Founded in 1966 in Bensalem, Bucks County, Livengrin Foundation is the first non-hospital rehabilitation facility in Pennsylvania to treat alcoholism, aiming to bring stability to those struggling with the disease. Livengrin Foundation, Inc., is a registered 501(c) (3) nonprofit that provides treatment for substance use disorders to more than 4,000 patients per year.
Since its establishment, Livengrin has developed a network of eight locations, including the original inpatient campus in Bensalem and seven outpatient locations throughout the Philadelphia region. The organization is licensed by the PA Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs and accredited by The Joint Commission.
It is committed to advocacy on a state and national level through participation in the Rehabilitation and Community Providers Association (RCPA), Drug and Alcohol Service Providers Association of PA (DASPOP) and the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP).
The Ardent Leader
David Blenk, the President and CEO at Livengrin Foundation, has been working at the organization since April 2018. Prior to this, he served as the Executive Vice President of Corporate Planning & Business Development at Gateway Rehabilitation Center in Pittsburgh, PA and its affiliate the Neil Kennedy Recovery Center in Youngstown, OH. As a key member of the senior leadership team, David was directly involved in the strategic planning and direction setting and in the organization’s business development activities. David has worked with the management team of marketing, evaluations/assessment, utilization, outpatient services, facilities, dietary, housekeeping, and construction.
On asking him about the inception of Livengrin, David shares, “Livengrin was founded by Standish Forde Hansell, who purchased the former private school campus in 1960 with plans to make it a retirement home for men. In 1966, a friend recovering from alcoholic effect alked to him about opening it as a recovery center.”
World-class Recovery Services
Livengrin provides men and women with a continuum of care including withdrawal management, short-term residential and partial hospitalization. It also offers intensive outpatient counseling; general outpatient, family counseling, DUI Education, 12-Step Meetings, free community education seminars, aftercare and alumni services. The organization has also developed support programs to meet the unique needs of first responders, veterans and healthcare professionals.
Livengrin helps individuals recognize the early stages of relapse in which the chances of success are the greatest. The main focus of relapse prevention includes cognitive therapy and mind-body relaxation, which it uses to develop healthy coping skills. Besides these services, Livengrin addresses individual patient needs by assessing life stressors and life experience. It has developed support programs for first responders, health care professionals and emerging adults to complement its core treatment model.
Excellent Co-ordination Bringing Gratified Clients
To bring in ultimate customer satisfaction, the organization surveys each patient during their course of treatment. This provides them the opportunity to take the feedback and utilize it for program or process improvement. It also utilizes monthly meetings of directors and managers in addition to quarterly all staff meetings to increase communication throughout all levels of the organization.
One of the happy patients at Livengrin shares an intriguing experience and says, “I was controlled by drugs and alcohol and I was selfish in everything I did. I would manipulate any situation so that I would reap the benefits or avoid the consequences. My motives and behaviors were always centered on myself and getting what I wanted. While I was in active addiction my thinking was so distorted and delusional that I began to believe my own lies as facts. My mother confronted me about my drug usage and I couldn’t hide it anymore. She helped me to get into treatment by the next day. I may not have been the most vocal patient while in treatment, but the one thing that I did was listen. I took the suggestions provided to me. I knew that I had to change everything in my life if I wanted to grow. Although the fear that I felt was nearly crippling at times, I so badly wanted to save my life. I met my sponsor while I was a patient and we got right to work. Working the 12 steps and applying them into my life on a daily basis has undoubtedly changed me for the best.”
Future Plans
Talking about the upcoming plans, David says, “Changes in healthcare laws have made access to treatment easier and resulted in rapid growth in the number of treatment facilities. Livengrin Foundation will continue to provide quality ethical treatment.”
