Recovery Together: Connection, Collaboration, and Community

Okay, so I just want to start with some basic disclosures that we typically use here at SAMHSA. So this presentation is intended for educational and informational purposes. The views expressed by presenters are their own and do not necessarily represent the official views, policies, and positions of the U.S. government, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or SAMHSA. Presenters report no financial or other potential conflicts of interest. Information in this presentation is general in nature and is not a substitute for individualized medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Consult a qualified health care professional before making significant changes to health, nutrition, exercise, sleep, or other wellness practices unless otherwise noted. Illustrations in this presentation are generated with artificial intelligence. And I'm hearing a few voices in the background, and I'm not sure if those are participants, but we do want to move to our next slide, please. All right. And now we'd like to hand over, I'm very excited to invite everyone to hear our new Office of Recovery Director, Tonja Miles, and we're handing it over to you, Director Miles. Thank you so much. Happy Tuesday and happy first day of National Recovery Month. I am so excited to be here. I'm so glad that you guys are here. Welcome to Recovery Month. This is going to be the first of many series with five that you will have the pleasure of being on this month. I am the new Deputy Director of SAMHSA Office of Recovery. I'm excited to welcome you guys here. This is going to be great. You're going to hear from so many amazing speakers, get so much information that I know will be such a blessing to you. You know, when we talk about recovery together, what does that look like? That looks like connections. That looks like community. That looks like collaboration. That looks like all of us right now on this webinar. It takes all of us together. I've been in recovery for 38 years, right at 38 years. And I know the importance of collaboration and coming together and how that has helped me on my journey to recovery. And it will help so many others. And so, like I said, you're going to hear from some amazing people who have some outstanding things that they're going to be sharing with you. We know that recovery doesn't happen in isolation. It happens with community. And what does that look like? What does having that support look like? If it's, you know, in your place of faith, if it's at your workplace, your family members. We're going to be talking about all those different things and how it's important that we make sure that we're connecting those dots, connecting those pieces to community, to connections, and to collaborations. That's what this is all about. This is all about us bringing people together because we know it takes all of us for us. As we begin today in this spirit of connection and community and collaboration, I hope that you enjoy everything that's being said. I hope that you take this information wherever you are and you share it because that's what it's all about. We do these webinars because we want people to be the best version of themselves and get them the information that they need. And so we're just excited. I hope you continue to join throughout this month as we're going to have some amazing webinars. And so thank you so much for joining us. I look forward to hearing all of your great presentations. And on behalf of the staff and the team here at the Office of Recovery, we just want to let you know how much we appreciate you. Thank you very much, Director Miles, and we're so glad you're here. And now as we move to the next slide, I'm going to speak a bit about the objectives for this webinar. The objectives of this webinar are to highlight the importance of interpersonal connection in recovery from mental health and substance use conditions, identify strategies to strengthen community partnerships amongst recovery community organizations, health care providers, behavioral health professionals, peers, community leaders, and other stakeholders, and explore strategies for building recovery-supportive communities that promote belonging, hope, resilience, and long-term recovery. Next slide, please. And I'm about to introduce our panelists. I know that my colleague who is not on the screen, and I will put myself on the screen for a moment here so that everyone can see me. Hello. My colleague, Grace, has been helping with a number of things technically behind the scenes. And while we're speaking, I believe she'll also share with you in the chat links that can be used for registration for our other webinars. So we're having one webinar a month for the month of September for Recovery Month every Tuesday at 1 p.m. Eastern time. This is our first in that series. And as we have also been working through making sure that we have everyone in the room here that are our speakers, I am Maggie Jerry. I am with the Office of Recovery. And I would like to introduce our speakers. Anita Bradley, the founder and executive director of the Northern Ohio Recovery Association, NORA. Anita has been in sobriety for 35 years and understands the importance and magnitude of blending personal and professional knowledge to promote the power and possibility of recovery. Anita has a bachelor's degree in criminal justice studies obtained at Kent State University and a master's degree in social work administration from Cleveland State University. Anita Bradley founded the Northern Ohio Recovery Association in 2004 to prevent the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, utilizing a holistic healing and recovery approach. Her vision is to establish innovative care to support continued recovery in communities throughout Northeast Ohio and beyond. In December 2024, the organization celebrated its 20th anniversary. And Anita continues to promote and ensure a continuum of recovery by sustaining a peer recovery model that is both paramount and essential to ongoing sobriety. Anita is committed to the NORA and NORA motto, No One Recovers Alone. She has a tremendous presence and a sound voice for those in the recovery community. Thank you for being here, Anita. BJ North is here, and she is an inspiring and influential African-American leader who serves as the executive director of the Western region of the Copeland Center for Wellness and Recovery. She provides training, coaching, mentoring, and technical assistance to healthcare organizations, businesses, and community partners seeking meaningful transformation and stronger organizational wellness and enhanced service quality. For more than two decades, BJ has worked extensively with organizations of all sizes, as well as county mental health and substance use systems throughout California. Drawing from her lived experience with wellness, recovery, and the criminal justice system, she currently leads an innovative peer reentry coaching program serving Alameda County. Bram Begonia is our third speaker here, and everyone will speak at different times, so it's not in any particular order. We're having a conversation. Bram Begonia is a seasoned executive with over 20 years of experience and leadership directing large-scale community organizations across Silicon Valley, East Palo Alto, and Hawaii. His leadership grounds the mission's programs in the gospel message of eternal hope, helping individuals heal from homelessness and addiction. Bram also leads CityGate Network on the Better Together Outcomes Project, tracking evidence-based outcomes for faith-based recovery solutions. Bram and Cheryl are celebrating 30 years of marriage with four young adult children, one grandchild, all of whom are involved in the ministry, and the Begonia Ohana loves serving the Lord, traveling, and visiting Disneyland. And Kurt Garcia, leader of the Tewa Dancers from the North, is here from New Mexico. Founded in 1974 as a substance abuse prevention program by Andrew Garcia Sr. of the Tewa people and the Tewa Nation in the Oke Owinge, formerly known as San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico, the Tewa Dancers from the North is dedicated to preserving and carrying forward the artistic and cultural heritage of the Tewa people. Andrew Garcia taught the dancers at a very young age the Tewa songs and dances. They have performed throughout the United States and internationally. They provide audiences with an opportunity to experience the vibrant Tewa culture, past and present. His goal in his life was to keep the tradition going strong and to transfer the knowledge to his grandsons so the group will continue. Andrew Garcia Sr. passed away on June 1, 2018. He left the dance group to his daughter, Doria Garcia, and grandson, Kurt Garcia, who continued carrying on his legacy. Kurt was very close to his grandfather and was taught all the songs, prayers, and dances, knowing one day that he would take the place of his grandfather to teach the future generations. So now, thank you all for being here. As we move to the discussion, Grace, I think we'll take down the image of the PowerPoint and we'll just have everyone's faces. Perfect. Hello, everyone. So glad that you're all here. So let's go ahead and maybe everyone can just take a moment to say hello and make sure all mics are going fine. How about BJ? Hello, BJ. Great. Bram? It's great to be here. Thank you. Wonderful. Kurt? Hello, everyone. Wonderful. And Anita. Hi, Maggie. How are you? Hey, great. Thank you so much for being here. So I want to start with our opening question. How has community connection and collaboration made a difference in your recovery journey or the recovery journey of someone you supported? BJ, do you want to start us off? Sure. I would say community connection and collaboration has made a difference in my life by supporting me to see what I hold so I can clear that before I'm connecting with someone else. And what I mean by that is when I connect through the differences of what people say, I can see what I held because it's not about the person I'm talking to. It's about what I'm holding or think about that person I'm talking to. And in connecting with people in community, it has really helped me to know that I have to connect it through the differences in order to collaborate with anyone, with myself, with others. It doesn't matter. And that has taught me a lot about myself. So when I'm having mixed feelings or things that are bothering me, maybe that's not a good time to connect with someone and to know that. To know that I have to come back to myself. I pray I connect to myself before I ever decide to collaborate with or make a connection outside of myself. So that's how I'll start that. Anita, great. Yes, I was just about to ask you. I was thinking that during active addiction, it's so isolating. So that connection really helped me to heal. Wonderful. Kurt, would you like to speak a little bit on how community connection and collaboration has made a difference in your recovery journey and the recovery journey of people you support? Yes. Hello. Thank you for those responses. Just like BJ and Anita stated, you know, it's that connection of sharing the same kind of mindset and the same kind of goals that we're pushing for. And that's what builds that community, having that support from individuals that are like-minded and can relate to what you've gone through. But being able to have that compassion for one another, like understanding where they're coming from, maybe know the physical feeling of the addiction and what that individual is going through, even though you're on two different steps of the path. Thank you, Kurt. And Bram, what would you like to say? I just want to say I don't have lived experience. I've never been addicted to any substance, but I'm a product of the recovery community. And this church wearing different uniforms and playing dress instruments came to the sugar cane field and preached the gospel of Jesus Christ, and he gave his life to the Lord in the middle of that field. And it really transformed our family for generations to come. And that's what we've been doing. We feel like we have purpose, that his life is transformed so that the rest of us could have a better life here in the United States and could serve those that are in addiction. And our whole family has done that, and I'm a product of that. And we just love serving those that are underserved. And so it's a privilege and an honor. Thank you so much, Bram. Well, our next question relates again to the connection component. What is the relationship between building connection and building trust? Maybe I'll start off on that one. I just want to say that, you know, here at the Bay Area Rescue Mission, we have emergency shelters for women, emergency shelters for men, and emergency shelters for women with children. And we have our goals to get people out of the emergency shelter into our year-long program. But we take people as they are, no discrimination. And when people come in and they do their intakes, I would say, this is just for our organization, that the trust is very low. And so during that intake, we find that a lot of people we're speaking with, have you been homeless before? How long? Are you dealing with domestic violence? Do you have a substance abuse issue? The answer is no, no, no. Everything's good. I'm all good, right? And we know that's not the truth, but the relationship has not been built yet. And so over time, as they stay with us, as they realize we're not out there to get money from them, our programs are completely free. We don't, you know, we're not accepting any sort of, it's all privately funded. And, you know, so they start realizing, oh, they really just want to help. They're not trying to get something from me. And when the trust is built, we start getting to know them. You'll see, you know, after two months, three months, it's different for everybody, especially with the moms that go, you know what, I didn't want to say, but I have two open cases with CPS, and I have this one child with me. I was scared to say something. But now, can you help me get the other two children back, right? And now this trust is being formed. And so it's about building trust and community. And once that continues to build, you can see the barriers come down from the inside out. And we really believe in just forming relationships and building that community and supporting that person the best we can, knowing that we're imperfect. We're not perfect. Our program doesn't work for everybody, but we try our best. And we don't compel Jesus on anybody. It's their choice. And we have graduates who graduate our program and thrive, whether or not they accept the Lord as their personal savior. So we just love building relationships with people in our community. I'd love to hear from others about the relationship between connection and building trust. Yeah, I'll go. This is Curt. Yeah, it's like BJ mentioned just a few minutes ago was connecting with yourself in order to connect with someone outside of yourself. And to build that trustful relationship with someone is, you know, like just being authentic and being true to yourself and just being real. And as you gain to build that relationship and you trust building that trust issue, because it's hard when coming out of addiction, you know, you burn a lot of bridges and, you know, some people really don't trust you. And sometimes you open up to someone that takes your story or puts dirt on your name. And so it's really tough. But I think just being compassionate and just being authentic and just being real and consistent. Loving and consistency, I think, is one of the couple of the two main factors. And so then respecting those boundaries, too. Like Bram said, we don't force Jesus Christ on anyone. Let them see the authenticity and then let them make their decision and let them know that it's real, you know, that we really love them and that we really do care. And it's not going to be another walk down a dead end. Yeah. And collaboration with one another. Collaboration with one another. It's not a competition, you know. I may be able to help someone, but BJ may have the resources to get them to where they need to go, you know. So that's what the seminar is about, you know. Webinar. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. Seminar, webinar, exactly. And Anita, I know you're about to speak. And also there was a sub-question here about what happens when people are not feeling connected. And I know that was something you talked about in the past. What would you like to share about this topic of connection, trust? Yeah, just being patient with the person and being patient with ourselves. It took time to become ill, you know, over time. I think for most, the longer we was in active addiction, the worse our symptoms became. And so it's the reverse in terms of healing and allowing ourselves and individuals to be where they are. And just being patient, showing up for that person. If I say I'm going to pick you up for a meeting at 630, I need to be there at 625. And I need to do it week after week or however long we agree. But also remembering that everyone's recovery is not going to look exactly like mine. And allowing that person to individualize their plan for how they want things to go. And for us to keep that open mind and not necessarily try to usurp their thought process in terms of their recovery. And remembering that there are many pathways to recovery and allowing for that. Definitely. BJ, would you like to share reflections on this? Connection, trust, how to reach people. I think this is a big part of how we reach people is to have connection with ourself and build trust. To speak and share from our lived experience, from things we've done. I mean, when I first came in here, it wasn't something we could do. It was to share our lived experience and our life in the work. And it made no sense when we worked with people who also were coming into recovery. So now it's about, for me, it's about when I'm connected with myself. How I build that connection with myself is to know that every moment is a moment to not only connect with myself. But meet somewhere where they're at and validate their experience. Not tell them what to do, not tell them how to do it. But really validate them by not putting my words on top of them. And then when people realize they can talk to me because of my position or what I'm doing in life, they really then have this trust to connect with me. And that's where the connection comes from, which I love talking to everybody. If you came to my neighborhood, everybody in my walking circle of five miles knows who I am. If they're at home, they're going to come out and say, hey, BJ, the kids, everyone. Because it matters that I'm seen also. And it takes a lot to do that, just to say hi. You know, you walk down the street or you're coming to a place and you don't say hello to someone. I don't know. That's, you know, when I'm seen, when I'm seen, I feel better. When other people are seen, they feel better. They feel good, too. And so that's the first part of what I think building connection and trust is, is to maybe be the first to reach out and say something. Maybe be the first to share a story about what it was like for me out there. You know, because that really matters. It mattered in my life. And I think it matters with the people I work with on a daily basis. And it shows that I'm willing to speak up about what has happened. But there is hope in all of that stuff that we've done. There is hope. And I know it through my own lived experience that there is. And so that's like collaboration and connection with self before I can ever do it with anyone else. Let me add on to what Dr. BJ is saying. I just think that's great because in our program, there's hundreds of people on the roof. And I think they assume because of my position, I know their whole story, right? But we have mental health clinicians, vocational program people, chaplains program. None of them are sharing their information with me. I don't have the case notes. So how do I build a relationship with somebody in our program? I got to get to know their name. If we're eating lunch together, I can ask them about how they got here, what was happening in their life. When we're bowling together, I can say, which ones are your kids? What's their name? How are they doing? How are they adjusting? And we build that relationship. And then they go, this guy doesn't know about what I eat. And if they want to share, they can. If they don't want to share, that's fine. And we start building a very small relationship on trust. And over time, over months, it grows. And it grows. And then they start asking about, why do you guys do this stuff? What's the purpose? Why are you even helping people? It doesn't even make sense to me. And then we can have these great conversations. So that's how our community is built. Beautiful. I'm hearing a few really key themes. And one of them, of course, that you all started with was the importance of being self-aware. Really kind of centered in understanding yourself and even how someone else's experiences might be bringing up something in you. And just being able to manage that while still seeing them fully. The fullness of that person. And the importance of people being seen and heard. And then, again, the consistency of showing up. I think that's really beautiful. As we move to the next question, I encourage you to continue to talk about tools for connection or ideas around connection, anything that comes up. The next question is, what does collaboration look like? And what strategies and practices can we learn from? Connected to that, too, are what barriers prevent organizations and people from working together? And how can those barriers be overcome? So what does collaboration look like? And what strategies and practices can we learn from? I know a number of you have been in situations of collaboration with other organizations. Or when you meet a person and you start walking with them on their path in support of them, it's not one part of the path that needs support. It's multiple parts, right, of a person's story. So collaboration is important. Anita, can I ask you if you have thoughts on this? Sure. I was thinking, well, the first part of what are the barriers, I thought about, like, the lack of trust for individuals and from an organizational standpoint. And from an individual standpoint, trauma, having experienced trauma before would create barriers. But as an individual, just trying to learn how to recognize those things. And I've got my other hat on now. Like, understanding that all exhibited behavior is not – sometimes there's more to it than we can see. But if we're patient and learn how to, again, walk with someone over time, we may be able to get some epiphanies around what they're really going through, what they're thinking. But, again, just being patient and understanding that so many of us have come from different backgrounds and that we have to learn how to build trust. But the final thing is in terms of collaboration, I think there's so many things that we all have to offer. But just trying to identify, like, the strengths, like looking at the capital in a person or in an organization and how they have something that may be lacking within me or within my organization. And really just walking beside them, trying to learn how to model that. And that's what recovery coaching, recovery support specialist, mentorship, that's what that's all about is, like, I see something in you. You know, everybody on the screen looks so bright and nice today. And so, like, I want to feel like that. And so that gives individuals hope. And so from there, just aligning, like, what kind of things can we look at that will help make whatever goal it is better, even if the goal is just staying sober for that day? Yeah, that sounds great. And then I'm also curious, and I know you're an executive director of a recovery community organization. So for, you know, significant leadership experience at the organizational level, what about partnering with other organizations in a collaborative way? Have you faced challenges with that? Or what have you seen that works well? And what were some of the challenges? You want me to keep going? Yeah, I want you to keep going, because I know you have things to say. And I'll come back to the others. But yeah. OK, well, let's go to the good things. So most recently here in Cleveland, they're building a $27 million crisis center. And I'm so happy because individuals on the street can get picked up, and they can go to this crisis center, and they can get whatever service they need, wherever they are. And so we're not the crisis center, but the part that we're playing is my peer group and some of the team that we have, they're going to be out in the community befriending individuals who are in crisis or who are homeless. And you know how people are standing on a corner and looking for money. But we have an RV where we bring them in, talk to them. And so we'll be able to take them and transport them to the crisis center. That's my role. And we are good with that. You know what I mean? And so I'm excited. They're having their ribbon cutting on Friday. They open up the end of the month. So that's the good thing. But then on the other side, in terms of sometimes like barriers, I think often that I have seen, and I think I said this before, that it's a catch-22 where we see someone exhibiting something that we've created. Like, we were the first RCO in Ohio. And then when the opiate dollars came out, like all these places opened up. And in my heart of hearts, I do recall saying, like, I just pray that they're doing this work for the right reason. You know what I mean? Because it's important to me. And I have seen it both ways. Like, our governor recently announced that they're putting the recovery housing under the State Department so that they can monitor those recovery houses better because there's so many of them. So, you know, it's just because it's personal to me, personal in terms of work, personal in terms of myself, just making sure that we hold each other accountable. And so on the flip side, you know, those are some barriers that I've seen in the community. BJ, would you like to talk a little bit more about collaboration and coming from the Copeland Center space and your work out west? And then, Bram, I don't know if you can get your camera on. I know we lost you for a minute. But go ahead, BJ. Well, collaboration is one of those big, big things. You know, when you're going to collaborate with someone, there has to be a lot of things. What does it look like for me? And what's some strategies and practices? First of all, just to get a definition about what collaboration is for all of us, whoever I'm collaborating with, because they may have a different definition than myself. So just so we could learn and grow from that. So I may collaborate with a program or something I'm doing in the community. And other people want to collaborate with, you know, money or space or, you know, so we just want to know what are we collaborating or collaborating about the people we're serving. Because when we go into these organizations, I may be doing something that other organizations are doing already. And I don't want to make them wrong and they don't want to make me wrong. So we figure out what what are these things that we can do. So we collaborate with if we're working with the same people, you know, how can we make sure that they know that these programs are all working together. Right. And not try to set one program against the other. You know, oh, we can get this over here. Or, you know, so we as as as community community. Sorry about that. People in the community who are doing this reentry service or whatever we're doing. It's good for us to know what's happening with the people who are using our services and to have names and say, hey, did you see Betty over there? And how can you know, that's one way to collaborate because, you know, when I was out there, I used to find ways a loophole in the services. So I can go get different things that at different places and people didn't know that I was being helped by another organization in some way. So I say we don't you know, we can take that out where people can get services and we can contact the next community organization to make sure that we are collaborating. So we know what what other services are. So the person doesn't have to go look for that. Once they leave me, this is another place you can go and have a name form, have a name for the person in that organization. It behooves me as a person who is running a community organization that I also know other names in the community from different places where people can go. And that's one of the things I think is good. So it's like not not a cold handoff, but a warm handoff to other community services. We can't do everything. One organization cannot do everything. And that's a barrier sometimes when we want to keep them. So the thing is, is to be in friendship and collaboration with other people at the other organizations so we can show them what that's like. Yeah, I know they do the same thing, but they also do this over there, you know. So I like that as far as and some of the strategies is knowing one of the things is knowing what the other organizations do, the people's name, that I have relationships with them, even though, you know, we're all in. We're not we're not vying for a position to have clients just for us, but we want to share that wealth and make sure that everybody because it may be something that another organization is doing that we're not. And so not only are we collaborating with the people we're working with, but we're collaborating with those organizations in the community. And when we start off by definitely knowing their name, knowing a person's name is like the number one thing when they walk in my door to remember their name. And when I forget, I say, oh, man, I forgot your name again. My name is BJ. What's your name? And continually do that. So those are some kind of practices that I'm not the one that knows everything. And I will tell somebody in a moment, you know, yeah, I forgot I was supposed to do that for you. And it's OK, because I want them to know that I'm human, too. I don't want them to know because I have a title and working for an agency. That means that that I know what's best for everyone. I don't I don't. I want to just make that clear in that collaboration with other organizations and with the people I'm working with and serving. So that's it. That's some of my strategies and practices is to also not forget where I came from. Really important. I love that. And Kurt, I'm going to ask you and then, Bram, I'm going to go to you. So, Kurt, I've had a chance to see some of the dances. We saw some video at a different event about a month ago. It was really beautiful. The eagle dance that you're the Tewa dancers from the north was doing at a graduation. And so I'm I'm curious because the context of being in the tribal nation is a different cultural and and community location. What is the relationship of the Tewa dancers of the from the north to the community? And how how do you collaborate in different spaces with community groups or other parts of what the people of the Tewa Pueblo and of the OK? You know, I don't know. Yes. Yes. You know, that community. Yes. Yes. So it's a unique approach. So I have a community outreach this coming Saturday, and it's it's facilitating a lot of of of organizations throughout the Espanol Valley. So the local community, we have a Hispanic community in between two Pueblo reservations. And so we're utilizing tribal outreach on both sides of the community. So one one just to set it up, one of the communities is to the north, one is to the south and non-native communities in the center. And so we're going into the center and we're using tribal outreaches as well as some, you know, they're from the non-native community and we're collaborating. But during this planning phase of the event on the 5th, we've identified one another's strong points as far as what the what their facility or their resources that they have. You know, if it's if they're strong in mental health or they're strong in getting someone immediate resources to, you know, maybe it just depends. But we've identified those. And so throughout the day, my job is to kind of point individuals that need the assistance or that need the help to those different tables, because I'm going to be the MC. And with all that collaboration, we're bringing in traditional dances that people can experience. And that's going to be held in a theater and it's going to be used as a place of mental wellness. And the whole thing behind the event is going to be wellness. And it's not necessarily for addicts or people in recovery. It's for the community because wellness, it's not just in addiction, you know, so we're inviting children, families. But what about the children? Are we asking the children, with your mom being an alcoholic or your dad being an alcoholic, what is that doing to our children and how can we help you? What we do is we give them value and we give them a place to express themselves with no judgment. And a lot of them, just like myself, come from broken homes where dad was not present and maybe he was the one addicted and mom raised me. But we have grandfathers and people around our community, our tight-knit community that we address in those traditional ways as uncle or grandpa, just because we give them that respect as an elder. So it's a really unique approach and we've helped some individuals and it surprises me that a lot of non-Natives can really feel the atmosphere of experiencing the dance and it's not necessarily just a performance or a show. It's something more spiritual that digs deeper and that's that connection with oneself that BJ and I spoke of a little bit, you know, is having your cup full to overfill so you can share with others. Thank you. That's beautiful. Thank you. Bram, I think your camera is having trouble, but can we still hear you? If you go off, can you speak and go off? I can see all of you. Can you not see me? We're really great at sharing a life being transformed. You know, somebody came in, their life's back together, and they're moving forward. We've helped them in their mind, their body, and their spirit. And then when people want to give us a grant or an award, they say, oh great, can you share those stats with us? And nobody has good stats. So we're good at sharing life transformation stories, but we don't have strong, not all of us, evidence-based outcomes that are tracked long-term. And so what I mean by that is when somebody graduates our program, somebody has to call them and say, hey, how are you doing? You know, it's been two years since we've seen you. Where are you? Are you still employed? Where do you live now? And it takes time and resources, and many organizations just – I saw them on Facebook. They're doing good. They live in Utah now. But what can we really track and share amongst all of our organizations? And I think to go back to that question, what's the barrier? I think in our community, the barrier for working together is pride and fear. No matter what it is, in our area, if an organization thinks their program's the best and nothing else works, then that's a problem. Or if we send them over there to get a meal, their food might be better, they may not come back. Or if their buildings are better and they don't have as many rules, of course they're going to stay there. Well, if it's better for the person we really care about them, we really care about their situation, we really want them to get better, then whatever's better for them is where they should go. And that really takes the burden off of us as an organization to try to do everything ourselves. So when you open your arms, things come in. And if you're closed-minded, you're not able to work with others. And we find that working with others is better for everyone. That's great. Thank you. And I'm sure that it took a couple years to bring the collaboration together and probably some memorandums of understanding and some other technical sides. It didn't happen overnight, but you're now in this collaboration to look at the long-term outcomes of people that you're serving. Is that right? Yeah, it took about three years just to agree to agree. Yeah, exactly. And then now we've all agreed on what we want to collect, and it's going to take about two years to collect the information in the initial pilot phase. And then all of those stats will be going to Dr. Koenig at Duke University to analyze it and put it together, and then we'll launch another phase. But it is exciting because nothing like this has been done to our understanding across the nation to this level. Great. Thank you. And that also highlights the importance of relationships between people in organizations. As we close, we only have about five minutes left. The last part of this, so we've been talking about connection, we've been talking about community, I'm sorry, collaboration, and now kind of centering in as we close on the topic of community as it relates to recovery. Recovery is often thought of as a personal experience, a personal path. It has that individual fingerprint kind of component to it that each one of us has lives that are so unique, and our recovery is unique to us. But there is a component about community as very important, right? The opposite of addiction is connection. We know that. So I'm wondering if each one of you can just kind of as we close, share a reflection on what is the very important quality that a person feeling connected to community as part of their recovery. We can think about the sense of belonging. What are the components that really are so essential that, yes, it's a personal journey, but it's also essential that people feel held in community and a connection to community in their recovery? BJ? Thank you for that question. I think that to be included, to be included in voting, to be included in our communities, to be included in religion, to be included in relationships, I think that, you know, those domains of community inclusion is one thing when we can do that. We feel more a part of ourselves and community. Like, we're not hiding anymore. We're coming off of the streets back into community. Somebody's made a connection. We've made a connection with ourselves. And now we make connection with what's around in our community because people saw us one way and they still have that vision. And our thing is to go back to those places, those stores, those families, those people that we wronged and make a different connection. So I think that community inclusion is finding a way to support people to include themselves back in their community. Excellent. Anita? I love that. I love to travel and I love to learn about other people. In recovery, it's the same thing. Like, if I don't understand something that's different from me or my culture, I want to learn about your culture and why it's important to you. So if I can do that without judging you and just accept you, I think that that makes people feel aligned. Thank you. Kurt? Yeah. You guys just did an awesome job. You took all my words. But I think the keynote is just, you know, love, compassion, consistency, being real, authentic. And it's just, can you remind me of the question again? I lost my train of thought. So really just kind of honing in on what is the essence of why community and connection to community is important in a personal recovery experience. Yes. Acceptance. That's what I was looking for, acceptance. And like BJ said, I thought about the stores I used to go into. And the clerk would know exactly why I was in there and have my flavor sitting on the counter before I even walked up. And that's what the individual seen, knew me as. And now walking in there for the first time after being recovered and seeing that individual and they asked me how many did I want, I'm like, I haven't touched that in several years. And, you know, they're finding that strength to be able to walk into those places and show my new self, the person that I was, that I lost. So, you know, knowing that identity and finding oneself and then just being accepted. And so you treat someone that is still in that crawling phase of recovery as such. You give them that value. You give them that space where they can feel that acceptance and that love and that compassion too. I don't see you as the sick person that I once was. I see you as the person that is getting better and wanting to make that change. Thank you. I hear you. And I'm also thinking about this very much what you just said really summarizes the sense of belonging. The sense of when you walk into a place, someone really knows you and you know that you belong. Bram, last comment on this and then we'll bring up a slide about our next webinars. Yeah, I just want to say when people, nobody plans to or chooses to or writes down, I can't wait to end up at a rescue mission shelter when I grow up. And so when they come to us, most times people are alone, alone, burned every bridge and mom and child, children are alone. And then in a few short months when that child is doing homework in our program that has 114 beds for women with children, there's like 10 aunties helping this child with doing their homework now. And so the community is there. And we know that the rate of success for everyone who graduates our program where they're tied into a church, a fellowship, celebrate recovery, NAAA, whatever it takes, the more people they have, the more chance of success they have. So we believe isolation leads to death and community leads to freedom and you can be yourself. And so I think that these topics today are very important. And we're so thankful that we're talking about it. I want to now ask Grace to please bring up the last slide. And I want to thank all of you, BJ, Anita, Kurt and Bram. We built a community as we prepared for this webinar. And it's been a beautiful time really getting to know each one of you and all that you bring to your work. And so I do want to just take a moment to highlight our next webinars for the series. So next Tuesday, Reducing Stigma Through Storytelling, Our Stories Have Power. Then on September 15th, Whole Health and Wellness, Improving Mental Health and Physical Health as a Cornerstone of Recovery. The following Tuesday, September 22nd, Multiple Pathways of Recovery, Recovery Happens in Many Ways. And then the last of our webinar series is on Youth and Family Recovery for the Future. We'll be focused on youth peer support, definitions of recovery for younger people and also younger family members who have a family member, whether they be an adult or a young person. So looking at the family members who are younger and how are we supporting them. And now last slide, just closing for the webinar. I know there were some requests for contact information for the speakers. And I think that we have their names on the website. And a lot of the speakers have kind of publicly facing contact information. But please feel free to reach out to us at the Office of Recovery as well. So if you have a specific request and we can then help to facilitate reaching out to the speaker on your behalf. I want to thank everyone again. And thank you to everyone. Today is a day of celebration. It is September 1st. It is the beginning of Recovery Month. And I hope that everyone holds the spirit of recovery throughout this month, shares it in community with others. Thank you very much. Thank you.