2025 Annual Report

Rearranging Our Roots 2025 Annual Report

A LETTER FROM LEADERSHIP

It has been another monumental year at the Root Center for Advanced Recovery.

This past year, we focused on rearranging our roots—a period of intentional growth, expansion, and evolution that has taken the organization to new heights.

For the first time in our history, Root has expanded into New Haven County, bringing our essential services to the town of Branford. With this milestone, we now operate in all but two counties across Connecticut, serving nearly 5,500 patients each day. This growth reflects our steadfast commitment to meeting people where they are and ensuring that everyone in need has access to compassionate, highquality care.

We also honored our history by rehoming our oldest site, the beloved Doctors Clinic on Main Street in Hartford. Down the road, at 35 Lafayette Street, we built a brand-new, state-of-the-art facility that will not only enhance our current programs but also lay the groundwork for future primary care services— bringing us full circle to our origins more than 150 years ago.

These accomplishments are just a glimpse of how the Root Center has flourished from 2024 to 2025.

We remain inspired by our more than 275 dedicated staff across 14 locations, whose passion and commitment make our mission possible every single day.

At Root, one of our core values is Progress is the Destination—a belief we see lived out daily by our staff and patients alike. Each year, we witness how this organization continues to grow into an indispensable fixture in the communities we serve.

As one of the oldest nonprofit organizations in Connecticut, we know that the work we do is not only meaningful—it’s lifesaving. To our staff, patients, supporters, and community partners: thank you.

Your dedication fuels our purpose and helps make our communities better places to learn, live, and grow.

With gratitude, Steven Zuckerman Chief Executive Officer & President Bruce Simons President, Board of Directors

On Thursday, March 13th, we had a successful Grand Opening ceremony of our newest clinic, conveniently located at 35 Lafayette Street in Hartford.

Welcome to This new site is not only exciting for it’s state-ofthe-art architecture and design, it is also going to be one of our first clinics going back to our ‘roots’ providing Primary Care, just as we once did when we opened more than 150 years ago. Root Center is looking forward to offering patients a network of care with familiar staff who fully understand their treatment needs in relation to their recovery.

Lafayette Street

We believe it is important to treat each patient holistically!

The Root Center is thankful to have such immense support for the organization and our mission.

We value our board members, community legislators and leaders, media partners, and, of course, our staff.

Thank You Amazing Supporters!

We know this new facility will go on to help so many patients and is a long-awaited upgrade from our Hartford Main Street Clinic.

Dignity in Care

Environments Matter

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While opening Lafayette Street was certainly an incredible feat for the organization, we were also proud to rearrange our roots and spread into New Haven County. In September of 2024, we opened our very first clinic in Branford, at the Stony Creek Medical Center.

and Op

ening

This new Branford site is part of a beautiful medical office building and will allow us to better serve the mental health and addiction needs of adolescents and adults on the Connecticut shoreline, and surrounding communities.

Branford and Hartford were not our only two new sites for the year! In January, we were also excited to host our New Britain Residential Treatment Facility Grand Opening ceremony to kick off the new year.

This new residential treatment facility is housed at 70 Whiting Street, which was the former location of our New Britain Clinic.

That clinic has since been moved to a brand new facility located on East Main Street. This is Root Center's first ever Residential Treatment Facility. Root Center is proud to offer these additional services, and we look forward to welcoming patients to this beautiful facility for treatment.

Special thanks to Mayor Erin Stewart, Senator Saud Anwar, Senator Rick Lopes, and our amazing staff for all of your help making this project come to life! We also appreciate our media partners for their coverage.

New Britain

Residential

Treatment Facility

t o Ro

r e t n e C

e Numbers h t y B

Age 35-54

4426

81%

226

62 %

65+

le-

Unique Patients

632

Increase in Adolescent Year Over Year 6-Month Px Retention Patients Since 2024

8,041

19-34

1236

38%

Female -

55-64

1519

Ma

18 > Counselors in

Participated in

17 39 Schools

Outreach Events

New Hires

Promoted Staff

65 21 60% 25 interns

2 employed full-time after internship!

Learning with Root Clinical Grand Rounds Participants

724 Podcast Streams

834 Community Forum Attendees

96 Jill Mulvey, New Britain RN, 2025 Nightingale

The Epidemic of Loneliness

While we love to grow at Root Center, we also love to invest in education and continue to learn.

Twice a year, our Advanced Recovery Institute hosts a Community Forum to spark thought provoking discussions on relevant mental health and addiction topics.

These forums are held in-person at our Manchester Clinic, as well as on Zoom.

Community Forums

Our first forum of the year was, "The Epidemic of Loneliness: The Silent Sadness". The conversation was incredibly powerful, and we thank our panelists for an insightful evening of intriguing discussion.

In June of 2025, we also hosted another successful Community Forum on Burnout. Burnout: More than Just Stress, was a wonderful, insightful, and at times even funny conversation about occupational and personal burnout, shifting legislations, personal coping strategies, systemic changes, the effect of burnout on children, and so much more!

Burnout: More than Just Stress

We look forward to next year, where we hope to once again bring you two different insightful discussions on current issues impacting mental health or addiction in society. You can follow us on social media to learn more.

While we love to learn, we also love to teach. So much so that we have a robust internship program in both the spring and fall. Here at Root, we aim not only to provide the best care to our patients, but also the best learning environment for our staff, and that includes interns. In recent years we had nearly 30 interns from more than 20 universities. Some as far as New Mexico!

Root Center is committed to growth and opportunities, and many current Root employees were once interns themselves. If you are a student with an interest in helping others reach their goals of optimal behavioral health, we encourage you to apply for an internship, learn more on our website.

Growing with our Interns

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It's worth noting, not only have we expanded our facilities, but we are also expanding our services! Root Center is proud to now offer Problem Gambling Treatment. It is run out of our Manchester Clinic but can also be attended virtually. This is meant to be a safe space to discuss the impact of gambling, identify the ways it could potentially lead to substance use, recognize the problems it may be causing, and knowing that you are not alone, and we are here to build skills, cope, and identify community supports.

This year, for Women's History Month, to honor the strength and resilience of women, the Root Center hosted a screening of a new award-winning documentary, “Recovery City,” featuring the powerful stories of four Massachusetts women battling substance use disorder and fighting for recovery.

In this portrait of resilience, grit, and camaraderie, the women use their lived experience to lift up those still struggling while refusing to give up hope.

We rented the Parkade Movie Theater in Manchester, Connecticut, and filled theater seats with staff, board members, and community members for this moving film and insightful Q&A segment with the director and some of the wonderful folks featured in the film. Special thanks to director and producer, Lisa Olivieri, and fellow cast members, for coming out to meet us and show your film to our community!

This film is a raw exploration of what it means to be in recovery. In the working class city of Worcester, MA, Christine fights to regain custody of her young children while grappling with a traumatic past, and battling stigma from the very systems that are designed to help her. Bridget, who found recovery while in prison, now facilitates peer-led support meetings for women. On the frontlines, recovery coaches Janis and Rebecca navigate the city’s toughest corners offering support and trying to save lives.

Meet People Where They Are

At Root, we believe it is important to reward our staff with “some” fun throughout the year, and this year was no different. From our annual Holiday Party at Farmington Gardens, where we danced, enjoyed caricature artists, and photo booths, to our Annual Years of Service Awards ceremony, an event meant to be a celebration of our employees who have been with the agency for 5, 10, 15, 20, and some, even 25 years, there was no shortage of fun, celebration, and appreciation.

This includes our staff appreciation events like a night at the Yard Goats to catch a baseball game in Hartford, or fall fright fest at Lake Compounce, and we can’t forget the annual “free” Apple Pie right before the Thanksgiving holiday!

Root feels it is incredibly important to honor the power in everyone and make sure to renew ourselves to share our strength so we can continue to show up as our best selves for not only our patients, but also, each other, and ultimately, ourselves.

Lastly, we would be remiss if we did not mention all the wonderful partnerships and collaborations we had this year.

We are stronger together, so Root will always be a proponent for Nonprofits Supporting Nonprofits, which is why we were proud to sponsor, donate, and attend many fairs, galas, tournaments, and more, all to support other agencies performing important work in the communities we serve.

Root supported and attended Middletown Pride, New London Pride, countless career fairs, Prudence Crandall’s annal event, MPTN’s Children’s Mental Health Fair, Recovery Fest in Groton, CCAR’s annual recovery walks, ULGH’s anniversary gala, and so many other wonderful events.

Special thanks as well to all community leaders and media partners who also continue to support us along the way. We look forward to what’s next for Root and the future of recovery!

is Taylor’s Sto s i ry Th Third Time’s Th

m r a e Ch

My name is Taylor Mikoleit, a beloved son, brother, grandson, and friend. I want to talk about a battle that affects 48.5 million people worldwide, and one that I, by the grace of god, have become victorious. Addiction.

As far as I can remember, I had been plagued by this disease since I was 15. It started with the casual partying scene, smoking weed to drinking alcohol, until I turned 16 and I was introduced to the best friend I never had. Opiates.

It was strictly painkillers for years and years. The partying continued for as long as I can remember, and then, 2019 came around, and that is when I got involved with fentanyl. When I say that within 1 year of using fentanyl, that it took everything from me, it truly did!

Now it’s different for many people, some experience homelessness, others sell their bodies, I myself, sold everything I owned, and I lost the real me... The Taylor that I truly was when I was 14.

Fentanyl destroyed everything I had. It ruined my family relationships, I lost friends because of my addiction, I stopped loving myself and taking care of myself until I just couldn't keep treading down this dark path I seemed to have traveled onto.

So, with that, I have gone 6 years, the longest I ever had, completely sober. I did amazing! I was going to meetings, became a house manager at the sober house I was living at, became involved with CCAR, was working, doing everything right...until stress became my demise.

So, I took myself back to treatment and ended up in Torrington. I was doing well again working, and then came the cravings, the desire for that "best friend I never had" started to take hold. So, unfortunately, I succumbed to the disease and was back at square 1 again.

Now, I had gone out for 2 days! Within those 2 days, I saw that nothing changed, people you think care about you will take advantage of you, lie to you to get what they want, and they use you. So the 2nd night I had gotten into a situation, where I took a stand and said that my life mattered, and I refuse to let this disease take its grasp on me yet again!

So, they say 3rd times a charm. I took myself to New Britain Hospital, said I needed help, and then started my journey onto where I am today! I have about 4 months substance free and I’ll tell you, it’s the best I’ve ever felt! By the grace of God, I’m more in tune with my higher power, my family that are involved in my life are a lot closer than before, and I’m happier than I’ve ever been in sobriety!

I started a new job, I go to my meetings, follow a strict routine and keep up with self care because that's important! You want to look your best don’t you? I truly can say that a 3rd time is a charm! If there’s anything that I want someone to take from my story, it would be this: Remember that if you truly want it for yourself, you can overcome it! Remember that you’re not perfect and that we all make mistakes, but remember that you’re not alone in this fight of addiction. We all have our stories, our battles but it is how we become victorious in the end that matters! I never would have thought that I would actually defeat this thing we call addiction but I did! Take it one day at a time! Remain cool, calm, and collected, and always feel, deal, and heal.

I’m happy to say that I am beyond blessed and grateful to be where I am today, and to have defeated this fight I been in for 15 years! If I can do it so can you! Become VICTORIOUS!

O F F I C E R S

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Bruce Simons Chairperson Patricia Rehmer Vice Chairperson Steven Zuckerman President/CEO Darcie Boiano Secretary

DIRECTORS

Stephen Fisher Dave Louden John Mohring William E. Shumann Eric Zachs Dr. Martin Anderson Dr. Carla Rash Dr. David Hopkins

WE ARE COMMITTED TO INVESTING IN Expanding our outreach and deepening our impact Creating conditions for our team to grow themselves and their vital relationships with others Collaborating with each other and our communities to help shift perspectives surrounding our field of behavioral health Creating a brand presence and living story that inspires pride in our work and invites possibilities for the future Finding the best ways to communicate and share our best practices and to implement new standards of care Creating an environment with the infrastructure, process, and technology that supports our practice Building foundational tools for recovery by encouraging open-minded thinking and a unique approach to behavioral health and growth

OUR PURPOSE Our purpose is to create relationships that empower the courage and ability to change.

This means being there from the start and providing guidance and support throughout the entire recovery journey,

OUR VALUES We are caring, intelligent people committed to supporting others. As an organization, we are committed to supporting our people as they continue to grow, develop, and advance Honor the Power in Everyone Renew Ourselves to Share Our Strengths Embrace New Perspectives Progress is the Destination

rootcenter.org 335 Broad Street, Manchester, CT 06040 Phone: 800-862-2181 | Fax: 860-643-3211