The Drug Report
The Drug Report
STEP Denver's Unique Approach to Addiction Recovery with Paul Scudo
Discover the unique approach of STEP Denver, a men's residential recovery program that's breaking the mold. This isn't your typical clinical treatment facility; instead, STEP emphasizes real-world responsibilities like holding a full-time job, saving money, and learning financial literacy. Paul highlights the power of community and accountability in their program, which has led to impressive success rates and life-changing results for many men.
We also dive into the broader societal issues of addiction and homelessness, examining the evolving public policies and their impact. Paul offers a critical perspective on the importance of personal accountability amidst these challenges and discusses STEP Denver's no-government-funding stance. This conversation not only sheds light on the transformative work being done at STEP but also contemplates the future of addiction recovery and public health policies. Tune in to understand the profound impact one individual can make and the importance of fostering independence in recovery.
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Yes or no? Do you believe nicotine is not addictive?
Speaker 2:I believe nicotine is not addictive. Yes, Congressman, cigarettes and nicotine clearly do not meet the classic definitions of addiction. I don't believe that nicotine for our products are addictive?
Speaker 1:I believe nicotine is not addictive. I believe that nicotine is not addictive.
Speaker 2:I believe that nicotine is not addictive.
Speaker 1:And hello everyone. This is Luke Niferatos. I'm your host of the TDR podcast. Thank you for joining us again for another week. And before I get started, I do want to thank our two co-sponsoring organizations SAM, smart Approaches to Marijuana, which you can find at learnaboutsamorg, and the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions FDPS at gooddrugpolicyorg. Well, today I'm really excited because I have a friend and fellow leader here in Denver, paul Scudo, the CEO of STEP Denver. They are doing amazing work for young men who are both addicted and homeless, bringing a really revolutionary model for recovery, showing that we can recover with accountability, with work and community. So really excited for Paul to talk about that. Paul, thank you for joining me here on the TDR podcast.
Speaker 2:Good morning, Luke. Thanks so much for having me. I'm honored to be with you today.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, I'm really excited to hear all about the good work you're doing. You've been really leading the vision here in Colorado as well as now across the country, with not only your personal story but just the great work of what STEP is up to, and I want to hear about that. But before we get into that, paul, maybe you could just introduce yourself to our listeners, who are coming from all over the world, all over the country, interested in drug policy, from a wide different array of reasons and things they're working on. Just introduce yourself and kind of who you are and what brought you to this field.
Speaker 2:Sure Again, luke. My name is Paul Scudo. I am the CEO of Step Denver. I'm also an individual who was in long-term recovery from the disease of addiction, formerly homeless, came from a great family with values, good upbringing, and because I suffered the disease of addiction, I lost all of that over time and ended up being homeless. I was fortunate enough to have friends find me, put me into treatment and I engaged in the recovery process that was suggested to me and, over a period of time, was able to rebuild my life and then made it my vocation to help others who are in a similar situation.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Well, talk to us about this vocation. So you know, how did you get started at STEP and kind of arrive at where you're at?
Speaker 2:Well, it actually started as in my first year of recovery I was volunteering for the treatment center of which I was a patient, and while I was doing that it was suggested to me by a couple of the counselors there that I had a knack for this and might want to pursue this as a vocation.
Speaker 2:So while volunteering I went back and got my addiction, clinical education and eventually became a counselor there.
Speaker 2:And so I worked as a counselor at that treatment center for three years and was asked by a funding organization who supported the treatment center that I went to and knew about my story, to come speak at the program of which I am an employee now, as they funded that organization as well.
Speaker 2:And back then STEP was more of a shelter, more of a kind of housing for people that wanted to work and wanted to try to stop using, but there was no real program to help those folks do that. And so after I spoke and they heard about what my recovery process looked like, I was pulled aside by the executive director and the chair of the board at that time and was asked if I would be willing to come and build a program from scratch here. That was nine and a half years ago, I felt a calling to do that to help other individuals like myself, and took a job as the director of programs and built the program that is the STEP program today. And then, about a year and a half after that, the executive director left to pursue other opportunities and I was asked to be the executive director because of my lived experience, my business background, the fact that I built the program and because, additionally, I had some clinical experience.
Speaker 1:That's pretty cool. So you basically were. You know you in. A lot of people don't know this. You have this great background in corporate hotel work. You've worked some largest hotels in the world and so you had that background. Then you really applied that with your lived experience and just turned STEP into something really special. So tell us what STEP is, what is STEP currently today for those who don't know and don't live in Colorado, and what makes STEP have that secret sauce.
Speaker 2:So STEP is a men's residential addiction recovery program that gives men with nowhere else to turn the opportunity to overcome the consequences of addiction, one of which is homelessness through a program that's based on sobriety, work, accountability and community. Those are our four core principles. What makes us a little unique is that we are not a clinical treatment program. Most of the men that come to us have had some sort of acute clinical care or episode be it treatment, be it detox counseling, something of that nature, detox counseling, something of that nature and just didn't apply what was suggested to them or didn't have the runway, the safety, the security, the structure to apply those principles. So we built STEP in a way that was geared to focus on addiction recovery on a daily basis, looking at the disease of addiction as a chronic illness, not a choice or willpower issue, and teaching our men that, hey, if you apply yourself to a recovery program on a daily basis, you can keep the disease in remission, and if you do such and don't go back to using you, then have the opportunity to rebuild your life. So that's why our first foundational principle is sobriety. The second one is work, this idea that I'm not entitled to or deserving of, or should I be enabled by anyone or any organization, be it a nonprofit or the government, my parents, et cetera that I need to work towards self-sufficiency? So all of our men are required to work a full-time W-2 job. We have a full-time career counselor that works with them in our career counseling center to help them get that work. And then we teach the men about financial literacy, how to budget their money and require them to save 20% of their gross income to build that nest egg for when they leave. But, luke, work is more than just a job. It's about effort and progress in all facets of our life. When you leave work every day, work is not done. You're putting effort into your family. You're putting effort into your family, your home, your automobile, all of the facets of your life, to try to improve your quality of life and progress as a person.
Speaker 2:The third one is accountability, this idea that I have to be personally responsible for my choices, actions and behaviors. We teach the men that choices, actions and behaviors have outcomes. Positive outcomes are rewards, negative outcomes are consequences and I am responsible for those. While caught up in the cycle of addiction, I did embarrassing, humiliating, shameful things and because every human being wants to be loved and accepted by their family, friends, employers. I developed a coping mechanism that was about lying, manipulating and, most importantly, blaming anyone or anything for the situation I found myself in. And so we teach the men that you know what that was okay. You didn't know any better. But now that your mind and body are free of the, you know of the substances. You have been stabilized. You have housing, employment, clothing, food. We're teaching you how to take care of yourself. You are now personally responsible for your choices, actions and behaviors and you are responsible for rebuilding your life and we are going to help you with that. But you can no longer blame anyone or anything for what happens. And finally, luke, community this idea that together we are stronger than we are independently.
Speaker 2:I tried to stop using for years and years and years, despite the consequences and watching myself lose everything in my life. And once I was brought into a peer recovery addiction community and I saw that I wasn't unique, I wasn't alone. I wasn't alone, I wasn't weak, I wasn't a bad person. There were other people that had gone through what I went through, and now we're working a program of recovery and were willing to help me. It allowed me to feel a part of something bigger than myself and motivated me to participate in that and gave me the hope that my life could be like theirs. And then I was taught.
Speaker 2:Once that happens, it is incumbent on me to now help the next person, the next person right. Community is incumbent in every phase of our life, whether it is family, church, work, friends, trade associations. We function better in community. So STEP is a long-term upwards of two years residential program that is built on those core principles but is finally built Also providing men life skills training so they can learn to take care of themselves how do I make a bed, keep my home clean, purchase and prepare my own food, learn and be responsible for my financial situation, navigate, transportation, rebuild my family relationships. Rebuild my family relationships, find spiritual connection and find healthy and social recreational activities. So we are quite different in the way and the philosophy and the principles and the program by which we're helping these men.
Speaker 1:It's really exciting, I mean, you know, and one thing I'll say is, having taken a tour of the facilities, everything Paul's saying is reflected in the work that they do on the ground. I, you know, you get in there at 9am and the place is empty because you know, all the men are out working. It's cleaner than I've ever, you know, kept my home. It's. You know, the men really engage with this. They work very hard. It's really inspirational to see it.
Speaker 1:And I think that you know you're right, your program, your model, is very different than most of the field out there right now. It doesn't matter where you're looking, because there's this emphasis on accountability, which I think is and we'll get into policy a little bit later but we're having a national debate about the level of accountability that needs to be involved in recovery and in dealing with addiction, and so you know it's a very inspiring model. I think it brings out the best in the men, which is really cool, your program's having really incredible success. I mean your success rate is beating. I think all, if not most, of the people in Denver and in Colorado, the other service organizations, talk a little bit about the success that you're having, because you all do a great job of monitoring that.
Speaker 2:Thank you, luke, and I'll start by saying the way that we gauge what success is is based on long term outcomes, not just them being in or completing the program. We follow up with our residents upwards of a year after they depart the program and we're asking them about five key metrics Are you still sober? Are you employed, do you have stable housing? Have you rebuilt your family relationships and do you have a stable financial situation Right relationships, and do you have a stable financial situation? Right? And we're doing that after they leave the program because, well, most folks can stay sober and be successful while in the bubble. What we want to know is did we teach you the skills, give you the support, connect you to the communities and give you the runway that is going to help you to be successful once you reintegrate with the community, dealing with the stressors, fears, anxieties that life throws at all of us? So the numbers that I'm going to say to you are based on time upwards of a year out of the program and of the folks that we're able to get in touch with. 72% of those we reach out to, 85% of them are sober, 91% of them have stable housing and 95, excuse me are successfully employed and 95% of them have stable housing right, and we think that is amazing.
Speaker 2:Now there are people that leave the program unsuccessfully because they relapse or they go AWOL, and there are people that we don't get in touch with. So when we look at the actual denominator of the total number of people we serve in a given year, our running average over three years is that 30% of the people that we help are sober. The people that we help are sober, employed and housed. And many people might say, well, that's not a really good return on my investment or those aren't good outcomes. Well, the outcomes, as indicated by many national studies done by SAMHSA, nida, nadac, hud, show that about 12 to 15 percent of individuals entering into some sort of program for homelessness and addiction end up being, you know, successful about a year out. So we find that our outcomes are tremendously better than the national average.
Speaker 1:It's pretty exciting and I think that you know we are spending a lot of time at the policy level in DC looking for examples of successful models. I mean, that's a lot of what we're doing with our Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions is saying what's working out there, you know, and to have something that's doubling the average for success rate is pretty exciting because it means it's getting people free from addiction, it's getting them into the workforce, it's creating a more productive and healthy society. So good on you guys for doing that. You know, obviously this model's working. There's excitement being generated.
Speaker 1:You're doing a very much anticipated expansion to Colorado Springs now, which is, I believe, now the second largest city or will be the second largest city in Colorado very soon, behind Denver. So that's happening. And then now you're looking at a kind of a national expansion and this is a little early, but I'm giving our listeners a little bit of exposure to that. So maybe, paul, talk a little bit about kind of what you're hearing nationally and like what your vision is for expansion here of this step model.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Many people, when they hear about our program, say you know, starting with having conversations with interested providers individuals, communities to see if there would be the support to bring the STEP model into their city. We're extremely excited, as we would, you know. We believe this is a model that works. We have data that shows this model works and we'd love to start helping other people in need in other communities.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I love the emphasis on data. I think that's one of the things that really excites me, because you know, especially in this field, really hard to nail down the data. Now, obviously, you know it's a very difficult population to work with for data. You know you're dealing with folks who are homeless, that are transient, that can be very hard to track, but you all do a great job of showing where the dollars go. And speaking of dollars, by the way, step is I'll just go ahead and you know, say this for Paul they're not funded by federal state governments, they're not getting city money, they're purely privately funded because they want to stay true to their philosophy and I think that's pretty exciting. So for those inspired, I mean, I think definitely going to the stepdenverorg website and donating is a good idea because those dollars go right into the services that they have. Paul, I don't know if you want to add anything else to that.
Speaker 2:No, you summed it up perfectly, Luke. We take no government money of any type which allows us to be more nimble, more efficient and more cost effective. Right when in many cases, we're seeing $40,000 to $80,000 per individual to provide services, it costs us about $6,000 per man to help them through our program. So you're absolutely right, and it allows us the freedom to run our program in the way that we know works, without all of the hoops and requirements that come with government money.
Speaker 1:Yeah, getting caught up in the politics. So, speaking of politics and policy, let's go there and wrap up our time. We have about maybe another five minutes or so. I want to hear your thoughts, paul. We know we're having a lot of debates about, you know, recovery. Is recovery possible? It's a little depressing that we're having those kinds of debates, but we are hearing that we're also hearing a lot of discussion around what's the best policy response to help, you know, get more people into, you know treatment and out of addiction, and so maybe talk a little bit about you know you're on the service provider side. You know you're you're on the service provider side, you, you know now you, individually, you're speaking at conferences, you're getting involved in that space. So you are speaking into some of these policy issues. But how are you know how is policy affecting you know your men, your your the work of your organization, maybe kind of you know what's a positive that is helping and and maybe what's a negative that's hurting that you're seeing in the policy space right now.
Speaker 2:Well, I'll start with the positive. You know, I am seeing that legislators are starting to acknowledge the fact that addiction is the primary root cause for homelessness and many of the other consequences that individuals suffer, and they're beginning to write more legislation that puts more money towards treatment. I will say that that is good, but, as we just indicated, along with government funding for treatment and other recovery support services, comes with government ideals, which aren't always the most effective, nimble, efficient. And is the most effective, nimble, efficient and cost effective. So I, like that policy is starting to shift towards an acceptance around addiction as the primary driver.
Speaker 2:What the negatives are, luke? There are a few of those. First of all, that the policy in many cases speaks about the human being as a victim right, instead of a dignified individual that has a physical health issue, a mental health issue that can be resolved with the right programming. And what we are doing is saying that everyone deserves a house, everyone deserves food, everyone deserves clothing, everyone deserves health care and everyone deserves everything without them having put any sort of effort into helping themselves. And so we are creating this social narrative through policy that the taxpayer is obligated to take care of a certain percentage of individuals within our community without any expectation of effort, engagement or progress on their part, and that is going to end up costing a lot of money, but it's also going to write a lot of legislation that is not in what is in the best interest of the individual.
Speaker 2:An individual, to truly be successful, needs to feel like this is their effort, this is their journey right and I am doing this. Yes, I might need some help from someone, but I'm doing this, and when you just give something to someone with no expectation on their part, that takes away their human dignity and the motivation for them to help themselves. So a lot of the policy that we see coming out is focused towards a victim mentality instead of an accountability mentality in which we say we're going to help you, but you've got to want to help yourself and you have to be responsible for moving towards independence and personal responsibility, away from dependence and enablement.
Speaker 1:It's good man. You really strike right to the heart of the philosophical nature of this debate in the policy field, which I love, being that I'm half Greek and spent a lot of my time reading and talking about philosophy, so I appreciate that very much. Spent a lot of my time reading and talking about philosophy, so I appreciate that very much. So, paul, so real quick, so you nailed it on the head there, this accountability. Need you know how is the commercial drug policy working out and affecting your men? Because obviously in Colorado we've got commercial marijuana, we have commercial, obviously, all the other drugs that are legal in the rest of the country, but now we've got psychedelics coming down the pike as well. You know, the number one reason for admission into your program, my understanding is, is alcohol People are coming in with which I think would really surprise a lot of people out there, that alcohol is the top reason for admission. So you know, talk about our commercial drug policy, whether it's marijuana, alcohol or otherwise. You know how is that kind of stuff affecting what you do?
Speaker 2:That's a great question, luke, and how it's affecting the industry as a whole. Is that we're normalizing the use of mind-altering substances for individuals, right? Alcohol, as you mentioned 65% of the people indicate that is their primary problem. But nobody wants to talk about alcohol. It's so ingrained in the social fabric of society. The tax revenue and the lobby that comes along with that is almost invincible, right? We're not willing to look at that and the number of deaths, automobile accidents, fights, domestic abuse that comes from alcohol.
Speaker 2:My fear, luke, is something you've touched on many times it's almost like big tobacco, right? Is that if marijuana becomes accepted in this way and so ingrained in the social fabric of society and we become addicted to that tax revenue, what's next? Well, you mentioned it, psychedelics are next, and we're using that same entree of it's medical and it's for mental health and it's for physical health. No, it's recreational, because people want to get high. And if we continue to say this is OK, what's next?
Speaker 2:Meth, cocaine, heroin? Do we decriminalize all drugs? We saw the opioid industry use physical health and pain relief as its entree into a billion-dollar industry that got people hooked. But what they were saying is it's being monitored by doctors, it's being monitored by pharmacists. When you make mind-altering substances available to the general public, it will trickle down to our children, it will trickle across to people that might not have otherwise tried something that was illegal, and my concern with this policy is we're going to go the route of alcohol and big tobacco and this is going to become ingrained in the social fabric of our society and we're going to see more and more problems.
Speaker 1:It's really good, paul, yep, and then it's incumbent on service organizations like yourselves to clean up the mess of these policies, which you've really well, eloquently, said. All right, well, I would love to go for another 30 minutes, but I'm going to wrap it here. Paul, where can people find you if they're interested in expanding this model into their city, or if they just want to follow your work, or whatever it may be? Obviously, it's stepdenverorg, I believe, for your website. Where else can people find you?
Speaker 2:So thanks, luke. Again, if you know someone that needs help we take people in-state, out-of-state. Please go to stepdenverorg and click on the Program tab for more information. As Luke said, we take no government funding. If you would like to support us, stepdenverorg the donate tab in the upper right-hand side. If you would like to learn more about how to bring this into your community, stepdenverorg, you can go to the About Us page and my information is there. Please reach out directly to me.
Speaker 1:Awesome, great Paul. Thank you so much. Thank you for the great work that STEP is doing in the community and I would love to have you actually back on the show in the future to kind of get your insight. You know, given that you're doing the work on the ground, how some of these different policies we're going to be tackling in the coming weeks and months might affect those who are homeless and those with addiction. So we'll be having you on. Thank you Back on. Thank you, paul.
Speaker 2:Thanks so much for having me Again. I'm humbled and honored. You guys are doing great work and thank you for all you're doing Awesome Thanks.