SULLIVAN COUNTY, NY — Many factors make it difficult for people with substance use disorders to seek treatment. People may have difficulty in finding transportation to treatment centers, in facing social stigmas around addiction or in knowing where to go for help.

A new mobile treatment unit launched in partnership between the Bridge Back to Life Center and Sullivan County’s Drug Task Force will help address those factors, lowering the barriers that keep people from accessing treatment.

Bridge Back to Life Center provides outpatient treatment and counseling for people in recovery through four locations in the New York City metro area. “Our objective is to help you make positive changes in your lifestyle and assist you in achieving a productive and fulfilled life, free of drugs and alcohol,” states the mission statement on its website.

The mobile treatment unit, a 32-foot-long trailer wrapped with the center’s logo, was first unveiled at a press conference in Monticello on January 20.

“We’ll be going to the different towns throughout the county and focusing on treatment of addiction as well as mental health within the area,” said Heather Guinan, a Callicoon-based nurse practitioner involved in the initiative, as she introduced it to the Tusten Town Board. She  gave a presentation at the Highland Town Board that same evening. “Obviously it’s a well needed service, and hopefully we’re really wanting to get into the little niches of Sullivan County that are not hit by classic, typical brick-and-mortar operations.”

The focus of that treatment will be on addressing the opioid crisis, but it will cover other kinds of dependency as well. The staff can provide counseling to address substance use disorders, says Guinan, along with a range of medication-assisted treatments. What type of treatment or counseling a patient receives will depend on what the patient feels comfortable with and what staff consider most appropriate.

While the trailer itself will only visit each town once in a month, staff can refer patients back to Bridge Back to Life Center’s brick-and-mortar locations for telehealth appointments if they need more consistent treatment. The center’s brick-and-mortar locations also have extended hours including evenings, providing additional availability for people who aren’t able to make the trailer’s hours.

In addition to helping people in recovery, the trailer will provide resources to help the communities around them. The family members and spouses of those suffering can go to the trailer for counseling, and staff will be able to provide members of the community with fentanyl kits and training to help prevent overdose deaths.

Guinan says the team is hoping to put together a preliminary schedule for April, and to build up a constant route and a consistent base of patients throughout the year.

The first step in that process has been getting approvals from each of the towns on the route to park the trailer in municipal lots. Guinan and Sam Encarnation, a certified recovery peer advocate and chaplain also involved with the project, have been traveling to town board meetings across the county since February, explaining what the Bridge Back to Life Center is hoping to do with the trailer and asking for approval to park.

The response so far from towns has been very positive, says Guinan. The one concern boards have brought up involves visibility; municipal parking lots are often high-visibility areas, which might deter people from coming there to seek treatment, and boards have offered more discreet areas in which to park.

The trailer should help bring treatment to the outskirts of the county where transportation to treatment centers is difficult, says Guinan. People who talk about treatment without knowing where to go or what to do will have a concrete place in their communities where they can seek help.

“We really want to bring the treatment out to people,” she says.