The NCADD-NJ staff and Board of Directors have recently
embarked upon an introspective examination of the organization for purposes of
drawing up a Strategic Plan for the future. Part of the process has been a
retrospective look at the origins of NCADD-NJ and its development up to the
present day. It is illuminating to review the early days and how they inform
plans for moving forward.
Recently, our President/CEO, Wayne Wirta, mined his
institutional memory and sketched out some of the past highlights of the
organization. It was an offshoot of the National Council on Alcoholism that was
founded in 1945. It was incorporated as a non-profit, tax-exempt entity in the
Garden State in 1982 by several directors of local county-based affiliates of
the National Council on Alcoholism. The affiliate directors around the state
believed there needed to be a presence in the State Capitol.
The institution became fully operational in 1985 with grants
from The Fund for New Jersey and the state Division of Alcoholism. Wayne was
retained as Executive Director in August, 1988 and the agency moved from a
trade association to a statewide policy council – and the name was changed to
the New Jersey Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse. The organization set up
shop in a former funeral home in Trenton, on a budget of $70,000, and with
Wayne and a part-time secretary. The first two years of operation consisted
primarily of monitoring addiction-related legislation, meeting with legislators
and testifying at hearings, developing informational pamphlets aimed at
reducing the stigma around addiction, and exhibiting at conferences throughout
the state.
In 1990, the agency’s bi-monthly newsletter, PERSPECTIVES began
publication and became the only statewide organ that disseminated current,
addiction-related news. The following year saw the launch of the Congregation
Assistance Program. It established and trained “core teams” within individual
congregations to educate the members on the nature of addictive illnesses and
to act as primary contacts for individuals needing assistance. One year later,
we set up a training institute to provide courses that would move a person
toward attaining a Certified Alcoholism Counselor designation.
The organization name was changed to its present moniker,
NCADD-NJ in 1997. The occasion was marked in the Statehouse with a ceremony
keynoted by then-U.S. Senator, George McGovern.
During Governor Christine Todd Whitman’s Administration,
conventional wisdom held, that people on welfare who were addicted and required
to secure training or work, would need treatment before being able to do so.
Thus was born the Work First New Jersey – Substance Abuse Initiative. It was the
intent of the project to not simply manage the care, but to also act as
advocates for those on welfare to receive the most sufficient level of therapy
for the most appropriate length of time. With virtually no fiscal restrictions
from the state with regard to treatment costs, we have been able to realize
that goal. This further resulted in an almost overnight staff expansion from
six people, to what is now a one hundred forty person Administrative Services
Organization (ASO).
At the dawn of the twenty-first century, NCADD-NJ received a
federal grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA) with which we established the “Friends of Addiction
Recovery – New Jersey.” The objective of the project was to put a face on
recovery so as to reduce the stigma around addiction, and to advocate for
policies that would foster long-term recovery.
NCADD-NJ moved in to its present Robbinsville headquarters
in 2006. The following year, the agency extended its reach to the Far West. The
organization developed and operated complex data and voucher systems for the
Montana/Wyoming Tribal Leaders.
In 2008, we were fortunate to be one of five agencies to
receive a Closing the Addiction Treatment Gap grant from the Open Society
Foundations in the amount of $200,000. Its purpose was to provide public
awareness and advocacy around the need to obtain more resources to offer
therapy for individuals suffering from addictive illness. The grant was for
three years but in 2011 we were one of two organizations who received
extensions that lasted until 2015. Under this grant, we were able to increase
staff and began the Advocacy Leader Program. It started with a class of 35
individuals who applied to be a part of the program. It has steadily grown from
that point to where we now have over a thousand people signed on as volunteers
and 12 active regions that hold monthly meetings and put on annual public
awareness events in their local communities.
In 2009, the state Division of Family Development (DFD)
asked us to assume responsibility for the Mental Health Initiative in seven
counties. The Mental Health Initiative is different from the SAI in that we
don’t authorize or pay for treatment. We assess the client and refer to the
appropriate provider and give support to try to ensure that the client enters
the treatment program. In 2012, the Mental Health Initiative was extended to
the entire state and we received an additional million dollars from DFD to
provide the services.
We received a grant in 2014 from New Jersey Citizen Action
to promote the use of Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment
(SBIRT) in order to provide identification of minors beginning early substance
misuse. We further received a grant from them to inform the recovery community
about insurance reform and how to sign up for what has become known as Obama
Care, a.k.a. the Affordable Care Act. A one-year grant was bestowed upon us in
2016 from the Open Society Foundations to train and support the Council of
Southeast Pennsylvania in establishing an Advocacy Leader Program such as we
have done in the Garden State.
A more recent grant of $20,000 was received from the Legal
Action Center to participate in the national Parity at Ten Project. The purpose
was to have insurance parity legislation enacted at the state level ten years
after it had been passed by the Federal Government. The problem was that,
although legislation was passed mandating that health plans reimburse for
behavioral healthcare on a par with the manner in which physical, medical
therapy was paid for, it was up to the states to enforce it. This was something
that, by and large, had not been done. NCADD-NJ and the NJ Parity Coalition
were successful in securing adoption of this legislation earlier this year.
In 2018, we also worked with the Mental Health Association
in NJ to obtain a grant from a private, family foundation in New York to expand
our Advocacy Leader program to include those individuals suffering solely from
mental illness. We enhanced the membership in three of our Regional Advocate
Teams in order to do this, and subsequently received a sub-grant from the MHA
in NJ in the amount of $20,000 over a two year period.
Also in 2018, the NJ Dept. of Human Services’ Division of
Family Development (DFD) awarded us the Family Violence Option (FVO)
initiative. The six FVO Regional Risk Assessors conduct risk evaluations in the
county welfare offices statewide and provide safety planning for the General
Assistance (GA) and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) recipients.
The FVO Risk Assessors then recommend any one of six work or training waivers.
The purpose of the FVO waivers is to protect the GA/TANF recipients who are in
imminent danger from the perpetrator, and for individuals who want to move
forward and become self-sufficient.
As NCADD-NJ plans for its future endeavors, it acknowledges
the strong foundation set by the pioneers of the agency. It is not an
organization buffeted by the winds of fate. Rather, its destiny lies in the
judgment and actions of its Board of Directors, staff and volunteer leadership.
