Former Buck’s ‘most meaningful’ project opens for patients
Therapy sessions, medication offered to assist in recovery
A new treatment center named after a former Milwaukee Bucks star opens its doors Tuesday, offering individuals with substance misuse and mental health issues a place to receive what for years has been hard to find in the city − the combined use of therapy sessions and medication to assist in recovery.
Substance misuse often derives from untreated or neglected trauma, said Beth Collier, vice president of business development and government relations at Vin Baker Recovery, located at 4757 N. 76th St., just south of the intersection with West Hampton Ave.
Collier said individuals unknowingly deal with untreated past trauma in a variety of ways. Some become workaholics. Some turn to drugs, alcohol or both to numb the pain.
“The need or want for the substance can be kept away by dealing with the trauma,” Collier said. “Medication, along with counseling, helps individuals maintain their sobriety. By combining talk therapy and medication, we are addressing the root cause of the substance misuse.”
Vin Baker Recovery is the first opioid treatment program to be licensed by the city in the past 30 years, said Collier.
“Everyone agrees that individuals need these services,” Collier said. “But nobody wants an opioid treatment program next to their house or across the street.”
Addiction Medical Solutions is majority owner of Vin Baker Recovery. Collier said the center’s appearance, which is designed to look and feel like a doctor’s office rather than a drug treatment center, is meant to give everyone a feeling that they belong.
“We want everyone who walks through the door to feel good about their recovery,” Collier said. “We want them to know that we respect them.”
Baker, the Milwaukee Bucks’ assistant coach and former player, has an office − it’s the one with a taller door frame than the others − and plans to be at the center frequently to talk with patients.
“We are doing this with Vin because he wants to be involved,” said Mike Errico, president of Addiction Medical Solutions. “That’s just the kind of per
son he is.”
Baker, the former NBA All-Star with the Milwaukee Bucks and Seattle SuperSonics, saw his career trajectory bottom out and eventually end prematurely due to alcoholism and marijuana abuse.
In a March 2023 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article, Baker said he has a connection in Milwaukee now, one he didn’t feel during four seasons as a player with the Bucks in the mid-1990s. With the opening of the recovery center, he said he has found a mission to try and help those in need.
“It’s the most meaningful, most important thing that I’ve ever done,” Baker said in the article.
The center has the capacity to enroll 800 to 1,000 patients at a time.
Vin Baker Recovery helps individuals with all forms of substance use disorders, not only opioid misuse. This includes the misuse of alcohol and stimulants, like cocaine or methamphetamines. The center is licensed to treat mental health issues, too, such as anxiety and depression. Individuals do not have to have a problem with substance misuse in order to receive mental health care.
Collier said an assessment will be conducted and the health care staff will determine the next best steps for an individual’s care.
The center’s opioid treatment program offers three forms of medication: methadone, buprenorphine products and naltrexone extended release.
Naltrexone also comes in pill form but the facility will be offering the extended release, which is an injectable. Compared to the pill form, the injectable lasts for one month.
When people are receiving methadone at the dose that is appropriate for them, there are no euphoric effects, Collier said. “It is literally just helping their body heal so they don’t go out and use any illicit substances,” she said.
Walk-ins are welcome. But appointments can be scheduled.
The center accepts Medicaid and is currently working with HMOs across the state and is applying to be part of Milwaukee County’s provider network.
Scholarships will be offered in part through the Vin Baker Bouncing Back Foundation for those who cannot afford treatment, and those who are uninsured or underinsured.
Patients who are first enrolled in an opioid treatment program will visit the center daily. This means seven days a week, the individual will come to the center, receive their medication and participate in one-on-one counseling sessions.
Collier said counseling is the most important part of the recovery equation. The medication is secondary. Counseling helps with recovery and stabilization. It helps answer, “Why did you end up coming here?”
The center offers outpatient counseling, which is six hours or less per week, and an intensive outpatient program, which is nine hours or more per week. Patients in the intensive outpatient program typically meet for three hours, three times per week, Collier said, which includes group therapy sessions.
Additional therapies including art therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy will be available soon.
Vin Baker Recovery is the second “hub and spoke” provider in Milwaukee County.
The program enables case managers to take care of social determinants that could hinder an individual’s recovery. The individual in treatment receives help finding a food assistance program, housing or taking care of legal issues, even assistance paying a parking ticket.
“If we can meet those needs, those needs will not detract from your recovery,” Collier said. “Your recovery journey will be a lot less bumpy.”
The center received a $500,000 grant from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services to include the hub-and-spoke program in its treatment model. The Wisconsin Community Services in Milwaukee County also offers these services.
Visit www.vinbakerrecovery.com or call 1-866-827-7342.