Planting the Promise at Keystone Hall

Posted on October 20, 2011 by admin

The Greater Nashua Council on Alcoholism, Inc., more commonly known as Keystone Hall, in partnership with Beyond Influence and student-volunteers from the Nashua Community College, are raising awareness of the need for alcohol and drug prevention by participating in Red Ribbon Week, the nation’s oldest and largest drug prevention program in the country.

Site of the planting at 615 Amherst Street in Nashua, Keystone Hall's future home.

 

On October 28, 2011, volunteers from Nashua Community College will be planting donated red tulip bulbs in the shape of a ribbon in the front grounds of Keystone Hall’s latest project, a 26,000 square foot residential and outpatient substance use disorder treatment center, located at 615 Amherst Street in Nashua. In the spring, the flowers will bloom into the shape of a red ribbon, helping to bring awareness to the importance of drug and alcohol prevention in the community.

Jennifer Ceballos, President of the Human Services Committee at Nashua Community College, brings her son along to help prepare the ground.

 

Keystone Hall, a non-profit organization providing community members from Greater Nashua and New Hampshire with life-saving addiction treatment, prevention, and recovery support services since 1983, will relocate to the new facility on Amherst Street by January 2012, expanding their residential capacity from 28 beds to 54. For more information about Keystone Hall and its new facility, visit their website at www.keystonehall.org .

Nashua Community College is a comprehensive, public institution that believes in enabling all students to reach their full potential:  to expand and enrich the intellectual, social, and ethical qualities that define them. NCC’s primary goal is to prepare students for transfer to four-year colleges and universities or for successful placement or advancement in rewarding careers. Further, NCC strives to be a model citizen in the region, alive to our civic responsibilities and unwavering in its educational leadership. President Lucille Jordan, “Our students are the shining gems of NCC. This initiative is testament to their spirit, empathy and willingness to contribute to the greater good of the region.”

Beyond Influence, formally known as the Greater Nashua Prevention Coalition, provided Keystone Hall the tulips at no cost through a donation from Partnership for a Drug Free New Hampshire, as part of its “Planting the Promise” campaign. For more information about Beyond Influence or Partnership for a Drug Free New Hampshire, visit www.gncpc.org and www.drugfree.org.

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October 22, 2011 – SPOOKghetti Supper to Benefit Keystone Hall

Posted on October 12, 2011 by admin

Come one, come all to a SPOOKghetti Supper to benefit Keystone Hall at 45 High Street in Nashua, New Hampshire from 6 to 9pm. Children are more than welcome! This sober event features a traditional spaghetti dinner with all the fixins’, an attic penny sale, and a scarecrow contest.  Feel free to wear a costume. Tickets are just $10 per person, and available in advance or at the door. Hope you can make it!

 

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Prescription Drug Monitoring Program coming to NH?

Posted on October 12, 2011 by KeystoneHallTeam

StateImpact, a reporting project between NPR and and local public media, recently posted an article about the Feds’ efforts to curb the “doctor shopping” prevalent in New Hampshire among those addicted to prescription drugs. An excerpt from the article states:

New Hampshire is one of only two states in the country that does not have a prescription drug monitoring program. The other state without one is Nevada. But New Hampshire has another distinction– the second highest rate of prescription drug abuse among young people in the nation. The increase in abuse of prescription medications such as Oxycontin, Percocet and methadone has led to an increase in emergency room visits and an increase in deaths. Currently more people die here from drug overdose than from traffic accidents.

Keystone Hall is in the process of expanding their residential and outpatient capacity to meet demand for services. Currently, the agency is forced to turn away up to 1,000 New Hampshire residents seeking substance use disorder treatment annually. At their new, larger facility, Keystone Hall expects to serve twice as many residential clients, while also significantly increasing its outpatient and intensive outpatient programs. To learn more about these efforts, give Vanessa a call at 603-882-3616.

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Mark your Calendars… Live Cabaret and Dinner Fundraiser to Benefit Keystone Hall on November 12, 2011

Posted on September 28, 2011 by admin

 

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Research Confirms Specific Ways AA Helps Folks Stay Sober

Posted on September 14, 2011 by admin

Interesting new article that examines how Alcoholics Anonymous, or AA, helps folks remain sober. To learn more, click here.

Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital evaluated data from more than 1,700 study participants in a program called Project MATCH, which compared three alcohol treatment approaches. They received assessments three, nine and 15 months after completing the program, in which they reported their alcohol consumption and attendance at AA meetings. They also completed an assessment that looked at factors, including their confidence in remaining abstinent in social situations, and whether their close social network supported or discouraged their efforts to stay sober.

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Voxy: Substance use disorder treatment ‘must become mainstream’

Posted on September 1, 2011 by admin

Our friends in New Zealand at Voxy posted a great piece on the way substance use disorders are treated in comparison to other chronic illness by the medical community:

“Addiction is currently the only illness for which we have specialty care, but no meaningful involvement from primary care professionals such as GPs. That means there is little available to treat those with substance use disorders before they get to the stage where we deem them addicts.”

Professor McLellan said there is a difference between addiction and a substance use disorder.

“Imagine if, in the treatment of diabetes, we didn’t decide someone needed treatment until they got to the stage where they lost their toes or their eyesight.

“If we took that approach we’d put little time or effort into diabetes prevention or early intervention, and we wouldn’t bother teaching about its early symptoms in medical schools. That’s exactly what’s happening with substance use disorders right now.

Keystone Hall’s new facility at 615 Amherst Street will be one of the first in the region to create a marriage between primary and supplementary care, and residential and outpatient substance use disorder treatment. Working closely with its partner, Harbor Homes, the two organizations have plans to bring substance use disorder treatment “mainstream” through initiatives like this. To find out more and get involved, visit our Facebook page.

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The Granite State gets disturbing marks on a substance abuse survey (Keene Sentinel)

Posted on August 26, 2011 by admin

The Keene Sentinel recently published an article outlining the unfortunate status of substance abuse in New Hampshire. Highlights include:

  • New Hampshire (along with Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont in New England) is among the top 10 marijuana-consuming states per capita for residents over 12 years old.
  • While cocaine use has declined nationally for people over 12, it is up in New Hampshire.
  • New Hampshire ranks first in the nation for the percentage of people between 18 and 25 who drink alcohol (75.1 percent).
  • Comparatively low percentages of Granite Staters believe that binge drinking carries risks.

This information is based on data collected by the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Click here to read the full article, or read the full report here.

Keystone Hall’s new facility at 615 Amherst Street is really beginning to gain momentum The new roof has been installed, and the interior of the building now has framing in place to create at least 58 units of transitional housing and residential treatment space for NH residents working to overcome addiction. We are embarking on a campaign to raise $200,000 by the end of the year, when the building is expected to be complete. To learn more, please give us a call at 603-882-3616 and ask to speak to the Fundraising Department.

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Taking Action Against My Son’s Drug Problem

Posted on August 2, 2011 by admin

James Brown (no relation to the singer) posted a great blog post about his son’s drug use, and he and his wife’s inability to recognize the signs. Mr. Brown is a recovering addict as well. Like most parents, he trusted his son and believed him when he denied using drugs.

In the first week of his sophomore year, he was caught ditching class, four days out of eight in World History, and it’s then that my wife and I finally put it together.  We confronted him as soon as he came home that day.

“Are you using drugs?”

“No.”

“Look me in the eye,” I said, “and tell me you’re not getting high.”

Fortunately he’s not much of a liar, and he could only glance up at me, then he lowered his eyes.  But the lie came anyway.

“No,” he said.  “I don’t use drugs.  I’ve just been sick.”

Our biggest mistake was in trusting him.  But we trusted him because we love him and because he had never lied to us before.  Little lies?  Sure.  What kid hasn’t?  A big lie, like drug use?  No.  Not to our knowledge.  We were in denial and wanted to believe him. That wanting to trust, that need, that desire can be lethal.

Mr. Brown then provides parents with some advice to parents–or rules–on how to take action against addiction within the lives of their own children. Read the full posting here: Taking Action Against My Son’s Drug Problem.

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New Parent Helpline Provides Support, Resources For Teen Substance Abuse | The Partnership at Drugfree.org

Posted on July 29, 2011 by admin

New Parent Helpline Provides Support, Resources For Teen Substance Abuse | The Partnership at Drugfree.org.

Keystone Hall also offers “Choices”, an adolescent outpatient program for youth with or at risk of substance use disorders.

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Repost – Addiction: The Disease that Lies

Posted on July 27, 2011 by KeystoneHallTeam

Today’s post is a link to Marvin Sepalla’s blog discussing the brain disease of addiction. He makes some very good points that we sometimes forget, or choose to ignore,  as we struggle to overcome our own addictions, or watch as addiction destroys the lives of our families and loved ones. Common sense and logic come into play very little, if at all, when someone is deep in the throes of addiction. Instead, addicts lie to those around us and even to themselves, unable to recognize the severity and negativity of their disease. It is because of this inability to recognize the need for help that we all have a responsibility–and moral obligation–to those suffering from addiction:

We can safely watch such a tragedy, gawking as we drive by the destruction, insulated from the suffering and unable to help. But addiction is all around us and we need to respond to the rising death toll.

All of us are responsible for learning the truth about addiction, raising awareness and intervening for those who have this disease, knowing they are unlikely to be able to do so for themselves

To read Marvin’s full blog post, click here. To give or get help in New Hampshire, visit Keystone Hall’s website here .

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