The New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services has donated $116,000 to Outreach Project, the non-profit organization which helps those troubled teenagers and adults dealing with substance abuse in the areas of New York City and Long Island. This donation will be used for improving the teenage outpatient services at the Richmond Hill facility of Outreach Project.

A full-time family therapist will be hired, as well as a full-time case manager who will team up with the existing Substance Abuse Counselors and the Program Coordinator in order to better service the teens from 12-18 years old. The program based in Queens can presently serve 30 teenagers by exposing them to behavioral and motivational therapy which includes family involvement. This method was formed in a manner that would ideally lead to long-term success for the family unit.

Kathleen Riddle, the president of Outreach Project, said “This generous grant from OASAS will help troubled teens get the support and treatment needed to grow into healthier adults. The fight against drug and alcohol addiction among our city’s adolescents has to include quality care that gives these teens the confidence to remain substance free. The additional staff and enhanced services will improve treatment outcomes for teens and their families.”

In just one day, around 15,000 teenagers from the U.S. will try drugs for the first time. For every 25 students in an American school, about 3 students are drug users. Your teen abuses the substance but he is not aware that he is being abused by the substance. He won’t even know he’s being affected by the drug. It can change how he thinks without him even knowing.

Aside from its teen outpatient services, the agency also manages Outreach House, a residential treatment center for those troubled teens struggling with drug and alcohol addictions in Ridgewood. For English and Polish speaking adults, the agency has an outpatient facility in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Linda Babolcsay, adolescent coordinator, said “Addiction is a family disease and in order to see lasting changes in an adolescent, changes have to be made within the family system. Outreach’s adolescent outpatient services focus on meeting the needs of the individual, but also have an added component of bringing the family into the conversation.”

Outreach Project was actually created in 1980 as a non-sectarian, non-profit service agency to help those with drug and alcohol addiction issues.