Our Philosophy

Entrance from Bridge Street

Good Friends, Inc. is a licensed treatment program for adult males who are chemically dependent where residents seek to re-establish themselves in the mainstream of society.

Good Friends, Inc. maintains a living atmosphere which is conducive to personal growth for men who are recovering from an active substance use disorder and who are aware that basic changes in attitude are essential to recovery. The emphasis is not only on maintaining sobriety but also on maturing in sobriety to grow toward self-sufficiency in the community.

Good Friends, Inc. seeks to help the resident affirm and apply the addiction education he has received in other settings while expanding that knowledge in our facility. Good Friends, Inc. provides the resident the opportunities to begin to experience a life in sobriety, to exercise his self-determination within constructive limits and to return to the community with a foundation and ability to achieve a complete life in sobriety.

Good Friends, Inc. recognizes that when a person enters our door he is reaching out for help, and deserves a welcoming response. We take responsibility for assisting each person who enters our doors for help by making sure he has an integrated risk assessment and screening to assure safety, and supportive assistance to engage appropriate services. We provide the opportunity for a treatment relationship that integrates attention to our clients' multiple needs in treatment, and to appropriate referrals and resources during and after treatment. The life of each person is valued, and we are part of welcoming each person into sober healthy living that includes recovery from co-occurring disorders.

To accomplish these goals, the agency maintains an adherence to certain principles of successful behavioral health treatment. They are as follows:

   1. No single treatment is appropriate for all individuals. Each interaction must be individualized according to that person's circumstances.

   2. Effective treatment attends to the multiple needs of the individual, not just his drug and/or alcohol use.

   3. Treatment success derives from the implementation of an individualized, empathic, hopeful and integrated treatment relationship that provides coordinated and comprehensive care.

   4. An individual's treatment plan must be assessed continuously and modified as necessary to ensure that the plan meets the person's changing needs.

   5. Counseling and other behavioral therapies are critical components of effective treatment for addiction.

   6. Addicted individuals with co-existing mental health disorders should have both disorders considered primary and treated in an integrated way.

   7. Medications can be an important element of treatment for individuals, especially when combined with counseling and other behavioral therapies.

   8. Recovery from alcoholism/drug addiction can be a long-term process and frequently requires multiple episodes of treatment.

   9. Continually measure, evaluate and improve the effectiveness of our program.

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