| Rockland schools for substance abuse counselors merge
Two Rockland schools that train students to become credentialed alcohol and substance abuse counselors have merged. The CASAC School of the Rockland Council on Alcoholism and other Drug Dependence and the Addiction Counselors Training Program of Rockland County will now operate as the Rockland Chemical Dependency Studies Institute out of the new Haverstraw Center in Haverstraw. "We've had two competing agencies that are now bringing together the finest leaders and instructors in the field under one roof," said Debbie Maidman, operations manager of the new school. "They are coming together with the same mission, the same focus." Accredited counselors who graduate from the school work in outpatient and inpatient treatment centers, the criminal justice system, schools, department of social services and department of transportation evaluations, rehab and halfway houses.
Church has plans for big campus
The Life Christian Church in West Orange is gearing up to move its growing ministry from two separate locations in town to a sprawling campus off Northfield Avenue. The multicultural, nondenominational church has plans to consolidate its Harrison Avenue worship center and its Ridgeway Avenue ministry office and family life campus-based operations into a seven-acre site that a developer donated to the church as part of a complicated land swap to gain new municipal open park space. But some township residents have expressed concern about the church's Peace Over Addiction Through Healing substance abuse program that features weekly recovery meetings for people struggling with recovery issues. For now, however, the church has submitted an application with the township planning board only for approval to construct 3,500 square feet of modular offices on the site, at Northfield Avenue and Vizcaya Boulevard, across from the Jewish Community Center.
Methodist church offers counseling to public: Fees to be based on clients' incomes
First United Methodist Church in Gainesville is extending its ministry beyond its own congregation, opening up a counseling center to serve the general public. The new facility, to be called the Care and Counseling Center of Gainesville, is located at 425 Bradford Street in a building formerly occupied by Hall-Dawson Court Appointed Special Advocates. CASA moved earlier this summer into a rented building off Ridge Road as the agency prepares to build a permanent home. The Rev. Steve Winter, executive pastor at First United, said church officials decided to lease the Bradford site because they felt Gainesville needed more options for faith-based counseling. "As ministers, we are general counselors. We're able to help people on a short-term basis," he said. "But when someone has a bigger problem than we have the expertise to handle, we have to refer them." Though Gainesville has a number of competent therapists, Winter said First United has been sending people to centers in metro Atlanta, run by the nonprofit, Decatur-based Care and Counseling Center of Georgia.
Life Trumps Art With Baltimore Wedding
Loyal viewers of "The Wire" aren't accustomed to happy endings. But sometimes life is more sentimental than art. The inspiration for a character in "The Wire," David Simon's HBO series about crime and social ills in Baltimore, is getting married on Saturday. His bride: the real-life protagonist of "The Corner," Simon and Ed Burns' nonfiction book and HBO miniseries about a family's struggles with drug addiction. .
Celebs making a mockery of rehab: experts
Celebrities like Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears are making a mockery of rehabilitation programs by appearing not to take treatment seriously, US addiction experts have warned. Lohan was arrested on Tuesday on a second drink-driving charge. It came just days after the actress left her second stint in rehab flaunting an alcohol-monitoring ankle bracelet at nightclubs. Spears twice spent less than a day in rehab before entering a third time for a month after behaving erratically. "It is making a mockery of rehabs," said Harris Stratyner, a psychologist with Caron, a non-profit addiction treatment organisation. "In some ways it's starting to make rehabs look like a joke and that's very sad because hundreds of thousands of people a year are saved." Lohan, 21, spent a month in rehab in January.
Return to rehab is Lohan's best legal move
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Lindsay Lohan's best bet for avoiding jail time is to go back into rehab yet again and remove herself from a high-flying party lifestyle -- if not, she could be facing up to six months behind bars, legal observers said. .
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