April 29, 2025 • 30 mins
We spoke with CCAR Executive Director Stacy Charpentier about addiction and recovery.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, Thank you for listening to Community Access. My
guest this morning is Stacy Sharpen Tears. She's executive director
for the Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery. Good morning, good morning,
thank you for having me. How did it come about
and what's your mission?
Speaker 2 (00:16):
So, SEACAR is a recovery community organization. We are one
of the oldest in the country and it was founded
by people in recovery who really felt that their voices
weren't being heard by people who are making decisions about
people who are struggling with addiction and or people in recovery.
(00:36):
And so it really started with small group meetings and
people kind of coming together, and then SEACAR was formed
through a federal grant from SAMPSO, which is the Substance
Abuse Mental Health Services Administration, I want to say twenty
five years ago now, So they were one of the
first and they started this recovery community organization to be
(00:58):
a more permanent place where people could really work on
their recovery journey in the journey that they wanted to take.
So that's one of the really cool things about CCAR
is that we're not attached to any specific program or
treatment pathway or any of those things. We really value
multiple pathways allowing people to really come in and kind
(01:21):
of discover for themselves what they want that recovery pathway
to look like.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
So tell me what type of recovery support services and
programs you provide.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Absolutely so.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
In Connecticut right now, we have eight recovery community centers
and those are basically safe places in communities where people
can come in and really kind of just look at
what they want their recovery journey to look like, get help,
get supports, connected to resources, maybe get an idea of
what different pathways.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Are out there.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
And so people will either come in either having already
started a recovery program, maybe they went to treatment or
detox and now they're back trying to reacclimate to you know,
what we might call normal day to day living and
they just need some additional.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Supports, or because recovery is.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
A lifelong journey, so we want to be there for
every part of it. Or maybe they're looking to give
back to the recovery community with service because that is
a big aspect of people who are on this side
of the coin, and they look at how grateful they
are to be given this second chance at living life,
and so they want to make sure that other people
(02:32):
have that second chance. So they give back by serving
as volunteers in our recovery community centers.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
So that's one.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Way that people can get connected to c CAR, and
all of those programs are free. People can come in,
have a cup of coffee, sit and chat, go to
support groups, they can work on their resume, they can
volunteer as being the receptionist or just taking care of
people in the center by you know, maintaining the area.
(02:59):
They can go to different groups or host different groups.
Centers are really made up of volunteers and that center
really takes what those volunteers want to do and kind
of brings it to life for them. And all of
those services are free. We also offer telephone recovery support
phone calls.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Those are also free.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
So if somebody is looking to maybe get some help,
a lifeline sort of speak somebody to maybe just check
in on them. A lot of times when people are
an active addiction, they've burned a lot of bridges, and
so if they've entered into a treatment program and they're
coming out, they can sign up to have somebody check
on them every couple of days. How's it going, How
(03:41):
are you coping? Are there any resources that you might need?
And we're able to give people those calls on an
ongoing basis up to twelve weeks or longer if they
want it. Wonderful, yeah, and that's all done through volunteer services.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
The other thing that.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
We provide is in every emergency department across the state
of connectic It, we have recovery coaches that are dispatched
that if you know, somebody enters into an emergency room
and it's alcohol or drug related, whatever the situation is,
they will be offered if they would like to speak
to a recovery coach who can then come in and
(04:17):
just kind of have a conversation. You know, is recovery
something that you're looking at right now? Is you know
what brought you here? Is? Are you looking to make
a change? What type of change are you willing to
make right now? And it sometimes people aren't ready to
make those decisions in those kind of catastrophic moments.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Better coaches are there.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
They're there to have a conversation, be a friendly face,
and to really kind of share with them information, share
their business card and basically if you're not ready now,
let me know when you are. And a lot of
times our coaches will check back in on people, you know,
because some days it's a few days later that somebody
might have that kind of like aha moment, I don't
(04:58):
want to do this again, and then a coach can
reach out to them and connect them to services.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
How successful do you find the recovery coach program to be.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
It's incredibly successful and we really do so. We have
about eighteen full time staff that cover the emergency departments,
and that's eight am to midnight, seven days a week
across the entire state. And they have at least I
want to say, around five hundred and fifty calls every
(05:26):
single month that they go into support. And what's really
incredible about that is we know how chaotic hospital emergency
rooms are, and we know it's about triage right, get
people in, get them helped, and move them out. And
a lot of times people in these situations they're not
ready to move that fast, or we need to wait
(05:48):
until they're you know, sober to be able to have
a conversation or interact with them or whatever that is,
you know. And so a lot of the hospitals, because
they know that there were taking the burden off of them,
will allow people that extra time to be able to sit,
wait for a coach to come in, have the conversation
(06:09):
if that person wants to go into treatment or detox,
find the bed, hold that person until we can connect them.
And it's because of our connection and the value that
they see in these programs, because if we can get
that person into a recovery program or into treatment or
detox or connected in the community, they might not be
(06:30):
in thatn eburgency room again. And so we're finding that
more and more hospitals are relying on our coaches because
they know that. You know, I don't have numbers of
success because a lot of times when people go into recovery,
we don't hear from them again because they're out of
the system. You know. Wonderful, but we do know that
it works, you know. And we started in twenty seventeen
(06:51):
with just three coaches and three hospitals, and now, like
I said, we're in every single hospital across Connecticut.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
We also have coaches that work with our Department of
Corrections program as well, so those are people who have
maybe already integrated into a recovery program while they're incarcerated,
and then we can have a coach meet with them
before they are released so that they can set up supports,
get them connected, make sure if there's somebody who is
(07:19):
on medication assisted recovery or medications supported recovery, they can
ensure that they have those resources set for when they
come out, and make sure that you know that they're
taken care of, you know, because again, you know, things
happen when you're out an active addiction, and you may
lose a lot of the people that you tended to
(07:40):
count on. And so even though you've turned your life around,
sometimes it takes a little bit more to build those
bridges back, and so coaches can also be a support system.
The recovery community centers can be a support system. And
that's the other thing that's been great is our coaches
will go into the Department of Corrections or they'll go
into hospitals, but then we invite people to see us
(08:01):
again at the community centers because that's where they can
build that bigger support system as well.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Wow, unbelievable. If you're following along, go to CCAR dot
us if you'd like to become a coach volunteer, make
a donation, find out about all of the programs and services.
You have your own personal story that brought you to
this work, did you want to share it?
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Sure? Absolutely so.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
My father was somebody who struggled with addiction for most
of his life, and he tried many different pathways a lot.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
A lot of times. It was AA, you know.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Because that's the pathway that people typically tell you, go
to a meeting, Go to a meeting, go to a meeting.
I can't tell you how many thirty TA chips my
dad had because it just never worked with him, you know.
But what his pathway ended up being was medication. He
ended up going on somebox and he had a heroin addiction.
(08:55):
And so once he was able to find that and
go to support groups and really talk about what some
of those issues were, why he was drinking, why he
was drugging, all of those things, he really was able
to maintain his recovery. And we were a strange for
a very long time.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
I always thought I'm going to get the phone call,
you know that things. You know, he's had two heart attacks,
you know, And every time I got that phone would
ring in the middle of the night, I would think,
what now, you know, he found recovery. And what was
great about that is that we were able to reconnect.
He had passed away two years later from cancer, Yes,
(09:34):
and thank you, But in those two years I was
able to have a relationship with my dad. I was
able to support him through a horrible illness and be
able to kind of be there and be somebody that
he could count on again, and knowing that I could
count on him too, And if he didn't have recovery,
we wouldn't have had that. And I just keep thinking
(09:56):
of like the regret and everything else. But that's typical,
right when addiction breaks up families, it impacts communities, and
so you know, a lot of times we don't hear
the success stories, like I said, but I think the
success stories are what gives people hope.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
This can happen to you.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
And I can't tell you how many times I've shared
my story and then have people say, oh, my goodness,
that was my life. You know, I could never have
friends over. I couldn't just because I never knew what
my dad was going to be like.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
And so.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
It took a long time for me to even say
that my father was in recovery because I never wanted
anybody to know what my home.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Life was like that.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
You know, we were just living this very difficult situation,
you know, and many families are dealing with this, and
there isn't ever the opportunity to be able to be
your authentic self. You know, you're constantly worried about what
people might think. But yeah, but so so Really, when
when you end up, especially like now working at CCAR
(10:58):
and being able to give that story some voice, it's
just been like, I can be my authentic self. I
can talk about the things that I would have never
really shared with other people. I can connect with people
on a journey that they might have that's similar to mine.
Or I can have people that are in recovery say, wow,
I had no idea that my addiction could have impacted
(11:21):
my family in the way that it impacted you. We
can have real conversations. And that's one of the things
that I love about working at SEACAR is that most
of our staff are people who have similar stories or
people who are in recovery. And these are people who
are so passionate about the recovery community. They give back
every day, you know, like this is their life. And
(11:41):
then they choose to use their life in service to
give back to the recovery community. But we can all
be our authentic self all the time. We can have
these conversations. I don't know of many places of employment
where you can come in and talk about you know,
like your son or your uncle or whoever might still
be struggling and get real guidance and real empathy and support,
(12:06):
you know, because we know that's hard. But not many
families are able to have those real, kind of honest
conversations with people for fear of judgment.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
That's the question I was just going to say to
you is there are many people are super judgmental, and
I don't think they truly understand addiction. They're told if
you enable them, you're disabling them. So how do we
give them empathy without enabling them.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Well, I think a lot of time, what's really good
for families and families are often they're welcome into SCAR,
into our recovery community centers, because I think a lot
of times it's just an understanding of what that journey
can look like. So when I it's interesting because when
I first started working at SCAR, I was the Recovery
(12:51):
Coach Academy coordinator that's one of our training programs. It's
an internationally recognized program to train people who want to
be recovery coaches. And with the first two weeks I
took that training, and I learned so much about what
the recovery journey was like because I wasn't somebody who
had an addiction. I just thought from the lens of
(13:13):
me seeing what my father was going through, and I
never understood like he went into treatment, he had been arrested,
like he had all these things that had happened to him,
and when he came out of whatever, I expected him
to be, you know, kind of back to my normal dad,
you know. And that's when the hard work starts for
(13:34):
somebody in recovery, is when those structured settings come away
and you have to start living life on life's terms
and go back to work.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
And deal with the stress of everyday life.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
That's when those things that we use to kind of
help soothe or you know, to take the edge off,
kind of come back in. And so I didn't really
understand that the recovery journey was a lifelong journey that
people who have an addiction.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
It is.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
It's a disease, and it's pervasive and it doesn't stop
just because somebody wants it to. They have to work,
you know, they have to have the will, they have
to have the courage and the strength to be able
to do that. And I think people who have gone
through a recovery process and have been successful and had
years even a day in recovery, that's amazing, that's incredible.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
You know.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
I always say that I work with people who are
walking miracles because they are. Many of them have had
instances of needing to be narcand resuscitated and whatever, and
you know, and I just look at that as I
wish more people understood more of those parts of it,
that understood that the journey is often difficult and sometimes
(14:51):
people just need to know that you're there to support them.
They don't need you to be on top of them
or but to just know that you're there, you know,
as a support system. But I think again that goes
to a lot of.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
People don't know how to ask for help.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
They don't want to ask for help just because the
stigma is so is so.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Right, yeah, Or people personalize the person's addiction. They don't
understand that they do have a disease, right, And there's
usually a dual diagnosis with a mental health issues.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Sometimes you said they'll self soothe, so they personalize it
and they don't want anything to do with the person.
But it's not necessarily personal.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
No, no, absolutely not. And I think you know a
lot of times people will tell you, you know, don't give
that person money.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Don't do this.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
You're just enabling, like you said, And I think it's
just a matter of you can provide support, right, it
doesn't have to be the money.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
It doesn't have to be.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
But you could drive somebody to the grocery store and
get them decent groceries.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
You can drive, you know.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
I had somebody who had a nephew who is coming
out of a program and was concerned. She's like, because
he's going to be in his own apartment and I
know he doesn't have a car yet. But I don't
want to just give him money.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
How am I?
Speaker 2 (16:13):
How am I going to support him? Because I don't
want the money to go you know, into the habit again.
You know, how do I do this? And I was like,
take him to the grocery store with you. Take him,
you know, be that you can be that support without
you know, giving giving money. If that's if that's what
your concern is, you know there are ways, and I
(16:34):
think that's what's been really cool. So we have a
Young People and Family Services program, and we do meetings
for family members as well, and so family members can
connect with other family members to kind of know, like
what was your experience like because this was mine, and
what can I learn from you as opposed to and
really just kind of learn like what are some of
(16:54):
those strategies that might be helpful in somebody's unique situation.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
I think what happens is the care giver believes if
I just love them enough, if I just do enough.
But an addict is manipulative. An addict does lie. And
again it isn't personal by any means, because it's a disease.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
It is somebody will lie, cheat, steel to get what
they need right. And it's it's kind of like when
you think about if you're struggling to breathe right, you
will do anything to get that next breath. That's what
that next hit, that next drink or whatever is to
somebody who is an addict, and so whatever they need
(17:36):
to do to do that, they're going to and and
it really has nothing to do with the family or
anything else, and you know, and that's the whole thing too,
is I don't think people understand that. I know, family
members sometimes take on this like I must have failed,
I must have done something. I must have you know,
or people are gonna look at me, you know, like
(17:58):
this horrible person if you know, my kid or whatever, and.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
It's it's a disease.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
You know, Like twenty kids could go and party at
a high school and one of those kids could end
up like partying too hard and be like, wow, I
really like this and then all of a sudden be
condicted where the other.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Ones don't right, and you just you don't know who it.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Is or right. It could be like me, I think
about peanut butter cops as soon as they wake up
in the morning. I just I'm just lucky. It isn't
right alcohol or drugs, spending money, or addicted to works or.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Video games or gambling or any any of the things
right exactly. And so it's really hard to sit there
and judge somebody if you've never really understood what it
looks like or what it can feel like. The best
thing that people can do is just do some research, educate.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Yourself, understand it a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
And if you don't have the means to know where
to start, reach out to us. We'll help connect you,
we'll give you resources. Well, you know, we have all
recovery meetings that don't follow a particular pathway or format
or anything. It's just coming together to talk about a
topic that really anybody can talk about. Right So when
we talk about you know, living a life and recovery,
(19:17):
I mean people in recovery live life and experience stress
and all the things the way everybody else does, you know,
So anybody can have input into some of these conversations.
If we're talking about like how are we coping with
the stress of what's going on in today's world, that's
a conversation we can all.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Contribute to, you know.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
And so I just encourage anybody who family, member, friends, allies, whatever,
come on into a center because sometimes also having other
people for people to kind of like share perspectives with
or have differing perspectives with, really widens everybody's minds. And
to me, if we could just kind of eliminate the
(20:00):
separation between people in recovery and people not you know,
as far as well, that's a Recovery Community Center.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
That's for that.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
You know, we kind of can take away some of
the stigma that people might experience as well.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Absolutely, I see you often people end up returning to
the same neighborhoods, the same people, and then they fall
back and as you said, if they don't have a job,
if they don't have a car, of course, right.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
I used to work at Bristol Hospital in the inpatient unit,
and I remember like having people come in. I was
just there on the weekends, but they would come in
and it was like just a few day program that
they would come into. But like there was one family.
A twin would come in, he would go out, his
next twin would come in, he would go out, the
mom would come in, and it was like in the
(20:44):
whole time when they were there, they were on the
phone with each other. So it was like this vicious cycle,
you know. And so I do think that there is
definitely something to be said for there's a common theme people,
places and things. Right, you got to change some of
those things and change you know, maybe.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Some of the people.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
But but the one thing that I want people to
think about too is that you know, you don't have
to change like everything right, because there are some creature
comforts and some of the things that we really have
attached ourselves to. And so there are some people and
this is the one thing that we talk about too,
who will say, well, you can't do that anymore if
(21:25):
you're going to be in recovery, or you can't do
this anymore if you're going to be in recovery, and
that kind of sets people up to like, well, then
why do I want to do this if I have
to give up all the things that I love, you know. So,
and that's why I'm really happy that we support multiple
pathways to recovery because people can kind of think about
what they want that journey to look like. You know,
(21:46):
do you want to do yoga? Do you want to
go sing in a rock band?
Speaker 3 (21:50):
You know?
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Do you whatever it is that's going to bring you
heart and meaning you should have that, you know. And
so I don't want people to think that they have
to give up all the things. Are there things people
have to give up, yes, but I don't want them
to think that they have to give up things that
they find heart and meeting with too.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
I hear this very often. So I do want to
ask you, yeah, if your spouse is an alcoholic, and
you know they're an alcoholic, they given up drinking, should
you drink in front of them?
Speaker 2 (22:19):
I would say so. I think it's the individual. But
I will say this, anything that I can do to
help support somebody's journey, I'm going to I am not
somebody who's in recovery, but on my social media I
do not post pictures of me in any type of
setting where there's alcohol. I will never post a picture
of me standing. I went to Las Vegas last year
(22:41):
and in post a picture of like a SOT machine.
You know, there's certain things that I just won't do
because it might be triggering for one person. And I
hate to use that word, but but it might. But
it might, right, and so the spouse might be like, no, no, no,
it's fine until the one night where it may not
be fine, you know. So I'm not telling anybody to
(23:02):
do that or I wouldn't do that, But it's kind
of one of those things where I don't know if
I would tempt fate, you know, because again, it's a
lifelong journey that somebody's on, and if for some reason,
there is a stressful day at work or something happens,
you know again living life on life terms.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
You know it easy access because it's right there, you know.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Unfortunately unfortunately easy access. You have two incredible events that
are coming up, yes, and let's talk about those. You
have one May sixth.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Yes, we are having a Recovery Day at the Capitol.
And this is really exciting for us because this event
is being sponsored by the Appropriations Committee, who is handling
the budget that is going on right now in the
state of Connecticut, as well as the Public Health Committee,
so we're excited. We have legislators from both of those
committees that will be there to speak. There's going to
(23:57):
be a press conference, We're going to have some recent tables,
so we're really excited. I would say if you have
any time on May six to stop by the Capitol
to support and celebrate recovery with us, we would love
to see you there. But yeah, we will be posting
on our socials, which you can also find on our website.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
So that's Instagram, Facebook.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Instagram, Facebook, ciar dot us. Absolutely all right.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
In June eighteenth, you have another event.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
We have our golf tournament and I have Amy here
who is our special events manager with me, who is
amazing at planning all of these events. But we are
going to the Stanley Golf Course in New Britain. Our
tea time is ten am shotgun start, like always, but
(24:42):
this is one of the fundraisers that we do to
kind of help us raise money for programs that aren't
state funded or just programs that we aren't able to
fund otherwise. You can also register for that event at
cc AR dot us and we have sponsorship opportunities if
people want to donate raffle prizes or baskets or any
(25:03):
of those things. We'd love to have you and love
to support other small businesses to kind of like put
their name out there if they have raffle prizes and whatnot.
But that's always a fun event. It's always a really
we always have a nice day, which I'm happy about.
But it's a great day to just kind of get out,
you know, on the golf course, celebrate with other people
(25:25):
who work in the recovery space. But you don't have
to be a person in recovery to golf you know it.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Just come and.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Support us, support our vision and our mission and really
just have a nice day on the on the course.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Wonderful you have a donation store.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
We do. So we do have a donation store.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
It is on our website as well, and that is
where people can get any kind of like Seacar swag,
T shirts, things such as that, which is really fun.
We do have volunteers and staff who will go there
just to kind of like promote Seacar. We also have
a go fund me right now because you know, with
(26:03):
some of the cuts and things, you know, we're kind
of worried about some of the funding going forward. You know,
we're a nonprofit and we're at risk like anybody else's
right now. So we do have a GoFundMe going on,
and we do have that listed on our home page
as well.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Wonderful. What is the Ocean Recovery Community Alliance? I'm an
ocean girl. Anything to do with it.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
I'm so happy that you asked about that.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
So, the Ocean Recovery Community Alliance or ORCA is a
program that started about five years ago and it was
spearheaded by our previous executive director, Phil Valentine, who really
thought of this being away for the recovery community to
give back to the community at large by cleaning and
(26:45):
taking care of trash out.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Of the waterways.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
So within Connecticut and Rhode Island, we have a program
manager that literally has been organizing cleanups across you know,
these two states to collect trash and he's collected about
fifty five thousand pounds of trash since we've started. It's
an amazing initiative. But he has an instagram, which you
(27:09):
can also find on our website. But these cleanups are
free to attend. People come, they volunteer, and a lot
of people don't even come who are part of the
recovery community. They just come because they want to clean
mother Earth, you know, which has been fantastic.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
But in doing so they also learn.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
A little bit more about how we were founded, learn
a bit more about recovery, and so it's been a
really nice way to kind of blend those two worlds.
But really, when you think about it, as I said,
service is such a big part of people's recovery to
give back, and like I said, this is just a
way to give back to the community at large. And
you know, again, cleaning up the waterways is such a
(27:47):
beautiful thing, especially right now there's so much you know,
plastics and you know, even just walking around Hartford sometimes
we'll do like a little mini cleanup here, you know,
just to kind of clean up our communities and whatnot
as well.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
And I think it's a great way for family members
absolutely to connect. And the next thing, you know, you've
got so and so that you can call when you're
feeling low and they can lift you up and then
you could do the same.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Yes, and we do have a lot of times we'll
do events that are kind of tied to some of
our centers too, so then we'll have volunteers and staff
so that people can connect if they're looking to get
more information the number of the center. If you're concerned
about you know, this, that and the other thing, give
us a call, let us know how we can help
support you. But yeah, I think what's been really cool
(28:34):
is that there have been a lot of families, a
lot of young people that come. Social justice, you know,
keeping care, taking care of the earth is really important
to a lot of our young people, and so getting
them involved in some of these initiatives too also opens
their minds and educates them about recovery, addiction and things
(28:55):
such as that, which I think is really important too.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
And opens doors to maybe other things things jobs they
never thought about.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Going absolutely I mean, you know, like I said, a
lot of us, you know, have been impacted, but there
have been many people who've come into CCR who didn't
even realize, you know, like what the world of recovery is.
And I think it's really open their eyes to the dedication,
the passion, the strength that people have to go through
(29:23):
this process. And it's really so uplifting to be part
of an organization that gives back in such a truly
meaningful way.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Wow, you guys are just amazing. I'm speaking with Stacy
sharpen Tear, executive director of c CAR. It's Connecticut Community
for Addiction Recovery. It's CCAR dot us. They have two
events coming up. May sixth, it's Recovery Day at the
State Capitol and June eighteenth, it's a golf tournament. You
(29:52):
can donate, you can volunteer, you can get involved again.
It's CCAR dot e us. Thank you so much for
being here today.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.
Good morning, Thank you for listening to Community Access. My
guest this morning is Stacy Sharpen Tears. She's executive director
for the Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery. Good morning, good morning,
thank you for having me. How did it come about
and what's your mission?
Speaker 2 (00:16):
So, SEACAR is a recovery community organization. We are one
of the oldest in the country and it was founded
by people in recovery who really felt that their voices
weren't being heard by people who are making decisions about
people who are struggling with addiction and or people in recovery.
(00:36):
And so it really started with small group meetings and
people kind of coming together, and then SEACAR was formed
through a federal grant from SAMPSO, which is the Substance
Abuse Mental Health Services Administration, I want to say twenty
five years ago now, So they were one of the
first and they started this recovery community organization to be
(00:58):
a more permanent place where people could really work on
their recovery journey in the journey that they wanted to take.
So that's one of the really cool things about CCAR
is that we're not attached to any specific program or
treatment pathway or any of those things. We really value
multiple pathways allowing people to really come in and kind
(01:21):
of discover for themselves what they want that recovery pathway
to look like.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
So tell me what type of recovery support services and
programs you provide.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Absolutely so.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
In Connecticut right now, we have eight recovery community centers
and those are basically safe places in communities where people
can come in and really kind of just look at
what they want their recovery journey to look like, get help,
get supports, connected to resources, maybe get an idea of
what different pathways.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Are out there.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
And so people will either come in either having already
started a recovery program, maybe they went to treatment or
detox and now they're back trying to reacclimate to you know,
what we might call normal day to day living and
they just need some additional.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Supports, or because recovery is.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
A lifelong journey, so we want to be there for
every part of it. Or maybe they're looking to give
back to the recovery community with service because that is
a big aspect of people who are on this side
of the coin, and they look at how grateful they
are to be given this second chance at living life,
and so they want to make sure that other people
(02:32):
have that second chance. So they give back by serving
as volunteers in our recovery community centers.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
So that's one.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Way that people can get connected to c CAR, and
all of those programs are free. People can come in,
have a cup of coffee, sit and chat, go to
support groups, they can work on their resume, they can
volunteer as being the receptionist or just taking care of
people in the center by you know, maintaining the area.
(02:59):
They can go to different groups or host different groups.
Centers are really made up of volunteers and that center
really takes what those volunteers want to do and kind
of brings it to life for them. And all of
those services are free. We also offer telephone recovery support
phone calls.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Those are also free.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
So if somebody is looking to maybe get some help,
a lifeline sort of speak somebody to maybe just check
in on them. A lot of times when people are
an active addiction, they've burned a lot of bridges, and
so if they've entered into a treatment program and they're
coming out, they can sign up to have somebody check
on them every couple of days. How's it going, How
(03:41):
are you coping? Are there any resources that you might need?
And we're able to give people those calls on an
ongoing basis up to twelve weeks or longer if they
want it. Wonderful, yeah, and that's all done through volunteer services.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
The other thing that.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
We provide is in every emergency department across the state
of connectic It, we have recovery coaches that are dispatched
that if you know, somebody enters into an emergency room
and it's alcohol or drug related, whatever the situation is,
they will be offered if they would like to speak
to a recovery coach who can then come in and
(04:17):
just kind of have a conversation. You know, is recovery
something that you're looking at right now? Is you know
what brought you here? Is? Are you looking to make
a change? What type of change are you willing to
make right now? And it sometimes people aren't ready to
make those decisions in those kind of catastrophic moments.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Better coaches are there.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
They're there to have a conversation, be a friendly face,
and to really kind of share with them information, share
their business card and basically if you're not ready now,
let me know when you are. And a lot of
times our coaches will check back in on people, you know,
because some days it's a few days later that somebody
might have that kind of like aha moment, I don't
(04:58):
want to do this again, and then a coach can
reach out to them and connect them to services.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
How successful do you find the recovery coach program to be.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
It's incredibly successful and we really do so. We have
about eighteen full time staff that cover the emergency departments,
and that's eight am to midnight, seven days a week
across the entire state. And they have at least I
want to say, around five hundred and fifty calls every
(05:26):
single month that they go into support. And what's really
incredible about that is we know how chaotic hospital emergency
rooms are, and we know it's about triage right, get
people in, get them helped, and move them out. And
a lot of times people in these situations they're not
ready to move that fast, or we need to wait
(05:48):
until they're you know, sober to be able to have
a conversation or interact with them or whatever that is,
you know. And so a lot of the hospitals, because
they know that there were taking the burden off of them,
will allow people that extra time to be able to sit,
wait for a coach to come in, have the conversation
(06:09):
if that person wants to go into treatment or detox,
find the bed, hold that person until we can connect them.
And it's because of our connection and the value that
they see in these programs, because if we can get
that person into a recovery program or into treatment or
detox or connected in the community, they might not be
(06:30):
in thatn eburgency room again. And so we're finding that
more and more hospitals are relying on our coaches because
they know that. You know, I don't have numbers of
success because a lot of times when people go into recovery,
we don't hear from them again because they're out of
the system. You know. Wonderful, but we do know that
it works, you know. And we started in twenty seventeen
(06:51):
with just three coaches and three hospitals, and now, like
I said, we're in every single hospital across Connecticut.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
We also have coaches that work with our Department of
Corrections program as well, so those are people who have
maybe already integrated into a recovery program while they're incarcerated,
and then we can have a coach meet with them
before they are released so that they can set up supports,
get them connected, make sure if there's somebody who is
(07:19):
on medication assisted recovery or medications supported recovery, they can
ensure that they have those resources set for when they
come out, and make sure that you know that they're
taken care of, you know, because again, you know, things
happen when you're out an active addiction, and you may
lose a lot of the people that you tended to
(07:40):
count on. And so even though you've turned your life around,
sometimes it takes a little bit more to build those
bridges back, and so coaches can also be a support system.
The recovery community centers can be a support system. And
that's the other thing that's been great is our coaches
will go into the Department of Corrections or they'll go
into hospitals, but then we invite people to see us
(08:01):
again at the community centers because that's where they can
build that bigger support system as well.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Wow, unbelievable. If you're following along, go to CCAR dot
us if you'd like to become a coach volunteer, make
a donation, find out about all of the programs and services.
You have your own personal story that brought you to
this work, did you want to share it?
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Sure? Absolutely so.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
My father was somebody who struggled with addiction for most
of his life, and he tried many different pathways a lot.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
A lot of times. It was AA, you know.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Because that's the pathway that people typically tell you, go
to a meeting, Go to a meeting, go to a meeting.
I can't tell you how many thirty TA chips my
dad had because it just never worked with him, you know.
But what his pathway ended up being was medication. He
ended up going on somebox and he had a heroin addiction.
(08:55):
And so once he was able to find that and
go to support groups and really talk about what some
of those issues were, why he was drinking, why he
was drugging, all of those things, he really was able
to maintain his recovery. And we were a strange for
a very long time.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
I always thought I'm going to get the phone call,
you know that things. You know, he's had two heart attacks,
you know, And every time I got that phone would
ring in the middle of the night, I would think,
what now, you know, he found recovery. And what was
great about that is that we were able to reconnect.
He had passed away two years later from cancer, Yes,
(09:34):
and thank you, But in those two years I was
able to have a relationship with my dad. I was
able to support him through a horrible illness and be
able to kind of be there and be somebody that
he could count on again, and knowing that I could
count on him too, And if he didn't have recovery,
we wouldn't have had that. And I just keep thinking
(09:56):
of like the regret and everything else. But that's typical,
right when addiction breaks up families, it impacts communities, and
so you know, a lot of times we don't hear
the success stories, like I said, but I think the
success stories are what gives people hope.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
This can happen to you.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
And I can't tell you how many times I've shared
my story and then have people say, oh, my goodness,
that was my life. You know, I could never have
friends over. I couldn't just because I never knew what
my dad was going to be like.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
And so.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
It took a long time for me to even say
that my father was in recovery because I never wanted
anybody to know what my home.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Life was like that.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
You know, we were just living this very difficult situation,
you know, and many families are dealing with this, and
there isn't ever the opportunity to be able to be
your authentic self. You know, you're constantly worried about what
people might think. But yeah, but so so Really, when
when you end up, especially like now working at CCAR
(10:58):
and being able to give that story some voice, it's
just been like, I can be my authentic self. I
can talk about the things that I would have never
really shared with other people. I can connect with people
on a journey that they might have that's similar to mine.
Or I can have people that are in recovery say, wow,
I had no idea that my addiction could have impacted
(11:21):
my family in the way that it impacted you. We
can have real conversations. And that's one of the things
that I love about working at SEACAR is that most
of our staff are people who have similar stories or
people who are in recovery. And these are people who
are so passionate about the recovery community. They give back
every day, you know, like this is their life. And
(11:41):
then they choose to use their life in service to
give back to the recovery community. But we can all
be our authentic self all the time. We can have
these conversations. I don't know of many places of employment
where you can come in and talk about you know,
like your son or your uncle or whoever might still
be struggling and get real guidance and real empathy and support,
(12:06):
you know, because we know that's hard. But not many
families are able to have those real, kind of honest
conversations with people for fear of judgment.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
That's the question I was just going to say to
you is there are many people are super judgmental, and
I don't think they truly understand addiction. They're told if
you enable them, you're disabling them. So how do we
give them empathy without enabling them.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Well, I think a lot of time, what's really good
for families and families are often they're welcome into SCAR,
into our recovery community centers, because I think a lot
of times it's just an understanding of what that journey
can look like. So when I it's interesting because when
I first started working at SCAR, I was the Recovery
(12:51):
Coach Academy coordinator that's one of our training programs. It's
an internationally recognized program to train people who want to
be recovery coaches. And with the first two weeks I
took that training, and I learned so much about what
the recovery journey was like because I wasn't somebody who
had an addiction. I just thought from the lens of
(13:13):
me seeing what my father was going through, and I
never understood like he went into treatment, he had been arrested,
like he had all these things that had happened to him,
and when he came out of whatever, I expected him
to be, you know, kind of back to my normal dad,
you know. And that's when the hard work starts for
(13:34):
somebody in recovery, is when those structured settings come away
and you have to start living life on life's terms
and go back to work.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
And deal with the stress of everyday life.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
That's when those things that we use to kind of
help soothe or you know, to take the edge off,
kind of come back in. And so I didn't really
understand that the recovery journey was a lifelong journey that
people who have an addiction.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
It is.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
It's a disease, and it's pervasive and it doesn't stop
just because somebody wants it to. They have to work,
you know, they have to have the will, they have
to have the courage and the strength to be able
to do that. And I think people who have gone
through a recovery process and have been successful and had
years even a day in recovery, that's amazing, that's incredible.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
You know.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
I always say that I work with people who are
walking miracles because they are. Many of them have had
instances of needing to be narcand resuscitated and whatever, and
you know, and I just look at that as I
wish more people understood more of those parts of it,
that understood that the journey is often difficult and sometimes
(14:51):
people just need to know that you're there to support them.
They don't need you to be on top of them
or but to just know that you're there, you know,
as a support system. But I think again that goes
to a lot of.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
People don't know how to ask for help.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
They don't want to ask for help just because the
stigma is so is so.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Right, yeah, Or people personalize the person's addiction. They don't
understand that they do have a disease, right, And there's
usually a dual diagnosis with a mental health issues.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Sometimes you said they'll self soothe, so they personalize it
and they don't want anything to do with the person.
But it's not necessarily personal.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
No, no, absolutely not. And I think you know a
lot of times people will tell you, you know, don't give
that person money.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Don't do this.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
You're just enabling, like you said, And I think it's
just a matter of you can provide support, right, it
doesn't have to be the money.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
It doesn't have to be.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
But you could drive somebody to the grocery store and
get them decent groceries.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
You can drive, you know.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
I had somebody who had a nephew who is coming
out of a program and was concerned. She's like, because
he's going to be in his own apartment and I
know he doesn't have a car yet. But I don't
want to just give him money.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
How am I?
Speaker 2 (16:13):
How am I going to support him? Because I don't
want the money to go you know, into the habit again.
You know, how do I do this? And I was like,
take him to the grocery store with you. Take him,
you know, be that you can be that support without
you know, giving giving money. If that's if that's what
your concern is, you know there are ways, and I
(16:34):
think that's what's been really cool. So we have a
Young People and Family Services program, and we do meetings
for family members as well, and so family members can
connect with other family members to kind of know, like
what was your experience like because this was mine, and
what can I learn from you as opposed to and
really just kind of learn like what are some of
(16:54):
those strategies that might be helpful in somebody's unique situation.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
I think what happens is the care giver believes if
I just love them enough, if I just do enough.
But an addict is manipulative. An addict does lie. And
again it isn't personal by any means, because it's a disease.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
It is somebody will lie, cheat, steel to get what
they need right. And it's it's kind of like when
you think about if you're struggling to breathe right, you
will do anything to get that next breath. That's what
that next hit, that next drink or whatever is to
somebody who is an addict, and so whatever they need
(17:36):
to do to do that, they're going to and and
it really has nothing to do with the family or
anything else, and you know, and that's the whole thing too,
is I don't think people understand that. I know, family
members sometimes take on this like I must have failed,
I must have done something. I must have you know,
or people are gonna look at me, you know, like
(17:58):
this horrible person if you know, my kid or whatever, and.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
It's it's a disease.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
You know, Like twenty kids could go and party at
a high school and one of those kids could end
up like partying too hard and be like, wow, I
really like this and then all of a sudden be
condicted where the other.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Ones don't right, and you just you don't know who it.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Is or right. It could be like me, I think
about peanut butter cops as soon as they wake up
in the morning. I just I'm just lucky. It isn't
right alcohol or drugs, spending money, or addicted to works or.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Video games or gambling or any any of the things
right exactly. And so it's really hard to sit there
and judge somebody if you've never really understood what it
looks like or what it can feel like. The best
thing that people can do is just do some research, educate.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Yourself, understand it a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
And if you don't have the means to know where
to start, reach out to us. We'll help connect you,
we'll give you resources. Well, you know, we have all
recovery meetings that don't follow a particular pathway or format
or anything. It's just coming together to talk about a
topic that really anybody can talk about. Right So when
we talk about you know, living a life and recovery,
(19:17):
I mean people in recovery live life and experience stress
and all the things the way everybody else does, you know,
So anybody can have input into some of these conversations.
If we're talking about like how are we coping with
the stress of what's going on in today's world, that's
a conversation we can all.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Contribute to, you know.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
And so I just encourage anybody who family, member, friends, allies, whatever,
come on into a center because sometimes also having other
people for people to kind of like share perspectives with
or have differing perspectives with, really widens everybody's minds. And
to me, if we could just kind of eliminate the
(20:00):
separation between people in recovery and people not you know,
as far as well, that's a Recovery Community Center.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
That's for that.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
You know, we kind of can take away some of
the stigma that people might experience as well.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Absolutely, I see you often people end up returning to
the same neighborhoods, the same people, and then they fall
back and as you said, if they don't have a job,
if they don't have a car, of course, right.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
I used to work at Bristol Hospital in the inpatient unit,
and I remember like having people come in. I was
just there on the weekends, but they would come in
and it was like just a few day program that
they would come into. But like there was one family.
A twin would come in, he would go out, his
next twin would come in, he would go out, the
mom would come in, and it was like in the
(20:44):
whole time when they were there, they were on the
phone with each other. So it was like this vicious cycle,
you know. And so I do think that there is
definitely something to be said for there's a common theme people,
places and things. Right, you got to change some of
those things and change you know, maybe.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Some of the people.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
But but the one thing that I want people to
think about too is that you know, you don't have
to change like everything right, because there are some creature
comforts and some of the things that we really have
attached ourselves to. And so there are some people and
this is the one thing that we talk about too,
who will say, well, you can't do that anymore if
(21:25):
you're going to be in recovery, or you can't do
this anymore if you're going to be in recovery, and
that kind of sets people up to like, well, then
why do I want to do this if I have
to give up all the things that I love, you know. So,
and that's why I'm really happy that we support multiple
pathways to recovery because people can kind of think about
what they want that journey to look like. You know,
(21:46):
do you want to do yoga? Do you want to
go sing in a rock band?
Speaker 3 (21:50):
You know?
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Do you whatever it is that's going to bring you
heart and meaning you should have that, you know. And
so I don't want people to think that they have
to give up all the things. Are there things people
have to give up, yes, but I don't want them
to think that they have to give up things that
they find heart and meeting with too.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
I hear this very often. So I do want to
ask you, yeah, if your spouse is an alcoholic, and
you know they're an alcoholic, they given up drinking, should
you drink in front of them?
Speaker 2 (22:19):
I would say so. I think it's the individual. But
I will say this, anything that I can do to
help support somebody's journey, I'm going to I am not
somebody who's in recovery, but on my social media I
do not post pictures of me in any type of
setting where there's alcohol. I will never post a picture
of me standing. I went to Las Vegas last year
(22:41):
and in post a picture of like a SOT machine.
You know, there's certain things that I just won't do
because it might be triggering for one person. And I
hate to use that word, but but it might. But
it might, right, and so the spouse might be like, no, no, no,
it's fine until the one night where it may not
be fine, you know. So I'm not telling anybody to
(23:02):
do that or I wouldn't do that, But it's kind
of one of those things where I don't know if
I would tempt fate, you know, because again, it's a
lifelong journey that somebody's on, and if for some reason,
there is a stressful day at work or something happens,
you know again living life on life terms.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
You know it easy access because it's right there, you know.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Unfortunately unfortunately easy access. You have two incredible events that
are coming up, yes, and let's talk about those. You
have one May sixth.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Yes, we are having a Recovery Day at the Capitol.
And this is really exciting for us because this event
is being sponsored by the Appropriations Committee, who is handling
the budget that is going on right now in the
state of Connecticut, as well as the Public Health Committee,
so we're excited. We have legislators from both of those
committees that will be there to speak. There's going to
(23:57):
be a press conference, We're going to have some recent tables,
so we're really excited. I would say if you have
any time on May six to stop by the Capitol
to support and celebrate recovery with us, we would love
to see you there. But yeah, we will be posting
on our socials, which you can also find on our website.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
So that's Instagram, Facebook.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Instagram, Facebook, ciar dot us. Absolutely all right.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
In June eighteenth, you have another event.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
We have our golf tournament and I have Amy here
who is our special events manager with me, who is
amazing at planning all of these events. But we are
going to the Stanley Golf Course in New Britain. Our
tea time is ten am shotgun start, like always, but
(24:42):
this is one of the fundraisers that we do to
kind of help us raise money for programs that aren't
state funded or just programs that we aren't able to
fund otherwise. You can also register for that event at
cc AR dot us and we have sponsorship opportunities if
people want to donate raffle prizes or baskets or any
(25:03):
of those things. We'd love to have you and love
to support other small businesses to kind of like put
their name out there if they have raffle prizes and whatnot.
But that's always a fun event. It's always a really
we always have a nice day, which I'm happy about.
But it's a great day to just kind of get out,
you know, on the golf course, celebrate with other people
(25:25):
who work in the recovery space. But you don't have
to be a person in recovery to golf you know it.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Just come and.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Support us, support our vision and our mission and really
just have a nice day on the on the course.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Wonderful you have a donation store.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
We do. So we do have a donation store.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
It is on our website as well, and that is
where people can get any kind of like Seacar swag,
T shirts, things such as that, which is really fun.
We do have volunteers and staff who will go there
just to kind of like promote Seacar. We also have
a go fund me right now because you know, with
(26:03):
some of the cuts and things, you know, we're kind
of worried about some of the funding going forward. You know,
we're a nonprofit and we're at risk like anybody else's
right now. So we do have a GoFundMe going on,
and we do have that listed on our home page
as well.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Wonderful. What is the Ocean Recovery Community Alliance? I'm an
ocean girl. Anything to do with it.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
I'm so happy that you asked about that.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
So, the Ocean Recovery Community Alliance or ORCA is a
program that started about five years ago and it was
spearheaded by our previous executive director, Phil Valentine, who really
thought of this being away for the recovery community to
give back to the community at large by cleaning and
(26:45):
taking care of trash out.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Of the waterways.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
So within Connecticut and Rhode Island, we have a program
manager that literally has been organizing cleanups across you know,
these two states to collect trash and he's collected about
fifty five thousand pounds of trash since we've started. It's
an amazing initiative. But he has an instagram, which you
(27:09):
can also find on our website. But these cleanups are
free to attend. People come, they volunteer, and a lot
of people don't even come who are part of the
recovery community. They just come because they want to clean
mother Earth, you know, which has been fantastic.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
But in doing so they also learn.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
A little bit more about how we were founded, learn
a bit more about recovery, and so it's been a
really nice way to kind of blend those two worlds.
But really, when you think about it, as I said,
service is such a big part of people's recovery to
give back, and like I said, this is just a
way to give back to the community at large. And
you know, again, cleaning up the waterways is such a
(27:47):
beautiful thing, especially right now there's so much you know,
plastics and you know, even just walking around Hartford sometimes
we'll do like a little mini cleanup here, you know,
just to kind of clean up our communities and whatnot
as well.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
And I think it's a great way for family members
absolutely to connect. And the next thing, you know, you've
got so and so that you can call when you're
feeling low and they can lift you up and then
you could do the same.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Yes, and we do have a lot of times we'll
do events that are kind of tied to some of
our centers too, so then we'll have volunteers and staff
so that people can connect if they're looking to get
more information the number of the center. If you're concerned
about you know, this, that and the other thing, give
us a call, let us know how we can help
support you. But yeah, I think what's been really cool
(28:34):
is that there have been a lot of families, a
lot of young people that come. Social justice, you know,
keeping care, taking care of the earth is really important
to a lot of our young people, and so getting
them involved in some of these initiatives too also opens
their minds and educates them about recovery, addiction and things
(28:55):
such as that, which I think is really important too.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
And opens doors to maybe other things things jobs they
never thought about.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Going absolutely I mean, you know, like I said, a
lot of us, you know, have been impacted, but there
have been many people who've come into CCR who didn't
even realize, you know, like what the world of recovery is.
And I think it's really open their eyes to the dedication,
the passion, the strength that people have to go through
(29:23):
this process. And it's really so uplifting to be part
of an organization that gives back in such a truly
meaningful way.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Wow, you guys are just amazing. I'm speaking with Stacy
sharpen Tear, executive director of c CAR. It's Connecticut Community
for Addiction Recovery. It's CCAR dot us. They have two
events coming up. May sixth, it's Recovery Day at the
State Capitol and June eighteenth, it's a golf tournament. You
(29:52):
can donate, you can volunteer, you can get involved again.
It's CCAR dot e us. Thank you so much for
being here today.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.
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