*MEDIA RELEASE*

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Michael J. Yates
DATE: January 24, 2018 PHONE: 865-719-7221

Tethering lives to hope, healing, and recovery

Oak Ridge, TN - In a recent Modern Healthcare editorial, it was reported that drug overdose deaths soared to 63,632 nationally in 2016, with two-thirds of those deaths opioid-related. Beth Harwell, Tennessee Speaker of the House, recently shared that 1,631 of those lives lost in 2016 were Tennesseeans, 72.7% of whom had an opioid present in their system when they died. Tragically, the lives lost to this deadly epidemic are only growing, and everyone is touched by it.

State agencies, private-public institutions, policy-makers, the health care industry, law enforcement, urban and rural communities, and families, large and small, affluent and poor, are all searching for solutions that can save lives and give people a tether of hope for a brighter tomorrow. Ridgeview Behavioral Health Services is one such place whose mission is to provide hope, healing, and recovery to lives impacted by co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse.

Ridgeview understands that the lives lost and impacted by the opioid epidemic are people dealing with very complex needs and challenges. Rarely does one type of prevention model or treatment protocol work for everyone. It takes a careful assessment of a person’s strengths, needs, and preferences and the ability to offer a comprehensive continuum of services to ensure that each individual has access to the specialized care he or she needs in their recovery. Our commitment to being a part of the solution to this epidemic includes a recognition of the complexity of the issue, as well as, the use of a comprehensive approach to addressing it.

Ridgeview offers a full continuum of services that are deeply anchored to the belief that hope, healing, and recovery are possible and work. From our Same Day Access walk-in clinic to our next day medication management appointments, people can begin their care today without waiting weeks to be seen. From our outpatient substance abuse treatment programs to our inpatient psychiatric hospital, our harm reduction and safety first philosophy aims to remove the stigma associated with entering treatment and taking the first steps toward recovery.

“Recovery always recovering” means we continually adapt to new, innovative treatments that help meet the complex needs of the lives we serve. One way we’re expanding our ability to tether people to recovery is through linkage to Medication Assisted Treatment, commonly known as MAT, which can literally save lives by preventing the likelihood of more and more overdose deaths. Involving peer recovery specialists to a person’s recovery team is another important tether that can be critical to sustained health and well-being.
As people search for answers in response to this national and local health crisis, Ridgeview knows that tethering lives to hope, healing, and recovery will take a steadfast commitment to providing a wide-range of supports and services to individuals and families. And we recognize the need to be resolute and continually adapt to meeting the complex needs of lives impacted by mental illness and substance abuse, for these neighbors and friends, brothers and sisters are counting on us to tether them to the promise of another day.

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Photograph – Faces of hope, healing, and recovery
Pictured from left to right: Andrew Lufkin, Care Coordinator; Marcy Bean, Client Services Representative; Kristin Kakanis, Outpatient Therapist; Brandon Knight, Care Coordinator; Amy Olson, Director of Children and Youth Services; and Lindy Clapp, Outpatient Substance Abuse Services.

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Michael Yates is the Director of Development at Ridgeview Behavioral Health Services
Ridgeview is a private, not for profit community mental health center with locations in Anderson, Campbell, Morgan, Roane, and Scott counties.