 Lakeland Public Television presents Currents, sponsored by Niswa Tax Service, offering tax preparation for individuals and businesses across from the City Hall in Niswa, and on the web at niswatax.com. And welcome to Lakeland Currents, I'm Bethany Wesley. The American Medical Association first classified addiction as a disease 60 years ago, yet it has been reported that 90% of people suffering from addiction will not seek help in any given year, 75% will never seek help or treatment. But there is a non-profit organization in the area that is seeking to change that. Face It Together Bemidji opened last year, providing recovery coaching and support services to those suffering from addiction and to the loved ones of those with addictions. Tonight I welcome to the program Margo Kelsey, the Executive Director of Face It Together Bemidji and Warren Larson, President of the Face It Together Bemidji Board of Directors. Together they are going to tell us all about the organization and how it is fostering long-term wellness throughout the community. Welcome. Thank you. Well thank you. Thanks for coming. As we get started why don't you give us a little history about the organization because I understand Bemidji is actually kind of an expansion of an existing program. Yes, Kevin Kirby is our co-founder and CEO and this started in Sioux Falls, South Dakota so we're the first affiliate outside of Sioux Falls but we are Bemidji-owned, we are community-owned, we're a non-profit in our community. And so we started, Kevin came and spoke with people in our community, Warren Larson being one of them who is our board chair and they decided to come to our Rotary presentation and do a presentation at Rotary and that's how a lot of us on the board got started and we actually created our first meeting outside of that which was May of 2015, our first board meeting. So and they came and spoke in March of 2015 and it was Kevin Kirby and then David White Sock our chief data officer as well and so it was a great meeting and we kind of got started from there and then due to a grant from the Nielsen Foundation was really how the meet of the matter and how we really then were able to hire myself as the executive director and get our facility up and running which we opened September 16th of 2016 for services. So if he came in 2015 this has gotten going pretty quickly. Warren what did you hear from him in those presentations and those early conversations that you really connected with? Just the whole disease concept. I think that for most of my life and the people around me we've thought of it as a acute disease where you would go get treatment and then you'd come out just like you had a broken arm and you got the cast off and okay now you're supposed to be well. And once he started talking about it being a chronic disease and that it's a long term recovery of wellness and that these individuals suffering from the disease need long term support in the process of getting well and staying well and that really made sense to me. I'm a cancer survivor and when I had cancer my work community surrounded me with love and support and I knew that when I was done with treatment that there would be a job. When I went home my family and my neighborhood gave me love and support. People came in and they put up wood. They brought fruit salads. But had I went to treatment for addiction I don't think it would have been the same and so once we start treating people that are suffering from this disease the same way we treat people suffering from other diseases I believe that we're going to have a lot of success and people will be able to live very successful happy healthy lives managing this disease. And that really was what inspired me to want to be involved. How important is it for face it together and for the community at large to really kind of combat that stigma and to really say you know what this is what it is and this is how we can help these people. I think it's extremely important. There's really two ways to look at this issue and that is from a human issue which I think is the most important of course and helping people out of that darkness and the second is a monetary issue. This is costing us. This is an epidemic of financial proportions in our country in our county however you want to look at it if breaking it down and I think I sent you some statistics in 2015 at Cassie American Business People $260 billion last year it was $273 billion and that isn't doing anything for the disease and those suffering from the disease that is just the peer cost and that is only what we can measure. So there's all these other areas. So what is that measured from or what is it that really looks at that? The presenteeism we're looking at the safety incidents those types of things and when we look at though the things that we can't measure I guess as tangible we're looking at brand how does this affect a company's whole brand if they're dealing with someone presenteism how present is someone when they're sitting there and it's not just those suffering from this disease it's also their loved ones. Because you think this disease really hijacks a family and then the disease holds everyone hostage so we've figured out that for every one person suffering from this disease four other people are affected and so but inversely if we can help that one person for other lives are also affected so it's a win-win with that. Bethany if you think about if I had a family member that was suffering from the disease and I'm at work but I'm really worried about what could be happening to them or it could be a child a spouse or someone very close then I might not be as productive at what I'm supposed to be doing because of what's going on at home. And so it's really about trying to not just help that person or even those four five six family friends but the community as a whole. And it sounds like pretty early on the community recognized that this is a program that could have success here. What was it that you saw in it Margo that really connected with you? I am in recovery myself I have four and a half years in recovery and it was very difficult for me to get into recovery because I was that middle class person I was a high functioning alcoholic there was so much stigma and shame around it that it took me a while to get help just due to that I didn't want to admit that I had this disease because of all of the pitfalls that happen along the way and it really does the stigma follows you and affects you and so when I went to get help though it was very difficult for me to go to an inpatient treatment center it was just even with insurance it was financially not available to me at that point in time and so I was thankfully able to get into a 12-step program and then also get into counseling and get myself some help but what really resonated with me is that how do other people navigate this because I had more wherewithal and resources than a lot of people did and I still hardly could manage getting into recovery myself and so when David and Kevin came and spoke it was really emotional for me honestly to listen to this presentation because I understood that struggle and so I really wanted to be a part of this because I wanted to be able I'm from Bemidji I left and I came home and this is my home and there are so many people here who are struggling with this disease and I see this and so it was really important for me personally to be able to create avenues for people and resources for people to get help because I know what that darkness is like and I did a really good job of having all these facades up so no one ever knew how badly I was struggling and so you know they just saw the okay well Margo's fun when she goes out and has a couple of drinks but they didn't get to see the aftermath of what that looked like and and the depression issues that I dealt with and all of that that surrounds this disease as well and so it was I thought it was when I heard about this I needed to get involved okay let's move into some of the specifics of what makes make it together unique then tell us one of the words that we've heard or seen on the website is that it's a hub it helps connect different aspects of the community how does that work or how does what does that look like so we meet people wherever they're at not just the person suffering from the disease but their loved one as well they can walk in they are referred it happens in a variety of different ways but we when someone walks in the door we help figure out what they need so it's not it's truly a program that isn't tailored or it is truly tailored to the individual it's not a one-size-fits-all program and so and when they come in we help answer their questions we help them feel at ease that's kind of the first step the second step is do they need services from us or do they simply needs another service in the community that we're aware of and that we can get them to that service most of the time though with the addiction issues they in this disease the loved one or the person suffering comes and they do sign up for help with us and then we have a recovery coach that walks next to them and then helps connect them with services along the way that might help them so we're just trying to trying to create a toolbox all my coaches are in recovery and they have long-term recovery and are working some sort of program of wellness for themselves and they so we get it we get it right off the bat when when people walk in the door and it's not from a judgment perspective it's okay sit down have a cup of coffee have some sugar we get this we understand this do you find that most of those initial contacts from an individual who wants help he or she just really doesn't know what to do or like do I go to this place or do I go do I need an appointment I mean is that a big part of it is just kind of explaining what the addiction you know the disease is and how you can address it yes that's a huge portion of it is that we need to educate people on what their disease is so that they can properly manage it for themselves and again it's not a one-size-fits-all thing this disease isn't one size fits all and and it's very indiscriminate it likes everybody and so how do we create a program that's going to work for that individual specifically to make them successful and you know I think when somebody tells you well you've got this disease and this is how it needs to work and you're going to fit inside this box and this is just just do this and it's going to work that's completely unrealistic and we don't expect other people other diseases to be managed that way for people it's okay what is your lifestyle like what is what are your hopes and dreams and aspirations what do you want out of life and we look at that for other people with other diseases and we don't look at that for this disease but that's how people get well is that they figure out how they need to manage their disease and then they effectively manage it in their lives one of the terms you had mentioned was that it's a peer-to-peer counseling it's a your recovery coaches have been there how important or how much does that help your clients or the people you're helping and feel more comfortable it's a huge part of it when people walk in and I think especially when people see me they're like well you can't be in recovery you know you're the director and and I explain to people it's like we're all in recovery here I am in recovery too and this look of relief and you just see this okay okay and then the second thing is is how do I pay for this how am I going to and do you take insurance and and then when we look at them and say we're free to the end user there's other services that might require some financial assistance or whatnot but here you you're okay and it's free to the end user and this just overwhelming relief comes over them for that too because there's so many barriers with getting help for this disease because of finances and that's really terribly unfortunate does that help someone's recovery just in and of itself not having to stress I mean I've talked about this with cancer patients before when they get help with medicine I mean does that help with not having to stress about the cost or whether they're being judged I mean that's a huge part of it because people will go out and relapse and use over those kinds of things or not get and say they'll relapse and then not be able to get back into recovery or get into help because of that so when someone first walks in your door and says you know I need help can you help us how long is it before they're really starting to receive some of those services is it immediate it's immediate they they fill out an intake and they're talking to someone that whole time it might not be the coach that they end up with because we really try to partner the person who's coming in our clients with a coach that has some of the same addiction cycles they have might have some of the same child care is a huge one with chips cases and so have you are you in the system do you need help because you're in the system do you we are you a professional are you so we try and partner people together with a coach that looks like them so that they know that there's hope on the other end of this and that they see somebody who's already achieved this and so that I think that's a really important part of this is this peer recovery model where they just feel like they kind of have a friend and how I explained it to my mother when I first went to train because she's like okay what are you doing and I said well mom it's kind of like being a life coach with chemicals okay so okay the immediacy though is kind of unique to this field correct because correct me if I'm wrong but in some of the materials I read there's weeks waits just to get assessments before you get into the centers yep for us it's not you can come right now and and even if somebody can't talk to you right now we have lots of things for you to do in a safe environment so we have a computer that you can check for jobs for checking emails things like that because that's a huge barrier sometimes for people printing out simply printing out an application for somebody for a job can be a barrier people know they can come in that we have lots of literature they can come and have a cup of coffee they can just hang out and a lot of the times there's other clients there too and so there's kind of this camaraderie that's formed with people because they they get it and then they're meeting other people who are healthy or trying to get healthy and so it's a really positive thing because people places and things that's what can make us or break us with this and so if we're we have healthy connections and and other people in our lives who are trying to be healthy we're going to be more successful interesting there's a term that you use and it is recovery capital do i have that correct can you explain that to me what is that and how does that really play into somebody building on their success well we're uh face it together as one of the first in the industry to create measurables for this disease and so the recovery capital and the idea of recovery capital is that the if you're working a program it's kind of like putting all these good things in a box that you have and so when something really happens it's hard you can take those tools out of that box and and use them or that toolbox whatever we want to call that and so that's what we consider a recovery capital it's all the good things that we're doing for ourselves for wellness and recovery and the recovery capital index that we use is a measurement of whole wellness so is someone physically safe do they have access to nutritional foods do they have access to care do they have access to healthcare all of these things are components to whole wellness you know even a spiritual component can be really important for somebody in getting into recovery and so that is a great tool for us to look at specifics with an individual and see where they might be having some problems and so and the way that the questions are asked is in such a way that the people aren't lying they're not trying to there's no system to per se to buck so they're really trying it it's asking them in such a way so that they want to answer in a in a very honest way and then gives us the recovery coach a basis to start and then it's really cool because we do these at 30 60 and 90 days when they first start with us and they get to then see their own progress get better as they're starting to work on these different aspects of their life and their recovery okay interesting what are some of the programs or the services you can provide to the loved ones like if someone comes to you and says you know what i have somebody in my life who really should have help but isn't quite ready are there services if they came to you that you can help point them to yeah actually we encourage them to sign up for recovery coaching themselves and we have people who are trained in loved ones loved one coaching as well as the recovery coaching for the person with the disease and a lot of the times people want us to fix the person who has the disease we can't do that because they have to become willing and they have to want to help themselves but what we can do is help the person who's at the loved one navigate what is healthy what is unhealthy what is enabling how do we create healthfulness so that that one person's disease isn't holding everyone hostage around them the worst thing that we can do though is cut people off and that's what like people always think it's a black and white issue and it's not it's how do we help them create healthy boundaries so is giving them cash a good idea probably not no if they're actively using they probably need to find somewhere else to live how do we you know how do we create something so that it's healthy for both sides and so we're very much actually half of our clients right now are loved ones so it's um and that's very powerful and it's it's about giving and empowering that person to take care of themselves create these healthy boundaries so that they're not having to cut that person off because this disease isolates and punishes all on its own and then we as a society have this idea that if we cut them off that that's somehow going to make them healthy and that is the exact opposite of what actually happens so you can still be in somebody's life and give them love and connection and community without enabling their disease and so we help people navigate that as loved ones you said earlier that you really make an effort to meet people where they are at and so does that mean that you have or would frequently imagine so meeting somebody who says you know i think i need help i'm not quite ready yet because i'm afraid of if i seek help my employer might you know not like that or something to do you help prepare people to get ready to get help yes yes it's simply talking with a coach and having that cloak kind of taken off of of okay i can ask whatever question i need to ask because people are so good they think we as human beings always think that we're the only ones and then we blow this irrational belief up that somehow we're the only ones who are affected or we're the only ones who could possibly have this happen to us and so really we're not and and so i think that it's it's a really powerful thing when you when someone sits down with a coach and they've created this little box around them from the world so that they can isolate themselves because of their their addiction and so and they realize that they're not alone that oh you have these thoughts and feelings and this is how you did this and i'm not alone that's an exceptionally powerful thing that connection back to humanity that you realize that there's a lot of messed up stuff with humanity and there's a lot of messed up stuff and thoughts we all have but it's whether we act on them how how healthy we are with our choices and that we're not alone um that's a huge huge piece of this i do have a question about the the recovery coaches themselves are obviously gone through and are in recovery yourself um is it beneficial for you to go through this with new clients is it does it ever put you more at risk for a relapse or anything or is it is it more healthy do you feel like you're contributing um i think that if it's the right fit for someone it's incredibly empowering and we actually get more out of it sometimes we feel like we get more out of it than we're actually even helping the other person reminds us where we are you know when somebody comes in and they're in the throes of their addiction it reminds us where we were and what kind of has happened in our own past where we are now um and i think that's very a powerful thing um but uh and i'm sorry we were just i just lost my train no that's fine i did want to move a little bit anyways into the employer initiative because we haven't even touched on that and i would like to highlight that because that is unique yeah so tell us what that is and how it works so it's a workplace initiative and what we we'd like to do we actually have three partners already um sanford health medsave pharmacy and paul bunny communications that have come on with us and and what we would what we like to do is uh go in and we train we first of all we work with the management staff and we figure out if their hr policies and procedures um are in alignment with what we're then going to talk to their employees about and and so usually people don't realize that the american with disabilities acts covers all some of this addiction but it's only for alcoholism so it's not for drug addiction and most people don't realize that and so what we do is we actually help create that language in their hr policies so that that people can feel safer if looking at it in black and white and then we work with their um the management team to deliver this message to their employees that this is indeed a disease we want people to get help they don't need to be fearful of their jobs this is a disease it needs to be managed it can be managed uh like diabetes a long-term chronic manageable disease and then we offer education to their um employees about loved ones as well as those suffering from the disease of addiction and where they can get they can come in and get help with us we kind of put together some key performance indicators with the businesses to figure out how we can track that um but truly it's it's we're HIPAA compliant and confidential and so what i can do is go back and tell uh say paul bunny communications welts um x y z so many of uh employees um this is the number of employees that have sought services with us and so we can prove to them that that it is actually working and and helping their employees and so it's it's we ask for a three-year commitment and it's a very reasonable cost it's forty dollars ahead basically in terms of the number of employees they have yep and so we're looking at forty dollars ahead and then a three-year commitment so that we can track and and look at those key performance indicators as as we go so that we can really see that we're getting they're getting a return and that we're helping people kevin curby is a very successful business person um and so i think he recognized at the very beginning in creating face it together that if we're going to work with the business community they like to have measured outcomes and so uh they at the very beginning they worked very hard at creating um measurements so that they could show a return on investment so when we sit down with a business person or a business entity we we talk right away about return on investment about uh what this investment uh can do for their employees and that ultimately that when we're successful at keeping their employees well their organization is going to do better and there's going to be a positive um on the balance sheet and um and so measurement is really important um and it's very important uh in our relationship as we go forward and we have conversations with people in the business community okay we're kind of getting to the final minutes here and i didn't want to ask you if um if there's someone out there who wants to get involved who wants to help or support you in some way are you looking for volunteers are you looking for assistance yes um we're looking for volunteers and we have lots of events that happen so you don't have to be suffering from the disease to help us uh we still need volunteers but if you do have good recovery we also are looking for recovery coaches we're looking for loved one coaches so if if you've dealt kind of first hand but you are in a healthy place um please come in and talk to me and and my my team of people that are just amazing human beings and and want to help um and uh we're looking for donations as well we're looking for workplace initiative partners we need help with this in our community on every level and aspect so check out our website um faceupamidji.org check give us a call 218-444-9494 for more information and uh check us out on Facebook too we have a lot of things that we put on Facebook and Twitter Facebook's a good way to hear about what's coming up and all the events that are coming up how many recovery coaches do you have and do you have a goal for how many you need um i don't even know how to answer that because we have so much need in our community so more more more is better and and uh right now we have seven recovery coaches but we we need more um we need more we need we need more we need to help more people what about the board ward are you guys pretty set in terms of what you need for board representation well we are always recruiting um and and wanting to bring on more talent as far as on to our board of directors um we do have an incredible group of very talented members and they all bring um special expertise that is of great value but most important of all we've been successful at hiring a fantastic executive director and if we didn't have margo we probably wouldn't have a a building or an office or or any services at all and so we're very thankful and grateful for the work that margo is doing on behalf of the board thank you well i'm thankful and grateful that you guys came to join me today so thank you so much thank you for tuning in to lakeland currents please join me next time