.S.
Neli Vasquez-Rowland is the Co-Founder & President of A Safe Haven Foundation (ASHF), a vertically-integrated ecosystem that supports social service delivery along with social business enterprises to create a sustainable environment that fosters positive change in the lives of homeless individuals. Neli is a graduate of Loyola University’s School of Business, and the Minority Executive Management program at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business.
We provide housing and a full range of wraparound services, comprehensive services. Each individual that comes in gets assessed, not just for any behavioral healthcare challenges, but also any co-existing issues that may be presenting, such as employment, family issues, as well as health and nutrition. Then we plug them into treatment services, training services, education services, job placement, and permanent housing. A Safe Haven provides services for 5000 people a year. We don’t charge anyone for our services, everything is fully covered by our funding stream – which is government, donations by foundations, and our ability to earn revenue from our businesses. Today, we are considered a national model that is literally connecting the dots for people that are in crisis for whatever reasons – in crisis for a day or for decades.
Individual services, group therapy, following the 12-step model. We have psychologists onsite as well.
A lot of heroin. And the biggest gateway drug for a lot of people that we serve has been the painkillers. That’s been common knowledge for at least the past five to seven years. Now that the death rates have exceeded every other disease that we’ve seen in the last few decades, it’s getting the attention that it deserves. I want to say that over the last 10 years, about 80 percent of the people that end up using heroin started out using painkillers.
Alcohol is always a big one. I would say that heroin and alcohol are two of the leading problems that we’re having.
You started out this conversation saying that you wanted to talk to someone who is working on the front lines, and we’ve been working on the front lines for 24 years. Fortunately, task forces are being put together across the country, including here in Chicago and in Illinois. These task forces are not engaging front-line organizations, though. They’re mostly engaging the hospital community, the medical community, the pharmaceutical community. I think that we must expand the conversation to include those of us that are working on this from our [community-based programming] perspective as well.
The goal out there right now is to literally stop people from dying. If the goal is to stop people from dying, then I believe we’re going to make some progress. But what we’re not going to do is solve the underlying issues of some of the co-existing conditions that are presenting, such as other behavioral healthcare issues that may be involved, as well as economic issues and housing challenges.
My advice to government agencies, and basically the public at-large, is that they really need to think about policies that are going to help people, not only short-term, but long-term. And really allocating our resources where we’re going to make the biggest return on our investment. I believe that once we come to terms with that, we’re going to see a paradigm shift.
The story of Illinois is often one of two very different places: Chicago, the enormous urban metropolis in the Illinois’s northeast corner, and the predominantly rural rest of the state. The goals and interests – and cultures – of these two regions are very different in many ways, and sometimes in direct conflict with one another. But one serious issue unites all areas and residents of Illinois: the continuing devastating effects of drug addiction. As in practically all other parts of the country, the biggest concern currently is the opioid epidemic, but plenty of other substances – benzodiazepines, methamphetamine, cocaine, and alcohol, to name a few – continue to wreak havoc on the lives of individuals, and their families and friends, throughout the Prairie State. Here are a few distressing facts and figures on drug and alcohol use in Illinois:
Illinois state officials and others are fighting back, enacting legislation and funding new programs aimed at discouraging substance use, increasing access to treatment, and saving the lives of overdose victims. (More on this below.) Still, given the enormity of the problem – one that’s growing daily – much more needs to be done.