Grassroots Provides Expanded Services at Day Resource Center

Peer support specialists with lived experience in long term recovery from substance misuse are providing services at the Grassroots Day Resource Center in Jessup on Thursdays, from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Drop-ins are welcome.

Peer support services include help in developing goals for a journey in recovery. Harm Reduction Kits, including supplies to address basic wound care/first aid, safer drug use supplies, and safe sex supplies, are provided. NARCAN, a nasal spray that can reverse the effects of opioid overdose, is also available for distribution.

The peer support specialists work in the New Beginning Stabilization Program at Grassroots, which was established to provide services to individuals in Howard County who are struggling with substance use disorders and may need help getting sober or accessing support for related concerns/crises. The program was launched in December of 2019 with the opening at Grassroots of Howard County’s first 24-7 crisis stabilization center for those with a substance use disorder. New Beginnings is a component of Howard County’s comprehensive support for substance use disorder interventions.

Access to screening/assessment, brief intervention and referral to treatment is available to interested individuals, who may also be provided short-term opioid withdrawal management, as well as peer support.

“Our program provides a bridge to treatment by meeting individuals where they are at, removing barriers to accessing care,” said Dr. Mariana Izraelson, Executive Director of Grassroots. “Anyone who needs help can receive peer support at the Day Resource Center or call the Grassroots Crisis Hotline, 410-531-6677, and ask for the New Beginnings program.”

About Grassroots

Grassroots provides the county’s only emergency shelter and 24-hour crisis intervention, suicide prevention, and support for individuals and families with a mental health, substance use or homelessness crisis. It operates the Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center and Shelter in Columbia and the Grassroots Day Resource Center in Jessup. For information, see www.grassrootscrisis.org, or call 410-531-6006.