Citizen Advocates

About Citizen Advocates

Citizen Advocates is a behavioral health organization serving a seven-county region of Upstate New York, including an outpatient clinic in Saranac Lake that provides addiction and mental health care. Founded in 1975 on the idea that care belongs close to home, they offer person-centered treatment that respects each individual’s choices and addresses the whole person rather than symptoms alone. Their outpatient addiction services include counseling, medication for addiction treatment, and telehealth, and they also treat gambling and nicotine addiction. Their clinics were among the first in New York certified to treat co-occurring mental health and substance use conditions, and 24/7 crisis support is available, with walk-in crisis stabilization and residential support at their regional behavioral health campuses.

Care begins with a one-on-one assessment that shapes an individualized treatment plan. For opioid and alcohol use disorders, a psychiatrist or psychiatric nurse practitioner can prescribe and monitor buprenorphine (including Suboxone and Sublocade) or naltrexone (including monthly Vivitrol), paired with counseling and regular follow-up visits. Weekday group therapy is organized by stage and need, with options such as addiction phase 1 and phase 2, early recovery, relapse prevention, Suboxone support, integrated dual disorder life skills, and groups for LGBTQIA+ adults, women with PTSD, and people managing chronic pain or grief. Peer support specialists with lived experience, care coordination, impaired driving assessments, and a harm reduction vending machine at the Saranac Lake clinic offering free Narcan and test strips round out their services.