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Recovering Addict Opens Woodland Park Clinic In Height Of Opioid Epidemic

RIDGFIELD PARK, N.J. — That Ridgefield Park's Richie Hession went from being a raging Jack and coke addict to a high-profile Wall Street executive was not the most miraculous part of his recovery.

Rich Hession at the grand opening of BlueCrest in Woodland Park.

Rich Hession at the grand opening of BlueCrest in Woodland Park.

Photo Credit: BlueCrest Recovery

It was the fact that he never felt the urge to use in his nearly 21 years of sobriety.

The 45-year-old, formerly of Wyckoff and Mahwah, says it’s because of how he paired clinical and 12-step recovery programs.

After decades of one-on-one coaching with private clients, Hession opened BlueCrest Recovery Center in Woodland Park five months ago, as he feels it’s his duty to put other recovering addicts on the same path to sustainable sobriety.

“I know real recovery,” the Staten Island native said. “There is a real process you go through to get to a point where you no longer have any desire to drink and get high.

“People think you go to some meetings and talk like group therapy and get better… but I recognized the importance of the clinical side, and when you tie things together it can be very powerful.

“I would like to create something that will open these people’s eyes so that when they are done with treatment, they’re introduced to ideas and concepts that might save their lives, so they will never go back to that insanity again.”

The medical doctors and addiction specialists at BlueCrest take a clinical, spiritual and holistic approach to recovery. BlueCrest offers partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient care and aftercare services.

Hession designed the program based on evidence-based practices required by the state, he said. There are various treatment modalities but accompany a 12-step model and nonprofessional classic treatment.

“When they come to detox, they don’t leave cured,” Hession said. “When they come to insensitive outpatient program, they’re there for a snippet of time in life, and then what? The mill.”

Recovery. Treatment. Relapse. Repeat.

Hession said the opioid epidemic today crosses all borders and pales in comparison to the crack wars in the 1980s.

“When you’re dealing with this population, you can’t just deal with the addiction,” Hession said. “If they have another disorder, you have to figure that out.

“I don’t want repeat customers.”

Mindfulness, for example, is being aware of decision-making, according to Hession. In actual practice, it’s difficult. But it’s part and parcel of steps 10 and 11 in a 12-step recovery program, he said.

“If you can take a practical program of action that they can follow after treatment, they can start practicing mindfulness going forward if you can get them excited and connected.

“I’ve seen people who have no business being alive who are getting their lives back together. It’s a miracle what can happen when people do this stuff.”

CLICK HERE FOR THE BLUECREST WEBSITE.

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