News and Events

International Overdose Awareness Day

In 2021, Root Center broke ground on a Memorial Garden that was to be built behind our Manchester Clinic. This garden was intended to be a sanctuary for the community to have a safe space to come for a moment of reflection and a place to honor those lost to the disease of addiction.

Root officially opened the garden on August 31st, 2022. August 31st is recognized annually as International Overdose Awareness Day. Every year, we host a Remembrance Ceremony to remember all of the lives lost, and to raise awareness for those who continue to struggle. 

Like last year, we put out a handmade box gifted to us by a patient at our Torrington Clinic, who just celebrated two years in recovery, encouraging the community to write notes with the provided paper, and leave them in between the stones of our Remembrance Wall. This year, we included a Burning Ceremony in the garden, burning the notes collected last year and allowing the wind to take the ashes and wishes wherever they're meant to be. It was a beautiful display of hope, with the warmth of the fire offering comfort to those affected by the disease of addiction.

And, as we do every year, we planted a new plant in the garden to co-represent the growth of recovery. This year's Crepe Myrtle was the runner up to the vote we held last year to decide what would be planted. Its pink and purple flowers are a wonderful addition to the garden, and we look forward to watching it thrive for the years to come.

Everyone in attendance offered community support, pleasant company, and inspiration to those around them. We heard wonderful speeches from Senator Saud Anwar, Senator MD Rahman, and State Representative Geoffrey Luxenberg. We also heard from Taylor, a patient of our Manchester Clinic, currently on his recovery journey. His words of hope and message of love was the perfect way to end the speeches of the morning, and we are so proud of him for his commitment to his recovery.

As an addition to our Remembrance Ceremony, we wanted to offer the community harm reduction services, and we were thankful to have InterCommunity bring their Mobile Clinic to offer primary healthcare services to anyone in need. We also had our harm reduction rovers providing NARCAN, fentanyl testing strips, along with other important items, with providers available to aid in explaining how to use any of the offerings. We were pleased to see many people took the time to learn about the many life-saving items we had to offer.



We hope for a day where we no longer lose people to this disease. Until then, we will continue to offer our help and services to those in need, and our Memorial Garden is always open to anyone who needs a safe space to reflect. If you have not visited, please stop by at 335 Broad Street in Manchester, CT. 

We kept this up for a week, and by the end, the amount of notes left in the wall was astounding. There was so much love, and so many memories filling this wall. It was beautiful. 

As an addition to our Remembrance Ceremony, we wanted to offer the community harm reduction services, and we were thankful to have InterCommunity bring their mobile clinic to offer primary healthcare services to anyone in need. We also had Narcan, fentanyl testing strips, and a harm reduction Rover on-site, as well as providers available to aid in explaining how to use any of the offerings. We were pleased to see many people took the time to learn about the many life-saving items we had to offer. 

We hope for a day where we no longer lose people to this disease. Until then, we will continue to offer our help and services to those in need, and our Memorial Garden is always open to anyone who needs a safe space to reflect. If you have not visited, please stop by at 335 Broad Street in Manchester, Ct. 

Golf Tournament

Our Golf Tournament to benefit St. Vincent de Paul Middletown was a complete success! On September 25th, we hosted this charity event at Lyman Orchards Golf Club for nearly 100 golfers on the famous Jones Course! The day was filled with impressive swings, Lyman Classics including Cider Donuts and Apple Pies, amazing raffle prizes, and only a little bit of rain. Check out the video to see all the festivities!

We are so so thrilled to announce the Golf Tournament yielded $25,000 in donations for St. Vincent de Paul, Middletown! This tournament was a fundraising event specifically to donate all proceeds to this amazing organization. Root Center takes pride in being a Nonprofit that Supports Nonprofits, and the work St. Vincent de Paul does every day is invaluable! SVDM exists to meet needs and offer hope by providing food, clothing, shelter, and basic human services to community members who experience food, income, and housing insecurity. Check out of most recent podcast episode featuring Executive Director of St. Vincent de Paul, Maryellen Shuckerow, sharing with us the impact St. Vincent has on the communities they serve, and the work they're doing every day to make Middletown, and Connecticut, a little brighter!

Not only was the tournament a huge success regarding donations, but also a huge success regarding experience. Despite the momentary rain, we hosted almost 100 golfers, offered 30 raffle prizes, and had 31 Sponsors!

Participants were able to enjoy a beautiful dinner, had the chance to win luxury vacation vouchers and other wonderful prizes, hear speeches from Mayor of Middletown Gene Lucera and Connecticut's Good News Guy Keith McGilvery, all while spending a day supporting the same cause. We couldn't have done this without the amazing people and organizations who not only joined us last week, but also offered their support in the months leading up to this hole-in-one event!

Team Updates and Openings

Intern Welcoming Ceremony

At the end of September, we held our Annual Intern Welcoming Ceremony! This event is held at the beginning of every new intern class to give them an opportunity to meet leadership, full-time staff who were previously interns, and each other for a lighthearted day of learning and fun! We love events like these, because they give everyone the opportunity to learn something new, and this year, we decided to do something fun.

One of our clinics painted a lovely tree on canvas for us to use for this event, we then asked everyone in attendance to stamp their thumbprints on the branches to make leaves, with a unique touch! Hopefully, this tree will be able to make an appearance for many years to come, and slowly grow and bloom with all of the new lives touched by Root!

Weston Street Campus New Look

Our Hartford twin facilities, the Henderson Johnson Clinic and Central Admissions Facility, just got a bright new look! To help our facilities feel more welcoming and cohesive, we have been painting and landscaping our Weston Campus, and we think the new look is beautiful! We are so excited to continue offering high quality and compassionate care to our patients with this more modern touch!

Fun with the Yard Goats

And finally, summer wouldn't be complete without an outing to the Yard Goats Game! Every year, staff take a trip together to a home Yard Goat Game, taking a well deserved summer break and enjoying the warm weather and good company. Even more fun, our Chief Operations Officer, Ashley Hickey, got to throw the first pitch! We had so much fun, and we look forward to going every year. Who knows, maybe next year we'll get to throw another ball!

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 schedule officially started in July. We are very excited for our upcoming year of exciting speakers that we have set for the months to come. 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, including the one later today, here. 

Here at the Root Center, we are always looking to expand our team with like-minded 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!

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