Community Bridges Inc. Celebrates 40 Years of Maintaining The Dignity of Human Life

 

Community Bridges Inc. Celebrates 40 Years of Maintaining The Dignity of Human Life

 

Founded in 1982 as the East Valley Addiction Council headquartered out of a single location in Mesa, Community Bridges Inc., has evolved across four decades into one of the premier agencies in Arizona for the treatment of addiction and behavioral health concerns.

In the early days, what was then known as EVAC was staffed by fewer than 30 employees, many of whom were in recovery themselves, along with volunteers from local 12-step meetings, 12-step fellowship clubs and individuals impacted by the addiction of family and friends. Today, what we now call CBI operates 42 sites and employs more than 1,500 team members statewide. Over the past 40 years, CBI has touched the lives of literally millions of Arizonans.

In 2022, as CBI celebrates a landmark anniversary, our team has never been more deeply committed to the organization’s core mission: To maintain the dignity of human life. CBI’s purpose 40 years into our existence is much the same as it was four decades ago:

At the heart of CBI resides a culture of lived experience. As a fully integrated healthcare provider delivering a full range of behavioral health services, our team is populated by leaders, healthcare professionals, support personnel and community educators who themselves have known the challenges created by addiction. That has been the case from Day One of our operations. CBI has long benefitted from opening our doors to those who thought all doors were locked. Realizing recovery is possible, CBI looks for the good each person is capable of contributing. Here, we have long lived the credo that, given the right circumstances, a troubled past can lead to a bright future. CBI employees have many success stories but more importantly “they” are the success stories.

Because so many of CBI’s employees have “walked the walk,” we have unique insight and rapport with those we seek to serve and to help. Daily assistance; whispered words of encouragement; a non-judgmental source of hope; a lead on a job or a safe place to call home – at CBI, we work to provide every resource necessary to help those who need it with a light along the path to recovery and wholeness.

On this 40th anniversary, as we look back to see how far CBI has come and we look ahead at the myriad needs we seek to address, this year has been full of thanks and gratitude: For past leaders like the visionary Dr. Frank Scarpati, who elevated CBI exponentially in his years at the helm, and for the many donors, partners and employees who make what we do possible in communities from Yuma to Phoenix to Springerville, Tucson to Payson to Winslow.

Where human life is at risk and where those struggling with behavioral health concerns need assistance, CBI will give our every effort to be there and help Arizonans find peace, safety and quality of life.

Day in and day out, CBI works to evolve as our state and its residents evolve – and to make the next 40 years as successful as the past 40 have been. Our evidence-based continuum of care is a thriving, ever-expanding set of services, as CBI’s doctors, nurses, addictionologists, psychiatrists, clinicians and peer navigators innovate new and better solutions for those in recovery. The CBI of 2022 is a far cry from the organization’s early years operating out of a single location in Mesa. Today, our crisis mobile teams meet those at risk in streets in counties across Arizona. We provide shelter to women and children at risk. We serve veterans dealing with serious mental illness, shattered families in need of transitional housing, and we offer in-patient psychiatric care and addiction treatment to all in crisis.

From helping to lead the fight against Arizona’s opioid epidemic to working shoulder to shoulder with public safety workers on the frontlines of our communities, CBI’s present remains focused on maintaining the dignity of all we encounter, even in life’s darkest moments. The spirit of recovery is infused throughout every level and every department of the organization. This starts with the patients who are walking through the doors for the first time and continues to the patients who are walking through the doors for the 100th time.

We are the extended hand in a moment of need. We are caregivers who offer healing without judgment. We are a family, a team, committed to every Arizonan. Here, we maintain the dignity of human life by denying no one and providing a second chance to all in need.

 

Celebrate. Believe. Inspire.

That’s CBI at age 40. Here’s to the next 40 years of serving our community.

Learn more at communitybridgesaz.org/