Photo courtesy Seacrest Recovery Center
By Jenna O’Donnell
EATONTOWN – For those battling addiction to drugs or alcohol, the idea of seeking recovery can be daunting, but local recovery centers offer customized programs designed to help.
Chris G., a Florida native, recently dealt with those feelings of anxiety and fear as he started treatment at an outpatient recovery facility in Eatontown. But Seacrest Recovery Center, which will mark its first year at the Eatontown location in January, was not what he expected.
“The staff were kind and inviting and made me feel at home,” he said, noting that most of the techs who work at Seacrest also have experience going through the program. “They know what you’re going through and do their best to assist you.”
Jennifer Enrri, a clinical supervisor and primary therapist who has been with Seacrest since it opened and helped create its clinical program, echoed Chris G.’s sentiments.
“We are here to make a difference in the lives of the patients we treat,” Enrri said. “We strive to be known as a center who meets a patient where they are at and works hard to help them reach a level of life that they have lost sight of. Just because someone seems to have given up on themselves, does not mean we have.”
Since opening its first facility in Florida five years ago, Seacrest Recovery Center has successfully helped thousands of individuals and their families to recovery by taking an individualized personal approach, according to co-founder and CEO Josh Fenster.
“Finding a path to recovery doesn’t have to be a hard road,” Fenster said. “Our staff mindfully combines several different modalities to cater to even the most unique cases.”
This “Phase Back to Life Approach” means that rather than having every client go through the same process from start to finish, each person who seeks recovery has a unique plan that varies by individual. Most begin in the first of three phases the center offers, which involves two to four weeks of daily therapy sessions, with breaks on the weekends devoted to attending AA or NA meetings, working with a 12-step sponsor or preparing to find a job.
During phase one of care, Carley Dietrick, a business development representative at the center, said the outpatient facility operates around the clock. Center staff interact with clients, who usually are living in sober homes throughout the community, on a near-constant basis.
“We are more 24/7 care,” Dietrick noted, adding that clients are picked up for therapy days at the center and driven back home.
As clients stabilize, the center gradually moves to the second and third phases of the program, which move away from treatment to increasingly emphasizing getting back to normal life and finding and maintaining a full-time job.
Nick Spinelli, the chief marketing officer at Seacrest, is a Marlboro native who started working for the center when it opened in Florida. He said he was happy to help bring the center to the community where he grew up.
“There’s a lot of people that need help,” Spinelli said. “Ninety percent of our staff has been in recovery and understands addiction and what it’s like to get free of addiction.”
He emphasized the intimate and laid back setting of the center that makes it different from what others might offer. On weekends when patients are not in therapy, the center of fers activities like music therapy, yoga and therapy dogs.
“It’s definitely been needed,” he said of the center, “especially in Monmouth County for sure.”
Spinelli and Dietrich were both formerly at the Tigger House Foundation, a Monmouth County nonprofit that works to minimize the death and devastation that comes from opioid addiction in Monmouth County. Seacrest offers scholarships through the foundation that Spinelli noted are essentially free treatment for residents in need.
The positive and relaxed environment at Seacrest is part of what helps bring about learning and recovery, according to Dena Baldassarre, the clinical director at the center.
“Patients feel comfortable and safe to address long-standing issues that have prevented them from having the quality of life they deserve,” Baldassarre said. “It is a pleasure and honor when patients put their trust in our program and allow us to help them grow and flourish.”
For patients like Chris G., the program at Seacrest Recovery Center has been a lifeboat.
“This place saved my life,” he said. “I am eternally grateful for ever yone who is a part of this program and I feel like I’ve met good sober people that will be a part of my life forever.”
For information, contact Carley Dietrick at carleyd@seacrestrc.com or 732-887-4851.
