BrightView Health’s Plymouth addiction treatment center invited the community to learn more about effective outpatient addiction treatment this past week. Often people who struggle with addiction do not need hospitalization, according to the American Society of Addiction Medicine. Instead, they can be treated on an outpatient basis in their local community and successfully recover.
BrightView Health’s goals are to educate members of the community and let them know we have centers that provide accessible, comprehensive, and stigma-free, outpatient addiction treatment. Programs include medication to manage physical cravings and withdrawal symptoms, individual therapy, and medication management to address mental health issues, triggers and coping skills, and referrals to additional social services to address the full range of symptoms associated with substance use disorder. Quality treatment also includes regular medical care, peer support to help people stay sober, and help with challenges such as food, housing insecurity, reliable transportation, and job readiness.
After an initial medical evaluation and clinical assessment, professionals work with patients to develop an individualized treatment plan. Recovery starts with patients attending appointments each week, with the frequency of appointments decreasing as patients maintain sobriety.
The Plymouth center treats adults seeking help with a variety of substance use disorders including alcohol, opioids, and stimulant use. The BrightView team is committed to helping people recover by providing same day access for substance use care in a friendly, non-judgmental setting.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded a new high in overdose deaths in 2023, at a rate of 112,024 people in a 12-month period. In Massachusetts from Sept. 2022 to Sept. 2023 there was a slight drop in overdose deaths reported 2,559 compared to 2,644 in 2022..
BrightView Plymouth has helped 191 area residents work toward recovery through more than 723 hours of medical treatment, 311 hours of counseling, and therapy. Additionally, unemployment rates among BrightView patients decrease by 50 percent, arrests by 60 percent, and illicit substance use by over 70 percent in the first 90 days.
The open house allowed us to thank our community partners and justice system professionals who continue to play a key role in helping patients achieve long-term recovery. We know from these experiences that improving lives one patient at a time creates positive trends across the community. More important, we recognized patients who have gone the distance and have achieved long-term recovery. Research from NIH, SAMHSA, and others shows that comprehensive treatment, including addiction medication, addresses the full range of physical, social, and emotional factors that lead to addiction, has the best long-term success.
Lee Wright
Lee Wright is the community outreach manager at BrightView Health’s Addiction Treatment Center.