Senator Hassan Visits Southeastern NH Alcohol & Drug Abuse Services

DOVER – U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan today visited Southeastern New Hampshire Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services, a nonprofit providing mental health and substance use disorder treatment for those struggling with addiction. She met with the Executive Director of the nonprofit, Jon Cheyne, and toured the facility.

“I’m grateful to the staff of Southeastern New Hampshire Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services for the work that they do,” said Senator Hassan. “Today I saw firsthand the tremendous difference that organizations such as this one make in the lives of Granite Staters grappling with addiction. I will continue working across the aisle to address the opioid epidemic in New Hampshire.”

"We were honored to host Senator Hassan at our treatment center today. For over 44 years, SENHS has been committed to providing effective, compassionate care to individuals and families battling substance use disorder in our NH communities. The Senator's visit highlighted the urgent need to expand recovery resources and remove barriers to treatment access,” said Jon Cheyne, Executive Director of Southeastern New Hampshire Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services. "We appreciate Senator Hassan's leadership in the fight against the opioid epidemic. Her support for legislation through her work on the US HELP Committee gives us hope that, together, we can build a New Hampshire where anyone seeking recovery has a clear path to healing.”

“Our organization fills a critical need in New Hampshire's substance use treatment landscape with one of the only low-intensity residential programs in the state. Longer term treatment bridges the gap between detox/inpatient care and independent living, providing extra support and accountability for clients transitioning back into the community, and allowing clients time to obtain recovery skills, peer support networks, employment, and stable housing,” Cheyne added. “By offering this intermediate level of care, we help clients sustain sobriety beyond detox and prevent dangerous relapse during the vulnerable period post-discharge. Our program is life-saving for many underserved Granite Staters recovering from addiction. Although overdose deaths in NH have fallen, the need for treatment persists, and right now our residential facility is almost at capacity. Over three-quarters of our clients are Medicaid recipients and well below the Federal poverty threshold. Another 12% are completely uninsured. These individuals come to our programs seeking a better life not typified by the vicious cycles of addiction. SENHS provides them with an opportunity for longer-term stabilization and community reintegration not offered by other facilities in the area."
 

Senator Hassan has worked on bipartisan efforts to combat the opioid epidemic. Since 2017, Senator Hassan has successfully worked to secure a nine-fold increase in funding to New Hampshire to address the substance use disorder epidemic. Senator Hassan successfully passed into law her bipartisan Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment (MAT) Act, to increase the number of medical professionals authorized to prescribe the gold standard of opioid treatment. Recently, Senator Hassan and a bipartisan group of Senators called on the DEA to take further action to remove barriers to this treatment. Senator Hassan also worked with her colleagues to pass into law the bipartisan INTERDICT Act, which has provided critical tools to Customs and Border Protection to help detect and intercept fentanyl and other illegal synthetic opioids.

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