NorthShore Health Centers

About NorthShore Health Centers

NorthShore Health Centers is a nonprofit community health center network in Northwest Indiana, with a clinic in Chesterton, that offers substance use treatment alongside primary care and behavioral health services. Their program, developed in partnership with Frontline Foundations, pairs medical care with individual and group counseling and draws on non-denominational, faith-based principles to address both the physical and spiritual sides of addiction. Patients work through a series of guiding principles meant to help them understand their substance use and move toward lasting recovery, with medication support available for opioid and alcohol dependence.

Care combines individual treatment, peer group sessions, art and music recovery, and a clean cooking component that teaches how food affects substance use and recovery. For medication-assisted treatment, NorthShore providers administer Vivitrol (naltrexone) injections every four weeks, while Frontline Foundations counselors provide the counseling that participants are required to attend. Because Vivitrol blocks the effects of opioids, patients are generally advised to be opioid-free for 7 to 10 days before their first dose. Families and friends can find support through the Family Matters peer-to-peer groups, and the broader behavioral health team, including telepsychiatry, treats co-occurring concerns such as depression, anxiety, and panic disorder.