Haymarket DuPage Update – November 4th

Dear Haymarket DuPage Friends and Supporters,

Last week, the Itasca Village Board issued its final vote, unanimously deciding, after minimal deliberation, to reject our zoning application to open a comprehensive substance use disorder and mental health treatment center. It was an outcome we expected and yet it speaks volumes about the stigma associated with this disease.

As the media coverage (Chicago TribuneDaily HeraldWGN-9NBC-5 and WBBM-780) details, Itasca Mayor Jeff Pruyn claimed our request was “unreasonable,” citing the size of the community and a worst case scenario that might result in increased demand on their EMS services. It’s a refrain we have heard for two years, often repeated by those who have ignored the evidence.

Case in point: we are a medical facility with trained doctors, nurses and staff; the majority of beds would be for recovery home patients, who are stable and do not generate 911 calls; Itasca currently has the capacity to handle additional calls; and we offered conditions of approval including contracting with not, one but two private ambulance companies.

Because Haymarket satisfied the zoning code standards, addressed the concerns of the Village and other taxing bodies and even offered a set of conditions to further alleviate those concerns, there is no legitimate reason under the Village’s zoning code to reject our application. Even more, there is no legitimate reason under the Fair Housing Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act — all of which prohibit discrimination against those in recovery — for the Village Board to reject our application.

A decision of this magnitude may warrant a review by the courts. In the coming days, we will be considering all of our options. We will keep you informed as that plan takes shape.

Finally, we cannot thank our supporters enough for the incredible outpouring of support before and after this decision. We stand in solidarity with you as we continue this fight because we all know what is at stake.

Stay tuned, friends and supporters. Our mission to expand access to care is not over yet.

Sincerely,

Dr. Dan Lustig, Psy.D., CODP II, CAADC
President & CEO of Haymarket Center

Karen L. Kissel
Senior Executive Vice President

Join us this Saturday for a Community Hope Walk!

This Saturday, September 25th, the Coalition for Recovery is hosting a Community Hope Walk in recognition of National Recovery Month, presented by Congressman Danny K. Davis, Outside the Walls Ministries, the Coalition for Recovery, Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities.

Haymarket Center is a part of the Coalition for Recovery, a group comprised of 75 agencies and individuals committed to community health and wellness; the Coalition supports empowering adults and families by providing a comprehensive behavioral health continuum of care through integrated services.

The September 25 walk will begin at 10:00 A.M. at the Golden Dome in Garfield Park, 100 N. Central Park Ave, and will proceed to Douglass Park, 1400 S. California Avenue, Grove 4. There, participants may join a celebration of hope and recovery beginning at 1 :00 P.M.

If you’d like to join Haymarket Center at this event, please contact Aesha Muhammad El-Amin at amuhammad@hcenter.org or call (312) 226-7984 ext. 489.

For more information about the coalition and Community Hope Walk, call New Age Services Corporation at 773-542-1150, the Office of Congressman Danny K. Davis at 773-533-7520, Outside the Walls Ministries at 773-454-6981, or Ashunti Residential at 773-379-6981.

Haymarket DuPage Update – September 28th

Dear Haymarket DuPage Friends and Supporters,

As you may have learned by now, the Itasca Plan Commission last week unanimously voted to recommend denial of our zoning application to convert the former Holiday Inn into a comprehensive substance use and behavioral health treatment center. The matter will now go before the Itasca Village Board, which will hold two more public comment hearings before making its final vote.

Let us be clear: we believe we demonstrated compliance with every standard required for zoning approval through extensive testimony and evidence during this two-year process. We provided extensive 911 analysis by independent experts that proved Itasca has capacity. We entered our private ambulance contract into evidence. We offered to purchase an ambulance and we identified additional state funding for two years.

As Dr. Lustig told the Chicago Tribune, we strongly believe stigma impacted this decision.  “Everyone believes there’s a need for treatment, just not in my backyard,” he said.

This ruling is a disappointment, but it was not a surprise for Haymarket or any other treatment center in this state or around the country who have faced similar struggles when attempting to open a new facility. We will not stop fighting for everyone who desperately needs the health care services we provide. We will share details of the next steps in the process when they become available.

On a personal note, we would like to thank the inspiring individuals who attended last Wednesday’s hearing, who showed up to give personal testimony, and who have reached out following this unfortunate decision. Your support is lifting us up and inspiring us to keep moving forward.

Sincerely,

Dr. Dan Lustig, Psy.D., CODP II, CAADC
President & CEO of Haymarket Center

Karen L. Kissel
Senior Executive Vice President

Youth Prevention Team Kicks Off New School Year

The Haymarket Center Youth Prevention Services (YPS) team kicked off a new school year, partnering with James R. Doolittle Elementary, Wendell Phillips Academy, Irvin C. Mollison Elementary, the Beasley Academic Center, Chicago Military Academy at Bronzeville, Ludwig Van Beethoven Elementary, and Carter G. Woodson Elementary to provide in-school services and education.

In 2005, Haymarket Center introduced its Youth Prevention team, funded by the Illinois Department of Human Services, to reduce the impact of mental and substance use disorders in the South Side Chicago communities. YPS’ prevention approaches focus on helping people develop the knowledge, attitudes, and skills they need to make good choices or change harmful behaviors.

In addition to providing educational resources to Illinois Youth, you can find our Youth Prevention team out in the community! Our YPS team hosts many fun and exciting events to encourage participation among 6th through 12th grade students, including talent showcases, poetry nights, and most recently, a softball game to celebrate the beginning of the 2021 school year!

“We’re thrilled to have the ability to host events like these for our neighborhood youth,” states Spencer Jones, Youth Prevention Specialist at Haymarket Center, “We get to have fun and get to know our community members while raising awareness for a much larger cause.” Along with providing water and snacks for the teams, YPS distributed school supplies among players and park attendees.

You can learn more about our Youth Prevention Services and the team’s upcoming events by following them on Instagram or visiting their website, hcenteryps.org.

This program is funded in part by the Illinois Department of Human Services and the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Service Administration.

Celebrate National Recovery Month with Us!

Haymarket Center is excited to celebrate National Recovery Month with activities to raise awareness and resources and celebrate our employees. National Recovery Month is held each September to bring substance use disorder and mental health awareness to light and to celebrate those in recovery. For 32 years, National Recovery Month has raised awareness of substance use treatment and mental health services and shared stories of success that help people struggling with substance use disorders live healthy and rewarding lives. This year’s theme is “Recovery is For Everyone: Every Person, Every Family, Every Community,” centered around how togetherness and community support make recovery possible for everyone.

We kicked off National Recovery Month with a celebration among staff on Sept. 1st, with various games for staff to enjoy on their breaks, including a dunk tank where all tried their luck at sinking senior administration and their colleagues for a small donation to the organization. We have a few other exciting events in our store for our staff this month – be sure to follow us on social to see what we have planned!

Here are some ways you can join us in celebrating National Recovery Month:

Give us a ‘Like’
Are you following us on social media? You can follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin!

Peer to Peer Fundraisers on Facebook
Facebook allows you to set up a quick and easy fundraiser for the nonprofit organization of your choice. You can use this link to set your own goal and deadline as well as customize your page to your liking. Download the toolkit or start your fundraiser today!

Word of Mouth
You can support Haymarket simply by talking to people about what we do and sharing your own story of recovery. By meeting new people in our community and talking to them about Haymarket, you’re raising awareness of our services and helping to remove the stigma around substance use disorder, which can ultimately help save someone’s life.

Sign up to receive our emails
Join our mailing list to receive our supporter Newsletter, client testimonials, and other news and events you may not have seen!

With your help, we can continue to serve the greater Chicago area and Illinois and help those struggling with substance use disorder on their own path to recovery. If you are interested in becoming further involved with Haymarket Center, please contact Sarah English at (312) 226-7984 ext. 485.

Haymarket Heroes: Loretta Young

After successfully completing treatment at Haymarket Center more than 20 years ago, Loretta Young has dedicated her career to helping others along their own recovery journey as a peer recovery coach.

“My favorite part of what I do is inspiring people,” Loretta says, “With the right encouragement and motivation, you can help clients see something within that they don’t see in themselves.”

On May 14, 1998, Loretta Young entered our detox program. She spent her time at Haymarket learning fulfilling ways to live a sober lifestyle, while also helping our staff and the unit in any way that she could. Eighteen months later in July 2000, a clean and sober Loretta graduated from our program and completed her treatment. After experiencing Loretta’s hard work and personality shining through during her recovery, Haymarket Center hired her to join the women’s treatment team, kickstarting her career in the field of substance use disorder treatment. Loretta completed the CADC program in 2009 stating that the knowledge she gained while working at Haymarket set the foundation for her education as she worked and attended school.

Through her work, Loretta helps clients find their strengths and identify their positive attributes to shift their focus on hope and encourage recovery. Loretta, who has been in the field for over 20 years, works as part of our Care Coordination team and visits local hospitals that partner with Haymarket to assess patients for their needs and refer them to a level of care. Doctors visiting with patients struggling with substance use disorder will recommend Recovery Coaches to encourage the patient to enter treatment.

“My drive and my passion [as a Recovery Coach] comes from my empathy,” Loretta says, “If you can see the spark in a client’s eyes, you can catch it and ignite it, and that is when you’ll see positive change from someone ready for recovery.”

Today, Loretta works among some of the same clinical staff that helped her when she first arrived at Haymarket as a patient. She credits her own recovery and her career achievements to her experience at Haymarket Center.

With a message to our supporters, she states, “I am the byproduct of what you are supporting.” Each gift to Haymarket Center helps us reach individuals like Loretta who are ready to begin their recovery journey. You can learn more by visiting our Donate page.

DuPage Update: Thank you for your strong words of support

On behalf of all Haymarket Center staff and our Board of Directors, we would like to thank all of you that have spoken in support of Haymarket or submitted your support online during our Itasca Plan Commission hearings. Your words spoke volumes. Because of you, compelling reasons were provided as to why this treatment center is needed, meets zoning requirements, and will not cause an undue burden on the Village of Itasca.

For anyone who was unable to attend or watch the August 11 or August 25 hearings, we’d like to share a quote from each of the supporters who gave a comment:

“This is an opportunity to help educate our youth by real experts in the field who have decades of experience on substance abuse (and it) should be your number one priority…Haymarket’s right to come here is not about a personal feeling that anyone may have; it is about doing what is right for Itasca and the communities around you that will save lives.” – Rena Humbert, Path to Recovery

“Addiction is not a socioeconomic issue 30 miles away in Chicago. Addiction is blind. It’s an equal opportunity destroyer. It’s like a tornado; it may only kill two or three people, like in my family, but it takes down half the town with it and the community’s resources to rebuild it.”- Lisa Danna-Brennan

“Access to evidence-based treatment is an essential part of good health and recovery from substance use disorder that is plaguing our residents…Experts say that programs like Haymarket, which allow children to stay with their moms during substance use and mental health treatment, are the kind of full-spectrum rehab needed to reduce the number of babies born to mothers who, like other Americans, are increasingly struggling with drug use disorder.”
– Dr. Lanny Wilson, Vice President, DuPage County Board of Health and Co-Chair of HOPE Task Force

“2020 saw 93,000 people die in this country from overdose, the highest number in recorded history. We don’t need to be taking resources away, we need to be adding them. And I really would like to challenge the Village of Itasca to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. If not us, who? And if not now, when? 100,000 dead, is that when we take notice? 125,000 dead, is that enough? When is it enough?”- Laura Fry, Live4Lalie

“For the last 28 years, I’ve helped people get out of their addiction. I’ve helped them understand what the problem is and I’m going to have to tell you all this: We’re all in recovery. We’re all recovering from something…What if the small town of Itasca, with all that it has, actually surrounded some people who were hurting and made a decision to love them and redeem them?”- Itasca Pastor Bob Butler

“Our team currently receives more than 600 calls a month for outpatient behavioral health and substance use services. These calls come from children, adults, and families who live in and around this community. What Haymarket can offer through this facility will change lives. It is time to evolve our community’s response to recognize that mental health and substance use services provide critical health care that keeps our neighborhoods thriving.”- Lisa Hendrickson, Kenneth Young Center in Elk Grove Village

“Many people harbor unfound fears and assumptions about people with disabilities, and in particular people in recovery. These fears and assumptions prevent full integration. One common thread is that people in recovery are prone to violence, or other criminal activity. And although this is untrue, this sentiment often sparks community opposition or efforts to assist and treat this population, including efforts to operate a recovery center.”
– Emily Ronan, AIM Center for Independent Living

“When we look at this quadrant specifically of DuPage County, we do have a very high concentration of overdose, and it’s getting worse. We definitely have enough people that have a problem to justify there being a facility of this size in our county.”- Roger & Stephen Stefani, Hope for Healing Foundation

“Addiction is no longer that street corner junkie. It’s your child who injured themselves in football… it’s the wife that has one glass of wine and accidentally finishes the bottle…the husband who has the work hard, play hard attitude…Addiction is me standing in front of you today. This is a disease who does not care who you are, where you come from or how strong you think you are. It’s progressive and lifelong and denying a treatment center for us is no different than denying chemo to a cancer patient.”- Frank Lotta of Wood Dale 

“There’s so many barriers to healthcare that people already face…if we can make it just a little easier, people will be much more willing and able to get the treatment they want and deserve.”- Nikita Dulin of Itasca 

“Let’s get through all this red tape and save some lives. All this is doing is delaying saving lives. Please, I beg of you, to get through this red tape as soon as you can and start saving lives.” – Joe Portillo

“We must take action to curtail opioid misuse and help those who are struggling with substance use disorders to get the treatment they need to live their fullest lives.” – National Safety Council, based in Itasca 

For those interested in learning more, you can read the Daily Herald story recapping the last hearing. Our next meeting will occur Wednesday, September 8th at 7 p.m. when the attorneys will make their closing statements. To learn more about Haymarket Center of DuPage, visit haymarketdupage.org.

Expanding Outreach to Opioid Hotspots

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) recently granted Haymarket Center funding to support our efforts to reduce opioid-related overdoses by expanding outreach and offering direct treatment services. Haymarket is one of only two organizations nationwide to receive this transformational award.

The grant will allow Haymarket to strengthen our partnerships with hospitals, drug courts, and homeless encampments in opioid “hot spots” in Cook and DuPage Counties. Through partnerships with medical centers like Edward-Elmhurst Hospital, Haymarket’s outreach team works onsite in Emergency Departments to support individuals with recent overdose, providing guidance and support to transition to treatment at Haymarket Center. This project allows us to reach more individuals struggling with opioid use disorder (OUD), expand our treatment, and make our facilities even more accessible to those who need treatment.

We are proud to offer accessible treatment to individuals Cook and DuPage counties who may not have previously had the opportunity. You can learn more about our treatment and services at haymarketcenter.org.

Support Haymarket and you can win great prizes!

Raffle tickets for our grand prize vacation package are still available! Don’t miss your chance to support Haymarket’s services by purchasing a raffle ticket to win one of these great prizes:

1st Prize: The vacation package of your choice:

• Sensational Resorts in Mexico
• Lake Tahoe Splendid Alpine Setting
• Rhode Island’s Yacht Experience


For an in-depth description of these packages, visit our Golf Outing page.

2nd Prize: Chicago Favorites Sports Package:
Show your love for our local teams while snacking on your favorite comfort food. Whether you celebrate a victory with pizza or burgers, we’ll leave it up to you. This package includes:

  • One pair of Cubs tickets for the 2021 season
  • One autographed/authentic Roquan Smith Bears Jersey
  • One $25 gift certificate to Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria
  • One $50 gift certificate to Shake Shack

3rd Prize: A Day on the Green:
Enjoy a golf outing at Twin Orchard Country Club in Long Grove, IL! This package includes:

  • A foursome of golf with carts and lunch included
  • Golf merchandise from Dixon Golf

4th Prize: Dessert for Breakfast:
Winning this basket is cause for celebration- and cupcakes! Enjoy a cup of local coffee with a sweet treat from these desert staples. This package includes:

  • Gift certificate for one dozen cupcakes courtesy of Magnolia Bakery ($47 value)
  • Gift basket from la Colombe ($40 value)
  • Gift certificate to Eli’s cheesecake $25 value)
  • Gift basket from Colectivo ($40 value)

5th Prize: Music to Your Ears
courtesy of Res Publica Group
What better way to spend a summer day than popping in your headphones and listening to your favorite tunes?
This package includes:

•             AirPods with charging case ($125 value)
•             A wireless charging device

Each raffle ticket is $100 and or five for $250. These virtual tickets can be purchased with this link. The winner will be selected at the Annual Golf Outing on Thursday, June 24th and does not need to be present to win.

Sponsorships for the Annual Golf Outing are also available, starting at $500. To learn more, or contact Sarah English at (312) 226-7984, ext. 485 or senglish@hcenter.org.

Lake County Residents on the Path to Recovery

On April 28th, Haymarket Center held a graduation ceremony for patients who successfully completed the Integrated Treatment Program (ITP). These graduates successfully maintained two full years of sobriety, obtained gainful employment, and are now living independently. Our recent grads have come a long way before reaching this point, and with the help of Haymarket’s recovery coaches, turned their lives around.

“I had gone through so much in my life while struggling with depression. I had been through the program at Haymarket twice before, but I just hadn’t lost enough,” Ryan H., who graduated from ITP last March, recounts his experience going through the court system while working with our recovery coaches. “After my grandfather passed away, the greatest father figure in my life, I needed to work through all of my past trauma and enter treatment with an open mind.”

Haymarket Center has worked alongside the Lake County legal system to offer substance use treatment to justice-involved individuals for more than 20 years. In order to reduce recidivism, individuals whose substance use disorder is a contributing factor to their crimes are referred to an appropriate level of treatment at Haymarket Center. An integral component of the program are recovery coaches who assess each client and develop an individual recovery plan. The recovery coaches work with each client on their personal goals and support clients as they determine their next steps.

Ryan was able to successfully navigate the program, secured employment, and had zero rule violations. While working the overnight shift at his job, Ryan attended a Commercial Drivers’ License (CDL) certification program during the day, with the help of a grant through the College of Lake County. He was grateful for this healthy and sober environment and worked tirelessly to move forward in his recovery plan.

Upon completion of the program, patients are invited to a graduation ceremony as a badge of honor. There are several community members in attendance, including to their lawyers, the Chief of Police, the Sheriff, and the Judges that have checked in on these patients through their recovery process.

Ryan worked with Judge Christy L. Bishop, recalling the support and encouragement she offered him during his time in the program. “Judge Bishop never stunted my growth and believed in me every step of the way. There isn’t a better judge for that program,” Ryan adds.

Bill Nee, a Recovery Coach that oversees the program, beams when talking about his experience aiding Ryan through his recovery. “It’s such a great feeling to watch Ryan succeed after receiving treatment through Haymarket,” states Bill, “We stay with the client for a whole two years, even beyond that sometimes, and we have the opportunity to watch them live a successful life.”

Ryan is over two years sober and works as a truck driver using the CDL he obtained while in treatment. He plans to purchase his own truck and start his own business after buying a home next year with his wife Alyssa for their two sons and a daughter they are expecting this July. “I want to thank Haymarket and their recovery coaches for believing in me and helping me build a life for myself,” Ryan adds.

From all of us at Haymarket, congratulations to our graduates. We are incredibly proud to serve you throughout the next phase of your lives.

You can join us in this important work by making a gift today. Visiting hcenter.org/donate to learn more.

Featured image: Recovery Coach Bill Nee (left) with Ryan H. at his graduation ceremony