Rising to the Challenge. Deepening our Impact.

2021 ANNUAL REPORT

2021 Annual Report 1

Compassionate, comprehensive care for sustained recovery

Honor the power in everyone Embrace new perspectives Progress is the destination Renew ourselves to share our strength

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Letter from our President and Board Chair Dear Friends and Colleagues, As we look back at last year, we are so proud of how our staff and organization rose to the challenge of delivering life-saving care in an unprecedented time. Through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Root Center provided our critical services without interruption to the 5,500 people we treat every day across the state.

With a focus on protecting the safety and health of our patients and our staff, we were fortunate both to receive ample PPE and to be able to offer free mobile vaccine, booster, and testing clinics, free of charge.

In addition, significant enhancements to our technology allowed our team to safely provide thousands of hours of telehealth sessions.

The need for our services has never been more critical and to serve this demand, we continued to grow our staff, adding 91 new members to the Root team. Among these additions, we hired a new Infectious Disease Coordinator, several Nursing Supervisors, and grew our Senior Leadership Team to include new Chief Financial Officer Jenn Succi and Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Joseph Podolski.

We also grew our geographic footprint to continue to serve even more people with substance use or mental health challenges. This year, we held a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of our new Middletown Clinic and a groundbreaking ceremony for our new New Britain facility, a state-of-the-art clinic purpose built to make staff and clients feel proud when they walk through the doors.

With our strong business growth, we also redoubled our commitment to helping other non-profit organizations across the state. This year, we were pleased to donate an additional $50,000 to Foodshare (following a $50,000 donation last year) to support their critical work in tackling food insecurity and hunger. We sadly saw the rates of domestic violence rise during the pandemic, and responded by donating $10,000 to our friends at the Prudence Crandall Center to help them meet the rising need for services in New Britain.

Finally, we are incredibly thankful to work alongside our staff of nearly 300. Our team remained compassionate and committed throughout this difficult year, always ready to rise to the challenge and to celebrate the progress our patients make every day.

We are thankful to have made so much progress this year and honored to serve our community, helping thousands of people along the path of recovery. May the year ahead be filled with health and happiness.

Warmly, Steven Zuckerman, President & CEO | Bruce Simons, Chairperson

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Root Responds As the world continued to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic last year, we took swift action to adapt and kept our critical service lines open for the more than 7,000 patients that we served.

Our staff worked around the clock to implement procedures to keep both our employees and our patients safe. We adapted protocols and we deployed robust telehealth services, which accounted for thousands of hours of care and allowed us to provide our clients with direct access to Root clinicians. We were also fortunate to receive numerous donations of personal protective equipment (PPE) and we provided free clinics on a regular basis, allowing our staff and clients to get vaccinated or tested for COVID-19.

While we navigated these challenging times, we never stopped researching the addition of new services to better serve our patients. This year, in addition to our long-standing Medication Assisted Treatment services, we continued to broaden our mental health services for both adults and adolescents.

As an organization, we have been serving our neighbors in Connecticut for more than 150 years, and every year, no matter the challenge, we continue to grow and deepen our impact.

4 ROOT | center for advanced recovery Renderings for our Memorial Garden

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T O TA L N U M B E R O F PAT I E N T S S E R V E D

7,229 UNIQUE CLIENTS 5.2% GROWTH FROM LAST YEAR

N U M B E R O F T E L E H E A LT H S E S S I O N S

69,761 SESSIONS

G E N D E R O F PAT I E N T S

FEMALE: 2,789 MALE: 4,415

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JAN

FEB

MAR

APR

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUG

SEP

OCT

NOV

DEC

CLINICAL GRAND ROUNDS

420 participants in the first six months Started in January 2021, this monthly program brings together recognized experts in the mental health and addiction fields to share insights and best practices from their research and clinical experience.

OVERALL SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWER GROWTH

AGES OF PATIENTS

BY BRACKETS ADOLESCENTS

27

AGE 18–29

569

AGE 30–39

2,456

AGE 40–49

1,686

AGE 50–59

1,541

AGE 60–69

819

AGE 70–79

131

518 Followers | Up 65% 616 Followers | Up 153% 1,308 Followers | Up 102.5% Fans 1,043 | Up 39.6%

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At Root Center, our goals are to continue to enhance our outcomes and to share what we learn with the industry to help improve the system overall.

A core value of the Root Center is to “Embrace New Perspectives.” This value inspires us to seek new knowledge to elevate the care we deliver every day. We look to connect with our colleagues in related fields, and with members of the community, to share our findings and research, to improve as many lives as possible.

Finally, we participated in two research programs sponsored by leading universities to continue to improve both our patient outcomes and those across the behavioral health system.

To advance these objectives, we launched a monthly Clinical Grand Rounds series that brings together recognized experts in the mental health and addiction fields to share insights and best practices from their research and clinical experience.

Professionals can earn continuing education credits and all participants will have the opportunity to learn from a robust community of thinkers, healers, and healthcare leaders.

This year, we participated in the following programs:

This year, we also hosted our first-ever Legislative Breakfast.

We had presentations from our CEO, Medical Director, and other key staff on the impact of COVID-19. We were honored to host legislators from around the state on the opioid epidemic and funding issues.

We also started our new Leadership Fellowship Program, which is a six-month training program for emerging leaders.

The fellowship program’s goal is to prepare identified staff for future leadership roles by helping to craft and develop some of the innate leadership characteristics they have already shown themselves to possess. The program is facilitated by our Chief Operating Officer, Amy DiMauro, and our first class of graduates will now be the mentors for the next round of fellowship participants in the years ahead.

This year, we formalized our internship program and had nearly 50 participants from a number of different professional arenas - both clinical and administrative. While this program provides valuable experience, it has also led to many of our interns becoming full-time members of the Root team.

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PIPS: Parenting Infants in the Pandemic Study. This study was conducted by Dr. Margaret BriggsGowan and Dr. Damion Grasso from UConn Health, and aimed to understand how the pandemic affected women who were pregnant during the pandemic and their infants.

CBT4CBT: We successfully completed Phase 1 and our participation continues in phase 2 of this study spearheaded by Dr. Kathleen Carroll from Yale University.

CBT4CBT is investigating effective ways to address pain (including chronic pain) for individuals receiving medication for opioid use disorder (OUD). The study includes interviews to obtain information and insights into the experiences of both patients and providers.

In 2022, we will continue to expand our program, and look forward to sponsoring our own research initiatives.

“ Root Center is committed to staying on top of cuttingedge technology, taking part in studies that advance our knowledge, and improving the ways we help the clients we serve.”

– Dr. Joseph Podolski, Root Chief Medical Officer

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Spreading Our Roots Root Center was excited to unveil two new additions to our facilities this year.

Middletown clinic grand opening

First, we were thrilled to host a socially distanced celebration and to offer tours of our brand-new Middletown clinic as part of the large medical campus at 520 Saybrook Road. This new clinic is our first in the Middletown market and allowed us to offer a new level of comprehensive care in collaboration with other medical providers in the facility. We were thankful to have Mayor Ben Florsheim, State Representative Quentin Phipps, and Middlesex Chamber President Larry McHugh join us for the ribbon cutting.

Next, we were pleased to host a ground-breaking ceremony for our purpose-designed and built new facility in New Britain, and it was a smashing success. This clinic will offer clients and staff a state-of-the-art building where everyone can feel proud and welcomed when they walk through our doors. We were joined by Mayor Erin Stewart, State Representative William Petit, and many other key people from the community to celebrate this important day, when we officially broke ground.

New Britain facility ground-breaking ceremony

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Non-Profits Helping NonProfits: Honor the Power in Everyone At Root Center for Advanced Recovery, we are passionate about supporting the communities we serve. This year, we were proud to continue supporting several other leading nonprofits that serve these same communities.

This year, sadly, showed that rates of domestic violence in Connecticut surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, and organizations like the Prudence Crandall Center in New Britain, were being pushed beyond capacity as they worked to support those in need. We currently serve 750 patients per day in the New Britain area, many of whom also require support for domestic safety concerns. We are proud to now be a partner with the Prudence Crandall Center to help support this cause and donated $10,000 to support housing, services, and advocacy for those in need.

This year, we supported two area nonprofits for their work in addressing hunger. In the center photo below, Root’s Steven Zuckerman presents a check for $8,000 to St. Vincent de Paul’s executive director

MaryEllen Shuckerow to support their important work in Middletown.

We were also thrilled to have the Root Center’s CEO & President team up with Foodshare’s CEO, Jason Jakubowski, for a webinar on nonprofit leadership and collaboration. Root Center donated an additional $50,000 to Foodshare earlier in the year, making our total support $100,000 over the last two years to empower their work in fighting food insecurity.

Additionally, Root Center partnered with ImmaCare Inc. to provide housing and support opportunities to individuals in recovery. We held a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony with Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin and ImmaCare CEO Louis Gilbert for the new, “Housing and Recovery Build Our Roots” (HARBOR) Program.

Now, Root Center clients who are experiencing homelessness will be offered a direct path to shelter.

This was not just a one-time donation, but includes ongoing support of $170,000 per year for up to three years.

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Energizing Our Culture We are incredibly fortunate to have a committed and compassionate staff. The work our team does every day is not easy, so we work to find creative ways to reward employees and find ways to enhance our organizational culture.

Each month, we recognize an Employee of the Month for exemplifying one of our four core values.

Honor the power in everyone. • Renew ourselves to share our strength.

Embrace new perspectives. • Progress is the destination.

These employees are nominated by their peers and recognized for the outstanding work that they have done. In addition to the monthly awards, we were proud to honor Alexandra Chirico, BSN, RN, with the prestigious Nightingale Award, given annually for excellence in nursing. Alexandra is a powerful advocate who leads with compassion and empathy to ensure that patient needs are met.

What other ways have we found to reward our staff? How about some fun?! This year, we continued a staff favorite, the annual apple pie distribution, where each employee received a Lyman Orchards signature pie before Thanksgiving. We give thanks to our employees not just on Thanksgiving, but every day of the year. We also keep things fun with inter-clinic contests and holiday celebrations throughout the year.

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Our Leadership Team The Root leadership team is committed to positively impacting the lives of those around us and to continuing to add more talented team members to deliver on our Mission.

This year, we welcomed two talented new members to our senior leadership team. Jennifer Succi was named our new Chief Financial Officer and brought to Root both significant financial leadership experience and a passion for working with nonprofit organizations. We also welcomed Dr. Joseph Podolski as our new Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Podolski joined our leadership team and immediately set to work elevating our treatment modalities, deepening our research efforts, and bringing deep insights into our potential for strategic growth.

Jennifer Succi Chief Financial Officer

Steven Zuckerman President/CEO

Amy Di Mauro Chief Operating Officer

Dr. Joseph Podolski Chief Medical Officer

Board of Directors OFFICERS Bruce Simons, Chairperson • Darcie Boiano, Secretary • Steven Zuckerman, President/CEO

DIRECTORS Robert Casati

Dave Louden

Stephen Fisher John Mohring

William E. Schumann Dr. Martin Anderson Dr. David Hopkins*

Dr. Carla Rash*

Dr. Mariela Podolski** Eric Zachs

One asterisk: Joined the Board of Directors this year | Two asterisks: Left the Board of Directors this year

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“ Being A Member of the Clinic Saved My Life” My name is Kylie, and I’m 31. I’m a single mom, and a full-time medical assistant, and I’ve been clean for just under two years. I’d be lying if I said it’s been an easy road. I’ve struggled with addiction since I was about 19. I had gone to rehab at one point, and had even been on methadone for a year before I got pregnant with my son. For years, I went back and forth from being clean, to using. It was a really stressful way to live. Once my son was born, I stayed clean for a couple years, and was doing pretty well. One day, I had a slip, and that was all it took. For the next six months or so, I started to really make a mess of my life. I wasn’t paying my bills, or fully focusing on work. Thankfully, I never put my son in danger, but still, I needed to change my ways, and for good. I finally joined the clinic in October of 2019. It was the best thing I ever did to get my sobriety back. It gave me the support and guidance I needed. Once I started the clinic, I stopped stressing about being sick because I had nurses and doctors to monitor my medication dosage and be there any time I needed an adjustment. I had a schedule to follow, which helped because it gave me some structure. Also, I have a counselor who is always available when I need someone to talk to. I have to say, I’m one of the lucky ones because I have an amazing support system outside of the clinic as well. But what’s awesome is that I never have to feel alone in this disease. Addiction isn’t a battle someone can fight alone, and if you aren’t as blessed as me, you can always count on the support you’ll get on the program. Being a member of the clinic saved my life, and gave me another chance at recovery, and because I work this program, I’m living my amazing, now clean, life, and I couldn’t be happier. I feel amazing and wake up feeling blessed every day.

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

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