Isabel Byon: 0:00

The New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports or OASAS provides this podcast as a public service. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the agency or state. This is Addiction: The Next Step.

Jerry Gretzinger: 0:23

Well, hello again, everybody. Jerry Gretzinger here, your host for Addiction: The Next Step. And uh yeah, we are sitting here in our offices of the Office of Addiction Services and Supports of the Great State of New York. You know, we've done a lot of podcast episodes. Uh I don't know if you've been on there to check them out lately, but um we're up around the 100 marks. So if you're just starting to listen, we appreciate you tuning us in and uh encourage you to listen to some of those other almost 100 episodes we've got out there, and we've got many more to come. And today uh we're focusing on a topic that really speaks to one of the core pillars of our agency, the Office of Addiction Services and Supports. And you know, one of those pillars is prevention. We have prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and recovery. And today we're gonna you know pull back the curtain a little bit on prevention. We're gonna talk about some of the efforts that are going on in prevention. And the people uh who are responsible for many of those efforts that we're gonna talk about are the folks at Elmcor, and we're joined by Leyla Bermudez, she's the Vice President of Youth Services there. Leyla, thanks so much for sitting down with us today.

Leyla Bermudez: 1:26

Thank you for inviting me.

Jerry Gretzinger: 1:26

You know, um I think it's uh whenever we talk about prevention programs, I think people automatically assume okay, prevention, you know, we're we're just we're talking to teenagers, we want them to not, you know, use alcohol, we want them to not use cannabis. But really, uh there's uh so much more that's going on today than just trying to reach out to that age group. I mean, we're starting very young and we're going uh we're going older than I think a lot of people might realize as well. But let me let me start with the younger set, right? Because sometimes we want to encourage people, one of the best things you can do to help prevent substance use or other any kind of addiction is to talk to kids. Right. So what what is Elmcore doing, and I ask because I know you're doing quite a bit, but to help normalize conversations with young people aimed at prevention?

Leyla Bermudez: 2:13

Well, one of the things that we definitely do is just that we um do our regular prevention work, which means we go into schools, we have conversations, we do evidence-based programming. And you know, sometimes people uh think, or even school administration may think, that we're talking about drugs, right? One of the EVPs that we've used is called Too Good for Drugs. And it's not really talking. That's not where the jump-off point is to talk about drugs. It's really talking more about life skills and coping skills. So a lot of the curriculum is really based in goal setting, healthy decision making, healthy relationships, all of those social determinants that we already know about with regards to mental health, um, emotional regulation, um, looking at poverty, um, looking at that young people who have goals, who have some life skills, who have some tools in their toolbox to cope with all the external stressors that they're going to face as they move from childhood into adolescence and adulthood, they have all of those tools already in their toolbox. Um, and we're there to make sure that we give it in an age-appropriate way, and we use evidence-based programs that way, right? So we really go into schools, a lot of information, um, awareness that we give out to the community as well. Um, and then we also have a recovery clubhouse that I'll talk a little bit more later, which is in the recovery um pillar. And that is for specifically for young people, um, adolescents into early adulthood as well. And that's another place and another um space that young people can come and have these conversations where we normalize talking about substances instead of keeping it hidden and acting like it's this big, deep, dark secret, because at least they will have an informed decision if they have accurate information to use when they're faced with all of these different stressors or situations.

Jerry Gretzinger: 4:19

They can come in, they can be uh be relaxed, you know, ask questions about substances, et cetera. But when you were talking about what happens in the schools, you did indicate that you know a lot of it's not about talking about substances, it's about all these other things. And so I just I I want to like kind of point out for people if again um sort of when when did that begin? Because I mean if I go back to when I was a kid, and that's a long time ago, uh you know, and I think a lot of people don't worry, yeah. I think a lot of people may be in the same boat that their understanding of what a prevention message in school was don't use drugs, don't use substances, right? But we've learned over time there's a more effective way, and that's kind of what you're alluding to, right?

Leyla Bermudez: 4:59

Yes, well, don't do drugs, this is your brain on drugs, doesn't really give a lot of information. There really isn't that meat on the bone, so to speak, right? So it's more of don't do this. And what usually happens with adolescents is like, ooh, well, what's the big secret? Why shouldn't I do this? So curiosity perks up, and then they want to kind of see what it's about. And what we've learned now as we've gone in many years now later, is that there needs to be some education, and you need to be able to actually pinpoint what are some risk factors and what are some protective factors that we have internally, meaning for the individual, and also from a community-based lens, on how can we then reduce those risk factors and increase the protective factors. So some of the risk factors are the fact that you know they're not doing well in school, or there may be some conflict at home. All of these things that are just stressors that stress out young people, and usually they don't have those tools yet, right? That's something that you're taught either through school, either from your family, or either from parents or caring adults. So sometimes we kind of going in now, we start very young. You're able to start from pre-K. There are EVPs that are pre-K. Obviously, everything is age appropriate, but it's really based in life skills and coping skills because that is what individuals need. Um, that's what we all need because we will all hit situations in our lives and you have to be prepared for that. Um, and then also we identify what is a protective factor. So, like Elmcor, other community-based organizations, after school programming, all those pro-social activities, team sports, all of that, our recovery clubhouse is other spaces where young people can come and then feel safe and do other things, healthier choices than choosing to use substances and how to cope with whatever is happening.

Jerry Gretzinger: 7:00

Yeah, and you know, just you were mentioning about how you you don't just want to say to somebody, don't use drugs. Because, you know, very often with young people, that kind of almost has the opposite impact. It makes me think of a of a commercial that I've seen on TV recently where someone says, Don't push that button, and the other person says, Well, now I really want to push that button.

Leyla Bermudez: 7:18

Right. We want to see what's going to happen.

Jerry Gretzinger: 7:20

Yeah. So this so this has all kind of grown from learning how that really affects people and what we can really do to make a difference for uh for decision making. Um, you know, so uh the another one thing I want to ask about too is I I know we we say this quite a bit, and of course it's all very data-driven, but the disparities, you know, when it comes to black and brown communities and how you work to help uh address those disparities and respond to them.

Leyla Bermudez: 7:43

Well, Elmcor is 60 years strong. Um, and with a lot of honor, um, we say that we are the oldest Black-led, Black-founded, and Black sustained organization in our borough of Queens. Um, and that being said, we are very embedded in our community, and we make sure that we are always approaching our black and brown youth from a culturally responsive um approach and making sure, and we know them very well. A lot of us have grown up in this community. Um, a lot of us are immigrants, a lot of us um we represent the people we serve, right? So we all go in and we're there to help our youth um understand that we're here and we care about them. Um, and we're always looking to give them what they need through asking them, right? Like youth have to have a voice in it. We don't go in from a perspective of that we know better of what they need. We ask them, right? We do our needs assessment, we do focus groups, we give an opportunity for young people to tell us what they're going through, and then we look for a way to help them, to guide them, using always a harm reduction perspective. Um, we use prevention counseling as well, which is non-clinical, but we're there to support our young people. And yes, there's a lot of social determinants and a lot of disparities for our black and brown young people. We don't have access to things like our other counterparts. We don't have access sometimes to mental health. That is something that's stigmatized in our community at times, especially in the Latino community as well. Um, poverty is always something we look at. Food deserts, a saturation of alcohol outlets also in certain communities. So we look at it from a very systemic um lens. And we also try to get our young people and the community to know that sometimes there are systems involved that may be designed a certain way, and they have the power to actually make those changes through us being able to educate them, increase their knowledge, and build their capacity on how to make those changes from a community level and then how to make those changes from a personal level.

Jerry Gretzinger: 9:59

Um, you know, as as you were talking there, and you mentioned uh being you know from Queens, 60 years, uh it made me think too, I mean, just you know, people around the state, you know, will hear this. And when we talk about addressing disparities like this, I was just wondering if there are people in smaller communities or smaller organizations who are trying to, you know, uh make, you know, I don't know, make some progress in this area. What would you recommend to them? Like what are some of the challenges that that Elmcore faced starting to try to face these disparities? And what how what kind of I don't know, advice did that generate that you could give to somebody else trying to do the same thing?

Leyla Bermudez: 10:33

Um I think that one of the things again is being very visible in the community, being very um embedded in that community, getting out in the community, doing street outreach, being there, um opening your doors as much as you can to let the community come in and know that they can come in and ask anything. Um, being very culturally responsive, that's something we take a lot of pride in. Meeting people where they are, that's important as well. Um, I think for smaller organizations, what you can definitely, I mean, we've grown um immensely since we first started until now, right? And it's always making partnerships. You have to look within your community, and you can look at faith-based organizations, schools, um, different businesses, whatever it is, going to community board meetings, just being in those spaces and letting the community know. And if everyone works together, it just makes it much more stronger, right? Um, sometimes you think numbers is important. Numbers are important, but you also need the right people to be behind you and bought into what you're doing. And if you can mobilize them and a lot of community organizing, you will definitely excel for sure.

Jerry Gretzinger: 11:47

All right, that sounds great. So it sounds like, you know, in a nutshell, it's you know, make a team that you can work with and be visible, let people know that you're there. Yes. Yeah. For sure. I'm gonna change it up a little bit now. So we've been talking about, you know, uh, you know, youth and like the younger staff, which again is traditionally what people think of when you're trying to have a prevention message, that's what would be on the receiving end. But Elmcor kind of, you know, ha has the continuum, if you will. So like right up until uh, you know, the the senior years, um, which some people may be surprised to hear that there's still prevention efforts there or that they're needed.

Leyla Bermudez: 12:20

Of course. We um when I first started in prevention, it was only towards youth. I know many moons ago it was um the lifespan, and then it went just focusing on youth, and now we've expanded again. Um, OASAS has expanded it to be the lifespan, and there's been a lot of new grants. Um, and one of those grants is our wives program, and that's for our seniors or our older adults, right? Elmcor has four older adult centers, so it was just natural for us to take on that contract and to basically start with our own and then expand outside of that. And yeah, especially after COVID, older adults have definitely been struggling. There's been an increase in alcohol use, there's been an increase in maybe misusing um some of their medication, right? Because we have to think about that too. Sometimes older adults, sometimes prevention work or even uh well, really more in prevention work, you don't think about misusing um over-the-counter um medication or your regular medication, right? So that's something else that we're looking to work with our older adults. And it's been successful because it gives a platform and an arena for the older adults to actually just get some time to talk to one another after coming through COVID, especially with isolation and grief and losing a lot of family members or friends, um, they've needed that extra support. So, what it really looks like, just like our prevention work with our um younger people, we also do prevention work with the older adults, but it's also under the evidence-based program, but it's really focused more on what is the aging process, how do I go to doctor visits and advocate for myself? What does grief look like? How do I do activities to get me out of isolation? So all of those things, again, not solely targeted on substance use. Of course, we talk about that, but it is all about wellness and the aging process. Because at the end of the day, when you look at um substance misuse, it is about wellness, right? Mental health wellness, physical wellness, um, all of those things. So we need to look at it from that perspective and not solely going in about let's talk about drugs or alcohol use. Um, and it would be remiss not to also talk about gambling as another thing that we talk about a lot with older adults. They like to go to Atlantic City. Sometimes that's their one socializing um activity that they like to go to. So although we are talking about substances, gambling is something else that we look at with older adults as well.

Jerry Gretzinger: 14:57

Yeah, yeah. And certainly, you know, uh here at OASAS as well is a major focus for us, uh, certainly with the changing landscape uh of gambling. And it can be, you know, you can sit right with your phone and.

Leyla Bermudez: 15:07

Your tablet, your phone, and you're in.

Jerry Gretzinger: 15:09

That's right, that's right. So it's great. So obviously there's a there's a need for these services across the lifespan. You know, there's there's no question about it. Absolutely. And uh and you mentioned uh you mentioned uh the WISE program, and then there's CORE, you know, all these different ways that OASAS likes to support programs like these, and I know we're certainly proud to, and it's great to hear about them. So I appreciate you taking the time today to share the information, let people know the good work you're doing and the good work you'll continue to do.

Leyla Bermudez: 15:34

Absolutely.

Jerry Gretzinger: 15:34

Leyla, thanks so much for sitting down with us. And uh, do you want to give people some information if they want to reach out? You talked about partnerships, so people might say, hey, I want to reach out to

Leyla Bermudez: 15:43

Absolutely. So you can read you can go to our website, which is www.elmcor.org like organization, or you can give us a call at 718-651-0096. If you want to get in touch with me, my extension is 223.

Jerry Gretzinger: 15:57

All right, that's perfect. Couldn't ask for more than that. Leyla, thank you again. And uh, I'm just gonna take a quick minute to give out some contact information for us here at the agency. Our hope line, it's always there 24/7 877-8- HOPE NY. 877-8- HOPENY. Also, you can go to our website oasas.ny.gov, oasas.ny.gov. I'm your host, Jerry Gretzinger. Until we see you again, be well.