Isabel Byon: 0:00

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: 0:18

This is Jerry Gretzinger, your host for Addiction: The Next Step and we're coming to you from the New York State Offices of Addiction Services and Supports. Thanks for checking us out for this episode. Today we are talking about something that is incredibly important. You've probably heard previous episodes where we've talked about the workforce epidemic not really epidemic, but the workforce crisis, I guess I'll say because we're trying to make sure that we have enough people working in addiction services to provide those needed services and supports and, among the things that are being done to help support that, are scholarship opportunities. And today we are joined by some folks who are going to explain some of those opportunities and they are really tremendous opportunities. If you have any interest at all, you want to listen closely, because this is a great time to get some really important information. The folks sitting down with us today are from Stony Brook University and Samaritan Daytop Village, and I'm going to let them introduce themselves here. We'll start with our guest from Stony Brook.

Dr. Melissa Earle: 1:13

Thanks, Jerry. I'm Dr Melissa Earle. I am the Director of Addictions, education and Online Learning at Schools of Short.

Jerry Gretzinger: 1:20

And from Samaritan Daytop Village.

Harry Scott: 1:22

I'm Harry Scott. I'm the Assistant Vice President of Residential Treatment Programs.

Roger Walker: 1:29

And I'm Roger Walker, Program Director at the Ed Thompson Veterans Program.

Jerry Gretzinger: 1:33

All right. Thank you all so much for sitting down with us today and, as I mentioned, this is, like so crucially important to wanting to support the workforce for the addiction services. So let me start with. You know we talk about scholarships, so let's start with the University, Stony Brook University's efforts to help support the workforce. I know you're partnering with OASAS, receiving some funds to help this take root. Tell us what's happening right now, and I know Stony Brook also goes beyond just the funds that are available through OASAS to keep driving this. So explain that for us.

Dr. Melissa Earle: 2:05

So I really appreciate this opportunity. About six years ago we deeply partnered with Samaritan Day Top Village to see what are the ways we could authentically help support and develop the workforce On the social work school side. Many of our students have lived experiences. So, as the addictions director for the school, you know classes fill up. What else can we do? We talked to Samaritan. They have folks who wanted to become a master's of social work.

Dr. Melissa Earle: 2:35

So the first thing we've been doing scholarship-wise was to see how could we educate both sides of that.

Dr. Melissa Earle: 2:41

Based on that credibility, oasis said hey, would you like to establish almost like a CASAC Academy and participate in the addictions professional program? So, drawing on the wonderful work that we've done with these two gentlemen and beyond we have some other folks who are not in this room we built what I like to think is sort of real-time, authentic best practices, best of the best between a university and an agency that's in this work every day. So both Harry and Roger help develop the curriculum, they teach the curriculum, they mentor the students, they make sure that their employees know about all of the opportunities, and so it's real-time. And so as Harry and Roger come from work and sit in front of a Zoom class, because these are online Zoom classes, their students, for the most part, are coming home either from internships or their own jobs in addiction, and it's a rich and rare opportunity to talk about the work within theoretical parameters, within best practices, so that a truly informed workforce can be the end result of all of this.

Jerry Gretzinger: 3:46

And that's great. And, Melissa, let me just. I just want to make sure people understand too, when we talk about these scholarships, the percentage of the cost of pursuing these degrees, these opportunities, how much of that is often covered by these scholarships.

Dr. Melissa Earle: 4:00

So I want to be clear and say thank you OASAS for the 350-hour curriculum which is available to non-MSW students. 100% of your cost is is covered, so you apply we. If you're enrolled, your entire CASAC education is on the state.

Jerry Gretzinger: 4:18

Thank you, and I will come clean and say I knew that was the answer, but I always like to make a point of that because I know people will wonder like a scholarship is great, but how much am I left having to foot the bill? And I know what's so remarkable about this is that you're not left to handle any of that. It is covered.

Dr. Melissa Earle: 4:34

And if I could say it's just a genius way to spend the opioid settlement money through what's called an addiction professional scholarship.

Jerry Gretzinger: 4:40

Investments that continue to pay dividends years and years forward for the workforce. Yeah, yeah, all right. So this is great. So I want to talk to you gentlemen now. Harry and Roger, both of you Talk me through. You know we have people who see this opportunity. They take advantage of it. Talk about the role that you play in helping them to kind of nurture this interest and then be able to see it through to fruition.

Roger Walker: 5:08

My interest in wanting to teach this particular subject matter is well one. I've been a CASAC since 2009. Been working in substance abuse treatment for about 19 years now and I just wanted to share the information that I've received over the years and the changes that I've witnessed, especially in light of the opioid epidemic, knowing the challenges we have with fentanyl and really to make sure that folks understood that the credentialing was important. It was. You need a little more than just working in the field. You know Getting formal education around addiction is very important.

Harry Scott: 5:46

So my role comes from a similar background. I'm a CSAC, I have lived experience, I oversee a number of programs. The workforce development piece is really key and with an aging workforce and you know the addiction field and the need to sort of staff our programs with competent people, the ability to partner with Stony Brook and utilize the opioid settlement funds is just an amazing opportunity for us to develop a competent workforce in our programs. And so I see our role, as you know, helping the workforce, but also from a perspective of a practitioner and people who, like Roger and I, who are actually in the programs and have a sense of what the demands are on the staff and what being a CASAC really means and what the challenges are. And through this opportunity we're able to not only train and help people develop their sense of professionalism and further the goal of achieving a competent workforce, not simply in our programs but throughout the state.

Jerry Gretzinger: 7:17

So I wanted to mention too. You referenced having lived experience and I know so often some of the most dedicated, impactful people who do provide services have lived experience as well. So as we offer these scholarships, you know we have people who have an interest or I think you may have mentioned earlier when we were sitting down and chatting sometimes they have a family member, a friend, who has kind of piqued their interest in doing something to help. But a lot of times it can also be people who've had the lived experience and now want to be a part of providing services and supports. Do you see that in the students who come through?

Harry Scott & Roger Walker: 7:54

Absolutely. The range of people who we see are not only persons with lived experiences, persons who you know family, mothers, uncles, children, relatives, friends, all have suffered or are suffering with substance use disorder. There are also people who are working in the field and want to develop new career paths, and there are people who are working in other fields. So, when we look at addiction studies, whether you work in an emergency room, whether you work in a school with children, whether you work in a treatment setting, whether you work in a doctor's office, the knowledge that's gained from the study of the CASAC in terms of these various disciplines and areas can be very helpful.

Harry Scott & Roger Walker: 8:45

Yeah, and this is a really exciting time as well, in addition to studies, due to the focus on harm reduction right, you know, meeting a person where they are being able to provide services that traditionally weren't available naloxone and substance test kits you know. Fentanyl test kits, xylosine test kits right, you know? I worked in residential treatment my entire career and there was a time when it was really abstinence-based, and moving away from that and being able to bring in a new workforce with a fresh look on the field of addiction is vital, especially again in light of the challenges that we're facing at this time.

Jerry Gretzinger: 9:37

In so many fields. They talk about innovation and that's kind of been the innovation here right the harm reduction practice and the difference that seems to be making.

Dr. Melissa Earle: 9:45

Well, I think also OASAS has moved sort of looking at no wrong door integrated treatment, so it's in furtherance of that endeavor also. So so we're happy to sort of work with Stony Brook and you know the support of OASAS to to address really is a critical crisis in the industry.

Jerry Gretzinger: 10:12

I mean, and it's really a great partnership all the way around. Somebody mentioned meeting people where they're at right, and that's the idea of harm reduction. I wondered, as you work with some of the folks who come through and want to take advantage of the scholarship. We always talk about barriers, right? I mean, when it's people who are using substances, there can be barriers to treatment. Are there certain barriers that you've heard about that people have when they think about okay, I want to move to a point where I'm able to advance. You know my knowledge, my education about how I can serve other people with this and what have been the paths around that. I'm just trying to like address what people may be thinking as they listen to the podcast. I'd love to do this, but, hmm, you know. So what are one of those major or any one of those obstacles that you hear about, that you've been able to find a way around?

Harry Scott: 11:00

well one of them is cost, because the CASAC training when I took it back in 2007, was several thousands of dollars. So from that standpoint, it's the opportunity, you know, to get the training. The other access, the other barrier, would be access to training institutions, and this is where Stony Brook and modern technology so we can do it on a Zoom-based platform comes into play.

Dr. Melissa Earle: 11:37

We have students all over the state. So while we're based in Long Island, if you came into a classroom by doing it by both these guys doing it on Zoom, we have students who are on the Canadian border. We had somebody apply saying I'm the only harm reduction advocate in my Finger Lakes County and I want to be able to have a more informed way when I advocate, when somebody says, okay, thank you for the information and I think I'm ready to get sober, she wanted to have the skills. So by utilizing the best practices in online learning and these guys, we really are able to reach out past some of those barriers of access to. I can't get to Long Island. You don't have to Get home in time and turn on your computer.

Roger Walker: 12:19

What's so great about that as well is that it diversifies the class so much. We're talking urban, rural. It's just a great blend of experience as well. You know, you have folks from the mental health side, you have folks from the addiction side, and we get to talk about what some of the barriers are to treatment right. Oh, getting someone who has co-occurring disorders and how are we treating them right gives us new ideas how we can bridge services. So it's fantastic.

Jerry Gretzinger: 12:54

Yeah, and you know that is so great. You know we mentioned sometimes you know, COVID and all the challenges it presented. I guess one of the positive things was, you know, the prevalence of using things like Zoom right to be able to, you know, have meetings and classes and trainings, and so great that this is a part of this and, like you said, bringing people together from all different areas. People don't have to worry. Well, I don't live near Stony Brook, well, I don't have the money for this. So a lot of those typical barriers are gone and the only thing you seem to need right now is an interest yep that's great.

Jerry Gretzinger: 13:28

So tell me anything else you want to mention about the program, what people need to know, how to take advantage of it.

Dr. Melissa Earle: 13:37

Well, first, if you'd like to come for the CASAC program that is funded by the Addictions Professionals Program, just log on to Stony Brook's website. It's a long one, folks. Socialwelfarestonybrookmedicinalonewordedu word dot Stony Brook Medicine, all one word dot edu. If you click in for students, there's a click, a link to the case act page.

Dr. Melissa Earle: 13:59

All of the information you need for applying, as well as the application, is there.

Roger Walker: 14:03

Great,

Roger Walker: 14:03

, excellent at Samaritan along Village we offer a variety of services regard addiction services, homeless services, medical services and Harry other services that yeah, we.

Harry Scott: 14:19

We have a our footprint alone, the entire continuum. I mean, you know, peer recovery centers on one end of the spectrum, and outpatient programs, residential residential treatment programs as well. As we operate a lot of transitional housing in both the New York City and in the Mid-Hudson and Long Island and Staten Island as well. So we're a full service OASAS funded provider.

Jerry Gretzinger: 14:52

Great, and so I'm gonna give people even another resource for information. Of course that's the OASAS website. I'd be remiss not to share that as well. Oasasnygov Our hope, line 877-8-HOPE-NY. I see one more thought here.

Roger Walker: 15:06

Yes, and our website is SamaritanDayTopVillageorg.

Jerry Gretzinger: 15:11

Perfect, alright, so if you want information you can't say we didn't give you the ways to find it. Thank you, each of you, for coming out and speaking with us today. I think it's so important that we share this information, make people know how to access these great opportunities, these scholarship funds, and hopefully we'll generate some calls and interest and continue to support that workforce. Melissa Harry Roger, thanks for sitting down with us today.

Dr. Melissa Earle: 15:35

Thank you, harry, thanks for having us.

Jerry Gretzinger: 15:39

And everybody out there listening to this podcast. Thank you for tuning us in and checking out this edition of Addiction: The Next Step I'm your host, Jerry Gretzinger. Until we see you next time, be well.