2023 ANNUAL REPORT & FALL NEWSLETTER ISSUE Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services
Jamie meets Paul and his support dog Pablo at a local park.
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Peer Support Work is a Special Way of Giving Back Jamie Ayre started as a Peer Recovery Supporter at GCBHS in the spring of 2021. She is now a substance use disorder (SUD) care manager on the CARE team which means she works with people who are experiencing homelessness every day. “For me,” she says, “I’ve been in those shoes and I know what it’s like. Many times, they have no family or friends. We are all they have.” She says clients are sometimes shocked because “If we don’t see someone for a week or so…we begin to look for them…hospitals, jails… we drive around to places we know they hang out. We ask other people ‘Have you seen so-and-so?’ They can’t believe that somebody cared enough to worry about them.” So what drives her to do this work? “People walk into St Anthony’s without socks on their feet. No coat…someone has stolen their blankets and shoes…it breaks my heart. People don’t understand how someone can become homeless. Nobody chooses it. Nobody chooses addiction or a mental illness. I help others because it fills my heart to do it. It’s my mission, my purpose.”
How GCBHS Outreach Teams are Changing Lives Jamie met Paul in April of 2021 – right after she started her job as a Peer Recovery Supporter at Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services (GCBHS). He began coming to St. Anthony’s Center for breakfast and dinner. St. Anthony’s is a collaborative of organizations that serve the homeless population in Cincinnati. Located in Over-the-Rhine, the building is home to the GCBHS C.A.R.E Team (Collaborations for Addictions, Recovery, & Engagement) as well as Respite Care, (for those coming out of the hospital with no place to go) and Mary Magdalen House which offers showers and clean clothes. The C.A.R.E team engage with people who are struggling with homelessness, mental illness and/or addictions. They build relationships and try to help people get into services and connect to resources such as housing to improve their lives. Jamie is a peer which means she has a lived experience. “For me, I’ve been in those shoes, so I know what it’s like. I wish there were people doing what I do when I was out there. Spreading kindness makes a difference.” Paul had been without a place to live since he lost his job due to the pandemic. He tried living in his car for a while, but when it was impounded, he had no money to get it out, and he lost that as well. That year was a bad one for Paul. He not only lost his mother and a favorite aunt, but
his girlfriend passed away as well. She had helped him overcome an addiction but without her, Paul began to use drugs again, which made his situation worse. Then he met Jamie. “She introduced herself to me. She was new. And she wanted to help.” Jamie explains that Paul did not easily trust. He had been let down before and it was easier not to believe in someone than to be let down again. But Jamie was different. “We started small. He needed things like a blanket or a jacket…. a backpack…he was living under a bridge near Freeman Avenue, so he needed things to keep him warm.” Jamie kept her word with Paul and was always honest. “He might get mad at me from time to time but he would always come back because he knew I wouldn’t lie to him. I told him he had to do his part.” Eventually, Jamie convinced Paul to sign up for services so she could get him the help he needed for his substance use disorder. Once he agreed, she was able to connect him to the GCBHS PATH Team, which helps people who are not housed and need mental health services. With the assistance of PATH, she was able to find him stable housing and he moved into his apartment in August of this year. Soon Paul was asking cont. on page 3 >
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