A St. Albans organization has opened the Lake Champlain Islands’ first dedicated office providing peer recovery and harm reduction services for people with substance use disorder.
Turning Point of Franklin County’s new office in Alburgh — the northernmost town in Grand Isle County — opened in late May at the town’s federally qualified health center.
The center, operated by Northern Tier Center for Health, provides medication-assisted treatment for people with substance use disorder, among other programs, according to Hannah Rose, who manages Turning Point’s Alburgh office.
Previously, Islanders had little or no access to peer-based recovery services in or near their hometowns, according Rose. The North Hero resident has herself been in recovery for nearly four decades after using methamphetamines.
To obtain Turning Point services, people had to drive up to an hour each way to hubs in either Burlington or St. Albans.
“Transportation is a major barrier for many people in the Islands. We also have a lot of farmers and a self-reliant, hard-working culture,” Rose wrote in an email. “Our hope is that having an office in Alburgh will make it easier for people to find support.”
The only public transportation regularly serving the Islands is a Green Mountain Transit round-trip bus route that runs once a day, Monday through Friday, between Alburgh and Georgia. Its route does not pass through any of the other four towns in Grand Isle County.
The Alburgh office is open on Fridays from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. It hosts in-person and virtual support groups — one for individuals and one for families and friends. Rose said one-on-one services also are available for people who would like more privacy.
The services are free, and information is kept highly confidential, she said.
Turning Point also has offices in the Franklin County towns of Richford and Enosburgh, in addition to its home base in St. Albans. The Richford location opened in February.
United Way of Northwest Vermont provided full funding for the Alburgh office — $32,500 — about half of which came from donors and half from a state grant.
“Now more than ever, we need to break down barriers and end the stigma that stops people affected by substance use disorder — including families — from accessing help,” said Jesse Bridges, the South Burlington organization’s CEO, in a statement.
Bridges was referring to the record number of Vermonters — 210 — who died of an opioid overdose last year.
Josie Henry, chair of the Alburgh Selectboard, said she knows “a good amount of people” in town who already travel to St. Albans for Turning Point services. As word continues to get out about the new facility, Henry said, she believes that local people will use it.
When social services providers come up to Alburgh to work with residents, she said, the only public building available for meetings is often the library, where there isn’t much privacy. Henry is glad locals will now be able to work with Turning Point at the health center, which is a more appropriate setting, she said.
“We’re very happy that they’ve set up here,” Henry said.
