If you or a loved one need professional support for opioid use disorder (OUD) at a methadone clinic in Brick, New Jersey, it’s important to know that evidence-based treatment for opioid addiction, heroin addiction, or addiction to other substances, including prescription pain medication, is within reach.
The opioid overdose epidemic crisis has claimed over a million lives nationwide since 1999. It’s impacted people from all walks of life. If you live in Brick, NJ, you or someone you love may have experienced the negative effects of the opioid crisis firsthand. The latest statistics – which we’ll share below – show an increase in overdose deaths between 2018 and 2021 in Ocean County, where we own and operate the following methadone clinic:
Ocean Monmouth Care
This increase in overdose fatalities in Ocean County between 2018 and 2021 was followed by a decrease between 2022 and 2023, after the state government expanded funding for treatment services. That’s the primary reason why people in Brick, New Jersey should know that professional support with methadone is available: it works, and it’s close to home.
About Methadone Clinics
In the U.S., treatment for opioid use disorder with methadone occurs at Opioid Treatment Programs (OTPs) that meet the standards created and enforced by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Drug Enforcement Agency.
Opioid Treatment Programs (OTPs) provide medication assisted treatment (MAT) with a medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) called methadone. In New Jersey, we offer MAT with MOUD at several locations across the state, including Ocean Monmouth Care, which we mention above. To learn about all of our treatment locations in New Jersey, please visit our New Jersey locations page:
Our Locations: New Jersey
Pinnacle Treatment Centers in Brick, NJ
Our Opioid Treatment Program (OTP) Brick, NJ, provides medication-assisted treatment (MAT) with methadone for patients diagnosed with opioid use disorder, which includes heroin addiction and addiction to prescription pain medications that contain opioids.
Why Methadone? Reducing Harm Caused by Drug Use
It’s best to answer that question by explaining the value of medication assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder (OUD). MAT for OUD is part of an overall philosophy and approach to drug addiction, drug use, and drug addiction treatment called harm reduction. For an in-depth look at harm reduction, please navigate to the blog section of our website and read this article:
The Opioid Crisis: What is Harm Reduction?
To summarize, harm reduction is an approach that focuses on treatment, support, education, and a holistic approach to recovery. Harm reduction efforts consider the whole person, incorporate knowledge of the impact of social determinants of health (SDOH) on addiction, and work to move a person toward a state of total health and wellbeing. The goal is to meet people where they are and offer them treatment where, when, and how they’ll accept it. Harm reduction is a clear move away from the War on Drugs, which focused on criminalization and incarceration. Harm reduction, in contrast, focuses on rehabilitation and reintegration, reducing stigma, and increasing knowledge and awareness about addiction and addiction treatment. The goal is to reach and help more people through empathy and compassion, as opposed to using punishment/criminality as a primary deterrent.
The Benefits of Methadone Clinics and Harm Reduction
If you don’t know about harm reduction, that’s okay – the principles make sense, and the State Government of New Jersey recognizes the immense value of harm reduction. In fact, policymakers in New Jersey passed a series of laws in 2022 that increase the availability of harm reduction services for all citizens. Jenna Mellor, Executive Director of the New Jersey Harm Reduction Coalition, describes this new legislation:
“This legislation is a game-changer for people who use drugs and people at-risk of a fatal overdose. Harm reduction is the best tool we have to end the overdose crisis, and this legislation will make sure residents in every corner of New Jersey have access to this lifesaving care. The leadership of the Murphy Administration will make New Jersey a national leader in embracing evidence-informed policies to end the overdose crisis – policies that are lifesaving for our family members, loved ones, and neighbors.”
The harm reduction approach to opioid addiction – specifically MAT with MOUD – is considered the gold standard treatment for OUD. With regards to methadone treatment at OTPs, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) indicates methadone treatment programs:
- Decrease amount of opioid use
- Decrease rates of fatal opioid overdose
- Reduces criminal activity
- Reduces spread of infectious disease
- Increase family, social, vocational, and academic functioning
- Increases time in treatment
- Decreases opioid-related fatalities
Treatment in an OTP is not only about medication. As part of the harm reduction approach to addiction treatment, it’s about improving life in all domains. The absence of drug use is the core of addiction treatment, of course, but helping patients rebuild their family, work, and social support network helps patients and treatment providers achieve this goal. A plan for opioid addiction treatment at Ocean Monmouth Care will include methadone and most of the following services, depending on individual diagnosis, treatment history, and current needs:
- One-on-one therapy/counseling
- Group therapy/counseling
- Recovery lifestyle coaching:
- Stress management
- Healthy eating
- Exercise/activity
- Group workshops on addiction/recovery
- Complementary support:
- Mindfulness
- Meditation
- Yoga
- Community support:
- Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)
- Narcotics Anonymous (NA)
- SMART Recovery
- Case management/aftercare support
We design each treatment plan to meet the needs of each individual patient. Therefore, the exact makeup of a treatment plan will vary. Each individual responds to treatment in their own way: what works for one person might not work for another. Our clinicians collaborate with patients on an ongoing basis to ensure treatment matches progress, and leads to sustained, long-term recovery.
Finding Treatment in Brick, New Jersey
If you or loved one need addiction treatment at a methadone clinic in Brick, NJ, please call us at Ocean Monmouth Care. We encourage you to find the best possible treatment center – services, location, hours of operation – for immediate needs. Call us today, or use the following resources to help you locate the best possible treatment:
- New Jersey residents: Addiction Treatment Providers -Treatment Directory Application (rutgers.edu)
- New Jersey residents without insurance: 1-844 ReachNJ.GOV at (844) 732-2465
- IME Addiction Access Center: call (844) 276-2777 for 24/7/365 referral support
- The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency (SAMHSA) online treatment locator
The Opioid Crisis: Overdose Fatalities in Ocean County
In 2001, records from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report a total of 19,000 people overdose fatalities in the U.S. Two decades later, in 2022, records from the CDC show almost 110,000 overdose fatalities. That’s an increase approaching 500 percent.
That’s why officials call it both a crisis and an epidemic.
In New Jersey, the state government created the New Jersey Opioid Dashboard and the NJ Cares Opioid-Related Data website to monitor the opioid crisis, and help both public and private citizens and entities track the progress of harm reduction efforts. Here’s the latest data on the opioid crisis in Ocean County, New Jersey:
Fatal Opioid Overdose: Ocean County New Jersey 2018-2023
- 2018: 219
- 2019: 204
- 2020: 245
- 2021: 242
- 2022: 186
- 2023: 168
These figures tell an important story. Before the state of New Jersey embraced the harm reduction approach in 2022, rates of fatal overdose were increasing, as they had been for close to twenty years. However, as the numbers show, overdose fatalities decreased in 2022, and again in 2023, which tells us that this new approach is effective.
At Pinnacle Treatment Centers, we understand that’s an important step in the right direction, and tells us to stay committed to the harm reduction approach, including MAT with methadone, at our methadone clinics in Brick, NJ. We see the overdose fatality numbers decreasing, and we want to help continue that trend, and reduce the harm caused by the opioid crisis to individuals, families, and communities in New Jersey.