The Climb

Once a person suffering from addiction has gone through treatment, he or she may need additional after-care treatment in the form of monitoring services. Monitoring services can help a person in recovery develop positive family relationships, transition into a supportive living environment like a sober living home, foster accountability and more.

At Ascension, we believe mentorship within a monitoring program can increase the chances of an individual’s lifelong sobriety. Continue reading to learn about these services and hear from our Peer Recovery Coaches (PRCs) and mentees.

December is National Impaired Driving Awareness Month. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 29 people in the United States die in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol impaired driver every day.

Learn more about impaired driving and measures that can help prevent injuries and deaths from alcohol impaired driving.

Drug overdoses killed 63,632 Americans in 2016. Nearly two-thirds of these deaths involved a prescription or an illicit opioid.

Overdose deaths increased in every category researched for men and women, ages 15 and older, all races and ethnicities and across all levels of urbanization.

Death rates from overdoses involving synthetic opioids increased in 21 states, with 10 states doubling their rates from 2015 to 2016.

The highest death rates from synthetic opioids were in the following states:

1. New Hampshire

2. Massachusetts

3. West Virginia

Fourteen states had significant increases in death rates involving heroin. The highest being:

1. Ohio

2. Washington D.C.

3. West Virginia

Eight states had significant increases in death rates involving prescription opioids. The highest being:

1. Maine

2. Maryland

3. Utah

4. West Virginia

Sixteen states had significant increases in death rates involving cocaine. The highest being:

1. Ohio

2. Rhode Island

3. Washington D.C.

More than 72,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2017, including illicit drugs and prescription opioids. This is a two-fold increase in a decade.

These statistics are alarming.

The most staggering increase occurred among deaths related to fentanyl and fentanyl analogs (synthetic opioids), which accounted for nearly 30,000 overdose deaths.

Sober Living Homes (SLH) are a pivotal part of the recovery process and extremely important to the long-term recovery of those who have gone through treatment for addiction. The value of sober living homes has been verified through several industry studies, and the combination of SLHs and Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOPs) is proven to have a high rate of success.

Read on to learn how to successfully open and operate a sober living home.

When deciding to develop an intensive outpatient program (IOP) or partial hospitalization program (PHP), it can be difficult to understand what exactly each program will offer.

Ascension Recovery Services provides start-up consulting services for organizations interested in developing residential treatment centers (RTC), intensive outpatient programs (IOP), partial hospitalization programs (PHP) and sober living homes (SLH).

Read on to learn more about what IOPs and PHPs can offer.

Early in the summer, we received an email from a family member of a patient we were able to place in treatment through our services. He said that he was compelled to write this.

As a college student, it is most often seen as a “rite of passage” to partake in alcohol and substance use. For many students, this can lead to alcohol and drug abuse and addiction.

Due to everyday life issues, mental health concerns and the feeling of needing to keep up with the “college lifestyle,” many students enter into a revolving cycle of use and abuse. And, when they are ready to seek help, and recover--many universities may not be equipped to offer support or recovery services.

Read on to learn more about the difference between students in recovery and still using, how to support them during this time and the WVU Collegiate program developed through Ascension Recovery Services.

When a government agency or private foundation fund your treatment and recovery programs, it is called a grant. Grants support critical treatment and recovery initiatives, innovative research and more. 

Ascension Recovery Services (ARS) has written many state, federal and private foundation grants that have received funding. In the past year, we have been awarded millions of dollars in grant funds. Currently, we are applying for tens of millions of dollars through our work with large healthcare systems, community hospitals and smaller organizations providing mental health and substance use disorder treatment.

Keep reading to learn about the grant lifecycle, getting started, eligibility and more.

Ascension Recovery Services (ARS) expanded their team in 2018 to include four peer recovery coaches (PRC), one licensed marriage & family therapist, a controller and one LPC and certified trauma therapist working in program development.

The PRCs are:

• Dan McCawley
• Morgan Henson
• Stephanie Klemp

Ascension Recovery Services (ARS) hired Bill Coleman, past director of clinical services at Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, addiction treatment and advocacy organization.

So your heart is in the right place. You want to help others that are struggling with one of the biggest issues facing the United States, but you’re not sure exactly what to do.

This blog is intended to shed some light on the process of opening a substance use disorder treatment center and what is needed prior to its operation.