Group-based opiate treatment office opening in Farmington

FARMINGTON – A group-based treatment program for opiate dependence will open its doors on Pleasant Street in the coming weeks, seeking to address one the most significant issues facing western Maine.

Groups: Recover Together, a medication assisted treatment program that began in New Hampshire, will be opening its ninth branch in Maine. The program uses a combination of weekly group counseling sessions and regulated medication over an 18- to 24-month period to help people addicted to any opiate, ranging from heroin to prescription medication. According to Sarah Parnell, the manager of the program throughout the state, the program’s six-month retention rate is higher than 50 percent; the national average for outpatient therapy relating to opiate addiction is roughly 40 percent.

One of the things that helps Groups members, as compared to national averages, is that it’s entirely voluntary. People participating in the program want to get better, Parnell said.

“Research shows that with solid counseling every week and with supervised medication, people can have good success in a two-year period,” Parnell said.

The group counseling sessions are an hour in length and meet once a week with no more than 10 people per counselor, in accordance with state regulations. According to Marilyn Boucher, the clinical supervisor in Farmington, the group session consists of both discussions on week-to-week progress, as well as coping skills, relapse prevention and living skills. A portion of each session is given over to an educational piece, Boucher said, focusing on skills such as financial planning or resume building.

The group sessions are mandatory and if one is missed, the member would have to attend a makeup session.

Groups doesn’t use shame-based therapy, and Boucher said that the company went out of its way to make members feel welcome. The group therapy room is painted in bright colors with rocking chairs, for example.

“We are not in any way shame-based,” Parnell said. “We see people that want to get better and we want to be a part of that.”

Groups uses prescribed doses of suboxone, a drug used to treat those addicted to narcotic pain relievers, on a weekly basis. After the first year to 18 months, a physician begins working to reduce the member’s doses over roughly a six-month period until they no longer need to receive treatment.

While treatment has to be voluntary, Parnell said that Groups would be reaching out to local probation officers, medical providers like primary care physicians and hospitals and law enforcement agencies to let them know about then option. Many people will hear about the program from loved ones, Boucher said – “word of mouth is huge” – or call the company’s hotline at (800) 683-8313.

The program costs $65 per week, which includes the group session, the medication and some of the supporting elements, such as the physician that sits in on one meeting every 30 days. While Groups used to be strictly self-pay, it now accepts some private insurances as well as MaineCare through the Opiate Health Home Program. That state program also mandates that members address a secondary medical issue, which can vary from tobacco addiction to diabetes to mental health. Groups uses a nurse care manager for that purpose, as well as linking up with other agencies in the case of a mental health issue.

Roughly half to two-thirds of Groups’ members became dependent upon opiates through a legally-prescribed pain medication, Parnell noted; common reasons include work-related injuries, like construction workers, or from a car accident. The popularity of the program has exploded over the past three years, going from 70 members in two offices to more than 900 members in nine offices across the state. Farmington is the ninth; a tenth office will open in Houlton at the end of the summer.

Parnell, who has worked at Groups over the entire course of the expansion period, said that the rapid growth was both exciting, from a more-people-seeking-help perspective, but also sad in terms of the magnitude of the state’s opiate dependence issues.

The Farmington office will open in the next couple of weeks. Hours are to be determined; Boucher said that each office tends to develop its own set of operating hours and “personality.” For example, the Augusta office began seeing a large number of working adults, and therefore has nighttime office hours. Farmington’s office will be open four to five days a week and roughly 40 hours, however.

A grand opening event will be held on June 7 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Groups: Recover Together office at 140 Pleasant Street. Dr. Dorothy Thayer, a family medicine doctor, will present information about the local opioid addiction epidemic.

The Groups hotline is (800)683-8313.