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: 0:19

This is Addiction the Next Step the podcast brought to you by the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports.

Jerry Gretzinger: 0:24

I'm your host, Jerry Gretzinger. Thanks for listening today, everybody, and so our topic, today, we're going to talk about something that we've actually touched on several times, and that is the addiction workforce. As you know from our previous interviews, even with Commissioner Cunningham, we've talked about how important it is to be able to continue to build the workforce, the people who can provide the services and supports to those coming to seek them out, and there's a lot that's being done to help that, and one of those things is a fellowship program, and that's what we're going to get into today. Sitting here with me to discuss this a little bit more is Dr. Tolani Ajagbe, and thanks so much for sitting down with us. You are the program director for OASAS, the Interdisciplinary Addiction Fellowship at SUNY Upstate Medical University. Thanks for being here.

Tolani Ajagbe: 1:09

Thanks for having me.

Jerry Gretzinger: 1:10

So you know, let's first kind of set the stage a bit. I mentioned about the issues with workforce and supporting the development of the workforce. How important is that and kind of what is the current climate of it?

Tolani Ajagbe: 1:21

Yeah, thank you very much, and thanks for having me once again. The workforce crisis is very ominous at this point. We know that even pre-COVID, we've been having a lot of challenges in that area, and that's especially gotten worse since COVID. Unfortunately, we've seen a very huge spike in number of people who are seeking treatment for addiction services, but we've also seen a decline in number of people who are interested in going to the field because of the difficulties and challenges involved. So I believe this fellowship is one of the most innovative and transformative ideas I've seen to address a very huge public health issue, and I'm really very excited about it.

Jerry Gretzinger: 2:08

And really the result of everyone acknowledging that there is a need for services and not enough people to help provide them. And so too, I think people have probably heard. You know we're talking about. You know there's the workforce crisis, there's the overdose epidemic that we talk about, and you know, recently we've been able to very happily say we've seen numbers start to come back a little bit as far as those overdose numbers, but certainly it's not so much of a reduction where we're out of the woods or even close to knowing where the end of the woods are, and so we still want to continue the work we're doing, continue to step it up, and certainly this fellowship is a part of it.

Jerry Gretzinger: 2:46

We've had episodes where we've talked about the scholarship program, and that is similar in what it seeks to do, but, as you say, this fellowship program is a whole other level. So I'm going to ask you to explain how this works. I know there are some requirements for people who want to be a part of this, so I'll let you take the stage here and kind of walk us through it.

Tolani Ajagbe: 3:06

Yeah, thank you very much. So the fellowship itself is a OASAS-funded program, substance use disorder program that recruits. It's an interdisciplinary fellowship. So basically this program is designed such that people who are actually interested in the field of addiction are able to actually subspecialize. So my own specific there are four different programs in the state but the one that we have at SUNY Upstate Medical University is designed such that people who are licensed in other fields or who are licensed or who graduated in a more neutral degree are able to either subspecialize or specialize in addiction. So we have people at different professional levels.

Tolani Ajagbe: 3:51

We have MD doctors, we have nurse practitioners. We're open to recruiting PAs, physician assistants, we have nurses, we have social workers. We have people who are CASAC certified. We have people who are non-CASAC certified. We actually have peers - certified peer recovery advocates who also are able to participate in the fellowship. So we have a total of 16 positions, of which we've actually filled 14 already, including providers. So these are people who have training.

Tolani Ajagbe: 4:25

The doctor that we have in the fellowship is an emergency department trade doctor who has worked in the ED for 24 years but now she decided she wants to actually do some kind of self-specialization in addiction. So those are the kind of people we open the door for. They have the interest but they don't have the training and they sometimes don't want to go through the regals of going through the formal, long, extensive training with a huge pay cut and that kind of stuff. So this fellowship is actually able to do two things provide that level of training and at the same time not make them have to give up a level of remuneration that they're accustomed to or not have any suffering from being in the training.

Tolani Ajagbe: 5:06

So, it's been a very transformative and highly received program.

Jerry Gretzinger: 5:11

Yeah, all right. So again, just to kind of summarize, this is for people who have some training, but now they want to have that subspecialty of addiction medicine and treatment to be able to do that.

Jerry Gretzinger: 5:20

Yes, and it does as a fellowship does. It provides you are paid to participate. Yes, yeah, absolutely. And so I would think, like you were saying, for a lot of people this gives them that opportunity to pursue that interest without feeling that they're going to have to take a step backwards. Yes, absolutely yes. And so, again, I mentioned the scholarship. So this is kind of like, again, as I said, a different level of this. The scholarship is for people who have an interest, want to start their training, be new to the field, but this is for those people who've kind of they've got some background and want to just expand on that, to be able to focus on this exclusively

Tolani Ajagbe: 5:54

Yeah and remain competitive financially in life.

Tolani Ajagbe: 5:58

So it affords them both opportunities.

Jerry Gretzinger: 6:00

And similar to what we say in so many different areas of addiction is it's removing those barriers.

Tolani Ajagbe: 6:04

Yes, absolutely yes.

Jerry Gretzinger: 6:06

So if somebody hears this and they're like, okay, yeah, I'm sort of in that boat, I'm definitely interested. I'd like to be involved and make a difference. What are the things they need to know? Like we talked about the qualifications, the requirements that they need, what else is important for them to understand or be able to provide ?

Tolani Ajagbe: 6:23

So the requirement, the tool that I personally believe is that you have to have a genuine interest in helping people in making a change right. This is not lost on anyone. The addiction is becoming. It's the number one public health crisis in the United States, for instance, since COVID. Right, it was before COVID and it's still after COVID, and you've seen overdose rates and all that.

Tolani Ajagbe: 6:46

If you are motivated to help in any kind of way, this would be one of the fields, and I also know that people they need to understand that there's been a lot of changes in the field of addiction, such that it's not how things used to be, where we tell patients that, hey, a program-centered approach to care, we're in a patient-centered approach to care at this point and there's so many aspects of addiction that are actually much more rewarding than we've had in the past. So all you need, if you ask me personally, is a determination and a dedication to help, to a genuine interest in the field. And, like we talk about the qualifications, those ones are set on paper but you just generally need to have a genuine interest in helping people who suffer from addiction.

Jerry Gretzinger: 7:37

Yeah, and the more people that we can bring on who have that interest, the greater it's going to be for everyone,

Tolani Ajagbe: 7:42

Absolutely

Jerry Gretzinger: 7:43

So, t he information, if people want to start the process, I know just like everything it's online. I think it's at the OASAS website, correct? Yes, and so we would suggest probably the easiest way for people to find it is to get online. You can actually just Google OASAS, o-a-s-a-s Interdisciplinary Addiction Fellowship Program. Yes, and that will take you right there to the information. If you want to go to the website and search for it, you can. But again, you know that old Google machine that does some good work.

Tolani Ajagbe: 8:12

Yeah, I think the specific site is in the OAS website, the Substance Use Disorder Addiction Fellowship, so you'll see it under there.

Jerry Gretzinger: 8:23

All right, so put that into the Google search then and it'll bring it. We want to make sure people find the right thing so they can get started with this because it is. It's a great program. It's a great opportunity for people, but not just for the people who want to pursue this, the people who will benefit from them becoming part of the addiction workforce.

Tolani Ajagbe: 8:42

Yeah, one more thing I should add is for them to also know that the academic year starts typically on the 1st of July and runs till the 30th of June of the following year. It's a one-year fellowship, and so sometimes we bring people on off-cycle if they're not able to start that time, but they should expect to be in the fellowship for a year.

Jerry Gretzinger: 9:00

So you talk about July to June. I mean, what's the proper time for someone to start the process, or is any time the right time?

Tolani Ajagbe: 9:08

Any time before then, I would say at least a month or two so that administratively we can onboard them, but any time, probably up to like a month or two before then, but whatever time. Sometimes you time it with the them, but anytime, probably up to like a month or two before then, but whatever time, you know. Sometimes you time it with the time people are graduating from school and all that. So whatever time you're ready, let us know. We have people who start off cycle as well, so anytime is okay with us. Excellent.

Jerry Gretzinger: 9:29

All right, Dr. Talani Ajagbe. Thank you so much for sitting down and talking with us today. Thanks for having me and just some more information we'll share with you. If you are looking for information about this or about anything else with addiction services and supports, you can go to oasas. ny. gov, o-a-s-a-s, dot N-Y, dot G-O-V, and, of course, you've always got our hope line. It's 877-8-HOPE-N-Y. I'm Jerry Gretzinger. This is Addiction: The Next Step. Thanks for listening to us and until we talk to you again, be well, thank you.