NEWS & EVENTS

In this episode of Rooted and Real, we get honest about the highs, the lows, and the unseen impact of scrolling, comparing, and staying constantly connected. From validation and anxiety to the feeling of being hooked on our screens and struggling to put them down—and how all of this is affecting kids growing up in a digital world—nothing is off limits. If you’ve ever caught yourself reaching for your phone without thinking or wondered how it’s shaping your mental health (or the next generation’s), this conversation is for you. 🎧 Tune in, reflect, and get real with us. Special thanks to our guest, UCONN Professor and Digital Media Expert, John Murphy, for all of his excellent insight on this episode! 

Join us for an inspiring evening with author Matt Grace as he visits our clinic to share the story behind his upcoming memoir, God Doesn’t Relapse: Sex, Drugs, and the Life That Almost Killed Me. With more than 20 years of sobriety and thousands of hours mentoring individuals and families, Matt brings a powerful message of hope, healing, and lasting transformation. This special event will include a live discussion on addiction, recovery, faith, and the journey to rebuilding a life with purpose. Guests attending the event will have the exclusive opportunity to pre-order the book and receive a sponsored copy when it is released . Whether you are personally in recovery, supporting a loved one, or simply looking for encouragement, this evening is for you. 📍 6 Business Park Drive, Suite 103A, Branford, CT 📅 Thursday, July 9 🕕 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM Reserve your spot today.

Join us for a fun and creative Paint Night hosted by Connecticut artist Hillary Hany! Whether you're a seasoned painter or picking up a brush for the first time, this relaxed, welcoming event is the perfect way to unwind and express yourself. Date: July 23 Time: 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM Cost: Just $15 per person All materials and lite refreshments will be provided—just bring your creativity! The featured design for the evening will be announced soon, so stay tuned for a sneak peek. Location: Root Center – Branford Clinic Stony Creek Medical Center 6 Business Park Drive, Suite 103A Grab a friend or come solo and meet new people while enjoying a laid-back night of painting and fun. Spots are limited, so be sure to reserve yours today! Get your tickets here !

Root Center is pleased to announce its next Community Forum! Join us on June 18th from 6-8pm for an engaging and thought-provoking evening for our next forum, “Betting on Consequences: Understanding the Impact of Gambling.” This event will feature a diverse panel of experts from a range of fields addressing the growing concern of problem gambling. Attendees will gain valuable insights from policymakers, clinicians, individuals with lived experience, and other professionals, offering a comprehensive and nuanced perspective on this important issue. Guests are invited to enjoy light refreshments while attending in person at our Manchester facility, located at 335 Broad Street, Manchester, CT, or to participate virtually via Microsoft Teams. Please note that virtual registrations require approval prior to receiving access details. Additional information about our panelists will be announced soon. To register to join in-person, please click here . To register to join virtually, please click here .

In this episode of Rooted and Real, we get honest about the highs, the lows, and the unseen impact of scrolling, comparing, and staying constantly connected. From validation and anxiety to the feeling of being hooked on our screens and struggling to put them down—and how all of this is affecting kids growing up in a digital world—nothing is off limits. If you’ve ever caught yourself reaching for your phone without thinking or wondered how it’s shaping your mental health (or the next generation’s), this conversation is for you. 🎧 Tune in, reflect, and get real with us. Special thanks to our guest, UCONN Professor and Digital Media Expert, John Murphy, for all of his excellent insight on this episode! 

Welcome 2026! Root Center has had a lot unfold since our last newsletter. Most recently, staff came together for our annual holiday party, a tradition we look forward to as an opportunity to come together and celebrate the hard work we've put forth over the past year. We also donated our oldest clinic to the city of Hartford, hosted a Community Forum, were featured on NBC CT, celebrated one year of being open in New Haven County, and much more! Keep reading for more details and exciting updates!

It is time for our first Community Forum of 2026. On January 13th at 6 p.m, we will be hosting a panel of experts at 335 Broad Street in Manchester to discuss the impacts of social media on mental health. "Scrolled Out: Social Media and the State of Our Minds" is sure to spark insightful conversations about our digital age. If you missed the event, not to worry, you can watch and listen to the full discussion here . Panelists include: John Murphy: UConn Digital Media & Design Professor and Digital Health Advocate Paul Weigle, Associate Medical Director for Natchaug Hospital, a Hartford HealthCare Behavioral Health Network partner, at UConn Medical School Keith McGilvery, Good News Guy and Journalist Micheal Shelby, LPC, Founder and Director of Technology Addiction Center, LLC, and Plan Be Counseling, LLC Aly Fox, Root Center Clinic Supervisor State Representative Gary Turco

Root Center is pleased to present New Beginnings, an art exhibition celebrating recovery, hope, and renewal on the eve of the Vernal Equinox. On March 19th , Root Center hosted the opening of this juried art show at our Branford location , featuring work by local artists exploring the theme of New Beginnings . Much like recovery itself, the exhibition reflects the possibility of change, growth, and redefinition. The selected works invite viewers to consider what it means to start again—whether through healing, self-discovery, or the quiet courage it takes to move forward. Timed with the return of spring, New Beginnings honors transformation as both a personal and collective experience . Artists were encouraged to interpret new beginnings broadly. The exhibition will run March 19th, 2026 - June 19th, 2026. Anyone is welcome to visit the exhibition during our normal business hours, Monday - Friday, between 8 a.m. - 4 p.m., and on Thursdays until 6 p.m.. The Root Center for Advanced Recovery does not charge for submissions and takes 0% commission on all artwork(s) sold. The exhibition is also free and open to all to attend. Location: Stony Creek Medical Center, 6-12 Business Park Drive, Branford, CT 06405 (First floor) Special thanks to Alex Ranniello , MA for your collaboration as our juror on this exciting project!

Summer seemingly flew by for us here at the Root Center. From events to new projects, we were busy!  Since our last newsletter, we welcomed a new cohort of Fall Semester interns, spruced up our Weston Street facilities, and had our annual Overdose Awareness Day Event, among so much more! We just successfully held our first ever Root center Charity Golf Tournament to benefit St. Vincent de Paul Middletown at Lyman Orchards Golf Club, and we were able to donate $25,000 to help them continue to do amazing work for our communities! Keep reading for more details and exciting updates!

Our FIRST EVER Charity Golf Tournament was a Hole in One! This event was so special to us, and we are so thrilled to have been able to host such a successful day for all of our golfers and guests! We're also excited to be able to donate 100% of proceeds from this fundraiser to Executive Director Maryellen Shuckerow and St. Vincent de Paul Middletown to help them continue their amazing and crucial community work.

International Overdose Awareness Day is recognized yearly on August 31st. This year, the Root Center for Advanced Recovery hosted our Annual International Overdose Awareness Day Remembrance Ceremony in our Manchester Memorial Garden. This year, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner reported 929 overdose deaths. This number was down more than 20% from the year prior, but there is still a lot of work that remains to be done so that no other family has to endure a such a loss. Every year, during Overdose Awareness Week, Root invites the community to join us as we come together to honor and remember those lost to overdose, and support those still struggling. The event was held in our Memorial Garden, w e began with some brief remarks from Root Leadership, Community Leaders, like Senator Saud Anwar, Senator MD Rahman, and State Representative Geoff Luxenberg. We also heard from a Root Center patient! Like last year, we put out a handmade box gifted to us by a patient at our Torrington Clinic, who is celebrating two years in recovery. The box is meant to encourage the community to write notes with the provided paper, and leave them in between the stones of our Remembrance Wall. This year, we included a Burning Ceremony in the garden, burning the notes collected last year and allowing the wind to take the ashes and wishes wherever they're meant to be. It was a beautiful display of hope, with the warmth of the fire offering comfort to those impacted by the disease of addiction. The box will remain out in the garden until 9/2. The public is welcome to stop by to visit, leave a note, and enjoy the serene beautiful sanctuary.

Root Center is so excited to welcome Cory Porter as our new Director of Finance! Cory attended Southern Connecticut State University to study Finance, and has since spent most of his career working for nonprofits. While in college he worked for years in DDS group homes where he assisted disabled individuals with daily living, including assisting in personal care tasks, shopping trips, and social outings. He then spent over 17 years at Planned Parenthood where he started out as a Financial Analyst and worked his way up to Director of Finance. While there, he worked on implementing multiple practice management systems, moving from paper charts to electronic health records. He oversaw audits and an almost $50M operating budget, and assisted with starting new lines of business which include an in-house lab that brings in more than $3M in annual revenue. In Cory's free time he enjoys hanging out with his friends and family. He is also a special Olympics coach for the Waterbury Knights. We are so excited to welcome Cory for this new chapter in his life. We know he will do amazing work, and we can't wait to see him shine! Welcome Cory!

Summer is here following a busy spring packed with excitement! From our Lafayette Street Clinic Grand Opening to the Middletown Pride Parade, we kept ourselves busy in our communities. In our last newsletter, we were close to opening our Lafayette Street Clinic, a new location in Hartford where our Doctors Clinic staff and patients (currently on Main Street) will move when we begin accepting patients starting June 23rd! But that's just the beginning! We have hosted many exciting events this spring, including our most recent Community Forum on Burnout, our Annual Years of Service Awards, and a documentary screening of an independent film focusing on four women in recovery.  It's been a jam-packed spring, and there's so much to share. Keep reading for some special announcements and updates!

Our Community Forum was a success! Burnout: More than Just Stress, was a wonderful, insightful, and at times even funny conversation about occupational and personal burnout, shifting legislature, personal coping strategies, systemic changes, the effect of burnout in children, and so much more! The Root Center is proud to offer free events like this as part of our Advanced Recovery Institute (ARI). The ARI is committed to research and training to elevate clinical care. It is our hope that by organizing these forums that we will help expand our understanding and awareness of topics that impact our communities. Special thanks to all of our panelists for your insight and expertise: Samantha Alzate LCSW , - Owner of Mindful Transformations Brent Heineman, MD/MPH - Psychiatry Intern at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine Christian Damiana - Public Policy Manager at Mental Health Connecticut, Inc. Dr. Cassandra Holinka, PsyD - Clinical Psychologist & Assistant Professor of Psychiatry Jay Lasser, M.D - Founder of The Center for Work Stress Reduction Kristine Olson , M.D., M.S. - Chief Wellness Officer for Yale New Haven Health

Back in 2023, Root Center for Advanced Recovery's education initiative, the Advanced Recovery Institute, offered its first ever grant to fund research by Dr. Yifrah Kaminer and his team at UConn. Now in 2025, the study is finally published!