Gateway Newsletter


Gateway Foundation Newsletter August 2018
Contents
  • Letter from the CEO – Tom Britton
  • Staff Highlight Dawn Ruzich
  • Featured Alumna Debbie
  • Be in the Know Recovery Community
  • Gateway in the News
  • In Case You Missed It – Giving Tuesday 
I hope this fall 2018 issue of the Gateway Foundation newsletter finds all of you, our friends, colleagues and partners, in good health and enjoying this holiday season. We have been very busy since our last issue. I hope you take a few moments to read about our 50th Anniversary Celebration and other latest activities, meet the people included in this issue and learn more about some of our program investments.

In October we were fortunate to host our 50th Anniversary Celebration at an annual dinner with over 300 guests. These guests were a diverse group of friends from our past, our present and our future, with some folks being introduced to our work for the first time. On this celebratory evening we came together to honor past and present leaders and share our stories of success through the outcomes of our alumni. We raised almost $150,000 for our programs, especially for our alumni community, which you can read more about in this newsletter.

As this year comes to close, we reflect on all of the changes we have experienced and plan for the opportunities to come. In preparation for future growth and innovation, we know we need to continue investing in our leaders and staff. This past quarter we brought together leaders from across nine states for our first annual leadership conference. It was an opportunity to build our teams across both of our divisions and to share a common set of core competencies for the organization. These competencies will guide us into the future of our next 50 years. As always, we thank all of you for your continued support as we deliver cutting-edge addiction medicine treatment and save lives.

Pictured above: Michael Darcy (right), our legacy CEO, built our strong foundation for our new CEO Tom Britton (left) to lead us into the future


Dawn Ruzich Values Exemplified

We are proud to highlight a member of the Gateway Foundation team who exemplifies all the core values of our organization — integrity, teamwork, compassion, opportunity and evolution — Dawn Ruzich. Dawn holds a master's degree in public policy from the University of Chicago and has an extensive background in the nonprofit and corrections world.

Dawn is our executive director of business development in our Corrections Division and has been an invaluable member of the team since she joined in January 2015. She joined Gateway Foundation at an exciting and critical time in our evolution, when there was much change and opportunity to innovate and expand.

Dawn was hired to support the growth of our Corrections Division and is responsible for driving and executing the strategic growth plan while maintaining Gateway Foundation’s position as the premier provider of correctional treatment services. She works with members of the division to ensure the practices and treatment plans are current and evidence-based.

In the short time she has been here, Dawn has managed the tremendous growth we have experienced in this dimension of our work. She is an advocate and respected leader in the field of substance use and mental health in corrections. Her contributions today will have a long-lasting impact on our scope and on the lives of those impacted by the disease of addiction.

While Dawn’s target is the Corrections Division, she is always available to support the team in policy analysis and other areas of expertise. She is adept at recognizing opportunities for new concepts and evolution of our model and, most importantly, demonstrates an unprecedented passion for the work we do.

We highlight Dawn as an example of our entire Gateway Foundation workforce who demonstrates integrity and commitment to quality first. Thank you, Dawn, for your continuous hard work and commitment to our mission of saving lives. 



Debbie became a teacher because she wanted to help other people, especially kids. On a typical weekday, she would drop her son off at the high school then go to her own classroom of fourth-graders, where there’s no typical other than the subjects.

Well respected by their small town and church, Debbie’s son had his sights set on Yale University with a GPA to match. He knew his mother, a teacher, and father, a carpenter, couldn’t afford to send him to the Ivy League without scholarships. One day, dream in mind, he borrowed a friend’s ADHD medication to stay focused on a test.

“That was the beginning of the end,” Debbie says.

Read More

Be in the Know  

Completing treatment is an incredible accomplishment, but the work does not end there and neither does our support. Recovery is a lifelong process that requires continued focus, support and commitment. Science shows that the greatest indicator of lasting success is sustained engagement in recovery activities and support. Our alumni benefit from an active Recovery Community that includes social activities and educational programming to help empower recovery for life.

One of the biggest barriers to getting treatment is the stigma associated with substance use disorder. Being part of a recovery community helps others find the courage to share their story and increases the likelihood that others will access treatment, thus affirming addiction is a disease like any other.

Click here to learn more about our Recovery Community. 

1DASA Quality Results 






Giving Tuesday may be over, but you can still support Gateway Foundation and our mission of saving lives. Since 1968, our goal has been straightforward: help patients get their life back on track and achieve a life of sobriety, free from drug use and symptoms of mental illness. A life that is productive, socially responsible and healthy.

In the past 50 years, we’ve utilized evidence-based practices to help over one million patients, and we still have many more lives to touch. In order to continue the work we are doing we need your support.

See what impact your support can have by clicking here or on the image below:
 



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