Building the Addiction Workforce: 70 Scholarships and Counting

Episode Transcript

Isabel Byon (00:00):
The New York State Office of Addiction Services and
Supports, or OASAS, providesthis podcast as a public service
.
Opinions expressed do notnecessarily reflect those of the
agency or state.

This is Addiction (00:12):
The Next Step.

Jerry Gretzinger (00:21):
Jerry Gretzinger here, your host for

Addiction (00:22):
The Next Step.
We are coming to you, as wealways are, from the New York
State Offices of AddictionServices and Supports.
Today we're going to introduceyou a little bit to an
organization that's been workingwith OASAS very closely and is
also doing a lot to help getscholarship funds out there to
people who want to go into theaddiction field.
We talk so much aboutsupporting the workforce and

(00:43):
this is such a critical piece ofthat, so I'm joined by Nathan
Rauscher.

Nathan Rauscher (00:50):
I appreciate you having me.

Jerry Gretzinger (00:51):
Let's start with HelioHealth.
Give people a quick overview ofwhat the organization is what
it does.

Nathan Rauscher (01:06):
Heliohealth has been around since 1920.
Started off with being ahalfway house in his transition
over the 100 years now tosupport individuals throughout
the entire continuum of services.
So we have different withdrawaland stabilization services,
residential 820 services,outpatient pretty much
everything.
Inpatient services throughoutNew York State.
We're primarily in Syracuse butwe have different services in
Gloversville, Utica, Binghamtonand Rochester as well.

Jerry Gretzinger (01:28):
I know we see the Helio name quite often doing
a lot of good work, which islike I said.
It's such a great partnershipwith OASAS because we want to
support the kind of work thatHelio is doing.
So we thank you for that andthe continuation in this episode
at least the conversation goinginto scholarship funds.
We know there's been a crisisin the addiction workforce and

(01:50):
we want to continue to buildthat up and make sure that it's
got a future and we're havingpeople who have the skills to go
forward with this importantwork, and Helio has been one of
our partners.
We've actually done a fewdifferent episodes on the people
, such as Helio, who are comingtogether to help get those funds
out, because it's not somethingone agency or person can do
alone.
So let me ask you this wechatted a bit before we started

(02:12):
our episode here about one ofthe issues you'd seen
historically with people whowanted to go into the addiction
workforce and you said one ofthe major hurdles was.
.

Nathan Rauscher (02:27):
We've received emails and voicemails for years
saying you know, I'm reallyinterested in becoming a CASAC
or I'm really interested inbecoming a certified peer, but I
don't have the funds to pay forthe course and over the years
we've never had scholarshipmoney available or any way of
getting someone into it andthis has definitely helped get
people who have, you know,necessarily never had the

(02:48):
opportunity or probably neverwould have gotten the
opportunity to get into thisfield, have the opportunity to
do so now.

Jerry Gretzinger (02:55):
So, you know, when you've gotten the outreach
from people who may haveeventually, you know, said well,
my one holdup is the finances.
Who are these people, like,where are they coming from?
Are they people with livedexperience?
Are they people who've hadfamily members?
Or people in the medicalcommunity who just want to be
able to, you know, add this totheir, their, their skillset?

Nathan Rauscher (03:15):
It's really been.
It's across the board.
It's we've had individualswho've been in, you know, maybe
in the really entry levelpositions in the medical field,
who, it's you know, notnecessarily minimum wage but
pretty close to it, who don'thave the extra income to be able
to support going back to schoolA this time and not being an
accredited college or university, we can't get financial aid, so

(03:38):
that's been a barrier as well.
We can't offer that toindividuals.
We've had other people who havelived experience themselves or
who have had lived experiencewith family members, loved ones,
who've experienced substanceuse in the past, really wanting
to now give back and being ableto share their story and again
not being able to do so, and Ithink that's again it's been, I

(04:00):
think, over the last two years,year and a half or so since
we've been able to offer this.
We have, I think, the last twoyears, year and a half or so
since we've been able to offerthis, we have, I think, over 70
people at this point currentlyin courses that are accessing
this funding.

Jerry Gretzinger (04:16):
A nd so, what is traditionally the cost to
participate in this?

Nathan Rauscher (04:20):
It's around.
It depends on the course.
The CASAC course in full isjust under $6,000.
It's a 14-month course for the350 hours.
For CRPA, it's about $850because it's a 50-hour course.

Jerry Gretzinger (04:34):
And so, as we said, people who are coming into
this, maybe it's people who aremaking just barely above
minimum.
Some people may be like, oh,when you're talking about
continuing education, thesenumbers don't sound that high.
But it can be the difference ofI can do it or I can't do it
and that's.
it's just comes to that point.
If people are hearing this andI know it's like you know, the
the scholarship funds becomeavailable, like you know,

(04:55):
annually and we see how much isavailable.
But I would imagine people hearthis and go, wow, this is
terrific because, again, aswe've said so many people, the
financial part of it is what isthe barrier?
What do they need to do?
I mean, I know, sometimes I askthis question they say, well,
the first thing they need to dois just have the passion to do
it.
Right, but if they want to beable to access the scholarships
and apply for that, what do theydo?

Nathan Rauscher (05:16):
Sure, there's two different things they can do
.
All of our information is righton our website it's www.
heliohealth.
But if they want to reach outto us directly, they can email
us at training at heliohealthand we can provide all the
information that way as well.
We'll send applications orlinks to the material and start
the conversation, start thatprocess of potentially accessing

(05:40):
the funds and getting signed upfor one of the courses.

Jerry Gretzinger (05:42):
And how does it work once that's been
approved and the courses start?
Are these in-person classes?
Are there remote options?
How does that go forward?

Nathan Rauscher (05:50):
Little of both.
So most of, like I said, mostof our services are out of
Syracuse.
So we do have one in-personcourse that happens two nights a
week in Syracuse.
All of our, all of our eveningcourses are basically five to
eight, five to eight or five, 30to eight, 30.
So we try to make it a littlebit manageable for individuals
who may be working full-time,may be working up until 4 or

(06:12):
4.30 and be able to access acourse.
So we have one that's in-personin Syracuse and we have six
offerings that are completelyvirtual.
So it's all through Zoom.
It's the same thing as being inan in-person class.
There's an instructor, they'redoing a PowerPoint or
presentation.
They're live, the students areall live so they can ask
questions, do breakout sessions.

(06:32):
We try to make it exactly.
We try to mimic in live coursein in-person courses best.
We can.
So that definitely helps ourindividuals, not just outside of
the Syracuse area, because wedo have some in Syracuse that
prefer it that way but it's opento pretty much anyone
throughout the state.

Jerry Gretzinger (06:51):
That was my next question.
Do you want the people in theareas where Helio operates, or
is it just open?

Nathan Rauscher (06:54):
It's open to anyone.

Jerry Gretzinger (06:58):
All right, and I guess I would say too as we
always wait every year to seewhat kind of funds are available
If somebody has an interest,you know, don't hesitate.
You know, we know, we know thisis out there in an option right
now.
So you know, jump at it.

Nathan Rauscher (07:10):
We go right in order of application, so who
first come, first serve.
We go right down the list, andwho gets us all the information
first is we're able to offerthem a seat.

Jerry Gretzinger (07:18):
When do the courses start?

Nathan Rauscher (07:20):
It's it's recurring, so I think I was
looking at the scheduleyesterday.
I think we have one, at leastone class starting every month
up till April.
I think we were not doing a newone in April and started right
up in May.
So of all, six of the virtualand the one in-person class,
open enrollment is prettyconsistent.

Jerry Gretzinger (07:40):
And let's say somebody reaches out one month,
how far from then might theyconceivably be starting like a
month later, weeks later?

Nathan Rauscher (07:48):
Yeah, it could be a couple weeks later.
It could be the next week.
It depends on, if you know,there's definitely um, there's
some required material that theyhave to submit for the grant
itself.
Yeah, if they're able to geteverything in, we will slot them
in this the next, you know,seat we have available and when
they're available.

Jerry Gretzinger (08:04):
All right, that's great.
So, in other words, don'thesitate.

Nathan Rauscher (08:06):
Absolutely.
Do it now.

Jerry Gretzinger (08:07):
You have the passion, you have the interest,
it can happen.
Nathan, thanks so much forsitting down with us.
We appreciate it.
I know you gave out theinformation for Helio.
I also wanted to share theinformation for OASAS.
If you want to learn more aboutservices, supports and
certainly scholarshipinformation, we have it on there
as well.
It's O-A-S-A-S, dot N-Y, dot,g-o-v, and always if you're
looking for any type ofassistance or someone to talk to

(08:28):
, 877-8-hope-n-y.
That's our HOPE line.
Again, Nathan, thank you somuch and thank you for checking

out this episode of Addiction: The Next Step. (08:34):
undefined
I'm your host, Jerry Gretzinger.
Until next time, be well.