Photo by Jon Anderson.
The Birmingham Recovery Center opened June 30 in the International Park office complex off Acton Road in Hoover.
Colin Harris went through treatment programs to beat a heroin addiction 30 times, and now that the 32-year-old is clean, he spearheaded the opening of a new alcohol and drug outpatient treatment center in Hoover to help others find victory, too.
Harris collaborated with two other men who successfully beat their addictions to launch the Birmingham Recovery Center in the International Park office complex off Acton Road. They opened the doors to clients June 30. The 7,500-square-foot building is the former home of Noah’s Event Venue.
It is not a detox or residential facility but will offer a “partial hospitalization” program that’s essentially an all-day program, as well as different levels of outpatient services and support for family members of people with addictions, said Ian Henyon, the center’s executive director.
The primary service is group counseling, but each client also will get at least one one-hour individual counseling session each week and have drug tests at least twice a week, Henyon said.
The center has five clinical staff, three directors and three behavioral health technicians. There also is a medical team of two doctors and a registered nurse who will conduct medical and psychiatric evaluations.
Both doctors are certified in addictionology and psychiatry and are able to prescribe most medication clients may need, except methadone, Henyon said.
Harris serves as the managing director, and John Giannetto, a former heroin addict who was working in a treatment program when Harris was undergoing treatment about 10 years ago, moved from the Atlanta area to become the director of business development.
Harris, who is originally from Montgomery, said there is an incredible need for addiction recovery programs in Alabama. At times, he had to go out of state to get treatment, he said.
There are at least 24 similar outpatient facilities in metro Atlanta but, until now, only one in Alabama that is not state-funded or funded through Medicaid or Medicare, Harris said. That treatment facility is run by Bradford Health Services, he said.
The need for alcohol and drug addiction recovery programs is especially great right now because substance abuse and overdoses have risen dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic, Harris said.
Drug overdose deaths in Alabama increased 31% from 2019-20, and Jefferson County alone saw a record 302 drug overdose deaths in 2020, according to the Birmingham Recovery Center.
“We have a wonderful recovery community in our area that has been combating this, and we are going to stand and fight that same battle,” Harris said. “We have spent the past year recruiting and creating a clinical team and putting together what we consider to be a gold-standard program.”
Alabama Mental Health Commissioner Kimberly Boswell said it is a celebration anytime people can have access to additional care.
“It is just such a great opportunity to address such a critical issue in our community,” Boswell said. “Overdoses continue to happen. We are losing lots and lots of people to addiction. Honestly, to me, that’s just unacceptable.”
Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato said he’s grateful for the work the Birmingham Recovery Center will do to help people facing addictions. As a former firefighter and paramedic, he has seen firsthand the devastation that addiction can cause for individuals and families, he said.
Addiction is not just something seen in the inner city, Brocato said. “It happens across the entire socioeconomic spectrum.”
Henyon, who has been clean for 14 years and now is a licensed professional counselor with 13 years in the field, said he and his colleagues want to change the way treatment is often done and viewed.
When he went through treatment, the care he received was not very compassionate, he said. It was more of a “tough love” philosophy where someone sat him down, wagged their finger at him and criticized him for his addiction, he said.
That’s not the way anyone else with a chronic illness is treated, he said.
“We’re going to stop blaming addicted individuals for having a disorder of the brain,” Henyon said.
The Birmingham Recovery Center will be able to accommodate about 40 clients at a time, Henyon said.
Harris said he and his colleagues not only want to help people break free from substance abuse, but to help them change their lives and achieve their goals.
“Stopping substance abuse is not enough,” he said. “Treatment must always result in having a better life.”
For more information about the Birmingham Recovery Center, go to birminghamrecoverycenter.com.
