OUR HISTORY AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Before 1975, New Jersey residents who could not afford private residential treatment for alcoholism had to travel to Graymoor, NY for help. Turning Point’s founders were determined to change this situation. This group of local politicians arranged with Essex County for the lease of a building on Hilltop, former site of the TB center on the grounds of the Essex County Hospital.

With the financial support (and “sweat equity”) of local members of Alcoholics Anonymous and other friends, the Men’s Staff Dormitory was transformed into a 10 bed residential treatment facility for the indigent alcoholic on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 1975. The Essex County Freeholders provided grant money to support Turning Point. Notable players during Turning Point’s earliest days included:

• Doug McCarthy, Trustee and visionary, in whose honor the original Cedar Grove facility was dedicated
• John Tully, first Executive Director
• Michael Festa, Ph.D., first President of the Board of Trustees
• Nancy Brach, who wrote the initial application for funding
• Al Gorman and Mary Ryan, who were among the original incorporators

Over the years, the treatment needs of substance abusers have increased and become more complex. Turning Point has repeatedly responded to these changing needs by expanding and adapting our programs.

• In 1979, Turning Point became one of the first to open a residential treatment program for women, which now treats pregnant and post-partum women and those with co-occurring disorders.
  
• In 1981, in response to the “deinstitutionalization” of those with co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse disorders, Turning Point opened an outpatient program and drop-in center at the YM/YWCA on Broad Street in Newark. The program moved to So. 17th Street in 1991, where it served a drop-in clientele. Many of our Newark clients were referred there for aftercare upon completion of the residential program. We treated many court-referred clients from the newly established Drug Court in Newark. Unfortunately, due to inadequate funding, this program closed in 1998.
  
• In 1983, turning Point secured Mutual Agreement Program contracts to provide residential addiction treatment for clients on probation and parole.
  
• In 1988, Turning Point obtained a grant from the Department of Human Services, Division of Mental health Services, to provide short-term residential treatment for Mentally Ill Chemical Abusers (MICA).
  
• During 1991, Turning Point was selected (one of only five providers) to participate in the Campus Treatment Project in Secaucus, a research and demonstration project funded by the federal Center for Substance Abuse Treatment and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, through the NJ Department of Health, Division of Addiction Services (DAS). Located on the grounds of Meadowview Hospital, the program, which began accepting clients in 1993, included a 54-bed, short-term residential treatment program for both men (32) and women (22). The Campus Project ended in 1996, but DAS continues to fund short-term residential treatment beds for chemically dependent adult men and women at Turning Point. Clients from Work First NJ Substance Abuse Initiative are also treated at this site.
  
• Also in 1991, Turning Point moved from its original location at the Essex County Hospital Center to temporary space in the Freeman Pavilion, and finally to Building 14 on Dill Drive in Cedar Grove.
  
• Turning Point received its first county grant for detoxification and short-term residential treatment. Since then, several counties have contracted for services at Turning Point.
  
• During 1998, the Work First Substance Abuse Initiative (SAI) was implemented statewide to coordinate services for clients who need to address addiction issues so they can obtain employment under the then-new welfare reform laws. Turning Point began accepting SAI referrals; SAI became our largest fee-for-service funding source.
  
• Also in 1998, in response to a growing demand for detoxification and the closing of residential detoxification programs throughout New Jersey, Turning Point opened a sub-acute detoxification program for heroin and alcohol addicts.
  
• 2000 was the year that Turning Point obtained a grant to provide outreach and assessments for New Jersey’s Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS). Many women began being referred to treatment through this project.
  
• Also during 2000, Turning Point first became accredited by the Commission on the Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF).
  
• In 2003, Turning Point was awarded a grant to develop longer-term residential treatment in its Secaucus site, specifically to serve the Drug Court Initiative-referred clients. All DAS-funded short-term residential beds in Secaucus moved to Cedar Grove, to make space for this new program. This was the first program of its kind, providing intensive medical model treatment for a longer-term population.
• During 2003, Turning Point was selected by the National Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependence of New Jersey (NCADD) and the White House’s National Office on Demand Reduction as the “model treatment program” from which to launch President Bush’s faith based initiative.
• During 2004, Turning Point was one of only four New Jersey programs awarded collaborative grants from the state Divisions of Mental Health Services and Addiction Services to provide detoxification and psychiatric stabilization for clients with co-occurring disorders (formerly referred to as “mental illness”).
• It was a watershed year for Turning Point in 2006, as Essex County sold the Hilltop acreage to a developer, forcing Turning Point to close its Cedar Grove facility on Dill Drive. Although the Corporate Office moved to Verona, the women’s program closed for several months, resulting in layoffs. Late that year, the women’s program re-opened in temporary space at Saint Clare’s Hospital in Boonton.
• 2007: Turning Point won a competitive application process to develop a statewide access initiative to place parolees transitioning out of the state prison system into residential addiction treatment beds.
• 2008: Turning Point became one of only two providers in all of New Jersey selected to participate in the state’s Division of Addiction Services expansion of detoxification services for clients who have relatively complicated medical and psychiatric conditions.
• 2008: Turning Point re-entered the Outpatient Treatment arena with the opening of a facility in Verona. Shortly afterward, the agency announced that it would take over control and operation of Urban Renewal Corporation’s addiction, social services and HIV counseling program at 224 Sussex Avenue in Newark. Urban is a 400-plus bed, emergency transitional housing program.
• 2009: Turning Point announced that, for the first time since the agency was founded 35 years ago, it had purchased a facility that would house all of its residential programs and administrative staff under one roof. Previous facilities had been rented and were usually housed across multiple locations/counties. Now Turning Point permanently occupies a significant portion of the Barnert Medical Arts Complex in Paterson (formerly Barnert Hospital).
• 2010: With a grant from Mountainside Health Foundation, Turning Point launched a new program to assist the families of those battling addiction. The Family Wellness Program: Preserving and Restoring Families Affected by Alcoholism and Drug Dependency offers information about the disease of addiction, how it impacts families and how family members can get help; professional counseling; and referrals to other community resources. Families are eligible to participate whether or not their loved one who is addicted has made the choice for sobriety.
• 2010: The Women’s Residential Program, Detoxification Program and Admissions moved to Paterson in February. Administration followed in May. The Men’s Residential Program will follow when renovations are completed.