Integrity House one of the state's largest not for-profit providers of substance use disorder treatment and Mental Health Services celebrated their 56th anniversary with Integrity day the free event offered services and health screenings to the community in honor of the organization's anniversary which all started in Newark yesterday I had the opportunity to meet and speak with people who now believe there is hope after addiction anytime that um things have gotten rough every time and I looked in the mirror and didn't realize who I was looking at this has always been a place where I can pick up the phone and I get here and I'd be safe Tiffany Walker says she battled with addiction since she was 14 years old and credits Integrity House for helping her get back on track three different times Walker says without the organization she would have never been able to give birth to her happy and healthy baby girl like my baby like just it's I'm speechless I'm just so grateful to God I'm grateful to Integrity for being always being the hand of God to be here and to help um and just it's just hope love optimism her story is no different from some of the nearly 100 people who showed up to Lincoln Park for integrity day an event to celebrate the nonprofits 56 years of service to the city of Newark and we're really proud to be anchored here in the city of norc we do have locations throughout the state of New Jersey in in Hudson County Bergen County Mars County Ocean County but Essex County is where it all started 56 years ago and we are proud to be partners with the city of norc and helping individuals battle addiction and also the associated problems that go along with addiction such as mental health Primary Care problems housing Etc Robert buttock has been CEO for integrity house for 14 years but says he's been involved in the organization for 40 years Bud stck says he is living proof that people can rebuild their lives after addiction so so I really got involved with Integrity us as a person in recovery who started volunteering here and then I ended up becoming a counselor intern and just continue to uh to get more involved with things here at Integrity House Event and we know that this community there's great needs in this community and we're here to meet the needs of the community also today we're going to be unveiling our new refreshed brand a new logo for integrity house we serve uh consistently either right at or slightly over 3,000 individuals in our substance use programs our mental health program right here in norc has a census of active 900 unduplicated clients like regularly more than 10 different tables at the event that offered everything from harm reduction supplies to are free health screenings in light of the numerous uh accidental overdoses in the state of New Jersey that has increased from year to year it is important for integrity house to make a bigger impact in the community there are a group of individuals who will never get to the brick and mortar building so it's really important if the people can't get to the mountain we need to take the mountain to the people so that we can save lives so we provide services on the corner of dot dot dot wherever individuals are we we are tracked by the demographics from the police department and other organizations who tell us exactly where those hotpots are in the city of Nork where there are increased numbers of accidental overdoses those are the locations that we frequent so that we can provide services so individual senior director of community engagement Robin shorter gave me a tour of the mobile van that is being sent out to meet individuals in those hotspots so we want to eliminate those barriers we want to increase access treatment we want to let individuals know that just because they don't have insurance on ID they don't have to stay out in the community and possibly die shorter says while addiction treatment is not a one-size fits all she's confident Integrity House will give those struggling with addiction a path to live a longer and healthier life [Music]