Mountainside hotline saves people in crisis

“Addiction isn’t a choice, but recovery can be.”
—John Jones, vice president of crisis support at Mountainside Treatment Center

NORTH CANAAN — Matt spent several years wrestling with fear, frustration and uncertainty about how to intervene in his wife’s long-term addiction to alcohol. The past six to eight months, he recalled, had been especially hellish.

“It got so bad that I told her, you are either going to die or get better.”

Dying, he said, was not an option. Placing a call to the Mountainside Treatment Center’s crisis intervention team was.

For families like Matt’s, National Recovery Month in September brings a message of hope: recovery is possible, and help is closer than many realize.

This month, Mountainside, a nationally accredited addiction treatment center with a facility in North Canaan, is taking that message nationwide with the launch of a recovery outreach initiative that gives loved ones a direct way to connect someone with support.

At the heart of the effort is a dedicated hotline and confidential referral system, a temporary initiative that allows concerned family members to submit the name of someone they believe is struggling with alcohol or substance misuse.

From there, a trained member of the Mountainside Crisis Intervention Team (MCIT) will proactively reach out to that person, offering not judgment, but compassion, understanding and a pathway to treatment.

“Nearly 70% of the people we treat are referred by someone close to them,” according to Jana Wu, a licensed master social worker at Mountainside.

Referring to the dedicated hotline and referral system, “This initiative embraces that reality and provides a structured, accessible way for people to act out of love and concern,” she added.

Meeting people where they are

Mountainside’s initiative aims to bridge that gap by shifting the focus from waiting for the individuals to seek treatment to actively reaching out when someone is identified as being at risk.

Depending on the situation, support may come through Mountainside’s own programs or through a referral to a trusted partner, such as Northwell Behavioral Health, the largest not-for-profit health system in the Northeast, serving more than three million residents of New York and Connecticut annually.

Dr. Manassa Hany, director for the Division of Addiction Psychiatry at Northwell’s Zucker Hillside and South Oaks’s hospitals, emphasized that many individuals facing addiction are unable, or unwilling, to seek help on their own.

“This service empowers loved ones to take that first step, potentially saving lives,” Hany noted.

“I needed help in getting her to accept that she needed help,” Matt said of his wife’s situation. “Most of the time, they are active in their addiction and don’t want to get out of it. It’s where they want to be.”

Matt said his relationship with Mountainside spanned several years. “Addiction is a difficult thing to beat, even if there are periods of sobriety,” he said. The longer the misuse continues the harder it is to stop.

That’s when things can get “very dramatic, very quickly,” he noted. “With alcohol, they cannot go cold turkey when fighting their addiction.”That’s when counseling becomes critical.

“They counter all the denial,” Matt said of Mountainside’s intervention team, including beliefs like, “I just need to taper off…or I am going to switch from vodka to beer.”

“They can’t stop drinking by drinking,” said Matt. “It doesn’t work.”

‘They speak from the heart’

Too often, according to members of Mountainside’s crisis intervention team, people battling addiction feel isolated or ashamed. This program lets families step in and quietly say that they see you struggling and they care.

Sometimes, as in Matt’s case, it takes tough love, and trust in the dedicated Mountainside Crisis Intervention Team, many of whom have themselves battled demons in their past before embracing sobriety.

“They speak from the heart and speak the truth. The kind of assistance they give you is very personal,” Matt explained. “When you’re in the caretaker role, you are going to do the best that you can do,” to take the pain away from your loved one, even if it empowers the addiction. “That’s when the professionals step in and say, ‘How has that been working for you?’” Matt explained.

The moral and professional support he has received is immeasurable. “Whenever I call, he is there,” Matt said of his family’s counselor. “He came over at 8 in the morning many times and calls me at 7 p.m. to check in.”

A crisis by the numbers

The need for crisis intervention support is staggering. According to a 2023 report by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, more than 54 million Americans age 12 and older needed treatment for a substance use disorder.

Fewer than one in four actually received it.

Young people are among the most affected. Nearly 3 million adolescents needed treatment in 2023, but fewer than four in 10 received help. Among young adults, the survey revealed, the numbers are even more alarming: almost 10 million needed care, yet only 18% accessed it.

Behind those statistics are stories like Matt’s, families wrestling with fear, frustration and uncertainty about how to intervene.

“Addiction is a family disease,” noted Matt, who admitted that it takes a ton of tough love to help a loved one facing a downward spiral.

‘Recovery is REAL’

This year’s Recovery Month theme, set by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is “Recovery is REAL.” It is a simple, powerful reminder that no matter how desperate circumstances may seem, people do recover, and millions already have.

After seeking and receiving support from the Mountainside Crisis Intervention Team, for both himself as caretaker and for his wife’s addiction, Matt reported that she is on her recovery journey.

“Addiction isn’t a choice, but recovery can be,” said John Jones, Vice President of Crisis Support at Mountainside. “If we can help someone make that choice during this important month, it could change everything.”

If someone you care about is struggling with substance misuse, help is just a call, or click, away.

To connect with Mountainside’s Crisis Intervention Team call (860) 431-8755. A confidential referral form is available at www.mountainside.com.

Matt’s surname was omitted to preserve the anonymity of the recovery program.