In a region affectionately known as "Boozebay," alcoholism is no stranger to many families on the Boothbay peninsula. However, as heroin use has hit epidemic proportions, substance misuse in our community has become an even more urgent life-threatening issue. As always, our community has responded heroically. Boothbay Harbor Police Chief, Bob Hasch, has been leading the charge. He is tirelessly reaching out, offering treatment options, and listening deeply to those in trouble and those in recovery to understand what works best to halt this epidemic that has claimed so many lives. Through the benevolence of a number of summer residents and local business people, Holly Stover has been employed to join Bob Hasch as our local outreach counselor, under the auspices of the Boothbay Region Community Resource Council. Holly helps those who are ready for treatment find the appropriate resources, and helps those in recovery get back on their feet.

The other good news is that four local residents have now availed themselves of a now-dwindling scholarship fund that has been established to provide 30-day In-Patient Rehab at the Farnum Center in Manchester and Franklin, New Hampshire, which is run by the non-profit Easter Seals. The bad news is that more people would like to go, but they don't have adequate medical insurance to cover their treatment and the initial scholarship fund is low.

Farnum Scholarship Fund

Boothbay resident, Trudie Seybold, jumpstarted a Boothbay Region Financial Aid Fund for the Farnum Center with a donation of $50,000 in February, but her gift is now running out and there are more local people who would like to avail themselves of this scholarship fund. Typical treatment costs about $12,000 for the 30-day residential program and up to $15,000, if medical detox is required. To make a gift for life-changing services to Boothbay area residents, please give online at http://es.easterseals.com/goto/boothbay-region-farnum. You may also contact VP of Development for Farnum, Courtney Smith, at 603-621-3456 or casmith@eastersealsnh.org with questions or to make a donation.  

Formerly a 12-Step Program, Farnum switched its recovery programs in 2015 to a more effective treatment program known as Health Realization or the 3 Principles. Using this approach, Farnum's counselors help people understand that every human being has inner resiliency and the ability to bounce back and overcome adversity when they gain perspective of what gets in the way: their thoughts. They discover that cravings are just thoughts. And that you don't have to act on your thoughts; you can let them go. People learn how to harness their innate capacity for health, insight, and contentment. They learn to live in the present, to let go of their past, and not to obsess about the future. As one program graduate explained: "I went there because I was addicted to drugs, but what I learned was that I didn't have an addiction problem; I had a thinking problem." As a result, many of Farnum's graduates who go to kick their opioid addiction, return without needing to rely on medically-assisted treatment (Suboxone) for the rest of their lives.

Farnum provides individual and group counseling, 30-day residential programs for men and women, a co-occurring disorders program for clients who also have a psychiatric diagnosis, and a non-hospital medical detoxification program. We have interviewed graduates of this program and also studied Farnum's recent recidivism rate, which is half that of many 12-step programs. In other words, people who do their substance misuse rehab at Farnum are twice as likely to stay sober as those in other programs. There are now at least six local graduates of the Farnum recovery program, living and working in the Boothbay region and Damariscotta.

Stigma: Barrier to Recovery

One of the biggest problems that recovering substance mis-users report-- in addition to needing housing, employment, and transportation--is the stigma that plagues them in our community. "Once an addict, always an addict," many people seem to believe. Instead of congratulating them on their recovery efforts, many people act as if they smell bad! This long-lasting stigma drives many of those in recovery away from our community.

The good news is that, despite the stigma and the long odds against success in battling habitual opioid and alcohol misuse, there are a number of local people who have triumphed. They find support where they can, from our local AA community, from Midcoast's Addiction Resource Center's freely available Addiction Counselors, Bill Ellsworth and Angela Musto. In Boothbay Harbor, Lincoln Medical Partners' physician, Aqui Alamo, and Behavioral Health clinician, Lisa Carbone, work with those in recovery every day. And twice a week, at the Community Center, those in recovery or those seeking help, can find support from our Recovery & Resilience support group, which meets Tuesday evenings from 6 to 7 p.m. and from our Increase Inner Peace group, which meets from 2 to 3 p.m. on Thursdays.