FRIENDS OF RECOVERY New York
ONE COMMUNITY ONE VOICE
WEEKLY
JANUARY 11, 2024 www.for-ny.org
2024 F E B SAVETHE
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FOR-NY State of State Response
New York State’s 57th Governor Kathy Hochul delivers her second State of the State address. THIS YEAR’S THEME:
“Our Future, Our New York”. The State of the State Book is available by clicking HERE. hile Friends of Recovery- New York (FOR-NY) is encouraged by Governor Hochul’s commitment to improving mental healthcare; New York State is in an addiction public health emergency and we are concerned that the State of the State address lacks a comprehensive response to treat the reality as such. On December 22, 2023, Governor Hochul announced preliminary data that showed more than 6, 393 overdose deaths in New York State in 2022 – a 73% increase in overdose deaths that occurred during the last three years. Given the public health emergency that New Yorkers are facing, FOR-NY and our allies hoped to see an explicit and comprehensive plan that prioritizes the expansion of life-saving overdose prevention, treatment and recovery supports prioritized for New Yorkers that will meet the urgent need for what we have explicitly asked: that the Governor declare a Public Health Emergency and make significant investments to rapidly expand access to overdose prevention, addiction treatment and recovery services as a priority for all New Yorkers. FOR-NY is also deeply concerned that the Opioid Settlement Funds are being used as a stop-gap measure for addressing the New York State budget deficit. Despite the Governor’s claim that New York State is leading the nation in the amount and distribution of Opioid Settlement Fund disbursement, we hoped that substantive initiatives would be articulated in the State of the State that would address application and sustainability of these funds. Further, much the funding has only been made available and has not actually reached the organizations looking to make an impact.
Notable highlights of the 2024 State of the State pertaining to the addiction public health Emergency include: •
OASAS will launch additional Mobile Medication Units (MMU) in 2024. MMUs allow medication to be brought into communities that may not otherwise have access to brick-and-mortar services. This builds on the State’s commitment to expand access to underserved areas using innovative treatment models.
•
Providing more public education and to reduce the stigma that remains a barrier to expanding and ensuring access to life-saving services, the State will launch a robust, multi-faceted anti-stigma campaign to raise awareness about opioid use disorder and the services needed to support those in need.
•
Governor Hochul will pursue legislation to require adequate reimbursement of OMH- and OASAS-licensed outpatient services at least at the Medicaid rate for comparable services.
•
To address barriers to accessing care, New York is promulgating network adequacy regulations for both commercial and Medicaid insurers that will set standards related to access to mental health and substance use disorder services, including appointment wait times. If insurers cannot provide appointments for behavioral health services within a specific number of days, they will have to provide out-of-network coverage at no additional cost. The regulations will also require plans to maintain transparent and accurate network provider directories.
As in years past, it is important to note that the Governor has proposed a combination of big ideas and legislative changes (which will require the support of the Legislature). We will remain cautious and optimistic in remembering that the 2024 State of the State address is the first of many steps. The Governor’s Executive Budget will be released in the coming weeks and will include Article VII language that will specify policy and fiscal implications for the proposals outlined in the State of the State. When the Executive Budget is released FOR-NY will analyze and identify where there are actual financial investments for our sector.
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Link to sign up: https://forms.gle/34AkgNZUUXJQBdts7
NYS Alumni Association of FOR-NY Calendar 2024 PEER &ALUMNI SPEAKERS NEEDED January February March April
Self-Care Black History Women’s History, Problem Gambling Awareness Diversity, Sexual Assault Awareness,
May
Jewish Heritage Awareness, Mental Health
June
LGBTQ, Juneteenth,
July
Volunteer Awareness , World Watercolor, (NYC Volunteer Agency- Tashawn Morgan), Disability Pride Month, National Minority Mental Health Awareness
August
American Artists, Yoga, CRPA International Youth,
September
Hispanic Heritage, Recovery Month
October
Domestic Violence Awareness, Suicide Prevention
November
Veteran’s Month, Native American Awareness, Human Trafficking Awareness
December
Alumni’s Got Talent
To speak on a theme topic, contact Wilvena Gordon wgordon@for-ny.org 646-623-6816 text
FOR-NY Training Our Stories Have Power – 3 CE & CARC Elective credits and OASAS credits HYBRID – Oneida Co. – Hosted by CUSE Center (In Person and Virtual Options) Date: Tuesday 1/23/2024 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Register: https://app.donorview.com/yL474 Our Stories Have Power - Diversity Equity and Inclusion – 9 CE & CARC Elective In Person – Dutchess Co. - Hosted by MHA of Dutchess Co. Date: Wednesday 2/21/2024 10:30 AM – 4:30 PM and Thursday 2/22/24, 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM Register: https://app.donorview.com/VKwqN
Trauma Informed Care 101 – 6 CRPA/CARC CE and OASAS credits In Person – Warren Co. – Hosted by Hope and Healing Recovery Center Date: Tuesday 5/14/2023 1:00 PM - 4:30 PM & Wednesday 5/15/23, 9:00 AM - 12:30 PM Register: https://app.donorview.com/qrGDY
Looking for hosts for the following trainings in 2024: Recovery; the Basics – 6 OASAS credits only Multiple Pathways of Recovery and TOT – 4 CRPA/CARC CE and CARC Elective credits Wellness for Professionals & TOT (Train the Trainer) – 8 CE and CARC Elective credits Peer Professional Supervision– 12 CRPA/CARC CE credits, OASAS and SW credits Science of Addiction and Recovery –6 CRPA/CARC CE, CARC Elective & OASAS credits Our Stories Have Power - Diversity Equity and Inclusion – 9 CE & CARC Elective credits All Upcoming training: https://for-ny.org/upcoming-trainings/ training for certification and recertification for CARC, CRPA.
FOR-NY Learning Collaboratives: Peer Supervisors Peer Learning Collaborative: Every First Wednesday of the Month 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM- New Day Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82568691624?pwd=ajRsZCtLeW01dFR6WjIweXlvSDVoZz09 Meeting ID: 825 6869 1624 Passcode: 432904 Families of Loss Advocacy– Turning Pain into Purpose Second Monday at 10:00 am – NEW TIME NEW LINK Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85366576846?pwd=STlBS0ZoaTRTV0Q5c21GUys3V3dpUT09 Meeting ID: 853 6657 6846 Passcode: 296584
FOR-NY Recovery Community Meetings Community Based Recovery Supports (CBRS) Bi-Monthly | 4th Thursday of the month | 1-3pm Zoom ID: 860 9797 3979 CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT CBRS Alumni Association Meeting 4th Thursday of the month | 6-8pm Zoom ID: 972 2457 6447 Recovery Community Organization (RCO) 2nd Wednesday of the month | 12-1pm Zoom ID: 834 5884 9909
Alumni Association Job posting: https://for-ny.org/alumni-job-postings/ STAND UP for Recovery Day – February 13th, 2023 – Empire Plaza, Albany, NY Volunteers NEEDED: https://app.donorview.com/ZQjOW NYS Recovery Conference 2024 - October DATE and PLACE (Albany) TBD – Program planning committee members NEEDED - Email: Tknorr@for-ny.org Every second Wednesday of the month 9:15 – 10:00 AM on zoom. Questions: email tknorr@for-ny.org
Diversity Equity and Inclusion
About This Training Faces & Voices of Recovery developed the “Our Stories Have Power” training to give people in recovery and their family members messaging, or language, that they can use to talk about their recovery in non-stigmatizing terms and included Diversity, Equity and Inclusion as they are central to building a strong recovery movement.
COST
$75.00 FOR 9 CREDITS
FEB 21 & 22
10:30 —4:30 WED 9:00 —3:00 THURSDAY
IN PERSON
253 MANSION STREET POUGHKEEPSIE NY 12601
FACILITATOR
Theresa Knorr, CARC
REGISTER HERE: 9 ASAP-NYCB CARC Elective & CARC / CRPA re-certification hours
9 OASAS CASAC, CPP, CPS re-credential hours PENDING
HOST:
OUR STORIES HAVE POWER About This Training Faces & Voices of Recovery developed the “Our Stories Have Power” training to give people in recovery and their family members messaging, or language, that they can use to talk about their recovery in non-stigmatizing terms. The recovery community is speaking out to educate friends, neighbors, policy makers and the media about the reality of recovery so that others can get the help they need to recover. 3 ASAP-NYCB re-certification hours for CARC and/or CRPA
3 OASAS re-credential hours for CASAC, CPP, CPS
REGISTER AT THE LINK BELOW
HTTPS://APP.DONORVIEW.COM/YL474
COST
$35.00
JAN 23, 2024
1: 00 PM—4:00 PM HYBRID - ZOOM AND IN PERSON
115 E. JEFFERSON ST. SYRACUSE, NY 13202
FACILITATOR
Theresa Knorr, CARC
HOST:
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Original Article can be found at: https://www.dailygazette.com/opinion/new-york-addiction-tax-credit/article_08c7449e-9b80-11ee-bfa1-eb7112c4694f.html
Daily Gazette, Schenectady, 12/17/23
Columnist Andrew Waite can be reached at awaite@ dailygazette.net and at 518- 417-9338. Find him on X @UpstateWaite
When addiction isn’t swept under the company rug WEIGHING IN - In the three years that New York has offered its first-in-the-nation, “recovery-friendly workplace tax credit,” the state could have given away a total of $6 million.
Recovery-friendly workplaces are not only meant to benefit those in recovery, they are meant to benefit employers, too, by helping workplaces retain workers. Between 2009 and 2015, nearly 226,000 New Yorkers were unable to work due to opioids, translating to $179.4 billion in lost economic output, according to the American Action Forum, a center-right think tank.
But out of the $6 million available to qualified for-profit employers since the credit was created in 2019, the state has given away just $6,000.
But unless more employers embrace the concept, the recovery-friendly workplace idea won’t take off in New York, even as more than half of all states have undertaken similar initiatives.
"That's how much this is not being taken advantage of," said Dean Hale, a training specialist with the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports, whose job includes processing the tax-credit applications.
Maybe it’s simply that $2,000 isn’t enough incentive to some employers — it probably isn’t. Regardless, the fact that the state has only given away a thousandth of its allotted “free money” in the form of tax credits is a clear indicator of just how much more advocacy is needed.
It’s an application process Hale said can be completed in under 10 minutes. The goal of the tax credit, with $2 million available statewide per year, is to help reduce stigma around addiction, offering financial incentive for employers to hire workers who are in recovery from substance use disorders. The up to $2,000 per year for each qualified new hire in recovery is meant to make the idea of a “recovery-ready” or “recovery-friendly” workplace more ubiquitous across New York. That was also the goal of the inaugural Recovery Ready Workplace New York Symposium, put on by the New York State Coalition to Prevent Addiction and Support Recovery in Employment earlier this month in Albany. That symposium was where Hale made his remarks about the tax credits, which I later verified with OASAS. And while the name of the coalition composed of mental health specialists, researchers, policymakers and others is a mouthful, its mission is fairly uncomplicated. The coalition, which formed in February of 2022, wants to foster a workplace culture in New York that supports, rather than shuns, people who are in recovery from substance use disorder. It would be a significant cultural shift, but it’s one that is already proving to make inroads on substance use disorders afflicting our nation.
Hopefully, the inaugural state Recovery Ready Workplace conference that included representatives from both the New York State Department of Health and the National Institutes of Health can help the concept of recovery-ready workplaces gain momentum. Simply put, the coalition needs more Mike Carpenters. Carpenter is president of The Northeast Group, a distribution company that he describes as a microsize version of Amazon based in Plattsburgh that employs between 60 and 120 people, depending on the season. Carpenter has been running what amounts to a recovery-ready workplace since the mid-1990s – long before the concept even existed. And he’s one of the few business owners to have taken advantage of the recovery-ready tax credit. His employment philosophy came out of his own addiction, which included multiple arrests on drug charges and DWIs when he was in his 20s and early 30s. After completing treatment at the Conifer Park rehabilitation center in Glenville in 1989, Carpenter said, he was finally able to stay sober. As he was looking for work, “I realized how difficult it was even to prepare a resume because I had huge gaps in time when I didn’t work,” Carpenter told me by phone following the symposium. “So you’re trying to change your life and live this honest
Original Article can be found at: https://www.dailygazette.com/opinion/new-york-addiction-tax-credit/article_08c7449e-9b80-11ee-bfa1-eb7112c4694f.html
Daily Gazette, Schenectady, 12/17/23
Columnist Andrew Waite can be reached at awaite@ dailygazette.net and at 518- 417-9338. Find him on X @UpstateWaite
File Photo: From a 2019 Overdose Awareness candlelight vigil in Congress Park in Saratoga Springs
lifestyle, but you’re walking into employers and kind of lying to them about your history so that they will hire you.” After the New York congresswoman's viral questioning of college presidents, will she change her own messaging? So when he took over the family company, he and his team decided they’d hire people like them – people in recovery. “We were struggling to find workers. We didn’t think of it in terms of ‘giving them opportunity.’ We were just like ‘if they are good workers like us, we’re probably going to have a good business.’” Decades later, Carpenter runs a profitable company where the majority of people he employs are in recovery. “We’re embracing recovery. We’re not shying away from it, we’re not telling people ‘you did something wrong and you should keep it to yourself,’” he said. Few seem to doubt that substance use disorder is a major issue, with the opioid epidemic continuing to explode. Between 1999 and 2021, nearly 645,000 people died of opioid overdose, according to Centers for Disease Control data. Startlingly, the number of people who died from drug overdose overall in 2021 was six times greater than 1999’s figure.
In New York, there were 4,233 overdose deaths in 2020 – four times the 1,074 such deaths in 2010, state numbers show. And in one particularly bad rash of deaths in Schenectady, eight people died of suspected overdoses in a span of eight days in July. Yet, even as people accept that addiction – and specifically opioid addiction – is an urgent health crisis, far fewer seem willing to accept that workplaces can provide critical support. Work is central to people’s lives. It’s where many of us spend the majority of our waking hours, it’s how we support ourselves financially and it often offers a source of purpose. For all of those reasons, having a job can help someone in recovery stay out of active addiction. “Why do we need recovery-ready workplaces? Because people need that support to maintain recovery from addiction,” Theresa Knorr, the director of Recovery Education and Training at Friends of Recovery New York, said during the symposium. Yet our society tends to view addiction as a problem that can be bandaged up and then forgotten, rather than as a lifelong illness that must be managed like any other chronic disease. We seem to want to bury the fact that 1 in 12 workers has a substance-use disorder, according to the National Safety Coun-
Original Article can be found at: https://www.dailygazette.com/opinion/new-york-addiction-tax-credit/article_08c7449e-9b80-11ee-bfa1-eb7112c4694f.html
Daily Gazette, Schenectady, 12/17/23
Columnist Andrew Waite can be reached at awaite@ dailygazette.net and at 518- 417-9338. Find him on X @UpstateWaite
cil, with professions such as construction and service work having an even higher incidence. We want to pretend that workplaces really can be “drug free,” rather than acknowledging that more than 10 million people with addiction have full-time jobs, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Rather than sweeping addiction under the company carpet, recovery-friendly workplaces approach addiction more openly. Instead of avoiding hiring employees who are in recovery from addiction, a recovery-ready workplace may go out of its way to hire people in recovery. That workplace would also commit to supporting people in recovery. For Carpenter’s Northeast Group, being recovery ready means connecting people in recovery with doctors and transportation and regularly accommodating employee’s appointments with counselors or medication-assisted treatment providers. “We’re working around the people who are in recovery, around their schedules and giving them time off, but we’re not giving them less responsibility,” Carpenter said. The company does this by being outcomes-focused. Say every employee is responsible for processing 100 pieces. Some may accomplish this in an eight-hour shift, others may have to break up the day. The flexible and welcoming culture helps Carpenter attract and keep employees, and it helps the employees who are in recovery stay out of active addiction, which, in turn, makes them better employees, Carpenter said. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, workers in active addiction take nearly twice as many days of unscheduled leave compared to other workers and have an average annual turnover rate that’s 44% higher. Workers in recovery, by contrast, average nearly 10% fewer days of unscheduled leave per year than the average worker, and their turnover rate is 12% below the overall average. The New York Prevent Addiction and Support Recovery in Employment coalition has drafted legislation, which is expected to be introduced next year, that aims to provide a structure and resources to support recovery-ready workplaces. Part of the goal is standardizing what it means to be a recovery-friendly workplace in New York. In all of this, the coalition is advocating for more support, including from labor groups and private employers. Encouragingly, labor groups seem receptive. “The union movement has long led the fight to assist workers struggling with addiction both through direct services, as well as our contracts and statute. Recovery-ready workplace legisla-
tion has the potential to be an important step in that tradition,” Mario Cilento, president of the New York State AFL-CIO, responded to me in a written statement. “We look forward to reviewing the legislation when it is introduced and discussing it with our affiliated unions.” But in addition to labor, the coalition will need the support of private companies, and it was telling that only a handful of attendees at this month’s symposium were employers.
File Photo: Conifer Park Rehabilitation Center in Glenville
Carpenter doesn’t think every workplace needs to be a recovery-ready workplace. But Carpenter does think more businesses should embrace the concept, especially as unemployment rates drop and companies struggle to hire. “It’s a pool of people that you might not otherwise think of,” Carpenter said. Carpenter finds that, with support, people in recovery often make even better employees than people not in recovery because they are motivated and grateful. So in the end, even if being a recovery-friendly workplace is driven primarily by a desire to show compassion and help, Carpenter doesn’t do it entirely out of the goodness of his heart. “Maybe it sounds like I’m noble, but it’s self-serving on some level,” he told me. “Because the more [employees] are healthy when they are not at work, the better employee they are going to be when they are at work.” That’s more or less Carpenter’s pitch when he tries to sell other New York business owners on recovery-friendly practices. Plus, he makes a point of mentioning the tax credits. Columnist Andrew Waite can be reached at awaite@dailygazette.net and at 518- 417-9338. Find him on X @UpstateWaite
RECOVERY READY NYS Coalition to Prevent Addiction and Support Recovery in Employment
WORKPLACE
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PROFESSIONAL TRAINING AND SUPPORT PROGRAM
REQUIREMENTS: Experience with a substance use disorder, someone who has personal or family experience with substance use disorder, and/or who is passionate about supporting someone in their recovery Willingness to share your recovery journey to help others High school diploma or equivalent To learn more or discuss available scholarships: Call 518-486-8407 or email hdci@healthycapitaldistrict.org
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