PORTSMOUTH, Va. - A new intensive inpatient drug and alcohol rehabilitation center geared specifically towards veterans opened Wednesday in Portsmouth.
Safe Harbor Tactical Recovery Center, located at 1816 Elm Avenue, will begin serving veterans in January 2022. The facility has 20 beds and is set up for 45-day stays.
“For those who’ve given so much, it’s important to me personally and to us as a facility to give back to them and make sure when they come home they’re received in a way that we can take care of them,” Safe Harbor CEO Tim Webb said.
Part of the individualized treatment includes weekly yoga, nutrition education, gym equipment, weekly equine therapy and more. Safe Harbor is also leasing a house at the back of the Tactical Recovery Center to use as transitional housing.
Safe Harbor currently operates two other treatment facilities: A 30-day inpatient center at 2700 London Boulevard in Portsmouth and a day treatment Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP) at 3516 Queen Street, also in Portsmouth.
Local Army veteran Derick Fields utilized one of Safe Harbor's other programs. Fields served from 2003-2011, with a tour in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said when he came home, he wasn't ready to reenter the civilian world.
“As I wanted to numb more and forget, drugs became more and more heavy,” Fields said.
Fields encourages any veteran with issues like post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety or drug and alcohol abuse to consider Safe Harbor.
“They care; they genuinely care,” Fields said.
For a referral to the program, contact Safe Harbor at (757) 349-8301.
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