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Programs & Services

History Convergence Results In Council on Alcoholism Establishment!

Following is a rich history of the growth of the addiction profession and this agency serving central New York.  The Onondaga Council on Alcoholism/Addictions, Inc. d.b.a. Prevention Network is one of the oldest such Councils in New York state and in the entire country.  It’s roots grow back to Marty Mann and the national effort to bring forth community services to initially address the issue of alcoholism.  Being a community-based private not-for-profit (501 c 3), the Council has been able to grow to meet community needs.  Services have expanded from treatment to education, prevention and recovery, inclusive of a variety of substances and also into behavioral addictions such as gambling, food, and sex. 
The conviction and commitment of individuals, like you, has provided the resources to make the community a better place for our children and families.  As you read our rich history I encourage you to think about how you could join us in this ongoing effort.

Sincerely,  

Bradley E Finn, CPP-G
Executive Director

 

Nationally:

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Marty Mannis scarcely a household word today, yet she is arguably one of the most influential people of the 20th century. Marty's life was like a blazing fire, but was nearly extinguished by personal tragedy and degradation. She rose to a triumphant recovery that powered a historic, unparalleled change in our society. Through her vision and leadership, the attitude of America toward alcoholism was changed from a moral issue to one of public health. This was a tremendous shift, especially considering America's long temperance history that culminated in the Prohibition Amendment of 1920.
Marty was able to accomplish these things despite numerous, very difficult setbacks along the way, any one of which might have overcome a lesser person. She would be the first to claim that her sobriety, found through Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) in its very earliest days, was the most important factor in her success.

Five years after she found AA, Marty had a dream. Her vision was to educate the whole country about alcoholism. She was obsessed with eliminating the historic stigma attached to chronic inebriation. She joined forces with the Yale School of Alcohol Studies (now at Rutgers), where early significant scientific research into alcoholism was underway. Eventually her nationwide educational efforts led to the creation of a separate organization, the National Council on Alcoholism, now the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence or NCADD (http://ncadd.org/).  NCADD has been this country's most important educational, referral source for alcoholics, their families and communities all across the country.

For most of her 24 years as director of NCA, she maintained a speaking schedule of over 200 talks annually. The purpose of Marty's talks was to establish local volunteer groups in every major city. These affiliates of NCA would carry out NCA's mission to provide education, information and referral for their respective communities.

 

Locally:


In the spring of 1946 the late Judge Homer Walsh of Syracuse Police Court called a meeting of about eight people to see if some means might be devised to effectively deal with and help the alcoholic who found himself before the Court.  This was the formalized step of putting into creation a plan that had been developing in the mind of the Judge for about eight years.  He was deeply concerned over the fact that through Court passed hundreds of sick people – sufferers of the disease, alcoholism.  There were no facilities for their treatment.  All the judge could do was sentence to Onondaga County Penitentiary where they received no rehabilitation and were frequently before the bench again on the same day as their release from the Penitentiary.  A study had been made prior to this first meeting and it had been estimated that the incarceration of alcoholics in Onondaga County cost in the neighborhood of $100,000 a year.  It was decided to form a committee to tackle the problem of alcoholism in Onondaga County.  This group began to meet regularly.

The first efforts were directed at self education on the problem.  The majority of the group had never heard of the Yale Clinic or the then called National Committee for Education on Alcoholism.  Minutes of these early meetings are sparse, but the following quotes indicate the spirit of the Onondaga Council on Alcoholism which prevails to this day.  Speaking of candidates for directorship of the new agency, “One must not be afraid to revise the list now and then to weed out the scared and the timid”.  “There must be a spirit of consecration on the part of everyone connected with this work.”  “The seed of the idea must be planted in the minds of prominent men and women in the community.  There will be responses from people from the most unexpected sources.”  So spoke the founders of the Onondaga Council on Alcoholism.


Sixty-two Years of Community Service

For sixty-two years the Onondaga Council on Alcoholism/Addictions, Inc. (OCAA), d.b.a. Prevention Network has been implementing and supporting strategies that prevent addictions and address related concerns.  Prevention Network has assumed the role of advocate, educator and prevention developer for over six decades.  Much of its historical record reflects the growth of prevention services in Onondaga County, some of which are: