Options Recovery Services is set to expand to Berkeley’s Old City Hall annex space this month. The drug and alcohol treatment program is currently located on Center Street, and will retain that space while moving mostly administrative offices into the building at 1835 Allston Way.
The organization will hold an open house Thursday, June 18, from 4:30-7:30 p.m., where staff will acknowledge the supporters and donors who are helping to renovate the new space, as well as accept new donations.
The organization is still actively fundraising to meet a goal of $205,000 to pay for renovations that needed to be done to make the building safe. All the necessary safety improvements required before the move-in date have been made.
Options Recovery, founded by substance abuse specialist Dr. Davida Coady in 1996, treats more than 1,600 people annually for drug and alcohol addiction. The mission of the organization is to “break the cycle of addiction which causes homelessness, crime and broken families,” according to its website.
“Options Recovery Services has proudly celebrated over 15 years of dedicated service to our clients helping to break the cycle of crime, broken families and homelessness caused by addiction,” the organization states. “Our vision is that one day, society will deal effectively and compassionately with addiction and recovery.”
Offering small treatment groups as well as case managing to enter clients into residential treatment programs and detox facilities around the Bay Area, Options Recovery has placed 200 clients in the past year in emergency shelter, transitional or permanent housing. The organization also graduated over 80 clients last year from its treatment program according to its webpage.
The organization is currently a little more than half way toward its fundraising goal. A $25,000 grant from Alameda County’s Measure A, the so-called health tax, went toward new phones and computer equipment in the space. It is crowdfunding, with a stated goal of $150,000, through GoFundMe, and holding fundraising events such as its weekly car washes on Saturday mornings in the parking lot of Lutheran Church Of The Cross at 1744 University Ave.
Stephanie Mackey, a graduate from the Options Recovery treatment program who recently started working with the organization, said renovations are mostly finished at the new site. “At the moment we have some administrative offices, and hopefully the plan is to get more of our clients from our Center Street location over there,” she said.
Mackey said the organization is waiting on confidentiality policies particular to drug and alcohol treatment dictated by Medi-Cal before starting to move clients into the new space. A new drug-testing lab, mental health clinic and the organization’s fundraising department will also occupy the new location.
Mackey added that certified acupuncture programs have moved over the the Berkeley annex location, and that clients are meetings with their individual therapists in the new space as well.
The organization is looking forward to expanding its services to continue to place California at the forefront of treating drug addiction. “We’re really excited about the move,” said Mackey. “This is a program that was started by an emergency-room doctor over 10 years ago, and it’s grown from that to this.”
Emily Dugdale, a graduate of Williams College in Williamstown, MA, is a summer intern at Berkeleyside.
Related:
Ride for Recovery targets $25,000 in donations for Options (09.15.11)
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