“Hope...is the foundation of recovery”
“We often hear people say, ‘we sure hope sometime soon something’s going to happen so that we no longer need to lose all of these people due to this crisis.’ But hope is not a strategy, some is not a number, and soon is not a time.” These words from Justin Luke Riley, CEO of Young People in Recovery, were a reminder of why we had all gathered to hear from the 12 finalist organizations for Battery Powered’s Addiction & Recovery theme. These nonprofits are not simply a future hope; they are real people making a real impact right now. They are a tangible way we can help people and communities impacted by addiction become safer and healthier.
Photo Credit: Julie Schuchard
Treatment Innovations
When people suffering with opioid addiction are admitted to emergency rooms, there is often no way to effectively treat them. This is a missed opportunity to make a real impact in fighting the addiction crisis in America. The California Bridge Program is making history by equipping hospitals to initiate medication-assisted treatment right then and there in the emergency room. Currently in 52 hospitals, with Battery Powered’s support they can scale so that it becomes the standard of care for the remaining 268 emergency rooms in California.
For many, drugs are not the problem, but the symptom. Trauma is the root of many addictions as people self-medicate to treat pain. Heffter Research Institute designs and funds research on a new approach to treating substance use disorder and its underlying trauma: psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Despite promising early results with alcohol and tobacco use, this research is not currently funded by the U.S. government. Heffter seeks philanthropic funding to fund three pilot studies of opioid use disorder treatment with psychedelics.
Help Not Handcuffs
The war on drugs has failed to deliver on its promise, and has only served to force people underground in their use, Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno of the Drug Policy Alliance reminded us. Her organization works to reduce criminalization and increase treatment throughout the U.S. They seek Battery Powered support for three high-priority initiatives. One, to make overdose prevention centers (also called supervised consumption sites) available in the U.S. Two, to expand access to medication-assisted treatment, especially within jails and prisons. Three, to expand Safety First, its drug education curriculum for teens, which teaches young people that the first line of defense is abstinence while empowering them with practical information about addiction and overdose.
Lynn Paltrow of National Advocates for Pregnant Women delivered a striking message: “Help women get help, not handcuffs.” She described how all too often, pregnant women with a substance use disorder are prevented from accessing evidence-based treatment, and are instead subject to arrest, incarceration, and family separation. “The reality is that people don’t become pregnant and then decide to develop a substance abuse problem. There is no benefit to threatening pregnant people who have a substance use disorder … they deserve science-based treatment, not stigma.” By supporting National Advocates for Pregnant Women we can change ideologies and policies around pregnant women who struggle with addiction.
Photo Credit: Julie Schuchard
Hometown Heroes
Laura Thomas explained how the San Francisco AIDS Foundation fights a lot more than AIDS. This year they will reach 18,000 people experiencing homelessness who use drugs, pick up 250,000 syringes off the streets of San Francisco, and distribute 5,000 doses of naloxone, the overdose medication which helped save the lives of over 600 San Franciscans this year. Battery Powered dollars would support these core services citywide. They’re looking to take their services to the next level by opening a supervised consumption site within the next year.
Photo Credit: Julie Schuchard
“Who waits until after a long holiday weekend to get sober? When we’re ready, that’s when we’re ready, no matter the time or day.” This was a graffiti message on the window of HealthRIGHT 360, one of the city’s largest providers of addiction treatment services. The graffiti served as a call to action to provide access to HealthRIGHT 360’s services when and where clients need them, not just 9-to-5 on business days. Battery Powered support would help them realize this by deploying specialists onsite at UCSF Medical Center’s emergency room, ready to assess and engage people who have a substance use disorder without delay. They estimate reaching 400 people per year and linking 150 of them directly to residential treatment.
PRC CEO Brett Andrews explained how “the full state of health is mental, physical, and social wellbeing. It is not just the absence of disease or infirmary.” For decades PRC has provided legal, social, and health services for people affected by substance use, HIV/AIDS, and mental health issues. Their continuum of care includes 267 beds residential treatment beds and the wraparound supports that help clients move from crisis to stability. A Battery Powered investment will help PRC serve an additional 1,000 individuals deserving of dignity.
“When an epidemic is out of control, that means it was able to grow under the radar,” explained Loris Mattox of HEPPAC (HIV Education and Prevention Project of Alameda County). This most frequently happens in underserved communities, disproportionately communities of color with low socio-economic status. As a direct service agency, HEPPAC addresses the everyday need to save lives through overdose intervention and harm reduction practices. HEPPAC seeks Battery Powered support to bolster their medication-assisted treatment services, which will help them move from the sustaining phase of the opioid epidemic to a phase of elimination.
Photo Credit: Julie Schuchard
The Opposite of Addiction is Connection
The Harm Reduction Coalition know that “the opposite of addiction isn’t actually sobriety, it’s connection.” This is one of the main principles behind harm reduction. Harm Reduction Coalition wants to create a judgment-free space in which those who have substance use disorders can develop meaningful relationships and safer practices. Safer Together, a nationwide digital marketing campaign created by and for people who use drugs, is a means of achieving this environment on a large scale. By digitizing their successful harm reduction toolkits and resources and making them available for free on their website, HRC can provide access to life-saving information to people in areas of the country with no brick-and-mortar programs for hundreds of miles.
“More than 50% of people who receive treatment for addiction relapse less than six months later.” Isolation and shame are culprits for many of those relapses. The Phoenix is preventing relapse for those in recovery by building a strong, sober active community. They offer free activities like rock climbing, running, and yoga for anyone who is 48 hours sober, as a means of helping people find social connection, a vital step in long-term sobriety. Active in 46 communities across the U.S., The Phoenix would use Battery Powered funds to launch in the Bay Area.
San Francisco Drug Users’ Union gives people who use drugs and experience homelessness a community to call home. A drop-in center that provides harm reduction services, the Union hires people exclusively from this vulnerable population. By giving them real responsibility and positive reinforcement in a community they care about, people learn professional skills at their own pace and manage their substance use more safely, giving them a shot at breaking the cycle that has limited their opportunities for so long. The Union is seeking Battery Powered funds to build its development and communications infrastructure to support sustainability.
Photo Credit: Julie Schuchard
Young People in Recovery believes that every young person deserves to have the life skills, peer support, and resources they need to thrive in recovery. YPR was founded by young people in recovery, for young people in recovery, and they know what works. They have brought their philosophy and programming to young adults and their families in 45 chapters across the country. They seek funding to create another 10 chapters, which will engage an additional 3,200 people.
In Closing
“You are more than your circumstances. When you hold too tight to your history, you can do so at the expense of your destiny.“ These words by Pastor TD Jakes reminded us that it is not the destiny of all people with substance use disorders to spend their lives in isolation and pain. Many will go on to finish school, find employment, figure out what makes them happy, and live a happy life … that is, if we help reduce the influence of their history by fighting stigma and giving them the right support for growth. With your help, we can make more of these destinies a reality.
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Battery Powered is The Battery's giving program. To learn more or get involved, visit thebatterysf.com/batterypowered or contact [email protected]