Roxbury Community Health Center receives $1 million in funding to support addiction treatment

Goss isolated himself from his family. For decades he faced the vicious cycle of incarceration and homelessness. Scouring Massachusetts Avenue for drugs seemed like the only way to cope.

But after years of bouncing in and out of hospitals and care facilities, Goss, now 45, found community and received proper treatment at the Dimock Center in Roxbury.

“I have learned [at The Dimock Center] that I matter and that I am important, and that I can do whatever I think,” Goss said. “This is the path to empowerment.”

Goss celebrated 14 months of sobriety on Wednesday. He said he feels equipped to pursue a career in carpentry and coin grading, and hopes to move into his own apartment within the next 90 days.

To help more men on their journey to sobriety, the Dimock Center is investing $1 million in federal funding to launch the first clinical stabilization program. Currently, the city does not offer male-focused clinical stabilization programs, said Dr. Charles Anderson, president and CEO of the center. The new program will provide more than 1,000 patients each year with “14 to 28 days of intensive treatment following inpatient detox and preceding longer-term residential recovery,” according to a statement from the center.

The investment will allow Dimock to support patients through detox, clinical stabilization, and residential recovery, helping more men with substance use disorders to forge their own success stories.

Representative Ayanna Pressley, who represents Massachusetts’ 7th District and who has advocated for the program for nearly a year, celebrated the funding during a roundtable discussion with Dimock management, staff and patients on Wednesday. Pressley said creating the resources for men to achieve sobriety is deeply personal.

“Growing up, my father, Martin, was absent during my formative years due to the fact that his… opioid addiction was criminalized rather than met with compassion and trauma-informed care,” Pressley said. “I am thrilled to provide this critical investment to the Dimock Center so it can expand its addiction treatment and treatment facilities and help men like my father get the resources and care they need to get back on their feet. foot.”

Due to a lack of clinical resources, Anderson said many men with substance use disorders must travel out of town for additional treatment, putting them at higher risk for relapse.

Gross said having to leave the familiar surroundings of the city he calls home played a role in his relapses.

“It’s part of the addiction, I guess you want to be where you’re comfortable,” Goss said.

But the new investment allows the Dimock Center to offer clinical stabilization services on its campus, ensuring patients won’t have to travel far for the next stage of their recovery.

“It’s that opportunity for us to really bring hope back,” Anderson said.

With the new program, Pressley said she hopes Dimock, which already provides “culturally competent, trauma-informed and gender-sensitive” services, will set an example for other treatment facilities in Greater Boston.

“The wealth of our nation is the health of our people,” she said. “And that’s the kind of investment needed to support the health, well-being and livelihoods of people in Boston and beyond.”

Katie Mogg can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow her on twitter @j0urnalistkatie