Center Voices

ANALYSIS &

INSIGHT

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, people in recovery are experiencing challenges to stay sober due to self-quarantine and loneliness. Acknowledging that addiction is a disease, not a choice, can help loved ones be supportive, as discussed on Channel Q’s The Morning Beat with AJ and Mikalah:

Excerpt: “Once people are able to grasp that understanding, they can have more empathy and take the first steps to helping someone. People, in the lives of someone who is struggling, need to really recognize it and then just offer their support and being there. Have open honest conversations and not be scared to have those conversations. It’s not about you—it’s about helping them.”

Listen to more at KRISTEN ANDERSON

Manager of Addiction Recovery Services Health Services

bit.ly/recoveryduringCOVID

Great fanfare has surrounded the opening of the Center’s Liberation Coffee House located at the Anita May Rosenstein Campus. Staffed by graduates of the Center’s Culinary Arts program, the café opened amid the COVID-19 pandemic for a good reason, as reported by LA This Week:

Excerpt: “What we felt was really important is that we’re providing nutritious, affordable meals to the community. Even during a pandemic, people still need to eat, and so we’re hoping that this can shine a bright light on people as we’re going through this.”

NICK PANEPINTO

Director of Culinary Training and Operations Culinary Arts Adolescent health experts and social workers say restrictions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic are making it emotionally vexing for many people, particularly LGBTQ youth who do not have access to their usual support systems, as reported by USC’s Center for Health Journalism:

Excerpt: “Taking away a support system that they knew, the structure that LGBTQ youth had set up for themselves, was greatly impacted by this pandemic. As humans we are resilient, but our resilience comes from connecting to others. What we are going to see is that resilience starts to taper off.”

Read more at ERICA RODRIGUEZ, AMFT

Mental Health Clinician II Children, Youth & Family Services

bit.ly/LGBTQyouthandCOVID

As the world’s largest provider of programs and services to LGBT people, the Center had to continue its vital work during the COVID-19 pandemic, including thousands of Senior Services clients, as discussed on The Right Care Podcast:

Excerpt: “We’re a community center who operates by interfacing with people. All of that had to change—and had to change rapidly. We had to figure out: how do we continue to provide services and, yet, how do we do this when we have to, basically, close our doors? It took us a good month or so to really reconfigure everything and another month to streamline it as much as we could.” TRIPP MILLS

Associate Director of Housing and Training Senior Services