Recovery & the Holidays

The White House Office of Drug Control Policy blog, "Pushing Back," features a guest post from Odyssey House President & CEO Peter Provet about the challenges and opportunities the Holiday Season brings people in recovery and their families.

Here's an excerpt:

For individuals with substance abuse disorders, the Holiday Season brings ambivalent feelings, at best. Memories of past disappointment, pain, and emptiness- and the self-destructive attempts at self-medicating them - are close at hand. Anger towards others and guilt for one's own failures drive the addict to try to forget through momentary intoxication.

Read the entire post here.

Fall 2009 Newsletter now available!

The Fall 2009 edition of Odyssey House News is now available online. The latest newsletter includes articles on the KaBOOM! playground build, the 4th annual Run for Your Life, and other Odyssey House news and events. Click here to view it as a pdf.

If you're interested in receiving information about upcoming events, send an email to info (at) odysseyhouseinc.org to join our mailing list. Odyssey House will never sell or share your contact information to any third party.

Photos from the SHNNY gala

Check out these photos from the Supportive Housing Network of New York (SHNNY) gala in which Odyssey House Haven was awarded the 2009 "Outstanding Residence of the Year."

(Photos courtesy of SHNNY)

Odyssey House President & CEO Peter Provet (right) accepting the 2009 "Outstanding Residence of the Year" award from SHNNY Executive Director Ted Houghton (left) and SHNNY Steering Committee Chair Carole Gordon (center).

Odyssey House Director of Community Housing Janice Glenn-Slaughter (far right) with her staff from the Haven.

Odyssey House featured in national AP story on expanding drug treatment

Associated Press national feature story, “Expanding Drug Treatment: Is US Ready to Step Up?,” was picked up by more than 240 news outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR and the Los Angeles Times. In the article, Odyssey House President Peter Provet and Darrin Brown, who directs our new parolee treatment program, discuss the merits of drug treatment as an alternative to incarceration. The news package also includes a video, featuring Dr. Provet and Director of OASAS Residential Services Susan Plaza, which can viewed below.

Odyssey House develops family health educational initiative with support from Aetna

Odyssey House is pleased to announce that Aetna is supporting the development of a new health education initiative aimed at improving overall physical health and quality of life for young families in treatment at Odyssey House. The $25,000 grant will allow Odyssey House to develop an enhanced health literacy program for pregnant women, women with infants, and parents with young children residing at the Family Center of Excellence.

Dr. Peter Provet, President of Odyssey House thanked Aetna for its ongoing support and partnership of services that improve the health and wellbeing of families in treatment. “We are grateful to Aetna for joining us investing in families while they are in treatment – an investment that pays off in helping families manage their health today, and in preparation for healthier lives tomorrow when they complete our program.“

For the majority of residents in our Family Center of Excellence Program, poor health literacy typically manifests itself in a pretreatment history of a disproportionate use of emergency room facilities, misunderstanding of and failure to follow treatment and prescription instructions, and low levels of participation in preventive screening - all of which can lead to poorer health status for themselves and their children.

The Healthy Literacy Curriculum is made up of three key health components:

• Access to healthcare: basic knowledge and understanding of the health care system, empowering parents to better communicate and be active participants in their family health care needs, and connecting them to a community-based health care provider upon completion of Odyssey House treatment;


• Power of prevention: knowledge of preventative and routine healthcare measures for themselves and their children including emergency medicine, immunizations, preventive screening, dispensing medicine and child development; and


• Healthy eating: develop parents’ understanding of how healthy eating relates to the prevention and control of chronic diseases for themselves and their children.

To read more, click here.

Odyssey House Haven named "Outstanding Residence of the Year"

On Tuesday night, the Supportive Housing Network of New York (SHNNY) recognized the Odyssey House Haven as “Outstanding Residence of the Year.” This prestigious and competitive award was announced at the annual SHNNY gala to a capacity crowd of heads of nonprofit organizations, architects, political leaders, government officials, and contractors.

The SHNNY officials who toured the facility before choosing a winner said: “Walking into Odyssey House’s Haven, one is immediately impressed with the residence’s light, and sense of dignity and community …. Everywhere the eye lands, there is something beautiful, from the artworks that bedeck the lobby and two-story gallery, to the modern, open staircase, to the residence’s total spotlessness… The Network is proud to name Odyssey House’s Haven an Outstanding Residence of Year.”

And we’re very proud of Odyssey House Director of Community Housing, Janice Glenn-Slaughter, and her team. Congratulations!

Meet us at Mile 19

This Sunday, please join us at the Mile 19 water station to cheer on the Odyssey House Marathon Team. We have 45 runners – including clients, graduates, staff and volunteers – who need your support! The water station is located between 116th-117th Streets & 1st Ave. You can catch the Odyssey House team running by between 1-4 pm. Hope to see you there!

Congratulations to our 2009 program graduates!

Last Saturday, Odyssey House held a graduation ceremony for residents from the MABON, Teen Leadership Center and Lafayette Avenue who completed their treatment programs. In his keynote address, John Tavolacci, chief operating officer, congratulated the graduates on their achievement, telling them that they are "living proof that treatment works."




Graduation is a special event at Odyssey House. It’s an opportunity for graduates to talk about their treatment experience and future plans to their family and friends, and to encourage their peers who are still in treatment to stick with it.

The Royal Road to the Unconscious opens at the Haven Art Gallery

The Odyssey House Art Project opened its fifth exhibit last week, The Royal Road to the Unconscious. The exhibit features paintings, sculpture, drawings and multimedia works from artists in several different programs, including adolescents, senior citizens and residents in mental health housing.

OASAS Commissioner Karen Carpenter-Palumbo and Jerald Frampton

discussing "The Ten Most Common Dreams" by Solomon K. and Linda H.

Harbor resident and artist David R. with his piece, "Tree of Life."

"UNITYCOMMUNITY" by Albert C.

"The Goddess Fortuna Sees All" by the ElderCare Art Group

The Royal Road to the Unconsciousness will be open through January 22, 2010 at the Haven Art Gallery, 239 E. 121st Street in Harlem. View additional selections from the exhibit on our website.

Odyssey House has an active and vibrant expressive arts program. Creating art helps residents find new ways to access feelings and a new medium to express these feelings. Many residents, who were socially and culturally isolated by their addiction and mental illness, are encouraged to become engaged in the creative process. For residents in recovery at Odyssey House, developing positive socialization and personal interactions are integral to their continued growth.

Odyssey House awarded 2 new federal grants

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) recently awarded Odyssey House two separate grants totaling $2.3 million. Both grants are for a period of three years.

The first grant, for $1.4 million, will enhance our comprehensive services for pregnant and postpartum women in residential substance abuse treatment. Odyssey House President Dr. Peter Provet described the grant as a "significant investment in the depth and range of services we offer mothers in our Family Center programs. This new award gives us the resources to do more: more family therapy, more family reunification, and more community outreach."

A second $900,000 grant will support the Bronx Urban Youth Initiative (BUY-IN), which provides substance abuse treatment services to teens and young adults, 18-24 years of age. "Partnership with SAMHSA/CSAT will allow us to deepen the range of services we currently offer at-risk youth and families, and bring additional federal dollars to underserved New York City communities," said Dr. Provet.

The Odyssey House Art Project presents "The Royal Road to the Unconscious"

"The Royal Road to the Unconscious," the latest exhibit by the Odyssey House Art Project, will open on Thursday, October 22nd at the Haven Art Gallery. Please join us for an opening reception from 4 pm to 7 pm. The Haven Art Gallery is located at 239 E. 121st St in Harlem.





This is the fifth exhibit by the Odyssey House Art Project, which was established for residents coping with mental illness, substance abuse and homelessness. The show is a diverse collection of paintings, sculptures and mixed media artwork depicting various figures and ideas from the artists’ imaginations.

Check out photos from Run for Your Life!

Here are some photos from our 4th Annual Run for Your Life event. There will be more to come - check back soon!



Children living at Odyssey House made a banner
to celebrate National Recovery Month.

Odyssey House Chief Operating Officer and
EVP John Tavolacci (second from left) with
Jody Silva Falk (left), Theresa Gentry and
Jerry Silva from Chem Rx, one of our sponsors.



Darrin Brown, director of Odyssey House
Edgecombe Residential Treatment Program,
with his family

Odyssey House president

Peter Provet with a runner.

Harriet Turner and Chymaine Turner, staff

members at the Odyssey House Manor Family Center

Run for Your Life celebrates 4th successful year

Our 4th Annual Run for Your Life event was held last Saturday, September 26th in celebration of National Recovery Month.

Once again, we had an excellent day - more than 1,000 people attended, including clients from ten other treatment agencies as well as representatives from ASAP and OASAS. WNBC News showed footage from the race on their 6 pm broadcast; check it out below!

Thank you to all of our sponsors, volunteers and participants who made our race such a success. Check back soon to see photos of this great event!

Odyssey House rallies for recovery!

On September 12th, nearly 200 Odyssey House staff members and clients attended the A&E Recovery Rally. They joined more than 10,000 individuals and families in recovery and treatment programs and advocates from all fifty states for a rally at Foley Square in Lower Manhattan, followed by a symbolic walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to Cadman Plaza.

The rally included speakers such as R. Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy; Karen Carpenter-Palumbo, commissioner of the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS); and New York State Governor David Paterson.

The Recovery Rally highlights the second year of the The Recovery Project, a multi-faceted, multi-year initiative led by A&E Network to raise awareness that addiction is a treatable disease and recovery is possible.

Odyssey House resident wins at the Recovery Fine Arts Festival

Harbor resident Miguel F.’s painting, “Friends,” was selected as the winner of the visual arts/acrylic category of the Sixth Annual New York State Recovery Fine Arts Festival. His painting, along with the other submissions, will be on display during the month of September at the Empire State Plaza in Albany, NY.



The festival is sponsored by OASAS in conjunction with the 2009 National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month. The New York State Recovery Fine Arts Festival showcases the achievements of those in recovery through artistic expression and celebrates the healing benefits of recovery for individuals, families and communities.

LaQuanda's second chance

LaQuanda Edgefield, a resident at the Odyssey House Family Re-Entry program, was chosen by OASAS to share her story of recovery as part of the Your Story Matters campaign. Here is an excerpt:

I came walking through the doors of recovery sick, suffering, tired, and pregnant. It was time for me to put down the drugs, settle down and have a healthy baby. I needed long-term treatment with a lot of guidance, patience and understanding. I can definitely say "Thank You" to Odyssey House for giving me exactly that - even when I didn't want it.

Read the rest of her inspiring story here.

Ms. Edgefield is one of the 12 individuals represented in this year’s campaign spotlight stories. As thanks for her participation, OASAS Commissioner Karen Carpenter-Palumbo presented her with a silver recovery “badge of honor” at the Pathways to Recovery Forum last week.

OASAS Commissioner Karen Carpenter-Palumbo and LaQuanda Edgefield.

The Your Story Matters campaign, now in its second year, encourages New Yorkers to share their stories of recovery in an effort to break the cycle of addiction, eliminate stigma and promote lives of sobriety and wellness.

Register for Run for Your Life!

Please join Odyssey House in supporting men, women and children in recovery at our 4th Annual Run for Your Life 5K Fun Run/2-Mile Walk, to be held on Saturday, September 26th at Icahn Stadium, Randall’s Island. This year’s race will have some exciting new activities, like the New York Knicks Groove Truck, featuring giveaways, basketball hoops, plasma screens and videogame consoles!

Online registration is now open on our website. But don’t just register. Ask your family, friends and coworkers to join you in supporting this important event.

We hope to see you there!

Supporting affordable housing

Residents and staff from the Haven and Harbor attended a press conference at city hall last week to support continued funding for affordable housing. New York State Assembly Member Vito Lopez used the press conference to announce an initiative to create an “Empire State Housing Investment Fund.” Lopez requested $500 million in capital funding to be allotted in the 2010-2011budget and will introduce a bill to create the fund.

“The Housing Investment Fund will provide a permanent stream to fund affordable housing units. This fund is critical due to its flexibility, income targeting, and ability to support the creation of local housing trust funds,” said Lopez.

Representatives from Odyssey House were joined by a variety of housing advocacy groups in calling for support of the bill, including Habitat for Humanity, Community Access, the Real Rent Reform Campaign, Make the Road New York, the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness & Housing, and St. Nicholas Neighborhood Preservation Corporation.

Housing services are a critical part of the Odyssey House family of services. Affordable housing is key to reducing the costly societal impact of substance abuse and chronic homelessness. These extra resources go a long way in preventing individuals who have achieved a sustainable level of sobriety from losing the gains they made in treatment and ending up on the streets, in city shelters, or the criminal justice system.

Representatives from Odyssey House showed up to support the initiative.

Assembly Member Vito Lopez addressing the crowd.

New York Times publishes letter by Peter Provet

The New York Times today published a letter by Peter Provet, president of Odyssey House, questioning the use of heroin to treat heroin addiction. The letter can be found on page A22 in the print edition. Check it out and let us know what you think.

The New York Times
August 26, 2009
Letter
Battling to Be Drug-Free

To the Editor:

Re “Study Backs Heroin to Treat Addiction” (news article, Aug. 20):

The recently reported heroin research does a disservice to the thousands of heroin abusers who are battling to live drug-free and to gain control over their lives. To say that the “safest and most effective treatment for hard-core heroin addicts” is an injection of prescription heroin undermines the decades of success in becoming drug-free achieved by heroin abusers enrolled in long-term residential treatment programs.

It is misleading to suggest that the majority of people who are addicted to one of the world’s most dangerous narcotics can overcome their addiction through use of this drug — even in a controlled way. No treatment regimen is 100 percent effective, but drug-free, abstinence-based models have been proved to offer the best chance of a sustained recovery for hard-core drug abusers.

While we support research into heroin abuse and its treatments, and the use of methadone as a treatment option, future studies must include an abstinence-based treatment approach.

Peter Provet
New York, Aug. 24, 2009

Kym Hampton visits Odyssey House teens

Former WNBA player Kym Hampton came to the Teen Leadership Center last Thursday to spend time with teens in treatment at Odyssey House. Ms. Hampton, who played for the New York Liberty, spoke about her career and the importance of goal setting. She also invited them to a Liberty game the following day.

Serve.gov features the story of our playground build

As many of you know, we recently built a fantastic playground for the children of Family Re-Entry. What you may not know is that it rained more than 2 inches during the build! Serve.gov published the story of how we overcame the elements to make a dream come true for the kids on its “Stories of Service” blog.

Here’s an excerpt from the story, written by staff member Gary Harmon:

As the rain was pouring down continuously, the drain continued to back-up, and each time a group of volunteers would reform the “bucket brigade” and quickly lower the overflowing water level. It was quite a sight to see individuals from every background, from senior Odyssey House staff to community volunteers to Odyssey House clients, working side-by-side and hand-in-hand in the worst rain imaginable in order to construct the playground.

Click HERE to read the entire story.

Serve.gov is an online resource for finding volunteer opportunities. It is provided by the Corporation for National and Community Service, which was created in 1993 to connect Americans of all ages and backgrounds with opportunities to give back to their communities and their nation. The organization runs three programs: AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and Learn and Serve America.

Join Odyssey House on Facebook!

Odyssey House is now on Facebook! To become a fan, just click HERE or search for “Odyssey House Inc.” the next time you login. Once you become a fan, you’ll be able to join or start a discussion, receive updates from our blog, get information about events that you can forward to your friends and family members, and more.

We look forward to seeing you on Facebook!

East Harlem Supportive Housing Development: Construction Update #2

Construction on our 50-apartment, long-term housing development at 123rd Street in East Harlem continues. The first complete floor is scheduled to be handed over to us with a temporary certificate of occupancy in mid-October. The entire building will be operational and fully occupied by the end of the year. Check out the pictures below to see the progress.

The bricks are being installed on the exterior of the building as interior walls are going up. Below is a close up of the front façade brick and cast stone details.



Scaffolding has been erected at the rear façade the entire height of the building to facilitate masonry and cast stone detail. After that is complete, the windows will be installed.

Here's a video of the scaffolding being erected.

Framing and plumbing work being completed on the first floor and the cellar.

The interior of an apartment. All of the electical work is done and phone/data/cable connections have been installed by Time Warner Cable and Verizon. The walls have been closed up and priming/painting to begin shortly.

The bathtubs are in place and tiling has started.

For more information about the building, as well as photos from the July 2007 groundbreaking ceremony, please click here.

National drug czar visits Edgecombe

R. Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), visited the Edgecombe Residential Treatment Facility in Harlem last week. Kerlikowske met with Odyssey House officials and commissioners from the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS), Department of Correctional Services, Division of Parole and Division of Criminal Justice Services to discuss alternatives to incarceration for non-violent drug offenders.

Odyssey House strongly supports such measures – last year, we were selected to run the Edgecombe program, which provides intensive services to parole detainees with the aim of returning them to their communities and engaging them in further addiction treatment. Dr. Peter Provet, president and CEO of Odyssey House, said, “Odyssey House is pleased to bring a cutting-edge, intensive clinical intervention to a population at high risk of relapse. Addiction is now recognized as a chronic relapsing disorder - this innovative program is treating relapse instead of punishing it."

Read the full press release for more on Director Kerlikowske’s visit.

Odyssey House Theatre Project debuts on Broadway!

Last month, the Odyssey House Theatre Project made its Broadway debut at the Studio Theatre on 42nd Street. The ensemble performed "Shape the Dream," a collection of 15 original plays, for two packed audiences.

The ensemble was comprised of 10 teens in treatment at Odyssey House. The teens participated in a three-month workshop, funded by a grant from the Elizabeth and Barets O. Benjamin Foundation, where they participated in all stages of the playwriting process, from concept development to stage production.

The workshop was led by Tom Demenkoff and Lori Parquet of City Lights Youth Theatre. For details on the project, including a blog chronicling the teens' incredible journey, visit the Odyssey House Theatre Project website.

The ensemble takes a bow after an inspiring performance.

Members of the ensemble with Odyssey House president Dr. Peter Provet (back row, third from left), Broadway actor Norm Lewis (far right) and City Lights teaching staff.

OHTP special guest artist Norm Lewis, center.

The ensemble presents OHTP director Tom Demenkoff with a special gift.

Members of the Odyssey House Boards of Trustees. Left to right, Rick O'Connor, Craig Montalbano, George Rosenfeld, Odyssey House President Dr. Peter Provet, Grant Miller, Ron Mitchell (back row), Dr. Robert Mitchell and Steve Gross.

For more photos, click here.

Save the Date! 4th Annual Run for Your Life 5K Fun Run/2 Mile Walk

Registration will begin July 6th on our website!

Ready, Set, Play!

The children at Family Re-Entry now have a beautiful new playground! More than 150 volunteers from Odyssey House, KaBOOM!, KOOL-AID and our community partners braved the rain to assemble the playground and build the side projects. We were joined by a few very special guests - Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., Reverend Run and his wife Justine, and of course the KOOL-AID man!

Thank you to all of our volunteers for your hard work! We truly appreciate all of the time and effort that you put into making this such an incredible day.

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., Justine Simmons & Reverend Run work on a side project.

Ruben Diaz, Jr., Dr. Peter Provet, Justine Simmons & Reverend Run at the closing ceremony.