Annual Report 2021
Freedom Recovery Center
Table of Contents:
Introductory Statement and Executive Summary 1
Mission, Vision, Values 2
SWOT Analysis 3
Summary of Financial Data 4
Strategic Plan for 2022 5
Conclusions 6
Introductory Statement and Executive Summary
Introductory Statement: Freedom Recovery Center, LLC is a newly developed residential treatment center for persons dealing with substance use disorders. We recognize that as a new start up there are many things that need to be developed and implemented in a timely manner in order to develop our organization into the desired provider. This report is a look back at our first full year of service ending 12/31/2021. In it we hope to provide a clear view of the plans and goals that have been set for the Freedom Recovery Center women’s residential treatment center as well as the plans for improvement and expansion of the services provided by the organization.
Freedom Recovery Center is the culmination of many years of personal dedication to the subject of addiction by the owner and founder, Randy Leviton. Coming from a place of personal experience and involvement over the years with many addiction-related organizations and sober living facilities, including his own Damascus Road Ministries’ men’s halfway house, the opening of a residential treatment center was the logical next step. We have established strong working relationships with local law enforcement, the court system, prosecutors’ office, HHS, and CPS agencies.
This facility is an LLC which is owned and operated by Randy Leviton and Carla VanWormer-Ram, a husband-and-wife team whose goal is to establish a resource in Branch County, MI to service the South Western district of Michigan with SUD treatment options. We currently employ between 8 and 13 employees ranging from a clinical supervisor, therapists, case management/social workers, and resident assistants which provide 24-hour-a-day supervision and treatment.
Executive Summary: The Freedom Recovery Center’s Substance Use Disorders program (“the Program”) will strive to proactively provide access to the professional resources needed for persons with SUDs (Substance Use Disorders) and friends and/or family members of persons with SUDs. This program will also set a goal to help educate the community at-large as to the severity of the addiction epidemic that we are presently confronted with and to bring the availability of professional addiction services to the “at-risk” community members and their family.
All too often, police officers are responding to drug/alcohol-related calls, including many fatalities, where the parents, family members or friends of these victims ask the officers, “what could we have done to help him/her?”, “what services were available to use?” We want to be that service.
The main objective of the Program is to act as a gateway for local communities, to help them with substance use services that are available before an overdose or fatality occurs. We have all experienced or know someone who is/was experiencing struggles with addiction. This program, beginning with a 20 bed women’s residential treatment facility will hopefully grow into a community program that will be the first thought for anyone in that position. We encourage everyone to seek help and find answers before it is too late.
Statement of Special Circumstances: This program and facility began in December of 2019 with only the owners’ personal investments of time and funding. We opened the facility in the midst of a worldwide pandemic and have suffered financial hardships along the way. We are proud of the fact that we have managed to grow the program to a point where it currently pays for itself and will continue to press on to bigger and better achievements. We appreciate the support from our community and stakeholders and look forward to a continued relationship for a very long time. As you will see, in the financial summary below, we are beginning to turn a corner which we hope will allow us to grow our services over the next year or two.
1
Mission Statement
To assist each person served in achieving the highest quality of life by providing individualized, confidential, and caring treatment of substance use disorders/behavioral health needs.
Vision:
“Our vision is Excellence. To become the premier provider of Substance Use Disorder services to the Southwestern district of Michigan. To be viewed as an outstanding and indispensable source of assistance to our local community through the betterment of the persons served and their culture”.
Values:
We consider it our responsibility to provide help, healing and support to any and all people who are seeking a life free from addiction. It is our goal to promote the empowerment of individuals to take control of their lives to build and establish a productive and worthwhile future. Our goal is to provide help, hope and tools to those in need, while also providing honest reflection of their situation and ability to reach their goals.
2
Our strengths encompass many fronts, from a true heart of service to a lifetime of experience in the field. We have developed a superior team of staff members who are like-minded and eager, to assist women from our community who are struggling, to achieve normalcy and stability in their lives.
The management team demonstrates teamwork, collaboration, and excellent communication that creates a positive work environment that benefits both clients and personnel.
Staff members consistently report a high level of job satisfaction and believe they are fulfilling their mission of providing excellent services to clients. Staff members are well-versed in client care, are focused on creating value-driven work environments and work cohesively as a team.
The organization provides a holistic approach, ensuring that clients are getting the tailored resources needed to be successful. Staff members look at each situation through a trauma-informed lens that ensures positive regard for clients.
Clients repeatedly provide positive comments about the organization, personnel, and services provided and stakeholders describe the organization as implementing a referral and admission process that emphasizes accessibility, stating that clients are able to get in right away and assessments are generally done within 24 hours. Referral sources hold an extremely positive view of the organization, personnel, and services provided. Stakeholders reported: “They have an eagerness to help the clients and are passionate about what they do.”
Our primary weakness during 2021 was the need for more in-depth training in aspects of business function and financial responsibility. Client care is of the utmost importance and receives continual reinforcement of methods, policies and procedures. However, as far as fiscal concerns, such as monitoring food waste and accepting responsibility for reducing expenses related to building operations, maintenance and efficiency, we have found that there are areas that would benefit from additional oversite.
We continue to experience issues related to recruitment of additional workers due, in part, to our financial limitations in enticing new, qualified people. Due to the growth of our organization, however, that is less of an issue now than it was during the initial 8 months of services provision. We are committed to providing the highest quality of service to our clients and will continue to invest in our staff to reach our goals.
Opportunities that we anticipate in the next 12 months to 2 years, include the opening of additional service locations to include a day-reporting program and step-down housing, or halfway houses, for both men and women.
Threats are currently related to inflation, energy costs and volatility of supply chains/inability to obtain needed supplies. These external factors are putting a strain on us financially and causing difficulty in providing the necessary products/items that are needed by our clients.
Our goal is to achieve a status of excellence in every aspect of care and service, from stakeholder satisfaction and worker engagement to exceeding the norms of positive client outcomes. We will monitor and track client access, future goal achievements, program outcomes and follow-up contact reports to measure adherence to our objectives. Our long-term goal is to develop a network of treatment options to in our community.
3
Summary of financial Data
The fluctuation in net profits from month to month can be partially explained by delayed payments from funders since they are entered on the date received. Over the course of the year, census within the facility varied significantly from month to month with a resulting average of 6 new clients per month. This does not reflect the success of each new client throughout the intended 28-day period. Unfortunately, some of our clients are unable to complete the program which causes a skew in the data.
The overall awareness of our facility and the services that we offer has risen over the course of last year and we are seeing an increase in outside referrals because of this. We are working very hard to continue that trend and believe it will result in overall higher census year after year.
4
Strategic Plan for 2022
Community education – By the end of 2022, we would like to be able to start offering education to the local community through forums/meetings and printed materials regarding the issue of substance use disorders in our local area, together with information about the ongoing needs of the effected population and attached stigma. The issues that affect the population that struggles with additional are many and severe. We believe that informing the community of this information would go a long way in changing their perspective, attitudes, and prejudices.
Outcome Measures: The number of community forums held by the end of 2022.
Publication of addiction information flyers/bulletins distributed.
Staffing and Education – We will be focusing on education for our staff over the course of the year, to provide additional training in various areas of importance such as Boundaries, Trauma Informed Care and possibly Violence/Active Shooter training.
Outcome Measures: Add additional course to the training curriculum thru Relias.
Provide this training with at least 80% participation by staff members.
Information Technology – Implement use of tablets for communication with courts, medical providers, and client families. We will investigate options and quality to determine the most appropriate equipment by the end of 2022.
Obtain alternative funding – We currently work primarily with clients who are funded by the State of Michigan Medicaid program, we are hopeful about securing additional funding via grants to allow for longer treatment periods. The typical stay based on Michigan Medicaid is 28 days, however, we believe that many of our clients would benefit from a continued program of at least 90 days if not longer. We hope to complete this by the end of 2023; this is a measure that is being carried over for this year as it was not achieved during 2021.
Outcome measures:
- Retention of a competent grant writer
- Number of grant applications completed.
Expansion of services –
5
Conclusions
As a new facility in the Coldwater, Michigan area, we feel that we have done an exemplary job of setting up, fine-tuning, getting in line with the many regulations mandated by our state government, our funders and our accreditation organization (CARF). It has been a long road with many challenges and opportunities, but the greatest reward is seeing former clients of our facility, living a full life and enjoying the reunification with family that they thought they might never have.
Freedom Recovery Center provides a great opportunity to struggling individuals in our community and it is provided out of a desire to help people. The clients that choose to come here and participate, leave with a renewed sence of value, strength and a desire to continue down the path of rehabilitation. They state that they feel safe, loved, and cared for while they are here and typically find it difficult when it’s time to leave.
Quotes from past clients:
“Randy is an amazing man, director and friend! I will always recommend anyone to FRC. His ability in choosing staff is amazing because I felt very comfortable and cared about by every staff member here and could relate to them all very well too!”
“Thank you for being so loving, accommodating, accepting and understanding! Getting me right in, on the spot, that day is SO important!”
“I feel very lucky and better equipped for life after being here.”