Two New Wellness Resource Centers Open to Combat Opioid Crisis

August 28, 2019 5:25 pm

By: Tim Studebaker

PAWTUCKET, R.I. (WLNE) – Rhode Island has two new places where people can go if they need help overcoming addiction and getting healthy. New wellness resource centers have opened in Providence and in Pawtucket.

RI Behavioral Health & Substance Abuse Disorder Programs Administrator Linda Mahoney says, “Being in the community as a resource center, it gets the information out there. One of our major concerns is that people just don’t know where to go. They don’t know how to get help. They don’t know who to call.”

At the heart of this effort is combating the opioid crisis. These facilities are designed to help people who live in the cities’ housing authorities to get help with drug addiction, alcoholism, mental illness, and learning more about healthy living. It’s all free of charge thanks to grant funding.

Pawtucket Housing Authority Executive Director Paula McFarland says, “We’ve learned that healthy living makes people happier. It makes them have more friendships. And having activities to do that, and having people that they can talk to makes their living much better, no matter what their housing may be.”

Residents will have access to a clinician, counseling, treatment referrals, and recovery and support groups, as well as free Naloxone.

Pawtucket Housing Authority Wellness Coordinator Rosa Felix-Pichardo says, “It just depends on the individual and what they want to do. We’re not going to force down one direction. We want to keep it open to them.”

Mahoney says the pilot program is starting in Providence and Pawtucket because those areas see the most overdoses.

Mahoney says, “We’re collecting data, and we’re making sure that it works, and then we can tell SAMSHA that this is sustainable, we should make sure that this spreads across our state.”