For decades, Jason Bokowski struggled with addiction, incarceration, and homelessness. Today, he hasn’t used substances for eight years and helps others as a recovery coach at the APT Foundation.
Founded in 1970 by members of the Yale School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry, the APT Foundation is an independent, nonprofit organization and one of the oldest addiction treatment programs in the United States. It was also among the first in the country to use medication to treat opioid use disorder (OUD).
Overdose Awareness Day on Guilford Green
“I lost my mom to stomach cancer when I was eight years old,” recalls Bokowski. “From that point, my life spiraled. By third grade, I was kicked out of Catholic school. By 11, I was using alcohol and cigarettes. Then, marijuana. By 15, I was shooting heroin.”
Bokowski’s story is one of thousands touched by the APT Foundation, which has been transforming lives for more than 50 years, and recognizing addiction for what it truly is: a chronic, treatable medical condition — not a moral failing.
From the APT Foundation: Let’s Break Barriers to Treatment Campaign
“When I was younger, I started going to APT — Legion Avenue, Boulevard, and then the Congress Avenue location,” he remembers. “I was in and out. When I followed the rules of the program, I was doing great. But if I didn’t, I was either incarcerated or on the street.”
Then, one day, everything changed. He was ready to go to a residential treatment program, and when he got out, he never looked back.
A few years later, Kathy Eggert, PhD, LCSW, APT’s Guilford and Congress Avenue, New Haven, program director, offered him a position as a recovery coach, a full-time position whereby he can leverage his personal recovery experience and professional training to help clients access and utilize resources effectively while managing their substance use disorders. A stipulation of his role and part of his employment benefit, APT paid for his training through the Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery (CCAR), where he earned his nationally recognized Recovery Coach Professional (RCP) certification.
A digital billboard from the Let’s Break Barriers to Treatment Campaign
“Jason stayed in touch with me through the years,” says Dr. Eggert. “One of the cool things about working in a setting like ours, is that you get the opportunity to know people over a long time. People stay connected even when they are not receiving methadone with us.”
Accessible and Immediate Treatment
Bokowski’s full-circle journey is just one example of what’s possible when treatment is accessible and consistent. But sadly, not every story ends this way.
Every day in Connecticut, someone dies from an opioid overdose. It’s a tragic and preventable reality. With multiple locations including New Haven, West Haven, North Haven, and Guilford, APT is working urgently to change that outcome by meeting people where they are, offering same-day access to lifesaving care without delay.
“People are struggling with use, trying to get on their feet, and using methadone as a tool to help get them there,” says Dr. Eggert. She was drawn to this work after watching her cousin battle opioid use disorder, back when APT was still relatively new and methadone was not widely available.
The APT Foundation clinic in Guilford
The Guilford clinic, which opened in February in response to a growing need, now serves over 200 patients, many of whom previously had to travel an hour or more to New Haven for care.
“We’ve brought the average time from intake to treatment down from three weeks to three hours,” says Dr. Lynn Madden, APT Foundation’s CEO. “Based on what we know about how the brain works, for someone living with addiction, it can mean the difference between life and death.”
APT opens its doors as early as 5 a.m. and accepts walk-ins with or without insurance. FDA-approved medications like methadone and buprenorphine that safely and effectively treat OUD by reducing cravings and withdrawal symptoms are available the same day, alongside mental health services, group therapy, and certified addiction counselors.
In a healthcare system where people often wait weeks or months to begin addiction treatment, APT’s open access model is flipping the script. Daily visits for treatment can gradually progress to monthly take-home doses based on progress and being negative for illicit substances.
Overdose Awareness Day on Guilford Green
Recovery in Real Life
“I’ve seen people come in at rock bottom. Two years later, they’re working, they’ve reconnected with their families, they’re flourishing,” says Bokowski.
One client, he recalls, had been sleeping on the streets and was finally ready to make a change. Bokowski helped connect him to a 30-day residential treatment program. Months later, that same man walked back into his office, dressed up, groomed, and employed.
“You could see the success,” he remembers. “He told me he just wanted to come back and thank me. That was a moment.”
The client was still taking methadone daily, but Jason says that’s part of what recovery can look like.
“Some people stay on methadone longer,” he says. “There’s no timetable with addiction.”
Changing Minds, Changing Systems
“As we say all the time, everybody knows somebody who needs treatment for substance use,” says Dr. Madden. “Our model is about treating addiction more like diabetes or any other chronic health condition so the people who need treatment – whom we all know and care about – don’t have to do a dance with death every single day.”
She continues, “We have established treatments that work. But often society’s views tend to get in the way. For whatever reason, when it comes to substance use, society is less compassionate towards people who need help. But methadone, for example, is safe, effective, and affordable. It’s also much harder to access than it needs to be.”
She says, structural barriers still stand in the way. From stigma in the healthcare system to logistical red tape that delays access, people struggling with OUD are often left to battle a series of obstacles, any one of which can be deadly.
That’s why APT launched a bold new awareness effort last year called “Let’s Break Barriers to Treatment: Medication for Opioid Use Disorder Works!” If you live in and around Greater New Haven, you may have seen billboards and digital ads and heard radio spots. An award-winning, animated video featured on APT’s website and social channels continues to urge swift action to eliminate treatment delays.
According to national data, fewer than 1 in 5 people with opioid use disorder are receiving medication. Meanwhile, over 70 percent of the record 107,000 overdose deaths in 2023 involved opioids.
Dr. Madden wants people to know that APT’s work is based on hope, science, and the idea that everyone deserves a chance to recover.
Need Help? For more information, visit APT Foundation, www.aptfoundation.org
