Beacon Center

About Beacon Center

Beacon Center is a private outpatient treatment provider for substance use and mental health disorders, with clinics across Central and Western New York, including the Buffalo area. Faith Peterson founded them in 1990 on the belief that people with addiction and mental illness can recover and deserve care that respects their dignity, delivered in the least disruptive way possible. They are certified by both the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports and the Office of Mental Health, and they serve adolescents and adults. Their care includes standard outpatient counseling, intensive outpatient, an alternative-to-inpatient program, medication-assisted treatment, and outpatient mental health services. They also run methadone programs in Rome and Utica and a community reintegration residence for men in Herkimer.

Treatment begins with a full evaluation covering substance use, family life, medical and mental health history, work or school, and legal circumstances, and it may include monitored drug and alcohol testing. From there, patients can join tracks built around specific needs, such as early and continuing recovery, chronic relapse, trauma, adolescents, young adults, men, and women, as well as Safe Harbor for people involved with the criminal justice system and the Compass Program for co-occurring disorders. Physician-supervised medication options include buprenorphine (Suboxone) and monthly Vivitrol injections for opioid use disorder and naltrexone for alcohol use disorder, paired with individual, group, and family counseling. Peer specialists with lived experience support patients at every stage, and they offer an introduction to self-help groups along with services for family members and significant others.