For Immediate Release

Friday, Oct. 2, 2015

Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: john@jgpr.net

SHARE Program Partners with Lee County Safe Passage Initiative

DIXON, Ill. — Police Chief Danny Langloss and Lee County Sheriff John Simonton are pleased to report that the Safe Passage Initiative has partnered with the SHARE Program in Hoffman Estates, Ill. to assist with their addiction initiatives.

On Sept. 1, Dixon Police and the Lee Country Sheriff’s Department launched The Safe Passage Initiative: Police Giving Hope to Addicts Through the Tools For Recovery, an addiction recovery initiative modeled after the Gloucester, Mass. Police Department’s ANGEL Program that is aimed at encouraging addicts to seek the help of police officers and sheriff’s deputies, who will in turn get them into treatment.

“We are so pleased to partner with the SHARE Program, who have already welcomed patients through the Safe Passage Initiative with open arms,” Chief Langloss said. “The support we are receiving from these treatment programs is overwhelming and we are looking forward to a successful relationship with SHARE.”

Since the start of the program, Safe Passage has already placed 18 people from Lee County into treatment centers, three of whom are already in treatment with the SHARE Program.

“It is amazing to see the success of the Safe Passage Initiative continue to grow and we couldn’t do it without the outpouring of support from programs like SHARE,” Sheriff Simonton said. “This new partner will be able to provide our residents with vital resources necessary for a successful recovery, and we are pleased to have them on board.”

SHARE will provide The Safe Passage Initiative with a full complement of recovery services for its participants.

“All of us at SHARE are excited that Chief Langloss and the Dixon Police Department have begun the process of changing the culture of how heroin addiction is combated,” said Kevin Wrigley, Admissions Director of the SHARE Program. “We are grateful that he has given The SHARE Program the opportunity to partner with the them in this ground breaking initiative.”

Lee County and Dixon also became the first agencies to partner with The Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (P.A.A.R.I.) in Illinois. P.A.A.R.I. now has 23 police and sheriff’s departments as partners, in eight states.

About the SHARE Program
The Start Here Addiction Rehabilitation & Education (SHARE) Program is a not-for-profit alcohol, drug, and gambling rehabilitation facility run by the Leyden Family Service & Mental Health
Center at their Hoffman Estates facility. Since it’s inception in 1977, SHARE has offered a variety of services for both male and female adults 18 years and older.  Available programs include Medically Monitored Detox, Residential Rehabilitation, Mental Illness/Substance Abuse (MISA), Substance Abuse Outpatient, Substance Abuse Intensive Outpatient, DUI Services, and Substance Abuse Aftercare.

SHARE is professionally staffed by physicians, nurses, emergency medical technicians, certified addiction counselors, licensed counselors and clinical social workers and has been accredited by the nationally recognized Joint Commission (TJC) for meeting their high standards in behavioral health.

About P.A.A.R.I.
P.A.A.R.I. was started to support local police departments as they work with opioid addicts. Rather than arrest our way out of the problem of drug addiction, P.A.A.R.I. committed police departments:

• Encourage opioid drug users to seek recovery

• Help distribute lifesaving opioid blocking drugs to prevent and treat overdoses

• Connect people suffering with opioid addiction with treatment programs and facilities

• Provide resources to other police departments and communities that want to do more to fight the opioid addiction epidemic

P.A.A.R.I. was created by Gloucester Police Chief Leonard Campanello and John Rosenthal to bridge the gap between the police department and opioid addicts seeking recovery.

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