Mark Your Recovery Month Calendar

Recovery Month 2008 is just around the corner, and BCI is celebrating with several upcoming events, so mark your calendar and make plans to join us! This year's theme is Real People, Real Recovery.

On Thursday, September 18, from 12 Noon to 2 PM, there will be a Picnic & Open House at Alpha North Wilmington. Join us to celebrate recovery at our brand new location at the Edgemoor Community Center. Fabulous people! Good fellowship! Great food! Parents encouraged to bring children. The location is 500 Duncan Road, Suite 144, Wilmington, DE 19809.

On Friday, September 19, from 10 AM to 2 PM, is our 2008 Recovery Month Softball Tournament in Georgetown. The tournament will be held at Sports At The Beach located on Route 9 in Georgetown. It will be a day of games, food, friends, and sober fun. We are inviting treatment staff, clients, friends, and family to form teams of 9. All equipment will be provided but feel free to bring your own. If you would like to participate, please contact Krystal at 302-856-4700. Let's Play Ball!

We also wanted to pass along an event from our friends at the 1212 Club.

On Saturday, September 6 from 12 Noon to 6 PM, the 1212 Club will hold the Real People, Real Recovery Community Enrichment Day. This day will be filled with speakers from differeent treatment facilities along with people from recovery groups and 12 step programs. There will also be a presentation conducted by the 1212 Board of Trustees, Recovery Coach Team, and Members. Lunch will be a barbeque from 2 PM until 3 PM. The location is the 1212 Corporation, 2700 Washington Street, Wilmington DE 19802. For further information or to have your facility participate in this event, feel free to call Stephen Burns at 275-1142 or Ethel King at 345-8176.

BCI Alpha North Wilmington Center To Move to Edgemoor Community Center

Brandywine Counseling's Alpha North Wilmington Center will be moving to the Edgemoor Community Center effective July 16, 2008.

The program will move from its offices at 98 Harvey Road, which it has occupied since opening in 2002. The North Wilmington Center is a satellite site of the BCI Alpha Drug Free Program, which offers outpatient drug and alcohol counseling to Delaware residents.

Our new location within Edgemoor Community Center will make treatment services available to North Wilmington residents at a location that is well-known within the community and easily accessible by bus. The Edgemoor Comunity Center is a not-for-profit, community-based, multi-service agency that provides a broad range of educational, recreational, self-enrichment, and family support services.

Our new address is: 500 Duncan Road, Wilmington, DE 19809.

Our new phone number is (302) 225-8008.

Our new fax number is (302) 225-8010.

Friends & Families Picnic to Reunite Formerly Homeless Men with Their Families

You are invited to the Gateway House/Brandywine Counseling

Don Hofmann Memorial

FRIENDS AND FAMILY PICNIC

Saturday, July 19, from Noon until 5 pm

At Wilmington's Brandywine Park

(Next to the Wilmington Zoo)

BRING YOUR CHAIRS AND BLANKETS!!

If you would like to bring your favorite party dish

to share with the group that would be great!! (This is strictly optional)

The Friends and Family Picnic is a free, public event open to the community. The picnic gives Gateway House residents an opportunity to bring their families into their life in a non-threatening situation. Many residents need to mend relations with their families because of mistakes they made during their drug and alcohol addiction. The picnic is a welcome opportunity for friends and families to join in a resident’s new life.

Gateway House provides long-term, permanent housing for homeless men who are willing/ready to address the issues that caused or contributed to their being homeless. An estimated 29% of Delaware’s homeless report chronic substance abuse. With housing and treatment programs, many are able to overcome their addiction and become productive members of the workforce and society. Brandywine Counseling is proud to partner with Gateway House to put on this event.

Looking forward to seeing all our Friends and extended Family!!

BCI Is Closed Friday May 30

All BCI offices are closed Friday May 30.

We're all attending training on the important topic of crisis intervention, so we can better serve you, our customers. Increasingly, you come to us for help with complex issues, and we want to be prepared with the answers you need.

In case of emergency, please call 911.

Frequently Asked Questions for BCI Alpha Clients

"Can I change my counselor?"
"What happens to my treatment if I get locked up?"
"What treatment plan?"

The staff of BCI Alpha have put together a list of answers to these and other Frequently Asked Questions specific to this program. You can get your copy here.

2007 Patient Satisfaction Survey

The results of BCI's 2007 patient satisfaction survey are now posted on our website. Thanks to the 313 patients who responded and rated us in areas such as environment of the clinic, confidentiality, and how much counseling is helping you.

While the ratings in all areas were in the acceptable range, we generally saw lower scores than in past years. The area of most concern to us is whether psychiatric/psychological services were helpful. Mental health services are an area we know needs improvement, which these scores confirm. You will be glad to know we are already taking steps to reduce the wait time, increase our staff training, and move closer to a "seamless continuum" of treatment for co-occurring disorders.

Survey results have been communicated to our staff, who will be working with our Continuous Quality Improvement committee to address the most important needs of you, our customers.

Lancaster Dispensing Mural Sketch

A group of volunteers from Chase will be painting a mural this week in the Lancaster dispensing area. The theme will be "Steps to Recovery," based on an idea by Edna Maldonado of NSAFE. I thought this idea was great as soon as I heard it, because it reminded me of Pat's testimonial from the needle exchange celebration, about extending hands two ways on the ladder of life. We are also giving clients a chance to get involved by adding their own personal messages to those who helped them in their recovery journey.

Here is a sketch.

World AIDS Day: Stop AIDS. Keep The Promise.

Delaware will observe World AIDS Day tomorrow, December 1.

Currently, there are 3,320 Delawareans living with HIV/AIDS. Since 1981, when the HIV/AIDS case tracking began, 1,853 HIV/AIDS deaths have been reported through 2006.

The Delaware Division of Public Health invites you to get involved by volunteering for a local HIV organization, confronting discrimination, getting tested for HIV, and protecting yourself and your partners.

For more information, including a list of local events, click here.

1212 Corporation Marks 41 Years As Delaware's Recovery Clubhouse

Yesterday I attended the 1212 Corporation’s first annual banquet and fundraiser at Cranston Fire Hall in Wilmington. About 100 people including many Brandywine staff enjoyed food, fellowship, and guest speakers.

For me, this was my first chance to learn what this organization is all about and why it means so much to Delaware’s recovering community. For 41 years, the 1212 Club has provided a safe haven for those seeking recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction. It is literally a recovery clubhouse, run by recovering persons for recovering persons, and is the only facility of its kind in Delaware. Support and a “recovery atmosphere” is available seven days a week, year-round. Services include AA, NA, and special meetings; therapeutic support; transportation to and from drug rehab; educational/recreational activities; and transitional housing for men and women.

Many speakers last night credited 1212 with helping them through the earliest stages of their recovery and beyond. It is easy to understand why. A treatment program like BCI can only take one so far in recovery. A social support system is vital because it’s there for you in your everyday life, whenever the urge strikes to return to your old behaviors. So many people found this support at 1212 when they had nowhere else to turn. Some, now successful professionals in the addiction treatment field, started their first job in recovery as a counter assistant at 1212.

BCI congratulates the 1212 Corporation on 41 years of service, and looks forward to watching them expand their services. And if you are in need of a safe haven, stop by the Clubhouse at 27th and Washington. You might find the support you need and much more.

BCI Celebrates Recovery Month

BCI has some fun events coming up in celebration of Recovery Month. Visit our calendar to see what we've got planned.

I know I will make it to the Alpha picnic next week and I will also be a member of our AIDS Walk team on the 30th. Hope to see many of you there!

Drug Dealing Prevention Group

Are you involved with drug dealing or street addiction and want to change your lifestyle for the better? BCI has started a Drug Dealing Prevention Group.

The group takes place Tuesdays from 3:30 to 4:30 PM at the Alpha Center at 2814 West 2nd Street. Participants will learn strategies for making a prosocial life change. You must be a BCI Alpha client to attend.

This is the first group of its kind at BCI and one of the most-requested group topics by our clients.

For more information, please call 472-0381.

Participation = Celebration!

Our new slogan at the BCI Alpha Drug Free Program. Thanks to Intake Counselor Marc Weisburg for the idea.

Consumer Scholarships for Summer Institute

The State of Delaware has announced the availability of client scholarships to attend classes at the 36th Summer Institute, “Embracing Change: Promoting Recovery,” July 23-27, 2007.

Consumers may ask their counselor to call in their information, or they may send in their registration with a request for a scholarship to:

Penny Chelucci, Consumer Affairs Office Director, DHSS/DSAMH, 1901 N. DuPont Highway, Main Building, Room 197, New Castle, DE 19720.

The only scholarship requirement is that the person is a consumer of mental health or addiction services and lives in Delaware.

Consumers may register for any sessions they choose. There are some sessions that are specifically designed to be of interest to consumers. They are:

# 1072 Recovery, Trauma, and Empowerment on Wednesday
# 1083 Self-Advocacy and Negotiation on Thursday
# 1068 Empowerment and Consumer Culture on Friday
# 1052 Hiring, Supervising, and, If Necessary, Firing Service Providers in Recovery on Friday

DSAMH welcomes any and all consumers and is pleased to be able to assist their participation. Lunch is included in the scholarship. For consumers who live in Sussex County, the scholarship can also include lodging. Anyone who requires some form of accommodation to attend, please mention this with your request.