Why Numbers Miss The Human Story

Announcement 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.

Jerry Gretzinger 0:17

Welcome to Addiction The Next Step. I'm your host, Jerry Gretzinger. When we talk about addiction, it can be easy to get lost in the numbers. The statistics on substance use disorders and problem gambling. But behind every piece of data is a human being or family trying to hold itself together, often facing challenges that can feel impossible to overcome. Breaking through barriers to treatment is a lot easier to do when you've got someone helping you who really knows the ropes. And we head to Saratoga Springs to look at a model of care relying on a simple, powerful idea that sometimes the best person to help you out of a dark place is someone who has already survived it.

Shayne Turns Lived Experience Into Work

Jerry Gretzinger 0:56

For years, Shayne Richardson worked in construction, drifting between jobs while dealing with the physical, social, and mental health consequences of heavy substance use. Today, he uses that experience, his own personal history, as a tool. Shayne is a certified recovery peer advocate, or CRPA, with Healing Springs of Saratoga, where his earlier challenges are considered a professional qualification.

Shayne Richardson 1:21

So I came into this role. My lived experience was what qualified me, is what they told me. They said, you know, um, you have all these years of experience with your mental health, the physical consequences, the social consequences from your substance use. They said, well, obviously, you need the credentials too, but they said, yes, what you have right there is enough to help somebody out.

Jerry Gretzinger 1:45

Hearing that his personal story actually mattered, changed everything for Shayne. But the work didn't just benefit the people walking through the door.

Shayne Richardson 1:52

Somebody would come in and they'd be at the lowest low, right? And I remember being there, right? And then they would come in and I'd worked with them for a couple months and I'd see that shift, right? And that was that's the service work that I'm talking about, right? Seeing that shift in them, seeing the shift in their thinking, seeing the shift in their behaviors, um, seeing them, whether it's getting their families back, talking and building those relationships back up with their family, or getting back to that job, or getting their apartment. I mean, there's just so many aspects, and just knowing that, you know, I've been helping this person, it did. It helped me too.

Stigma Drops When Peers Show Up

Jerry Gretzinger 2:26

The first step, asking for help, is often the hardest, which is made even harder because of stigma. Shayne says peers help remove that barrier because they've literally walked the walk.

Shayne Richardson 2:37

When they come in, they're gonna they're gonna feel like, you know what, I'm wanted here. And that's that's really what it was for me, right? Walking into that center the first time, I didn't feel like I was out of place, right? I didn't feel like I was being judged, which is how I felt a lot of the times in my addiction. That that's the best part of working with a peer, right? Is that most of the time there's nothing somebody's gonna say or nothing somebody's gonna do that I haven't done myself or said myself, right? So there's that stigma's

Start With Food Clothing Housing

Shayne Richardson 3:10

out the window.

Jerry Gretzinger 3:10

Because everyone's rock bottom looks different, peers don't force the same suggestions or treatment plans on everyone. Instead, they build trust by focusing on immediate, tangible needs, things like food, clothing, and housing, long before diving into substance use or gambling habits.

Shayne Richardson 3:28

So it's just finding a way to get through them on what is it that you do want to work on? You know, what is it, what goals do you want to set so that some things can get better than that.

Jerry Gretzinger 3:38

How can we help you today?

Shayne Richardson 3:39

What you know, most of the time it's just those five basic needs, right? Getting shelter, getting some clothes, getting some food, right? Um, getting those things met first. And even if you don't know what you're looking for, right? If you don't know if you want to go to treatment or not, still have that conversation. You know, see see where that conversation leads to. There's no harm in that.

Jerry Gretzinger 4:02

The best outcomes start with a conversation.

Shayne Richardson 4:04

That's all it is.

Jerry Gretzinger 4:05

All right.

Shayne Richardson 4:06

That's all it is, yeah.

Jerry Gretzinger 4:07

Shayne, thank you so much. Thank you.

Recruiting More Peers Across New York

Jerry Gretzinger 4:11

Well, we're gonna jump all over that last message. The best outcomes start with a conversation. We know there are others out there like Shayne who might be thinking, I'd like to help others too. So here's a conversation to help get you to that great outcome. I'm joined by Julia Fesko. She's the director of the Workforce Development Bureau here at OASAS. And Julia, I know we are actively recruiting, looking for people just like Shayne, aren't we?

Julia Fesko 4:36

Sure. Um people with lived experience really bring um something different to the equation when you're talking about service, you know, services for people who have substance use disorders. Um they can um relate to what someone is going through in a different way than their counselor does, and the way they do it is totally different than what a counselor would do. I often say, like, what counselors do, um peers should never do, and what peers do, counselors should never do, you know, and that's how you kind of stay in your own lane because that's really important. And um so if people are interested um and they have some lived experience and they have some recovery time and they want to take a next step into a different profession, um what they can do is um reach out to the OASAS website or and on this on the website under the scholarship um pages under Careers on the website, um, you would just look for um the CRPA scholarship, C R P A, that stands for certified recovery peer advocate.

Jerry Gretzinger 5:40

No, I'm gonna I'm gonna stop you just for a second because I don't want us to get too much ahead into the scholarship part yet. But I want to so people understand, so if they have this lived experience, which we know is so useful and so helpful, right? What are the steps, right? So obviously they can't just say, hey, I want to do this and get certification and they're good to go. Like what are the steps they go through before they get that certification?

Training Hours Credentials And Supervision

Julia Fesko 6:02

Well, um what they should do is if they're thinking about this or they've heard about this and they're currently like at the end of their treatment and they've worked with a peer, they might want to talk to that peer that they've worked with about what it was like and what they went through and how they, you know, went through and got the um different training and and different um work experience that's needed. Um but so what they need to do, like like I said, is look and see where the 50-hour CRPA training is available.

Jerry Gretzinger 6:35

And so that's what they need to go through this training, and it's a 50-hour program.

Julia Fesko 6:38

It's a 50-hour program. And once they go through the 50-hour program, um, they apply to the New York Certification Board, and then they would be granted, once they their application is accepted, they would be granted um a certified recovery peer advocate um provisional credential, CRPA P.

Jerry Gretzinger 7:00

Okay.

Julia Fesko 7:00

And that means that they can now go into the workforce and start working kind in a um kind of like an apprenticeship way.

Jerry Gretzinger 7:09

Okay.

Julia Fesko 7:09

So the CRPA has an education component and it has a work experience component. Once you finish the education component and apply for that CRPA P, that gives you the ability to work in a recovery center or one of our agencies, or some people work in jails or prisons, or in the court system, and they need 500 hours of work experience, and they have two years to turn that provisional into a full CRPA. And in addition to the 500 hours of work experience, they have to have 25 hours of documented supervision experience from you know someone who's uh eligible to be a supervisor, and um, and then they have to apply for the full CRPA.

Scholarships Paid Experience And Next Steps

Julia Fesko 7:54

And the good news is is today we didn't have this when we first started. We have scholarships for the education program, we have scholarships for the fees, we have paid work experience for that 500 hours. So one of our recovery agencies for New York actually has um a scholarship program that supports all of those components right through the entire 500 hours.

Jerry Gretzinger 8:21

And so I uh this is an important question because some people may be wondering this when you say a scholarship program that's available. So they could essentially go through the the 50 hours, the 500 hours, not just have the fees and the cost covered, but when they're going through those 500 hours of work experience, actually making income doing so.

Julia Fesko 8:40

Yes, they get $15 an hour just to get their work experience.

Jerry Gretzinger 8:43

And then once they have that that credentialing all set and squared away, then they're they're they're ready to go.

Julia Fesko 8:49

Then they can be hired. Well, usually you get hired and an employer will allow you to get that work experience and oftentimes um might even pay for your fees, you know. So there's a couple different ways if you're employed and getting that work experience, or you might be getting it piecemeal because you're doing another job somewhere. Um, so there's different avenues, but certainly it's free because we really don't have enough peers, especially in rural areas.

Jerry Gretzinger 9:16

Um and that could be a barrier for for people who are who are coming out of uh treatment, want to make a difference, and then being able to fund you know a training program isn't always possible for them. So we've we've done a lot to eliminate those barriers.

Julia Fesko 9:30

Right. We're an addiction workforce crisis. So whether you want to be a peer, a counselor, um, a doctor, a nurse, um, a licensed um clinician, there are pathways to get assistance to do those jobs.

Jerry Gretzinger 9:44

That's great. Julia, thank you for sitting down. I think again, people probably heard Shayne's story and thought, this sounds good to me. How do I get started? So I appreciate you giving them kind of the uh the beginning, the first steps they can take.

Julia Fesko 9:56

Great. Nice, thanks for having

Where To Get Help Today

Julia Fesko 9:58

me here.

Jerry Gretzinger 9:58

So visit the website for more information on becoming a peer. But don't forget, there's support available there too, oasas.ny.gov. And if you or a loved one needs any level of assistance, you can go to the New York State HOPE line. It's available 24/7. 877-8 Hope NY. If you'd like to connect with Healing Springs, maybe you can even work with Shayne, you can reach them at 518 306 3048. Thanks for joining us. Until next time, I'm Jerry Gretzinger.