NEWPORT — The Newport Hope Recovery Center is the newest service for those struggling with drug addiction in Newport County.

About 100 people gathered at Washington Square on Wednesday afternoon for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the center’s opening. It is in a recently renovated space inside the stone-and-brick building at 50 Washington Square, which is also home to Rhode Island Legal Services and the McKinney Cooperative Shelter.

The center, which will offer a variety of recovery services for patients struggling with opioid addiction, was made possible by a grant from the state Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals totaling more than $900,000 in three years. The Parent Support Network of Rhode Island and CODAC Behavioral Healthcare collaborated on the project.

Seeing the final product was “long in the works and a dream,” Lisa Conlan-Lewis, the executive director of Parent Support Network of Rhode Island, told those gathered on a beautiful sunny afternoon.

“It was like a blank canvas, painting a portrait,” said Robin Riley of the Hope Recovery Center.

“We are proud to collaborate with the Parent Support Network in building a comprehensive support system for individuals with Opioid Use Disorder and their families,” said Linda Hurley, CEO and president of CODAC, in a prepared statement. “This collaboration will reinforce the crucial relationship between treatment and recovery communities.”

The event and the subsequent performance of “Four Legs to Stand On” at the Jane Pickens Theater is an “opportunity to let people know we’re still here,” Hurley said of her organization, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary.

Along with CODAC, the recovery center, Lifespan and other organizations provide a “continuum of care,” Hurley told The Daily News.

Rhode Island, like the rest of the country, is wrestling with the opioid crisis. In the past six years, there were 1,604 overdose deaths in the state, according to information from the state Department of Health.

Gov. Gina Raimondo signed an executive order last July that enhanced existing strategies toward “prevention, treatment, rescue and recovery, ” according to a statement. Her Overdose Prevention and Intervention Action Plan set a goal of reducing the number of opioid overdose deaths by one-third.

Tom Coderre, a senior adviser to Raimondo, talked about his battle with addiction and his sobriety since May 2003.

“I felt like my life was over and didn’t have any hope,” he said. “That was just the beginning … that was the first day of my life.” Coderre exhorted the community to come together in the fight against addiction.

Members of a CODAC program that connects patients with those with “lived experience” in recovery will refer patients and provide candidates for peer recovery specialist certification through the Parent Support Network, according to a prepared statement about the project.

“Hope Recovery Center participants will also receive assistance in accessing ‘no wrong door’ — a cooperative initiative of CODAC, Lifespan’s Expanded Day Treatment Program and the Clinical Services of Rhode Island’s outpatient programs,” the statement continued. “The initiative helps individuals and their families identify a broad array of recovery support services available in their community.”

See this story in Newport Daily News.