Statements
Mission
Samaritan Recovery Community provides compassionate care in a discrimination-free environment to each of our patients and staff, seeking to empower anyone struggling with substance use disorder to achieve lasting recovery, hope, and purpose.
Background
Samaritan Recovery Community, Inc. (Samaritan) emerged from the compassionate hearts of community members in Nashville in 1964 when a group of ministers recognized the need to support homeless men struggling with alcoholism and started Samaritan to address that. Based on community needs in 1975, the ministers opened an additional space to provide residential addiction treatment services to women. In 2000, Samaritan expanded again by adding three recovery homes throughout Nashville that served as safe, stable, alcohol and drug-free places to reside post-treatment. In 2014, those operations were moved onto Samaritan's main treatment campus.
Over the last 60 years, Samaritan has evolved into a comprehensive community-based addiction treatment center for anyone. Throughout this time, our core principle of providing compassionate care, regardless of the ability to pay, has remained steadfast. Samaritan has been tested over the decades with economic hardships, changing treatment modalities, and a pandemic, but our organization has consistently overcome them. We are committed to continue serving our community through our evidence-based, compassionate continuum of care model that moves people from addiction to recovery for a lifetime.
Impact
Samaritan Recovery Community is a nonprofit addiction treatment center that provides the whole continuum of care to people suffering from substance use disorder in Middle Tennessee. Across all our programs, we take an individualized approach designed to help ensure that those entering our care have the best possible chance of long-term recovery beyond discharge. Our continuum includes respite care, social detoxification, intensive residential treatment, transitional living, intensive outpatient programming, a comprehensive family support program, and an alumni community for long-term peer support. In addition, our comprehensive programs allow patients to stay at our facility for up to one year and include transition plans, money management, parenting and family coping skills, education opportunities, job attainment skills, mental and physical health care, individual and group counseling, and more.
We believe that everyone suffering from substance use disorder deserves the highest quality of care possible in an environment that preserves and promotes the dignity of the human person without regard to race, color, creed, gender, socio-economic or social circumstance, orientation, or national origin. Samaritan's 60+ year legacy of providing addiction treatment to Tennessee's most underserved and under-resourced remains undeterred. Through community support, Samaritan doubled its capacity in 2024 by moving into our brand new facilities, illuminating a brighter path to twice as many of our brothers and sisters out of the darkness of addiction.
Our doors are open to all, offering support and guidance regardless of finances. We address current and future challenges, ensuring a holistic approach that equips patients for a thriving life beyond treatment.
Historically, the national residential treatment completion rate has been between 22-24%. In 2023, the TDMHSAS (Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services) reported an increased rate of 36% at the Governor's budget hearings for Fiscal Year 2024-2025, which shows progress in our state, but is still lower than desired. Samaritan's treatment outcomes consistently surpass these averages, with a 90% completion rate across our programs and a 60-75% sobriety success rate for clients completing our Intensive Residential and Transitional Living programs based on the 90-day post-program completion calls we conduct with clients who complete our programs. Studies indicate that individuals struggling with addiction who live in a sober environment for one year have an even higher chance of avoiding the need for intensive residential treatment again. By extending stays to up to one year, we are confident in our ability to continue to significantly impact our community's addiction issues and achieve even higher success rates for our clients.
Needs
The need for Samaritan Recovery Community's programs in the greater Nashville community is evident against the backdrop of Tennessee's stark reality regarding addiction. Tennessee consistently ranks at the top of U.S. substance abuse rates, where substance use disorder affects 1 in 6 residents within our state's borders, resulting in over 2,100 overdose deaths yearly. Recently, an article from the Tennessean stated that the Nashville metro area had the second-highest rate of overdose deaths in the United States in 2022. Davidson County, home to Samaritan's campus, leads Tennessee in overdose fatalities. This places Samaritan at the epicenter of this critical issue, underscoring the urgent need for our services.
Samaritan can personally attest to the need for increased addiction recovery in Middle Tennessee because our programs have consistently had waiting lists, indicating a significant demand for addiction treatment; and, more specifically, the demand for underserved clients who do not have insurance or the financial resources to go to a treatment facility. While addiction crosses all demographics and socioeconomic barriers, those with little resources, those facing incarceration, and minorities struggle most to find assistance and support.
CEO Statement
Samaritan has a lengthy name, but it was very carefully chosen. Samaritan comes from a well-known story of someone who showed an abundant amount of compassion to someone who did not look to be deserving. This is integral to the mission of Samaritan, which is to provide compassionate care in a discrimination free environment to help our patients achieve lasting recovery, hope and purpose. 78% of Samaritan patients do not have insurance and pay no money out of pocket for our services. Recovery is more than just a word, and more than just a 30 day period of life. We promote recovery as a way that each individual can be their best version of themselves. We promote recovery through our use of the 12 step program and focus on a lifetime of recovery, which we believe everyone can attain.
Over half of our staff are in recovery, so they walk the walk and can relate in a unique way with our patients. Community is a term that illustrates how Samaritan sees itself within the city of Nashville. The Samaritan experience does not have to end at discharge. We have transitional housing for those who need assistance transitioning back to work, we have affordable apartments on our campus for those who need permanent housing, we have intensive outpatient care for those who need additional assistance at discharge, we have aftercare for everyone to stay in touch after they complete the program, and we have a robust family program for family members who have been impacted by addiction.
Samaritan is special because we have great staff who love on the residents who come in and who believe that tough love cannot occur unless someone already feels loved. Our staff provide the most compassionate care by examining every decision related to a client through the lens of compassion. Samaritan is special because they are supported by a board who supports the mission while constantly seeking to improve. Evidence of this behavior can by seen by our expansion into a new 70,000 square foot building, more than doubling our capacity to help our community by expanding from 56 to 130 beds. I am fortunate to work with a board who supports Samaritan and myself at every turn. We are also blessed to have an alumni on our board, which helps us continue to always focus on the needs of our clients.
Sincerley,
Dr. Mark Lasko, CEO
Service Categories |
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| Primary Category: | Mental Health & Crisis Intervention - Substance Abuse Treatment |
| Secondary Category: | Housing, Shelter - Temporary Housing |
| Tertiary Category: | Human Services - Human Services NEC |
Areas Served
Samaritan Recovery Community is located in the heart of Nashville with easy access to interstate and bus routes and employment opportunities.
| TN - Bedford |
| TN - Cannon |
| TN - Cheatham |
| TN - Clay |
| TN - Coffee |
| TN - Cumberland |
| TN - Davidson |
| TN - DeKalb |
| TN - Dickson |
| TN - Fentress |
| TN - Franklin |
| TN - Giles |
| TN - Hickman |
| TN - Houston |
| TN - Humphreys |
| TN - Jackson |
| TN - Lawrence |
| TN - Lewis |
| TN - Lincoln |
| TN - Macon |
| TN - Marshall |
| TN - Maury |
| TN - Montgomery |
| TN - Moore |
| TN - Overton |
| TN - Perry |
| TN - Pickett |
| TN - Putnam |
| TN - Robertson |
| TN - Rutherford |
| TN - Smith |
| TN - Stewart |
| TN - Sumner |
| TN - Trousdale |
| TN - Van Buren |
| TN - Warren |
| TN - Wayne |
| TN - White |
| TN - Williamson |
| TN - Wilson |
