Inside Athena: Substance Use Disorder Counselor Brings Comfort and Healing to Plymouth Rehab
PLYMOUTH, M.A. — Richard Doria tells the residents at Plymouth Rehabilitation & Health Care Center that it’s an “Inside Job.” What he is referring to is the mental and physical healing that happens within a person when they are at Plymouth for short-term or long-term care.
The skilled nursing center, like other Athena-managed properties throughout the commonwealth, has supportive services in place for people who require skilled nursing care, but also have a substance use disorder diagnosis
Doria is the center’s Substance Use Disorder Counselor and started in this position in January of 2024. In his role, he offers recovery options, guidance, and is a listening and healing ear to help the residents focus on underlying issues associated with their disease. The interdisciplinary team at Plymouth works to holistically treat the whole person towards physical and mental recovery.
“I help create a sense of comfort that I’m here to provide you with this information to get better,” Doria said.
Each day Doria schedules a morning meditation group for the residents to attend. A lot of the recovery process begins from within, and meditative practices help kick-start those discussions toward healing. He also went through recovery nearly two decades ago and will sometimes share his personal experiences with the residents to connect.
Doria also hosts group counseling sessions typically two days a week at the center, in addition to one-on-one sessions and other programs. He is working on expanding the group sessions to offer more support and motivation to the residents.
He refers to the group counseling sessions as recovery workshops and titles them Breaking Barriers. When he initially meets new residents who arrive at the center, he finds they feel they are the only ones going through the disease. However, once he starts talking about what the resources are towards recovery there are light bulb moments where they feel they are not alone in this fight and there is a path towards recovery.
“I present the information, and they decide,” Doria said. “Nothing is forced upon them, but I ask if they are willing to do specific things [like attending sessions] and they do, I just keep them moving.”
Often times he gives the residents autonomy to decide what programs to run, which helps motivate them to attend programs and activities.
Doria is a Licensed Drug and Alcohol counselor and previous to joining Plymouth he has worked within detox and recovery centers in Massachusetts.
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