Addressing ‘tremendous need,’ Longleaf Recovery Huntsville opens

MADISON – A new treatment option for those with substance use disorder is now open in the Huntsville area. 

Longleaf Recovery Huntsville, near Toyota Field in Town Madison, is an outpatient treatment center that will provide care to some 60 patients.

At Tuesday morning’s ribbon-cutting, Longleaf Recovery and Wellness founder and CEO Colin Harris cited the immense need for recovery options in Alabama.    

“There’s a tremendous need for more accessible, high-quality options for both substance use treatment and comprehensive mental health treatment in Alabama,” said Harris.  

“We want to do it differently, not only are we wanting to bring options to Alabama, we’re working to raise the bar across the industry as a whole.”

Longleaf Recovery Huntsville is part of a group of facilities – Birmingham Recovery Center, Longleaf Recovery and Wellness – which opened in the Birmingham area this month, and a Baldwin County location that will begin serving patients this summer.

Harris said Longleaf opened its first facility in Birmingham less than three years ago.  

“In 2021, we embarked on this journey with the opening of Birmingham Recovery Center, our primary substance use treatment facility in Birmingham,” he said. “The success we’ve achieved at BRC has been truly inspiring and it’s made one thing abundantly clear. There’s a tremendous need for more accessible, high quality options for both substance use treatment and comprehensive mental health treatment in Alabama.”  

In a taped video message, U.S. Rep. Dale Strong said the availability of recovery treatment services is “critically important.”

“As a lifelong first responder, I’ve seen firsthand the devastating impacts that addiction can have on individuals and families,” Strong (R-Harvest) said. “From the opioid crisis to the deadly rise of fentanyl, substance use treatment is perhaps more important now than it has ever been. Addiction does not discriminate.

“It affects families and communities of all types, everywhere in the nation. Confronting the challenge that addiction poses is no small task. The work that will be done here is vital to meeting the challenge head-on and I am grateful that you have chosen to expand to this area.”

Longleaf Recovery and Wellness Chief Operating Officer Ian Henyon said a core objective is to provide a better treatment experience for their clients beyond the current industry standard.

“I hear frequently in our other facilities that this is the nicest building I’ve ever seen for a treatment center. And I certainly agree this is a nice building,” he said. “But whenever I hear that, I always think what other choice do we have, because where would you want to go for treatment or perhaps more importantly where would you want your family members or loved ones to go for treatment?”     

Henyon said having a nice building is great but it’s not enough.  

“We must do better in everything that we do and for us that means our evidence based treatment is trauma informed and centered around attachment theory,” he said. “Our medical care actively involves psychiatrists, addictionologists, and psychiatric nurse practitioners.”  

At the Huntsville-area location, different levels of care will be offered, including:

• A partial-hospitalization program that provides services from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. The extent of time in the program will be dependent upon the recovery treatment plan determined by a medical team.
• Five-day and three-day intensive outpatient programs. Both programs will be from 9 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. 
• A three-day intensive outpatient program option for those who need treatment after regular business hours will be from 6-9 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

In addition, the facility will provide medication management, family support groups and treatment consultations.

“At Longleaf, we want to make recovery treatment options available – and accessible,” said Henyon. “We will work with each individual’s level of care need to give them the best chance at success, maybe that’s a five-day program, maybe it’s our evening program. Either way, we will work with you to get you where you need to be.

“Here we’ll provide a safe, compassionate environment where individuals can heal, grow, and thrive.”

On hand to welcome the new outpatient treatment facility, Madison Mayor Paul Finley thanked Longleaf for providing critical resources to the community.  

“In every community it is critical you have facilities like this,” said Finley. “And as our community has grown, it doesn’t matter whether you’re in Huntsville or Madison or Madison County, this facility will make a positive impact for our community. We are truly appreciative of the investment that this entire team has made.”

Harris is determined to not only raise the bar in the level of care for individuals and families struggling with substance use challenges but to continue to expand accessibility to those in need.

“We had people commuting from North Alabama to Birmingham to come to treatment every day,” said Harris.  “Our hope in that and being here in Madison is that we’ll be able to treat Huntsville, Madison, Decatur, Athens, the entire region.

“We want to be accessible for all.”