Plymouth Recovery Center receives state health grant for efforts to fight addiction

PLYMOUTH – Bob Hollis rallied the residents to open a privately funded center to help people recovering from drug addiction last year, confident that the state would eventually recognize the community's commitment to fight the opioid epidemic.

Now, as the Plymouth Recovery Center nears its first anniversary of operations, the state has come through.

State Rep. Mathew Muratore, R-Plymouth, announced Tuesday that the state Department of Public Health has awarded the center a $27,777 grant – one of nine awarded to recovery support centers across the state.

The grants are intended to help centers provide essential services to clients in recovery, and to offer recovery education and peer support to aid in relapse prevention and throughout the state. Hollis said the money will be used to increase staffing hours and design an online presence for the center on Obery Street.

More importantly, the grant represents an official acknowledgement of the local program, the state's only privately funded recovery center, and opens the door to even more assistance down the road.

"It really puts the center on the map," Muratore said Wednesday. "They, now, finally know that we are up and running. I foresee more funding in both the House and Senate budgets."

Muratore was one of the original directors of the centers, which Hollis spearheaded in memory of his son, Rob, who died of an overdose after relapsing after two years of sobriety.

Hollis rallied the town to fund a center in February 2017, calling on residents to take back the town from the grips of addiction. The center was based on a model run by the Gandara Mental Health Center on Cape Cod and in Brockton.

The center offers a variety of programs and treatment referral options, but is also an important peer-to-peer resource for people who have successfully completed treatment but need support in long-term recovery.

Muratore said he is convinced that such recovery programs are the key to beating addiction.

"You can't just go into treatment and then walk away. We have to put more resources into recovery," he said.

Muratore said he and state Sen. Vinny deMacedo, R-Plymouth, have been working on language in a $3.5 million bill that would provide funding to recovery centers statewide in the upcoming state budget. The language must be adjusted, he said, to include a privately organized center like the one in Plymouth.

Hollis said the center had been busy since opening last summer. It typically sees about 200 people a month and has made about 30 treatment referrals. The center is a base for a variety of programs for drug users as well as family members looking to help them.

Hollis said the center is especially busy with programs at night, which is a good sign, because it means it is reaching drug users who are working during the day but still in search of help.

Hollis said this grant will enable the center to hire another employee and will expand job and life skills services that are critical to helping users get back on their feet and readjusted in the community.

Muratore said he expects to see $3.5 million in funding for recovery centers in the budget that goes to the governor in July. He said that on the strength of the town's private commitment to tackle the problem, a $250,000 to $300,000 grant to continue operations in Plymouth would not be out of the realm of possibility.