By Barbara Scott
Staff Writer
Barbara Wells Alexander, LCSW, has joined the team of Lela Lyons and Philip Advocate at Hope Recovery Services in Caribou. The Caribou native is a 1979 graduate of Caribou High School and earned a bachelors of art degree from UMPI in 2000 and her MSW from the University of New England in 2003.
Aroostook Republican photo/Barb Scott
Barbara Wells Alexander, center, is the newest clinician providing treatment services at Hope Recovery Services, established in 2009 by Lela Lyons. With Alexander is Philip Advocate and Lyons.
Alexander comes to Hope Recovery Services following 10 years of employment with AMHC, providing emergency services; the last eight years as a generalist therapist.
“I will be concentrating on working with personality disorders,” stated Alexander, “leaving the field of substance abuse to my very competent colleagues, Lela and Philip.”
Alexander, resides in Caribou with her husband, Dr.Bruce Alexander. The couple have seven children and five grandchildren. Alexander will be available at Hope Recovery Services Monday through Thursday .
Hope Recovery Services which has provided individual and group substance abuse counseling since 2009, is now able, with the addition of Alexander to offer more autonomy, increasing services to a different scope of the population in need of assistance. “However,” said Lyons, who is a certified alcohol/drug counselor (CADC), “we are hoping that as we offer better treatment services, we continue to focus on quality of care verses quantity.”
Services at Hope Recovery, located on Armco Avenue include educational programs, individual treatment, relapse prevention groups, counseling for effected others (family members) and works with DEEP, as well as providing, families and couples therapy. Lyons and Advocate also work with group therapy regarding relapse prevention, encouraging individuals to learn the necessary skills to sustain recovery from substance use.
Advocate provides ADD and ADHD evaluations and works with anxiety and depression counseling.
“It’s a nice feeling to know that we are able to offer these treatment options via the well-rounded array of services available at Hope Recovery Services,” stated Lyons.
“We also work very closely with Dr. Connor in Caribou, a private family MD, in thinking outside the box regarding the treatment of opiate addiction within our local population, using alternative treatment options” said Lyons. “Opiate addiction has become a pandemic — it affects all generations — it does not discriminate.
Over the past ten years, Suboxin has been used as an opiate treatment and we are learning as we go long, defining non-narcotic blockers as treatment options.”
Both Lyons and Advocate are members of the CADET group.
For more information on Hope Recovery Services go to ehoperecoverys@maine.rr.com or call 493-1700.
Regular office hours are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. but flexible if necessary.
