HADDON TWP., N.J. (WPVI) — Paid Sponsor Partnership: Philadelphia Corporation for Aging
At 86 years old, Vincent DiPasquale still works four days a week at The Starting Point, Inc. of New Jersey in Haddon Township, a nonprofit he founded.
“We’re beginning a new series today,” says DiPasquale.
“A hub where you can come in and get everything that you need, individual therapy, group therapy. We have workshops,” says Angela Baxter, Managing Director of The Starting Point, Inc. of New Jersey.
Support groups are also available to join.
DiPasquale hosts live Zoom meetings and in-person lectures on a variety of topics.
“They’re all based around the foundation talk that I do, which is on codependency, which is the root of addiction,” he says. “And very many times people use addiction, they self-medicate to avoid having to look at stuff that’s really going on in their life.”
Angela Baxter is now leading the organization DiPasquale founded in 1977 in South Philadelphia.
“That’s a picture of our original Starting Point,” he says.
Back then, DiPasquale was a priest.
“I went into the seminary when I was 14 years old,” he says. “And I was struggling, whether I wanted to stay in or not, so I took a leave of absence.”
DiPasquale says it was during this time that he was approached by his sponsor in the AA program, along with five other people, about working to help others with addiction.
“They informed me that I was starting a program called Starting Point, which was gonna be a halfway house for street alcoholics in South Philly,” he says.
One house became four, until The Starting Point moved to New Jersey.
“We basically developed a small outpatient program here,” he says.
DiPasquale says the program initially offered treatment for alcohol and drugs, but over the years has expanded to offer support in other areas as well, including mental health.
“Whenever you have alcohol addiction, you have mental health also, so it’s a combination,” he says. “We give them techniques and ways to be able to handle it and be able to face it.”
He says that one of the core things he talks about in his lectures is that “every negative behavior has a positive side to it.”
DiPasquale has a degree in pastoral counseling and he’s written three books.
“The spiritual foundation of the program is what it’s really all about and that’s the connection to the higher power,” he says. “We call it ‘a spiritual awakening.’ It means that they come to it when they’re ready.”
Today the Twelve Steps are still utilized.
DiPasquale says their organization thinks of it as “Twelve Steps to a brighter future.”
Today, Baxter says, they have almost 45 different practitioners that can help people with their mental health, grief and loss, trauma and more.
Those who’ve come through the program are remembered in the lecture hall with a plaque.
“My buddy Angelo,” says DiPasquale. “We used to call him the ‘Godfather of Recovery.’”
Nowadays, he says he has “a lot of gratitude.”
“I’ve met people that have taught me so much,” he says. “Our job here is to plant seeds and then see how they grow.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, you can request a counseling consultation right on their website at StartingPoint.org. Vincent DiPasquale also has a free, weekly lecture series that takes place on Wednesdays on Zoom.
For more information:
The Starting Point, Inc. of New Jersey
Vince’s Free Weekly Lecture Series Every Wednesday at 12 p.m.and 7 p.m. on Zoom
Vince’s Lecture Schedule
The Starting Point, Inc. of New Jersey
215 Highland Ave., Suite C
Haddon Township, NJ 08108
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