Pathways Engagement Center

27
Mar
2023

WLEN Interview with LCMHA / Pathways Engagement Center Program Manager Kellie Niese

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Woman’s Voice: This special program is brought to you by the Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition. Guests provide information about upcoming events, resources available, and the many ways to help reduce substance use and promote a healthy Lenawee. 

Kathy Williams: This is Kathy Williams and with me tonight is Kellie Niese and we’re going to be talking to you about the Lenawee Recovery Network. Kellie, first off, thanks for joining me and helping our listeners learn a little bit more about the Lenawee Recovery Network. 

Kellie Niese: Well, thank you. I always like stopping by and seeing you. 

Kathy Williams: It’s nice to see you too. So the Lenawee Recovery Network hasn’t been around for very long now?

Kellie Niese: No. So, the Lenawee Recovery Network is a website that we developed through a community grant that we have and we launched it last year on August 31st, National Overdose Awareness Day at the day of HOPE. 

Kathy Williams: Oh yeah. In the… where that event is coming up again this year! 

Kellie Niese: It is!

Kathy William: It’s kind of going to be a permanent thing.  The last, what is it? The last day of October? 

Kellie Niese: The last day of August. 

Kathy Williams:  Of August!  Oh, I got us way late.  Okay. Last day in August. So we’ll be talking more about that later this summer. 

Kellie Niese: Yes. 

Kathy Williams: Kellie, you’re, you’re tweaking it and making sure that things are up to date. Let our listeners know what kind of things can they find when they go to that site?

Kellie Niese: Right. Well, so what I’ve found is when I’m out in the community trying to get substance use disorder or addiction resources into the hands of people, that I have a lot of papers and people don’t necessarily know what to do with all those papers. And so we wanted to create something electronic. 

Kathy Williams: Okay. 

Kellie Niese: That was really specific to Lenawee County.  So the Lenawee Recovery Network kind of spawned out of that. And it has exactly that: local resources to help with housing, transportation, addiction, sober activities, and treatment options here in Lenawee County. 

Kathy Williams: Well, and you were talking with me off air about, so you can go to the site and you can say, I need food.

Kellie Niese: Right. Right. 

Kathy Williams: And it, and there’s a dropdown menu then for food, or? 

Kellie Niese: It is. We, we really took inspiration from people that are in recovery from substance use disorder and asked what they were looking for in that moment of crisis. 

Kathy Williams: Okay. 

Kellie Niese: Because it does, you know, you’re not in crisis on an island by yourself.

Kathy Williams: No. 

Kellie Niese: And there isn’t just one problem usually when you’re, when you’re in substance use disorder or addiction. And so a lot of times people who are in crisis, they don’t have housing, they can’t afford transportation or lost their transportation.  And so yes, that we, we incorporated all of that into the website.  So if you’re looking for a food pantry, food pantries are there. Lenawee Transportation Authority is on there, and how to utilize that harm reduction information if you’re not familiar with that. Like how can someone get Narcan to reverse an opiate overdose?  Syringe exchange, which isn’t available here in Lenawee County, but we give you instructions on how you can reach those services nearby.

Kathy Williams: Okay. Okay. 

Kellie Niese: And so things to just make sure that someone that loves someone struggling with addiction or struggling with addiction themselves can easily in one space, find all of these resources. 

Kathy Williams: Well, that’s the hard thing because when you’re in the moment, your, your mind is scattered anyway.

Kellie Niese: Right. 

Kathy Williams: So, it, it makes a lot of sense to me that it is available for those helping others through crisis. 

Kellie Niese: Right. Right. And so, you know, I, I’m a nurse by trade.

Kathy Williams: Right.

Kellie Niese: And so I always think when I had patients coming to me, I would love to have one thing that I could hand them that would, you know, comprehensively give them everything they needed in, you know…

Kathy Williams: One quick shot.

Kellie Niese: Yeah.  And so that’s really what I had in mind for that. 

Kathy Williams: Okay. 

Kellie Niese: And so over this next month, you’ll probably see some of these posters spring up that highlight Lenawee Recovery Network and it will have a flow code on it, and it will tell a little bit about the site and people, you know, maybe doing their laundry at a laundromat in a moment of, of clarity might want to scan that and get connected to resources.  Doctor’s offices will have those resources. Therapists will have those resources. 

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Kellie Niese: Yeah, we’re really trying to disperse it in into the community, so it’s easily available. And if anyone’s like me, I’m last minute for anything. So in the moment, I might search “Lenawee Recovery Network”.

Kathy Williams: Right.

Kellie Niese: And get the resource that way, or recovery services.  So we really are trying to reach people where they’re at.

Kathy Williams: And there is information then also on the site as far as if a person wants a face-to-face connection? 

Kellie Niese: Right.

Kathy Williams: Those are on there as well? 

Kellie Niese: Yeah. One of the really cool things about the site is it has… So Pathways Engagement Center is a part of Lenawee Community Mental Health and it’s right downtown. And it has peers in recovery from addiction there and so on LRN, there’s a whole page and profile of all the peers that work at Pathways, and it tells a little bit about their journey to recovery. 

Kathy Williams: Okay. 

Kellie Niese: And how you can connect immediately to them. 

Kathy Williams: Oh, that’s wonderful because you do get the best support really, from someone who’s already walked down that road. 

Kellie Niese: Right.

Kathy Williams: They, I mean, they know how hard it is for you. They really can connect with you better. 

Kellie Niese: Yeah. And it, and it really is for anyone affected or impacted by addiction. So, for instance, there’s a page on there to remember someone that you may have lost to addiction.

Kathy Williams: Okay. 

Kellie Niese: You’ll see me on there. My sister, I highlighted a memorial for her. And you know, there’s some YouTube programming on there. There’s WLEN interviews on there that kind of highlight some of the things we’ve discussed over the year.  And then there is direct ways to get help through CMH if someone needs help immediately. 

Kathy Williams: There you go. Well, it’s all about helping everyone that we can and we know that the road recovery is a tough one.

Kellie Niese: It is.

Kathy Williams: So, the more we can help with that. 

Kellie Niese: That’s right. 

Kathy Williams: Thanks so much, Kellie. Appreciate all the information.

Kellie Niese: I always appreciate you having me. 

Woman’s Voice: The Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition supported by funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration. Thank you for listening. New messages air on the second and fourth Monday each month at 6:15 PM.  You can listen to this program as a podcast under the “on air audio” tab on WLEN.com and get more information at DrugPreventionLenawee.com.

Posted by Admin in Interviews
13
Mar
2023

WLEN Interview with Pathways Engagement Center Outreach Coordinator Dawn Finney

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Woman’s Voice: This special program is brought to you by the Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition. Guests provide information about upcoming events, resources available, and the many ways to help reduce substance use and promote a healthy Lenawee. 

Kathy Williams: This is Kathy Williams and with me on tonight’s program is Dawn Finney.  Dawn is a Certified Peer Recovery Coach and also the Outreach Coordinator with Pathways here in Adrian. Dawn, that’s the only hats you’re wearing, right? 

Dawn Finney: Yeah. For, for right now I think that’s enough. 

Kathy Williams: It is enough. So tell us, we’re going to talk a little bit tonight about upcoming social events that are happening at Pathways.  Can… What’s, what’s going on? 

Dawn Finney: Yep. At Pathways two times a week, we do have social events. They start at 9:00 PM.

Kathy Williams: Okay. 

Dawn Finney: They’re free of charge and anybody can come. 

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Dawn Finney: And for example, Saturday the 11th at nine we have the event of Coffee and Canvas.  We just drink coffee, we, we paint. It’s kind of self-explanatory, and just talk and kind of relax and enjoy each other’s company.

Kathy Williams: Is that something you offer every month then? 

Dawn Finney: Yes, two times a week every month. 

Kathy Williams: Oh, there you go.

Dawn Finney: Yeah. 

Kathy Williams: So if you miss this one, you can come to the next one. 

Dawn Finney: Absolutely. Yep. And you can find all of our upcoming events on the LRN website. 

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Dawn Finney: So, Tuesday the 14th, we have the Guest Choice, which means, you know, if you come in and you want to play cards? We’re going to play cards. We have board games, we can paint. We could watch movies. Whatever you want to do, we can do. We just find it nice to talk to people in a safe environment. 

Kathy Williams: Right. Well, and even if you want to do nothing, you can do that too. 

Dawn Finney: Absolutely. Just come on in.

Kathy Williams: There you go. Well, it’s, it’s good to be around like-minded people that are going through the same maybe social or psychological struggles and have that judgment free zone. 

Dawn Finney: Yeah. Yeah. There’s, you know, there’s peer recovery coaches there. And we understand.  We, we know there’s not a story that you can tell us that, that one of us cannot relate to.

Kathy Williams: Exactly. Exactly. What else do you have coming up? 

Dawn Finney: On Friday the 17th, we have Music Night. Sometimes we do karaoke. We have a gentleman who plays guitar. 

Kathy Williams: Okay. 

Dawn Finney: It’s a lot of fun actually. That’s one of our most favorite things that we have. A lot of people do come to that. 

Kathy Williams: So. . If, if a person wants to find out about these different events though, they can go on which website or Facebook page?

Dawn Finney: You can go to the Pathways Facebook page. 

Kathy Williams: Okay. 

Dawn Finney: You can go to the LRN, which is Lenawee Recovery Network page. 

Kathy Williams: Okay. 

Dawn Finney: You can go to lenrecovery.org. 

Kathy Williams: Okay. 

Dawn Finney: And then you just scroll down to, you know, find a social event and it’s right there. 

Kathy Williams: Well, and the other thing is too, is that, you know, if you’re not a night person, you have other things going on.

Dawn Finney: Yeah. 

Kathy Williams: You know, they can reach out at any time and find out other things that are available at Pathways. 

Dawn Finney: Absolutely. It’s on the website. You can reach out. We are open every night from 8:00 pm till 8:30 in the morning. We are kind of there when other places aren’t open.

Kathy Williams: Right. 

Dawn Finney: We, we realize that, you know, not everybody has emergencies or needs to talk from nine to five. 

Kathy Williams: Exactly, exactly. 

Dawn Finney: So life happens and we’re there. 

Kathy Williams: Yeah. Well, and originally Pathways was just on the weekends, but now it’s during the week as well. 

Dawn Finney: Yes, it is. Yeah.

Kathy Williams: Yeah. So is it just for people that are going through the issues or is it for their helpers as well?

Dawn Finney: Their helpers can definitely come and get information as far as like how to help and stuff. We also do distribute Narcan. 

Kathy Williams: Okay. 

Dawn Finney: You know, if you, a family member, or friends, if you have fears of an overdose happening or anything, just, you know, come on in and we can give you Narcan.  We can teach you how to use it, and it could definitely save a life.

Kathy Williams: Oh, for sure. I mean, you, you hear more and more about how many lives, just having it available, are saved. 

Dawn Finney: Oh, absolutely, yes. 

Kathy Williams:  So, it, it’s not a, a stigma to be prepared. It’s…

Dawn Finney: Right, right. 

Kathy Williams: You know, it’s not saying that I know somebody who’s, you know, actively using. It’s, it could be a stranger that you helped save their life.

Dawn Finney: Oh yeah. I actually know somebody who does Boy Scouts and their Boy Scouts have it in their first aid kit at 12 years old just to have it. You never know. 

Kathy Williams: Exactly.  Well, Dawn, I appreciate you coming in and talking with us and helping us learn a little bit more about the social events happening at Pathways.

Dawn Finney: Thank you for having me. 

Woman’s Voice: The Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition supported by funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration. Thank you for listening. New messages air on the second and fourth Monday each month at 6:15 PM.  You can listen to this program as a podcast under the “on air audio” tab on WLEN.com and get more information at DrugPreventionLenawee.com.

Posted by Admin in Interviews
26
Dec
2022

WLEN Interview with LCMHA / Pathways Engagement Center Program Manager Kellie Niese & Community Outreach Coordinator Dawn Finney

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Woman’s Voice: This special program is brought to you by the Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition. Guests provide information about upcoming events, resources available, and the many ways to help reduce substance use and promote a healthy Lenawee. 

Kathy Williams: This is Kathy Williams, and with me on tonight’s program is Kellie Niese, she is the Pathways Program Manager, along with Dawn Finney, the Community Outreach Coordinator.  Kellie, you’ve got some really great things happening at Pathways and let’s learn something about them tonight. 

Kellie Niese: We do.  So, we are really trying hard with the HRSA grant and with the Prevention Coalition to build some recovery supports in Lenawee County.  Recovery supports for people who have experienced addiction or substance use disorder, are in recovery from substance use disorder, or are just looking for help with substance use disorder. So, one of the things we’ve done is built the Lenawee Recovery Network, which is a website where you can access resources in Lenawee County.  And on there you’ll find Pathways Engagement Center in our calendar of sober events. 

Kathy Williams: And what a great time of year to talk about sober events. It tends to be a little bit higher drinking right now. 

Kellie Niese: It is. It’s something you don’t think about that when you’re out of addiction or you’re out of your substance use disorder – what do you do when all your friends are going to a cocktail party or having Thanksgiving with alcohol? Like what are some of your options that you can still experience community and friendship but maybe not have the enticement of substances? 

Kathy Williams: There you go. So, Dawn, you have been involved with the different sober events.  Tell our listeners about how they are organized, how can they get involved in them? Maybe a little bit about one that’s been fun in the past. 

Dawn Finney: Well, one of our funnest events that we have is Saturday morning.  Sometimes we do like this big breakfast. 

Kathy Williams: Okay. 

Dawn Finney: And we make breakfast and even some of the people that come, they’ll bring stuff, and basically it’s just kind of like a little get together.  Just coffee and talk and, you know, just, we just have fun. We enjoy people’s companies and it’s a really nice way to start the weekend. 

Kathy Williams: And that’s right at the Pathways Center? 

Dawn Finney: It is. 

Kathy Williams: Okay. 

Dawn Finney: It’s right at Pathways. We do eight o’clock in the morning usually, you know. Well, we start at seven. 

Kathy Williams: Okay. 

Dawn Finney: And then we have our SMART meeting at eight and we kind of go through that.

Kathy Williams: And breakfast with it? 

Dawn Finney: Absolutely.  It’s a lot of fun. 

Kathy Williams: What other kind of events do you have? 

Dawn Finney: I am planning a New Year’s Eve get together. 

Kathy Williams: Okay. 

Dawn Finney: Starting at nine o’clock on New Year’s Eve and I would love if people would come and join me. We are gonna ring in the New Year’s Eve clean, sober, and serene, and just have a good time together.  Fellowship, we’re gonna have fun. And you know, when I was in active addiction, I, I was alone. And, you know, you don’t have to be alone anymore. Recovery is not lonely. 

Kathy Williams: So the Pathway Center, they can drop in.  What are the normal hours that they can drop in? 

Kellie Niese: So Pathways is open every night, Monday through Sunday, 8:00 PM to 8:00 AM 

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Kellie Niese: You don’t need to make an appointment. If you wanna attend a sober event, you can just drop in, but you can drop in anytime. There is a sober events calendar though, on the LRN – Lenawee Recovery Network – website. And, we have things from Popcorn Night, or Movie Night, not Popcorn Night, but movie night with popcorn, Spa Night, Meditation.  We kind of, explore the rainbow of different things that you can do to take care of yourself and nurture your recovery. 

Kathy Williams: That sounds like great things and Dawn, I’m sure that you’ll have a good, a good turnout for New Year’s. What a great idea. 

Dawn Finney: I’m really excited about it and excited to meet new people.

Kathy Williams: There you go. All right, ladies, well, thank you again for being with us and telling us about some of the different sober events going on at Pathways. 

Kellie Niese: As always, we love it when you have us by to talk about some of the new and exciting things we’re doing in our community. 

Woman’s Voice: The Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition supported by funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration. Thank you for listening. New messages air on the second and fourth Monday each month at 6:15 PM.  You can listen to this program as a podcast under the “on air audio” tab on WLEN.com and get more information at DrugPreventionLenawee.com.

Posted by Admin in Interviews
12
Dec
2022

WLEN Interview with LCMHA / Pathways Engagement Center Program Manager Kellie Niese & Community Outreach Coordinator Dawn Finney

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Woman’s Voice: This special program is brought to you by the Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition. Guests provide information about upcoming events, resources available, and the many ways to help reduce substance use and promote a healthy Lenawee. 

Kathy Williams: This is Kathy Williams and with me on tonight’s program is Kellie Niese, she is the Program Manager for Pathways, and Dawn Finney, who is the new Community Outreach Coordinator for Pathways. Ladies, thank you for coming in and talking to us today. 

Kellie Niese: Hi Kathy. It’s always nice to be in to talk to you.

Dawn Finney: Thanks for having us. 

Kathy Williams: So, one of the things that we want to highlight today is the new Lenawee Recovery Network.  Kellie, can you tell us a little bit about how that got started? 

Kellie Niese: Yeah. So, out of the Lenawee County Prevention Coalition, we formed a work group specifically looking at what resources are in Lenawee County for substance use disorder or for people that suffer from addiction from substances and we realized there’s not really one place that people can go to get those resources or an easy place to go.

Kathy Williams: Right. 

Kellie Niese: So we created a website called the Lenawee Recovery Network. You’ll probably hear us call it LRN to be easier. 

Kathy Williams: Okay, right.  

Kellie Niese: And it is really a website that has all of the resources in Lenawee County that someone might need that suffers from substance use disorders. So, housing help, transportation assistance, and connection to peers at Pathways Engagement Center. So it’s a really cool resource that we just developed here for our community.

Kathy Williams: So, Dawn, when they go to the Lenawee Recovery Network site, what kind of things are they gonna find there? 

Dawn Finney: Well, we have our Peer Profiles.  You get to read a story about each of our peers and see who you could possibly be talking to. The phone number to reach Pathways is there. You’re also going to be able to see the times for our SMART meetings. You’ll be able to see, you know, we give out Narcan freely to anybody who needs it, and there’s just a lot of information that you can, you can gain.  There’s also some nice YouTube videos up there talking about harm reduction and just some education that I think that os really nice for people to see and understand.

Kathy Williams: You know, I love a site like that too, because not just the person going through the issues, but their family members and their support people can also go on there and maybe get some good ideas on how to help the individual.

Dawn Finney: Oh yeah. You can learn a lot from it. 

Kathy Williams: Yeah. So, it’s Lenawee Recovery Network. On Facebook? 

Kellie Niese: Well, it’s its own website so you can…

Kathy Williams: Oh, it is its own… Not, it is not Facebook then? 

Kellie Niese: Well, I mean, I put a link on the Pathways Engagement Center page, a QR code, so people can head over to the Pathways page. 

Kathy Williams: Okay. 

Kellie Niese: And they can scan that QR code and get right on the website.  Or you can just search “Lenawee Recovery Network” and hopefully it will come up in your search. 

Kathy Williams: Is it a “ dot com” or a…?

Kellie Niese: Just Lenawee Recovery Network? 

Kathy Williams: Oh, there you go. Alright.  So, we make it easy!

Kellie Niese: We make it that easy, but mostly we’re handing out, Dawn’s job will be to go out into the community and offer a lot of resources to organizations and our community partners about the website.  And in those resources will be QR codes that people can easily scan and get onto the website.  It’s a really new project. So, the… one of the things that I also wanna highlight on there that’s near and dear to my heart, I think what’s great about the LRN is that you can go there and find hope and find out that you’re not alone, which is an important message.  And so on this website is a memorial page or “In Memorium” page for families affected by substance use disorder to express the loss of their loved ones and how that’s impacted them and share that with our community. You’ll see my memorial in there to my sister, and I’m hoping that more people will share and we can send that message that this is a battle we can fight together and that you’re not alone.

Kathy Williams: So, Dawn, you would be interested then in going to speak in front of service organizations, classrooms, any kind of other groups in our community that would be interested in finding out more information then? 

Dawn Finney: Oh, absolutely. 

Kathy Williams: What would be the best way for them to contact you then? 

Dawn Finney: You can actually get ahold of me through the Facebook page.

Kathy Williams: Okay. 

Dawn Finney: Or through the LRN website. You can get a hold of me. 

Kathy Williams: There you go. Well, thank you, ladies, so much for coming in and getting us a little bit more acquainted with the Lenawee Recovery Network. We hope you have great success with it. 

Kellie Niese: Well, thank you so much for having us and at the end of the day, if anyone’s in crisis or needs help, they can also reach out to Lenawee Community Mental Health, anytime 24 hours a day: (517) 263-8905 

Kathy Williams: Thanks, Kelly. 

Woman’s Voice: The Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition supported by funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration. Thank you for listening. New messages air on the second and fourth Monday each month at 6:15 PM.  You can listen to this program as a podcast under the “on air audio” tab on WLEN.com and get more information at DrugPreventionLenawee.com.

Posted by Admin in Interviews
15
Aug
2022

WLEN Interview with LCMHA / Pathways Engagement Center Program Manager Kellie Niese

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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. And with me on tonight’s program is Kellie Niese, and Kellie is the program manager at Pathways here in Adrian and she is also the HRSA grant recovery coordinator. We’re going to be talking about an event that’s coming up. It’s called Day of HOPE. Kellie, thanks for joining me tonight.

Kellie Niese: Hi, thank you for having me.

Kathy Williams: So Day of HOPE, this is the second year that you’re having this event,

Kellie Niese: Right.

Kathy Williams: And it’s August 31st.

Kellie Niese: August 31st, two to six at the Farmer’s Market in downtown, Adrian.

Kathy Williams: So tell us, what does Day of HOPE stand for?

Kellie Niese: So, Day of HOPE is health ownership, education and prevention. Really though, I love the word “hope” because with something like substance use disorder or addiction, hope is the one thing that can get someone across to the other side and into recovery. So I really like that we highlighted hope. Day of HOPE started out as a Narcan event and has grown into like a community collaborative where we really kind of open up to the community with all the resources that we have for behavioral health, overall wellness, and substance use disorder treatment, and bring all our community partners to the table for the community to come out and ask questions, and discover ways that they can get into recovery or sustain their recovery or support a loved one who’s working on getting into recovery. So it’s a really great day.

Kathy Williams: Well, I remember last year you were hoping to just get a few people.

Kellie Niese: Yes.

Kathy Williams: And hand out a possibly a few right doses of Narcan and it went crazy.  You had a great turnout.

Kellie Niese: It did. It was a beautiful day. We had a lot of people from all over our community come out and see us.  But I think what was really great is just the warm reception that all of our community members and partners in treating substance use disorder were out too. So we had, I think 20 different organizations represented with resources and different ways that people can kind of manage their health, manage their pain, manage their recovery. And it was just so cool to see everyone come together on a day that we recognized the epidemic of opiate use disorder and really come out to support our community. It was really awesome to see.

Kathy Williams: It was awesome. And I’m sure this year’s event’s going to be just as great.

Kellie Niese: Yeah.

Kathy Williams: I know even, you know, for people that maybe aren’t affected, but just want to learn more information, it’s a great venue to, you know, be able to talk to some experts in all these different areas. And even if you’re not the one in need with the opioid epidemic going on, like it is, we’re all going to be touched in some way.

Kellie Niese: Right. I always say addiction is something that doesn’t just affect the individual that’s struggling with it. It really is an entire family disease, an entire community disease. And so I’ve never met one person that is solely affected by addiction, right?

Kathy Williams: Right.

Kellie Niese: There’s a mother, a brother, a sister, a loved one, a spouse that is also affected and they need support and resources too.  But really more than anything, we need to know, especially in Lenawee County, that it’s okay to talk about addiction.

Kathy Williams: Yeah.

Kellie Niese: It’s okay to admit that you have struggled with something like this, and the more we start talking about that as a community, the more we have things like Day of HOPE, the better equipped we are to manage this epidemic and hopefully treat it more like the medical and behavioral health condition it is, and not treat it with judgment and shame.

Kathy Williams: Yeah, we talk about getting rid of the stigma.

Kellie Niese: Yes.

Kathy Williams: With any kind of mental health issue, substance abuse and such, it is easier to talk about it to people who are going through it or have gone through it.

Kellie Niese: Right.

Kathy Williams: And this kind of gives you that open door, I think the Day of HOPE does, you know. The door’s open come and talk to us and see if you’re at that point where we can help you.

Kellie Niese: It does. You know, I’m a nurse by profession, but when I started working as the Pathways Program Manager, Pathways Engagement Center downtown is staffed by peer recovery coaches.  So that is people that have recovered from a substance use disorder and are now working in recovery treatment. And I have never in my medical career seen someone get through to someone in a way that a peer can. Someone that has walked a similar road and has complete compassion, no judgment, and just wants to sit down and figure out where you are in life and what you need to live a happier, more well life.   That’s what a peer does.

Kathy Williams: Yeah, and it’s so much easier sometimes to talk to someone like that rather than a family member.

Kellie Niese: Right.

Kathy Williams: Or your, maybe even your physician, that you can open up to somebody who really does get it.

Kellie Niese: Yeah. And doesn’t judge.

Kathy Williams: Exactly.

Kellie Niese: I mean, who else needs more judgment right? When you’re in a vulnerable position. So, that’s what peers do. And I think that that’s what the Day of HOPE brings is just a real, a platform for people to feel safe, a platform for people to feel comfortable enough to talk about struggles they may have encountered, or really just admit “I don’t know where to go for help”. And so at the Day of HOPE there will be peers and there will be people talking, maybe giving testimonials of how they reached recovery. And hopefully through that, we can find some hope.

Kathy Williams: There you go.  Kellie for our listeners, if there they’d like to find out more about Pathways even, how can they do that?

Kellie Niese: So, lots of ways. So there is a Day of HOPE Facebook page, Pathways Engagement Center also has a Facebook page, and then the Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition, LSAPC, has a website as well. All of them have links to all the community events that we have going on in our county.  In addition, Community Mental Health, that’s our organization that Pathways falls under. So anyone in need of immediate help can call Lenawee Community Mental Health and get more information about the Day of HOPE, about Pathways, or how to get connected to services.

Kathy Williams: Well, thanks so much, Kelly. And again, it’s Day of HOPE. It’s August 31st from two to six, and it’s at the Adrian farmer’s market, right downtown Adrian.

Kellie Niese: Yeah.

Kathy Williams: Thanks so much, Kellie.

Kellie Niese: Yes. I hope to see everyone there.

Woman’s Voice: Thank you for listening. This information has been provided by the Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition. Supported by funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration.  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.

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