Recovery

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.

Dec

2022

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

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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.

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 31^st.

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.

Mar

2022

WLEN Interview with Parkside Family Counseling Peer Recovery Coach Elizabeth Kelly

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Kathy Williams: This is Kathy Williams. And with me on tonight’s program is Elizabeth Kelly, and Elizabeth is a Certified Peer Recovery Coach with Parkside Family Counseling. Elizabeth, we appreciate you taking time out to talk with us about your story and Parkside tonight.

Elizabeth Kelly: You’re very welcome. Thank you for having me here.

Kathy Williams: So we want to, you know, we’ve had some other peer support people on the program before that are involved with Inter-Connections and things like that. Of course, Parkside offers a little bit different spin on peer support, and having a history with a substance problem, you are able to bring a different perspective, I would say to that kind of counseling.

Elizabeth Kelly: Absolutely. I am an addict in long term recovery and when introducing myself to new individuals, I say, you know, I am a Certified Peer Recovery Coach and the most important word in that title being peer.

Kathy Williams: Right.

Elizabeth Kelly: I am just like anyone else. So, that is definitely… I’m able to bring the “I’ve been there, done that” to the situation. So, you know, there’s no judgment involved and just a little bit more of the insight because I’ve been there on a personal level.

Kathy Williams: Yeah. You know, in lots of different things that happen in our lives, that the person who has been there is usually the most helpful because they can relate to your exact circumstances. Would you like to tell us a little bit about your history then? How things kind of went south on you?

Elizabeth Kelly: How things went south – well… No, I actually was predisposed to become an addict. Both of my biological parents were addicts themselves.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Elizabeth Kelly: But I did have a wonderful childhood. I grew up here in Lenawee County. I’m a graduate of Onsted High School. You know, I was involved in sports, did well in school. And then once I got to college, you know, and the… a little bit of the experimentation stage started and it is a very slippery slope from there, especially when you have parents that are battling the same issues. It makes you just that much more likely to become an addict yourself. So it was very quick for me to go from, you know, alcohol to marijuana, to prescription pills. And it’s just a very slippery slope.

Kathy Williams: It is. And how did you, how did you pull yourself out of it? What kind of help did you get at the time?

Elizabeth Kelly: I went to a residential treatment facility myself, but without family and friends to support, I would not be here today. Support is absolutely one of the most important parts of recovery. I highly encourage individuals to reach out to support systems by going to meetings or, you know, going to sober events, whatever that they can do. But the more supports the better – you can’t have too many.

Kathy Williams: Exactly. Well, and I think that that’s sometimes the hard spot for people is admitting to themselves, maybe that they need some help, that they’re not gonna be able do this on their own. And it’s not a defeat to say that.

Elizabeth Kelly: No, not at all. Addiction does not discriminate. Unfortunately, there is that stigma that comes along with it, and that is what we are trying so hard to help end that stigma. You know, there should not be shame associated with that. It doesn’t matter, you know, your age, gender, religious backgrounds… I mean…

Kathy Williams: Economic status, none of it.

Elizabeth Kelly: None of it. Yes. It does not matter. Like I said, I had a great childhood and I had loving parents that took care of me, you know, all these opportunities, but that doesn’t mean that I was completely safe from addiction. Yeah.

Kathy Williams: Right, right. It didn’t blind you to a genetic issue even.

Elizabeth Kelly: Absolutely.

Kathy Williams: And sometimes that’s what it comes down to is a predisposition. People struggle with mental health issues in lots of different ways. And so now that you’re at Parkside, what kind of support groups do you offer there? How does that process work? How do people get involved in it?

Elizabeth Kelly: Well, there is many ways to become involved over at Parkside. We work with the drug court. We work with CMH. We do self-referrals. You know, the first level I would say is our engagement groups. And I facilitate those every week. We do them Monday evenings, Wednesday evenings, and Friday mornings.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Elizabeth Kelly: So, we do those weekly and that’s the easiest way to, you know, kind of ease way into it if you’re not quite sure where you’re at. But Parkside absolutely offers a variety of services for both adults and most importantly teens because not very many agencies around offer it for…

Kathy Williams: The younger generation.

Elizabeth Kelly: For the younger generation. And let’s be fair, that’s a very important generation.

Kathy Williams: It is, especially with the extra stress that they’ve been under the last couple years. I mean being a teen is always stressful, I think.

Elizabeth Kelly: Right.

Kathy Williams: But the isolation and all these other extra things that have come into play have really exasperated people’s mental health on many, many levels. Is Parkside something that… do they offer insurance coverage? Do, is it a sliding scale?

Elizabeth Kelly: Yes.

Kathy Williams: How does a person, you know, find out what their benefits would be of going there?

Elizabeth Kelly: That is a great question. And my best answer for that is I know that we, while we accept many insurances, there’s also the self-paced sliding scale that is available for those who do not have insurance.

Kathy Williams; Okay.

Elizabeth Kelly: But your best option absolutely would be to contact Parkside directly.

Kathy Williams: There you go.

Elizabeth Kelly: Calling the office or we have a website that you can go to that is ParksideForFamilies.com.

Kathy Williams: Okay. And the phone number?

Elizabeth Kelly: And the phone number is (517) 266-8880.

Kathy Williams: So, basically you could call or check out the website and just see where they fall in, what kind of services might be available for them, and explore.

Elizabeth Kelly: Absolutely.

Kathy Williams: There’s always no commitment.

Elizabeth Kelly: No, absolutely no, no commitment. And just checking it out, the website has an incredible amount of information on it, ranging from all of our services, including, you know, family services, mental health services, the youth services, and the substance use disorder services.

Kathy Williams: Elizabeth, we appreciate you sharing your story tonight with us and helping us become more aware of what Parkside offers. What’s the address of Parkside?

Elizabeth Kelly: Parkside Family Counseling is located at 805 West Maumee, which is right across the street from Hungry Howie’s.

Kathy Williams: Oh, there you go. So easy to find. And again, the phone number and website?

Elizabeth Kelly: The phone number is (517) 266-8880. And the website is ParksideForFamilies.com. And we are also on Facebook.

Kathy Williams: There you go. Thanks so much again, Elizabeth. We appreciate you and all you’ve been through and the help you’re giving our community.

Elizabeth Kelly: Thank you so much.

Sep

2021

WLEN Interview with Recovery Coach Samantha Hollingsworth

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Kathy Williams: This is Kathy Williams and with me on tonight’s program is Samantha Hollingsworth and Samantha and I are going to be talking a little bit about the month of September and that it is National Recovery month. And Samantha is a recovery coach at Pathways here in Adrian. And Samantha, thank you for taking time to come and talk with us for one thing.

Samantha Hollingsworth: Oh, no problem.

Kathy Williams: So let’s talk a little bit about your journey. You know, how did your journey start?

Samantha Hollingsworth: Okay. Well, I was the typical teenager that experimented with some alcohol and stuff my junior year on spring break, but my real issue with substances started when I had some back surgeries and with the pain medication. I followed the prescription and took things as they were prescribed in the beginning, and then as I became tolerant to it and stressful situations came about, I started dosing myself and taking more and more and more, and getting prescriptions from different doctors, and it just spiraled out of control, and more and more pills, and it just…

Kathy Williams: Yup. You know, not an uncommon story.

Samantha Hollingsworth: Right.

Kathy Williams: Really. I mean so many people fall down that same pathway, and it’s hard: when you’re in pain you grasp at anything to get you out of it.

Samantha Hollingsworth: Oh yes, yes.

Kathy Williams: And so, of course you’re out. You’re out of it now.

Samantha Hollingsworth: I’m out of it.

Kathy Williams: I know. I’m so excited that you shared with me you got your anniversary coming up.

Samantha Hollingsworth: I do. Saturday.

Kathy Williams: 7 years.

Samantha Hollingsworth: 7 years.

Kathy Williams: Congratulations to you.

Samantha Hollingsworth: Thank you.

Kathy Williams: What helped you decide then to get involved in becoming a coach, a recovery coach?

Samantha Hollingsworth: Well, I went through the system. I ended up getting in some trouble. I lost my children, and that was my rock bottom. I, I went to jail, probation, inpatient treatment. I left inpatient treatment, went into transitional housing.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Samantha Hollingsworth: A friend of mine got me into church, and I just knew I had to give back. I lost a sister to heroin and I knew that I just had to do something. It became… I started to see it was a epidemic and I just knew I could do something with it. And I started seeing everything around me, you know, all these people falling down to it. And, and I was like, “I know, I can do something”. And when I learned about there was classes you could take and become a recovery coach, I knew that was something I wanted to do.

Kathy Williams: Yeah, I think it… you know, it’s, it’s a blessing that you found that calling.

Samantha Hollingsworth: Yes.

Kathy Williams: Cuz so many people don’t, don’t find it. They aren’t able to pull themselves out of their spiral downhill. And so, I’m sure that you, you know, from going through the classes and everything you learned so much more about how you got where you were.

Samantha Hollingsworth: Yes. Yes. And I learned too that there was a reason I had to experience all that crud I went through.

Kathy Williams: Yeah, it’s a God thing.

Samantha Hollingsworth: It is, it is. It really is.

Kathy Williams: So, how do you, do you find that through your training and of course, through your own life experience, that brings a lot to the table when you’re trying to help someone else that’s going through it.

Samantha Hollingsworth: It does. It does. And it’s so rewarding because I’ve been at Pathways since before we opened the doors, since that building was nothing.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Samantha Hollingsworth: And I’m so thankful and I’ve watched it grow and I’ve been there since… I mean, when we first opened, it took months before the first person walked through the door.

Kathy Williams: Right.

Samantha Hollingsworth: And so, to see where we are now, it’s so, it’s, it’s so great to see. But just to sit around the table and to have consumers come in, and to see them where I used to be?

Kathy Williams: Right.

Samantha Hollingsworth: Just to share, you know, what you can be here too.

Kathy Williams: Right.

Samantha Hollingsworth: You can be a recovery coach, just look. You know, and just to give them that hope. And then they get that spark in their eyes.

Kathy Williams: Yes.

Samantha Hollingsworth: You know, you can be here. And they’re so much more comfortable talking to us. They’re not being judged in this environment and they’re just… they’re happy to be there. They constantly tell us “this is great”. It’s, it’s an environment where it’s like, you’re at home, it’s a living room setting. There’s a kitchen. They can shower. It’s just like, it’s so comfortable for them. And they, they love being there.

Kathy Williams: Well, and I would think even for people that are maybe not as extroverted, but you know, more introverted, they are learning things though, that they can also then share, inadvertently sometimes, with other people that are in the same situation. They may not think of themselves as coaches, but but you’re helping to inspire them, for sure.

Samantha Hollingsworth: Yes, for sure. And it’s so nice to have them come back in and just drop-in and let us know how they’re doing.

Kathy Williams: Right, Right. I love the, the follow-up

Samantha Hollingsworth: Yes.

Kathy Williams: You know, and then, of course, as they’re coming out of it, they’re proud of their accomplishments, and it’s nice to have someone else reinforcing that they, that they are accomplishing something one day at a time.

Samantha Hollingsworth: Yes. Yes, for sure.

Kathy Williams: So Samantha, remind our listeners then where Pathways is and when the hours of operation are.

Samantha Hollingsworth: We’re downtown across from Huntington Bank at 211 West Maumee.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Samantha Hollingsworth: We’re open Monday through Friday, 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., and then Friday night when we open it’s 8 p.m. through Monday: we’re open 24/7. We also have a Facebook page that we’re pretty active on. You can see what time our SMART Recovery meetings are. You can also call. If no one answers if it’s during the downtime, then we returned your phone call as soon as we can.

Kathy Williams: Well Samantha, we thank you so much for coming and talking to us and wish you all the best in the future, really proud of your accomplishments.

Samantha Hollingsworth: Well thank you so much.

Kathy Williams: You’re welcome.