New recovery center highlights the dire need for addiction recovery resources

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – Addiction impacts millions of people every day, and Louisiana is no exception; the parish in East Baton Rouge has seen 154 fatal overdoses so far in 2024. That’s why a new recovery center is bringing hope to people in the community struggling with substance abuse. It is one of many treatment facilities in the area, but the opening of the third Avenues Recovery Center in South Louisiana underscores the great need for these facilities in the state.

WAFB spoke with an alumni of Avenues Recovery in Covington. He was in the military for eight years and said when he came back, he didn’t know what to do with himself. He turned to drugs and alcohol and was in and out of the recovery center for months.

“I wasn’t ready to get sober yet… I left Avenues after 60 days, went back to New Orleans and went right back on the streets. I lived under the Claiborne Bridge,” said Andrew Barbazon. “I’ve been overdosing several times a day and you just can’t see a way out when you’re in it.”

Barbazon said he met a special someone during that time who helped him get back into treatment. After he saw the addiction taking her away, things changed for him.

“Her name is Emily and she passed away in June. And standing on the other side of the street, like watching your partner go through addiction, is hard. To think I did that to my family for years, you know, and I only had to deal with it for a few months. That’s why I said. I’m grateful that I was able to show up again,” Barbazon said.

Barbazon will have been sober for two years in February.

“I literally owe my life to this place,” Barbazon said. “I don’t care what’s going on, there’s nothing in the world that will ever make me stick a needle in my arm again.”

He says the hardest part of getting help is the stigma surrounding substance abuse. But he says the more we talk about it and how it controls the human brain, the more we normalize getting help.

Dr. Susan Julius, the medical director of Avenues Louisiana, says at least 15% of people around the world struggle with addiction, but few people understand it.

“Addiction is a disease, it is not a moral failing. Our patients are not bad people, they are sick people trying to get better,” said Dr. Julius. “And we need to take care of the whole patient: the mind and the body.”

Dr. Julius says they use evidence-based medicine and treatment by offering patients a place to detox, live sober and also meet mental health needs. Most importantly, they give people hope. People like Nicole Hoag, who has been sober for almost two years after 26 years of use.

“I can’t even explain how proud I am of myself… like I said, I never thought I could overcome my addiction, I’ve been taking it since I was 13/14 years old, I’m 43 now,” says Hoag . “If anyone is going through a hard time and sees this, you don’t really have anything to lose, just try it out, you know, and give it a try and try to save your life.”

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