- An organization that's been on the front lines of addiction treatment for more than half a century marked a milestone this week, celebrating the second annual Integrity Day in Newark.

A community event hosted by Integrity House focused on healing, hope, and recovery.

Our Raven Santana was there and has more on how the group is meeting people where they're at and saving lives in the process.

- I've been using drugs on and off since I was very young.

And it got to the point where it's over.

There's no fun in it.

My life is gonna end.

I got to that point, and so I checked myself in.

- Ronald Dudley says he's living proof that with access to organizations like Integrity House, anyone can turn their life around.

- When you're addicted to drugs and alcohol, you lose everything, and it happens in the blink of an eye.

And that's what, Integrity is a community of addicts.

The clients really kind of run the show in a sense that like we're given direction, but we run the show.

We help each other.

We basically are in charge and I've never been to a rehab like that.

Integrity House, which has provided treatment and support since 1968, hosted its annual Integrity Day in Newark's Lincoln Park.

The celebration brought together current and former clients like Dudley, along with community members who had access to free health screenings and recovery resources from more than 20 local partners.

This event is really important because we want to bring agencies and resources together to let the community know that we're here, we're ready to provide services, we're available to provide services and just kind of get to know us kind of one-on-one, face-by-face, because there's some uncertainty when it comes to substance use disorder, harm reduction, and we want to just keep our boots on the ground and be prevalent and be visible in the community so that those individuals who may need our services can get our services.

In this process, you're still going to have thoughts about drinking or getting high.

But the main important part is the action after it.

What's your action?

What are you going to do?

Are you going to let the dream or the thought fester and then you go act on it?

Or are you going to use action and call somebody?

Or people want help, but sometimes they don't know how to ask for help.

Our pride and ego blocks us all the time from getting help.

And the idea is, yes, we're going to celebrate integrity.

However, we're bringing in all of our community partners to celebrate with us.

So at the same time that we're getting an opportunity to acknowledge all of our community partners, these community partners are here with us today, and they are bringing services with them.

So individuals are coming today because they're part of the work that we do at Integrity House.

But in addition to that, individuals in the community are free to come to the park and to take advantage of all the services that we have available today.

This year's event comes as New Jersey has seen a decline in overdose deaths for the first time in a decade.

In a shift experts attribute largely to harm reduction strategies like naloxone, fentanyl test strips and syringe access.

But the approach has faced pushback.

The Trump administration has sought to limit federal funding for harm reduction, arguing it facilitates drug use.

So what's at stake here is that individuals that are addicted to opiates or other substances, they are sons and daughters and brothers and sisters and husbands and wives.

It's not always this picture that you may see painted of somebody that's lurking in a dark corner that is addicted to drugs.

These are people that are in our family.

And it's poor families, it's affluent families, it's from all walks of life, all races, all religions.

And impact, addiction really knows no bounds.

And it impacts all of us.

And the funding cuts are very concerning because we've made some good progress over the past several years where we're starting to see a slight reversal in the trend of accidental overdoses that result in death.

And also we're starting to see more people who are in recovery.

Still integrity house leaders say just like those in recovery, their mission is about taking it one day at a time, ensuring the community has access to resources that promote health and healing.

For NJ Spotlight News, I'm Raven Santana.

[MUSIC PLAYING]