Woman’s Voice: The Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition is a diverse group of dedicated community members united around the goal of reducing substance use in Lenawee County. LSAPC members work collaboratively to engage and educate the community in order to promote a healthy Lenawee.
Kathy Williams: This is Kathy Williams. In with me on tonight’s program is Kellie Niese. She is the program manager at Pathways along with Christy Brugger, who is a program coordinator with Pathways, and obviously, we are going to be talking about Pathways. So ladies, thank you for meeting with me today.
Kellie Niese & Christy Brugger: Thank you for having us.
Kathy Williams: So, let’s talk about Pathways. It’s a program that’s offered through the Lenawee Community Mental Health? Or is it a separate entity?
Kellie Niese: No, it’s part of Lenawee Community Mental Health. We are completely grant funded, and we serve community members that have substance use disorder issues, and we connect them to resources and services in our area.
Kathy Williams: So, how long has the program been around?
Christy Brugger: Pathways has been open for 4 years.
Kathy Williams: And it serviced quite a few people in that time, I would imagine.
Christy Brugger: Absolutely.
Kathy Williams: Have you found more usage with the whole pandemic and the shutdowns and everything last year?
Christy Brugger: In the beginning, people were not reaching out, I don’t think. So, it was very, very slow. And I think that were, there was just a lot of fear, and then little by little, as time has gone-by, more people have been coming in.
Kathy Williams: So, you have an actual physical location then for Pathways, correct?
Christy Brugger: Yes. We are at 211 West Maumee Street.
Kathy Williams: And what are the hours that people can stop in there? Or do they need to make appointments? How does that..?
Christy Brugger: Nope, no appointment is necessary. We open at 8 p.m. every evening and we stay open until 8 a.m. And then on Friday nights, we open at 8 p.m. and we stay open 24 hours and close at 8 a.m. Monday morning.
Kathy Williams: Pathways itself then is a stopgap for when other support organizations are not available.
Christy Brugger: Yes.
Kathy Williams: And what kind of services then do they focus on there?
Christy Brugger: Putting people in charge of their recovery. So, everybody that works there is a person in long-term recovery. And you essentially just come in whenever you’d like and talk about what you want your recovery to look like.
Kathy Williams: Okay.
Christy Brugger: Maybe you need inpatient, residential, maybe you just need outpatient, or you’re looking for meetings that you would like to go to.
Kathy Williams: So, are these people that are currently in crisis, or currently experiencing drug use and alcohol use, or are they already through their withdrawal symptoms, things like that? Where do they fall in here?
Christy Brugger: All of the above.
Kathy Williams: Okay!
Christy Brugger: So, we have people that come in absolutely in crisis, needing to be signed up for insurance to get into detox. And we also have people that are just doing very well in their recovery: they just want to come in and we’re just a safe place to land.
Kathy Williams: Do they have counselors then or what kind of support do they get when they’re there?
Christy Brugger: Everybody who works at Pathways is a peer recovery coach.
Kathy Williams: Okay. And what does that involve?
Christy Brugger: They have either gone through the State of Michigan training or they’ve gone through CCAR, which is the Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery. And that’s a week-long intensive training program.
Kathy Williams: Okay, well, it seems to me that it makes sense to have peers because they have been where these people that are looking for help are – trying to get out of their situations. Do those recovery coaches then build bonds with the people they’re helping?
Christy Brugger: Absolutely. I think that most of the peers there build great rapport with people who are coming in. So, we might have people who come in that are in crisis and then six months later they come back and say “Thank you. I’m doing well. Look at me now.”
Kathy Williams: Okay, great.
Christy Brugger: We love that.
Kathy Williams: How is the connection then with the community, with law enforcement, things like that? Are you having any issues that way or..?
Kellie Niese: No, we have partnerships with the Sheriff’s department where currently we work with them with a re-entry program with medication-assisted treatment. We connect to inmates that are getting released and connect them to services in the community. And when I say “we” I mean a peer does.
Kathy Williams: Right.
Kellie Niese: And we have a lot of, all the substance use disorder providers in our area, we work closely with them. We work with the Drug and Treatment Court and the Sobriety Court as well. So, we’re kind of connected to a lot of different community partners to catch people that have substance use disorder where they’re at.
Kathy Williams: No, I love that idea, that with the other organizations, then you’re able to do a little bit better wrap-around recovery. It seems to me that someone that’s probably in crisis, may not even realize what kind of help is available to them. And so what is the best way that they can find out more information or maybe their family member or friend can find out information for them on how to get involved in this program?
Kellie Niese: Right. I’ll just add, it takes a whole community to address those problems, so it’s so great that we have community partners. For those in crisis, you can reach Pathways Engagement Center. We’re open after 8 p.m. every night and our number is 920-4416. Or you can call the crisis line at Lenawee Community Mental Health. And that number is 263-8905.
Kathy Williams: And is there an online component where they can go get information?
Kellie Niese: Sure. Pathways has a Facebook page where we like to promote and share how to connect with us and any events that were engaged with in the community.
Kathy Williams: There you go. Well, thank you so much. Christy, Kellie, appreciate all the information on Pathways and we want to thank you for all you do in our community.
Christy Brugger: Thanks for having us.
Kellie Niese: Thank you,
Woman’s Voice: Thank you for listening. This information has been provided by the Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition. New messages air on the first and third Monday of each month at 6:15 p.m. You can listen to this program as a podcast under the audio tab on WLEN.com and listen and gather more information at DrugPreventionLenawee.com.
