Opioid addiction Suboxone clinic opening in Portsmouth Recover Together includes group therapy

PORTSMOUTH — In response to opioid abuse, overdoses and deaths in the area, Recover Together is opening a Suboxone clinic in Portsmouth, where the first patient is expected to be treated on Friday.

Part of a chain of Suboxone clinics, the local office will be managed by Heather Prebish, a licensed clinical mental health counselor, who will serve as clinical director, she said. Recover Together will open at 1 Greenleaf Woods Drive, in Suite 301, where patients will be provided Suboxone to help combat addiction to Percoset, Oxycontin and heroin, Prebish said.

To help announce the opening, flyers with tear-off contact information were posted around Portsmouth last weekend.

Suboxone is a medication used to treat addiction, as well as for pain management. According to the manufacturer, there are many possible side effects, including dependence.

Prebish said Recover Together believes group therapy is an important part of recovery so therapy is mandatory for anyone receiving Suboxone treatment.

“We say yes, the medication is going to help tremendously, but group therapy is just as important,” she said.

Recover Together does not accept insurance or Medicaid, which the company said keeps costs down.

“We want treatment to be accessible and affordable,” Prebish said.

According to Recover Together’s website, the cost to participate is $65 a week, exclusive of the cost of Suboxone, which is $45 to $50 a week. Participants are required to submit to a urine test prior to weekly therapy sessions and if their samples do not show the presence of Suboxone, they’re discharged from the program.

Treatment through the use of Suboxone lasts 18 to 24 months “for most patients,” according to the Recover Together site.

Prebish said with the exception of some private prescribers and local hospitals, there is nowhere else in Portsmouth for people to access Suboxone treatment in their efforts to overcome opioid addiction. She said physicians and staff have been retained, the Greenleaf Woods Drive suite is being renovated and the doors will open Friday. She said there’s no limit to the number of patients who can be treated at the Portsmouth clinic.

This will be Recover Together’s sixth clinic in New Hampshire, there are two in Maine and, Prebish said, the company is now opening three locations in Ohio.

For more information, visit the Recover Together website at www.recovertogether.us, or call (603) 252-1675.