Fall 2024 Newsletter

January 30, 2025

Fall at the Root Center was a season packed tight with exciting developments!


In our last newsletter, we were just one month away from opening our first clinic in New Haven County, and since then, our Branford location is now accepting patients, and has been featured on WTNH CH 8! 


We also hosted our Fall Community Forum on, "The Loneliness Epidemic", welcomed our newest Chief Medical Officer, published our Annual Report, and held a Grand Opening for our first Residential Treatment Clinic in New Britain on Whiting Street... just to name a few. 

We then recently celebrated the end of the year with our annual staff holiday party. It was a great time to get together and have some fun with music, food, raffles, and good company!


Keep reading to learn more...


News and Events

Branford Location Now Open!

The Root Center is proud to now offer mental health and addiction treatment services in New Haven County at the Stony Creek Medical Center!


Our Branford clinic opened in September, and is the Root Center's first and only clinic in New Haven County. We are so excited to also internally promote,  Aly Fox, to now be the Clinic Supervisor of our Middletown Saybrook and Branford Clinics. This clinic will serve both adults and adolescents. Hear from Aly, and Chief of Staff, Margaux Farrell, in this feature by Reporter, Jillian Andrews, on WTNH News Ch8! 


Click below to watch... or learn more here.


New Britain Residential Treatment Facility Grand Opening Ceremony

Branford wasn't the only ribbon cutting that we had these past few months! We were also excited to host our New Britain Residential Treatment Facility Grand Opening ceremony to kick off the new year. 


This new clinic is housed at 70 Whiting Street, which was the former location of our New Britain Clinic. That clinic has since been moved to a brand new facility located on East Main Street. This is Root Center's first ever Residential Treatment Facility. Root Center is proud to now offer these additional services, and we couldn’t have done this without the amazing support of our partners, Board, and everyone who believed in us along the way.

Special thanks to Mayor Erin Stewart, Senator Saud Anwar, Senator Rick Lopes, and our amazing staff for all of your help making this project come to life! We also appreciate our media partners for their coverage. Check out this fantastic piece done by Reporter, Jimmy Altman, on FOX61 News. 

We hope to begin accepting patients in April. Stay tuned for more details!


Another exciting event that we held recently was our community forum in November! The topic was, "The Epidemic of Loneliness: The Silent Sadness". The conversation was incredibly powerful, and we thank our panelists for an insightful evening of thought provoking discussion.


Panelists:

Dr. Peter Donato, Vice President of Clinical Services at Apple Rehab.
Deb Bibbins, JD, MBA, Founder and CEO of For All Ages, a convener of CT Collaborative to End Loneliness.
Dr. John Nazarian MD, Chief Medical Officer of the Root Center for Advanced Recovery.
Allison Gaffey, PhD, FAHA, Assistant Professor at Yale School of Medicine.
Andi Campbell, President of Wellspark Health, an EmblemHealth company.
Dr. Saud Anwar MD FCCP, State Senator, Deputy President Pro Tempore, Medical Doctor specializing in lung diseases and critical care medicine, occupational and environmental medicine.

If you missed the forum, we recorded the virtual event, watch here! We expect our next forum to be this spring, check our socials for more details to come. 


Advanced Recovery Institute


As a reminder, our Advanced Recovery Institute (ARI) is an entity of the Root Center for Advanced Recovery that is committed to research and training to elevate clinical care. ARI is responsible for events like our Community Forums, our research endeavors, and our monthly Clinical Grand Rounds. 

 

Clinical Grand Rounds


Our 2024-2025 Clinical Grand Rounds started back in July, and are presented monthly. Each month, we host leading speakers from across the country to deliver presentations on important topics regarding mental health and addiction.


These presentations are virtual, free, and open to the public. You can receive Continuing Education Credits (CEUs) for $10, and CEUs are FREE for Root staff members. Learn more about our lineup and register for any of our presentations, here. 

Clinical Updates

In December, Root Center welcomed a new Chief Medical Officer,  John Nazarian, M.D.. Dr. Nazarian is Board Certified in General Psychiatry and Addiction Psychiatry.


Dr. Nazarian previously served as Medical Director at Community Mental Health Affiliates in New Britain, CT. He also has extensive experience working in both in-patient and outpatient psychiatric treatment settings. Dr. Nazarian has a passion for treating individuals with substance use disorder, and we are so lucky to have him join Root.

If you want to know a little more about Dr. Nazarian, you can meet him here, on our recent episode of our monthly podcast, Recovery with Root.

Team Updates and Openings

We wrapped up an amazing year with our annual holiday party in January. With music, dancing, and a relaxed atmosphere, our Farmington Gardens celebration was a great way to let loose with fellow colleagues! Watch the video above for a fun recap of the night.

Here at the Root Center, we are always looking to expand our team with likeminded individuals who share a passion for clinical care, and want to better serve the needs of the thousands of clients we serve on a daily basis who struggle with mental health and/or substance use disorder. 



We pride ourselves on being a rapidly growing team offering excellent benefits that will enhance your work-life balance. Start with 37 days off, which includes PTO, holidays, and more. Take advantage of our $2,000 for training and education, up to 10% retirement match, plus comprehensive health benefits!


Check out our current openings here!

We have a podcast, Recovery with Root! We are diving deeper into mental health and addiction topics with leading professionals, researchers, patients, counselors, and so much more! It is hosted by Margaux Farrell, a former Journalist and News Anchor, who is now the current Root Center Chief of Staff. New episodes drop on the first Monday of every month.  Listen and subscribe for free on all major streaming platforms!


Scroll to the bottom of this page to subscribe to our newsletter and get them delivered straight to your inbox!

 

Recent Posts

Root Center Celebrates Fall at Lake Compounce

October 22, 2026
This October, Root Center for Advanced Recovery employees and their families came together at Lake Compounce for a day of fall fun during Phantom Fall Fest . With daytime Halloween activities, rides, fall treats, and festive entertainment throughout the park, the event offered something for attendees of all ages and gave families a chance to enjoy the season together. More than anything, the day was an opportunity to connect beyond the workplace. Events like these create space for coworkers to get to know one another in new ways, meet the people who are important in each other's lives, and share experiences that help strengthen the sense of community across Root Center. Thank you to everyone who joined us and helped make this fall celebration so memorable. Events like these remind us of the importance of coming together, connecting with colleagues, and celebrating the people who make Root Center such a special place. Above all, we're grateful to our dedicated employees, whose compassion, commitment, and hard work make a meaningful difference in the lives of our patients and the communities we serve every day. If you're interested in exploring opportunities at Root, visit our careers page .

Save the Date: Rooted in Giving Golf Classic Returns in 2027

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