Second Chances at St. Joes

Second chance opportunity at St. Joes;

A Brief History of  St. Joseph’s Addiction Treatment & Recovery Centers

In June of 1940, the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement purchased the property known as Rumsey Cottage in Saranac Lake, NY to establish a friary and a novitiate. The compound of 18 acres and several Tudor style buildings was secured for $12,000.

Following the trends of the times, the Friars instituted their own schools of philosophy and theology, which earned the right from the New York State Board of Regents to confer degrees to prepare candidates for the priesthood. St. Joseph’s School of Philosophy, as the institution became known, continued until St. Pius X Seminary opened at Graymoor in 1960.

In 1970, Fr. J. Leon Kotsko proposed to the General Chapter that the Friars establish a center for the treatment of male alcoholics. Fr. Carmine Giuliano received the assignment of creating the program, and on February 9, 1971 St. Joseph’s Rehabilitation Center opened in the former Novitiate building, “to serve God by promoting healing and recovery for all persons who suffer from the disease of alcoholism and chemical dependency,” and to “prudently use resources to provide treatment and advocacy for those who lack the necessary resources.”

The first class was comprised of six men who arrived for a three-to-five-month period of treatment.

To facilitate the graduate’s gradual return to society, a half-way house was established in Poughkeepsie in 1973, followed by houses in Schenectady and Syracuse. A year later, another such facility opened in Waterbury, CT.

Until 1975, all costs of the program were borne by the Friars, and by gifts from able graduates. The Center’s growing reputation, however, soon lead to referrals from other than just St. Christopher’s Inn and included social services sources from throughout the State.

Following Fr. Carmine, Fr. Emil Tomaskovic arrived in 1981 to assume the role of Executive Director. St. Joseph’s growing reputation for lasting treatment contributed to both Fr. Carmine, and Fr. Emil becoming sought after lecturers at SUNY schools on the subject of alcoholism.

In 1981 the Family Program, the first residential family treatment component in the State, was begun and continues today teaching co-dependent individuals about the disease of addiction. Six years later, a separate building housing up to 16 visitors was constructed to provide families a more therapeutic space to learn and to heal.

To more fully serve the community, Outpatient clinics were established in 1986 in Saranac Lake, Malone, Elizabethtown, Ticonderoga, and Lake Placid. This expansion was followed in 1991 by the construction of a new residential wing to the Glenwood Inpatient site that doubled treatment capacity.

In 1989, Father Emil was called by the Friars to serve as the Minister General of the Friars of the Atonement. Atonement Father Arthur Johnson, CASAC, arrived in the North Country from Los Angeles that October to become the agency’s third CEO. Father Art served as President and CEO of St. Joseph’s until 1999.

St. Joseph’s continuum of care extended further with the opening of Joseph’s House Supportive Living Facility in 1998 in Poughkeepsie.

By 2005, the Fellowship, St. Joseph’s alumni organization, enjoyed a membership in excess of 4,000 men and women.

Mr. Karl Kabza joined St. Joseph’s in 2000 as CEO and served with devotion until 2007 when Bob Ross became the agency’s fourth Chief Executive Officer bringing with him 30 years of addiction treatment experience. St. Joseph’s became an independently governed agency, with full authority succeeding to St. Joseph’s Board, in 2008.In 2009, St. Joseph’s earned recognition as One of the Best Places to Work for in New York State, an honor the agency enjoyed again two years later.

Also in 2009, St. Joseph’s was one of only four addiction treatment facilities in the State to receive funding to construct an addicted veterans Community Residence for service men and women suffering from both addiction and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The very next year, New York State and the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services awarded $12,000,000 in capital funding to acquire from the Friars of the Atonement, and renovate, the Glenwood campus’s main, 53,000-square-foot building.

In 2013, St. Joseph’s opened its sixth Outpatient Clinic inthe town of Keesville in recognition of, and to meet the needs of, thetransportation difficulties many clients faced while seeking treatment.

In 2014, the Col. C. David Merkel Veterans’ Residence opened in July to serve our first 25 male veterans and their families. More importantly, a recent outcome study revealed that six months after completing the Inpatient program, a remarkable 93% of graduates maintain sobriety.

2014 also marks St. Joseph’s 43rd year of continued treatment excellence, an achievement further recognized by Saranac Lake’s Chamber of Commerce which recently designated St. Joseph’s as the community’s Best Business of the Year.

Each year we serve approximately 1,300 men, women, teens,and their families. Continuing in the tradition of the founding Friars, we provide over $300,000 in charity care. We have also grown to become one of the largest employers in the area with a staff of 139, and an annual budget that exceeds $8000, 000.

More importantly, a recent outcome study revealed that six months after completing the Inpatient program, a remarkable 93% of graduates maintain sobriety.

The story of St. Joseph’s is one of vision and progress, of expansion and strategic growth. Most meaningfully, though, the St. Joseph’s of today is a legacy of the founding Friars and of Fr. Carmine’s mission so beautifully expressed in his words, “We are called to heal wounds, to unite what has fallen apart, and to bring home those who have lost their way.”