Program Director Krista Piasecki, left, and Home and Community Services Coordinator Craig Barney sit in the new Community Connections of Franklin County Outreach and Recovery Center in Tupper Lake. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

TUPPER LAKE — According to Krista Piasecki, the program director at the recently opened outreach and recovery center, the hardest step for anyone starting on the path of recovery from alcohol and substance abuse is the first step — someone recognizing that they need help.

The second step, she said, should be inside the door of the Community Connections of Franklin County Outreach and Recovery Center at 64 Demars Boulevard.

The building has two entrances. Each side of the building serves a different purpose and they are connected by a doorway. One side is meant for walk-in counselings, where someone seeking substance abuse treatment services can get connected with the organizations and people they need.

Whether someone is struggling with homelessness, insurance, treatment, domestic violence or heating their home, Piasecki said CCFC has the resources and contacts to help them.

“Whatever they need help with in order to make their recovery successful,” Piasecki said.

The other side is for people in recovery or having completed recovery to have a friendly, safe place to maintain their recovery.

This building offers different services than the St. Joseph’s Outpatient Services clinic further down Demars Boulevard. Piasecki said it is less “clinical.”

Someone seeking recovery, or their family, can sit down with a Credentialed Peer Recovery Advocate — someone who has had their own experiences with addiction recovery.

CCFC partnered with St. Joseph’s Addiction and Recovery Center in Saranac Lake to contract the staff CRPAs, who have been through recovery successfully and are certified through the state Office of Addiction Services and Supports.

The key word in that title is “peer,” said Craig Barney, a home and community services coordinator from St. Joe’s in Malone.

“They are not counselors. They are not therapists. They are peers,” Barney said. “They are people who have been there, they’ve been successful. They know what it’s like to begin recovery.”

Unlike a therapist, the CRPAs can disclose personal stories, fears and advice.

“There’s a lot of stigma attached to alcohol and substance abuse mental illness recovery,” Piasecki said, “so it’s nice that there’s a place there that they can come and feel safe and comfortable, and have someone to talk to.”

The other side of the building is set up like a living room as an area for people in recovery to hang out and drink coffee or watch TV.

The building opened Nov. 14 and Piasecki said the first week was not busy, but she hopes once the word gets around about the services they provide, more people will visit the office.

“I’d like to see a lot of people in here offering support to each other,” Piasecki said.

Piasecki has lived in Tupper Lake for two years and said that she has seen several addiction-related tragedies. She said it is a problem plaguing every community, but that she hopes CCFC can offer hope to those in Tupper Lake.

The CCFC building is open every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.