[introductory music]
Isabel Byon:
The New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports, or OASAS, provides this podcast as a public service. Thoughts and opinions expressed do not necessarily represent or reflect those of the agency or state. This is Addiction the Next Step.
Jerry Gretzinger:
Hey everybody, this is Jerry Gretzinger, your host for Addiction: the Next Step, and you know it's brought to you by the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports. Thanks for checking us out this time for this episode of the podcast.
Jerry Gretzinger:
And you know, if you don't know this already, September, every year, when September rolls around, it is Recovery Month and it's a good time for us to sit back and reflect on folks who have lost their lives to substance use disorder, but also it's a great opportunity to celebrate the journeys that so many people have had, from substance use disorder to treatment and then living in recovery. And you know, the reality is recovery isn't a destination. It's an ongoing journey that continues and there's a lot of work that helps people continue that journey and stay in recovery. And on today's episode we're going to be talking about a few different areas efforts to expand something that we call the peer workforce, some new initiatives, things called recovery residences, and to help us kind of navigate all of this, we've got two folks with us today Pat Lincourt. She's our Deputy Commissioner of Programs, and Brenda Harris-Collins, director of Recovery Bureau. Ladies, thanks for being with us today.
Pat Lincourt:
Thank you for having us.
Jerry Gretzinger:
So I'm going to start with this. So you know, we like to think about when we're on this podcast. We're talking to everybody, people who know intimately what we're talking about and people who may be hearing it for the first time. So let's start with a real basic question. We're talking about peer, the peer workforce, and Pat. Let's define. What do we mean by peer?
Pat Lincourt:
So peers are people who have lived experience, and they're common in the medical field. Oftentimes, when people are diagnosed with something maybe cancer or some other kind of diabetes they really want to talk to somebody who's had the experience. And so peers have been known and utilized across medicine for a long time, and they can be very helpful to people understanding and coming to accept and know you know what their diagnosis means and what kinds of changes they might make to manage it better. In addiction, I think it's even more important that people have peers to talk to. We've talked before I think even on a podcast about stigma and how people face real misunderstanding about addiction, and often they haven't talked to somebody who really understands what they've gone through, and so we've been working with many partners in the field to grow a peer workforce professions of people who take courses and get experience in how to use their own experience to help others, and that's really what a peer is.
Jerry Gretzinger:
Yes, I mean these are not just people who have gone through substance use and treatment and are now in recovery. It's like they. This becomes a profession for them, a career path where they, they study and uh and know how to use their experience to help others.
Pat Lincourt:
Absolutely Not everybody necessarily has gone through treatment either. So some people may have, um, you know, uh, had a different pathway and their experience is then also useful, because not everybody who you know enter, you know wants to make changes in their life, choose treatment as an option. But when they do, peers can be helpful to support that. Peers can also be helpful through recovery centers that Brenda's going to talk about, to help people you know stay connected to others in, you know, healthy ways.
Jerry Gretzinger:
Yeah, you know we talk about peers and we've had several of them on the podcast too, and if people go back or if they've heard them, they know sometimes the stories and the insight they provide is really remarkable,
Pat Lincourt:
Absolutely
Jerry Gretzinger:
All right. So before we get to recovery residences which I know is an exciting thing that we want to talk about we talk about kind of driving the peer workforce Right and there's some efforts underway to, to you know, continue that growth. Let's get into that first, if we can.
Brenda Harris-Collins:
So we are looking to increase the peer workforce because there is a need. During the pandemic, the peer workforce was still out on the ground still helping those who were in need of support. Throughout the pandemic they were the ones that were assisting others to still help them get connected to services and supports. So it is really important at this point, where we are after the pandemic and we're seeing an increasing need and recognition of the needs and the support that the professional peer workforce provides. So we are looking at New York State. OASAS is looking to. They're offering scholarships to help increase the peer workforce.
Brenda Harris-Collins:
Peers can be persons with lived experience. They can be family members with lived experience. They also can be allies of the field, but have to have knowledge of substance use disorder and be able to support others. So we are looking to do that. We're looking to because we have other areas, other systems. Now. We have professional peers in hospitals. We have them in jails and prisons. We have them in treatment courts, opioid intervention courts. So they're not just in our system, they work all over in various areas. Even insurance companies hire peers in the peer workforce.
Brenda Harris-Collins:
So the peer workforce is we kind of have a lot of peers but we don't have enough to really cover all of the areas that now are recognizing that the professional peer is really advantageous. When the professional peer works in a setting, they really are able to help connect the individuals, as Pat said, to services. They do referrals but they are motivators, they are cheerleaders. It's non-hierarchical, which means that there is no difference, there's no hierarchy in their relationship. It's a peer-to-peer. I share my story, I share my experience with you. I may not have had the exact same experience, but I'm able to share with you that I've had some similar circumstances and I was able to get through. It acknowledges that recovery is real.
Jerry Gretzinger:
Yeah, and you know and I think and Pat, as you were saying before too you know, even if it's someone's dealing with other, you know diseases or conditions. They understand the value of a peer, so certainly that translates here as well, and so much good work that they are doing with, so much more work we want peers to be able to do. You mentioned the scholarship and I know OASAS has been really doing well with scholarships and they're really terrific scholarships for people. Somebody wants to look into that. I'm assuming our website is a good place to start.
Brenda Harris-Collins:
Yes, you can go on to the OASAS website. You can go to the page that has addiction professional scholarships and you can find scholarships available for the what is certified recovery peer advocate scholarships. There's the training, so there are different types of certified peers, but we are really looking for the certified recovery peer advocate. Those are the scholarships that are available. There are three providers of those scholarships for the SERPA, what we call SERPA. These scholarships really impact people and really look at barriers. So that's one of the things that we're hoping to address are the barriers that individuals have to connecting to becoming a certified recovery peer advocate, because there are individuals that may have some barriers trying to get through the coursework or they have other life experiences going on and need that. So we are addressing it in that way.
Jerry Gretzinger:
A lot going on to make sure people can make this happen. Yes, we don't want anything to stand in their way. We talked about the website. I'll give it out now. We'll give it out again at the end. It's oasas.ny.gov, O-A-S-A-S, dot N-Y, dot. G-O-V. So now I want to jump into the other thing I mentioned at the top of the podcast, and that's recovery residences. This is something that I've been hearing talk about here, about you know, coming soon working on this. People are excited to hear about it happening. I know there are things out there right now that are recovery residences and there's this whole new chapter being written. So whichever one of you wants to start talking us through and walking us through this, please do.
Brenda Harris-Collins:
So we're really excited. Yes, there are recovery residences that already exist in New York State. You may know them by the names of sober homes, sober living homes, you may halfway houses, quarter, three-quarter houses that exist. There are other recovery residences that also exist in the state. So we in 2022, there was a law that was passed that OASAS would certify recovery residences. Part of that process is to help standardize what recovery residents look like in New York State.
Brenda Harris-Collins:
So we have created a model that we really want to push forward and that model really is to have recovery residences really being home-like, really providing support, of looking at individuals, developing recovery capital, which means developing supports and looking at what really supports them through their process. Recovery residences really also connect people to services. So what's different is that all of the recovery residences really have to surround themselves with recovery supports. So recovery residences may be supported, have supports available through mutual aid groups, through recovery centers, through faith-based organizations. Some are based upon faith-based programs, so it depends upon what that person, so it's a match for the person as well, how they match and find that location that matches their, what their pathway is.
Brenda Harris-Collins:
We celebrate, as you said, recovery Month, and so looking at multiple pathways to recovery, and recovery residences do that and they also, so that's important for that provider to really understand the recovery supports in the area and connect people to recovery supports. Many of the individuals also are working. Many of the individuals are looking for work, so that's another thing that it really meets. So we have pillars for recovery and the pillars for recovery are health, home, purpose and community, and so really the recovery residences are looking to meet those, making sure individuals are healthy and practice wellness activities, that they have a stable home and that they also have purpose and they are able to develop purpose through work and finding some way to volunteer. And then also community, so it really creates community.
Jerry Gretzinger:
I think that's terrific, and so we mentioned that there are locations out there that do this sort of thing, but this is a whole new oversight for OASAS to be involved with. So people may be wondering, because again we know we're talking to people who have some insight and people who may not. A recovery resident, somebody wants to know. Okay one, when will these be rolling out there? When can they be available? Is there a cost to the person who's going to live in one and work with one of those? Those types of questions, so answering those perhaps.
Brenda Harris-Collins:
So we're looking potentially for the new year 2025, that these recovery residences will be able to become certified. We are already in the process of developing an application process. We will be doing webinars and forums coming up towards the end of the year to really express and show individuals what we're looking for and how we're standardizing. We've created standards and guidance and things of that nature to help individuals understand the process to become a certified recovery resident and then, once they become one, they will be listed on the OASAS website. So we're looking forward to, in the next few months, really rolling out some of that and rolling out some of the informational forums so that individuals understand, and we're looking for them to come with questions. We want questions so that we can really show what this is and what we are expecting from providers.
Pat Lincourt:
I mean, I think one of the advantages to somebody who's looking for a residence to support their recovery of having the certification is knowing that that standard is being met. And you did ask about payment and people do typically pay rent. You know there can be public assistance. That is sometimes a bridge, one of the pillars being actively engaged in community and work and so most people are going to make that transition early on in living in the residence and the idea is to continue to build skills and recovery capital along the way.
Jerry Gretzinger:
And so, again, as this gets started, New York State is a big place, right? So there'll be applications for people to run recovery residences and I'm sure there's probably a push to make sure that they're available as widely as possible.
Brenda Harris-Collins:
Yes, yes, so we're looking at making sure we're taking inventory and looking across the state to really we've been trying to find out where they're located. We're still trying to find. So if you know where one is located, let us know. We still want to know where they're located so that we are looking at the economic zones and really making sure that we're covering, we're looking at the landscape.
Brenda Harris-Collins:
So we are really looking at how are recovery supports in that area? So we're looking if there's a recovery residence, that there's also recovery supports, that there's also transportation, that there's also jobs available and people have uniquely done this and really across the state that the ones that exist have uniquely provided recovery supports and uniquely sometimes actually coming into the home and they may provide recovery supports like yoga, reiki, arts and crafts. They may provide those kind of things right in the home or a person can go out and get connected to a gym or connected to hiking or something like that. So it's really looking across the state. Where are they located? How can we support building communities? So I really believe in recovery communities and that our work is not just to build for that particular location or that locale but to really change a community and if we can begin to change community. And recovery supports aim to support individuals from whether they haven't entered or seeking recovery during their recovery process and after their recovery process, because recovery is a long term.
Jerry Gretzinger:
Right. And as you mentioned that, it leads me to my next thing, maybe last question for now. I don't know, but, Pat, you mentioned before about it serves as like a bridge right. Somebody goes into a recovery residence. Is there a certain length of time that they're allowed to remain? Is it dependent on the individual? How does that work?
Pat Lincourt:
It's very uniquely designed. I mean, it's very much person driven and you know there are different residences with different expectations. I think about the amount of time that you might spend in one. I don't know, Brenda, if we have any data on average amounts of time that people tend to spend.
Brenda Harris-Collins:
So I think average amounts of time that people from other states that we've researched is sometimes six months to a year.
Brenda Harris-Collins:
Okay it's probably about average that a person will stay in a recovery residence. However, there are recovery residences within New York State. People may stay for two years, they may stay for three years. There are some that they have three to six months. So it's very unique and that's why it's important to have a variety so that people find that path that matches what they need at the time to support them in their recovery process.
Jerry Gretzinger:
And if anybody's worried that there's a certain time limit at which they're going to be told okay, now off, on your own, you go. That's not the way it works.
Brenda Harris-Collins:
Correct.
Jerry Gretzinger:
All right, I think, boy, you know we talk about it being recovery month and so many incredible things happening in the recovery arena that we're so happy to be able to talk about. Is there anything that we didn't kind of touch on that we're so happy to be able to talk about? Is there anything that we didn't kind of touch on? I'm sure there's a million things we didn't touch on, but about these particular topics that you want to make sure, we get out there.
Brenda Harris-Collins:
So we also just want to get out there about our recovery community outreach centers. There are 31 across New York State. Our recovery community outreach centers really are hubs of support, recovery supports and they provide a variety of supports, especially referrals to. Again, just like when we talk about recovery, recovery centers are before, during and after a process. They help a person all along the journey and we just want to. You know they really have been, we have been. OASAS has increased their budgets and out of that have become some really unique and really advantageous supports that are being created. So we're looking forward to that continuing and we celebrate them as well, those recovery centers, because of the work that they are doing in their local communities.
Pat Lincourt:
Yeah, just one thing to add to that is that you know, when you go around and you visit a recovery center, what you'll see is it really reflects the community and the people that they're serving. Some have really unified around recreation and, you know, are very active and they'll do things like you know, kayaking on the weekend. Others are much more focused on community service or outreach into the community. So it's really, you know, they're very unique to the population. They serve the needs of the people who are coming to them and so they're very exciting.
Jerry Gretzinger:
That's great, see. I was saying there's so many good things going on. There's even more than I was thinking. Listen, both of you, thank you so much for sitting down and talking about all this with us, and obviously we'll have to have you back as these recovery residences, you know, get underway and start, you know, coming online. So, yeah, let's make sure we make a plan for that. Thanks again for coming on the podcast. Thank you All right, and thanks everybody for joining us. We talked about a lot today. If you're wondering where you can find out more information, it's the website oasas.ny.gov. I'm Jerry Gretzinger, your host, and we will talk to you again soon we will.