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ODYSSEY HOUSE HISTORY
Since its inception in 1967, Odyssey House has earned a reputation for innovative leadership in the field of addiction and mental health services.
What began in 1966 as a pilot research program at Metropolitan Hospital in New York treating heroin abusers, quickly grew into one of the country's first drug-free therapeutic communities, as Odyssey House treatment protocols caught the attention of public policy and medical experts.
By 1969, Odyssey House had 130 treatment beds, but its facilities were continuously overcrowded. Each day admissions staff faced the difficult decision of turning away drug-troubled young people - a situation made worse by the rising number of teenage heroin addicts.
In response to this pressing epidemic, Odyssey House opened the first privately-funded adolescent treatment unit, and quickly filled the 60-bed Teen Leadership Center with youngsters in need of long-term treatment. Located in the heart of New York City's East Village, the Teen Center subsequently grew into a full-service residential high school, offering family and individual therapy and vocational services to troubled youngsters.
Demand for comprehensive treatment services continued to grow, and in 1973 Odyssey House again led the treatment field with the creation of the first residential treatment model to address the multiple problems of addicted parents and their children. The MABON (Mothers and Babies Off Narcotics) residential center on Wards Island, New York, was initially supported by a demonstration grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, but is now funded through the New York State Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS).
The MABON center, like its sister program in East Harlem, offers home-like settings for young families where parents can bond with their children in drug-free environments supported by professional counselors, experts in early childhood development, and primary medical staff.
The success of these centers established Odyssey House as the national prototype for family-centered substance abuse services, and earned it the reputation for setting the standard of excellence in the treatment field. Today, as many as 170 young mothers and children live at our Family Centers, making Odyssey House the largest treatment system for drug-troubled families in the country.
From the very beginning, meeting the medical needs of residents has been a priority at Odyssey House. But until relatively recently, residents had to leave TC facilities to receive medical attention at outside clinics. In 1992, Odyssey House was awarded a coveted New York State Department of Health license to open three primary health care clinics. Staffed by Board Certified medical specialists, these fully-equipped clinics provide comprehensive primary and specialty medical care for all residents. The success of these on-site, Odyssey House managed medical facilities, includes:
- Significantly improved medical outcomes
- Reduced treatment disruptions; and
- Elimination of unnecessary and costly emergency room visits.
In 1994, Odyssey House grew by almost 400 beds with the opening of the Manor Family Center, and a 60-bed stand-alone center for mentally ill chemical abusers (Odyssey House Harbor), both on 121st Street in East Harlem. The largest of Odyssey House's treatment facilities, the 333-bed Manor Family Center houses services for a broad range of drug-troubled people, including a home for 120 parents and children with their own onsite fully-equipped nursery, preschool and outdoor playground.
The Manor facility also houses the unique Odyssey House ElderCare program - the first residential TC in the country to treat substance abusers age 55 and over in a discrete program. Created in 1997 with a grant from the Rosenback Foundation (a private foundation managed by Odyssey House Board of Trustees' member George Rosenfeld) the program has since then helped more than 200 elderly substance abusers regain dignified drug-free lives. Employing relapse prevention techniques and strategies developed for the Enhanced Therapeutic Community model, ElderCare residents are able to successfully re-integrate into their communities and lead productive lives with families and friends.
The 60-bed Odyssey House Harbor is one of the only community-based, residential treatment programs for mentally ill substance abusers in New York City. Many of the men and women admitted to the program are transferred to Odyssey House from state psychiatric hospitals, homeless shelters, and the criminal justice system. At Odyssey House Harbor they learn to take control of their lives by following a strict psychiatric/medical regimen, participating in appropriate educational/vocational activities, and adhering to an enhanced TC model of cooperative living.
Recent years have seen further enhancements to Odyssey House's continuum of care services for residents. In 1995, Odyssey House began operation of 40 shelter plus care and family re-entry apartments, and in 1999 added a 150-slot outpatient substance abuse program for homeless men at New York City's largest men's shelter. The Camp LaGuardia program, run in partnership with Volunteers of America, is a successful attempt to meet the extensive needs of homeless male drug abusers with an innovative combination of intensive TC day-treatment and vocational/medical and housing services.
In its more than 34 years of service to New Yorkers, Odyssey House has demonstrated its commitment to providing quality programs that meet the needs of a changing community of drug-troubled individuals and families, from mothers with children, to adolescents, the elderly, and men and women living with HIV/AIDS.
Odyssey House's innovative clinical protocols in housing, education, employment and medical services have provided significant opportunities for growth for people of all ages who suffer from the effects of poverty, severe and persistent mental illness, and substance abuse.
