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September 17, 2024 • 50 mins

What does it take to rebuild your life from the depths of addiction to academic and personal success? Jamie Monahan, a recruiter and certified recovery specialist at Luzerne County Community College's All One Recovery Center, shares his extraordinary journey of resilience and determination. His story highlights the pivotal moments that led him to seek help and his unwavering commitment to maintaining recovery. Jamie's firsthand experience underscores the transformative power of support systems, illustrating how the right help at the right time can make all the difference.

You'll be captivated by the stories of triumph over adversity as we spotlight educational programs that change lives, like the All One Recovery Educational Institute. From earning business degrees to gaining acceptance into prestigious programs, we hear about individuals who have overcome significant obstacles thanks to the support from organizations and key figures such as Melissa Wassel. This episode paints a vivid picture of how education and community support are vital in rebuilding lives, offering hope and second chances to those in recovery.

We also explore the importance of creating supportive environments for students in recovery, from addressing cultural shame to providing resources that remove barriers to education. Celebrating achievements like acceptance into Penn State, we delve into the multifaceted support systems in place, including the KEYS program. Through personal anecdotes and practical advice, this episode encourages listeners to reduce stigma and extend a helping hand, ensuring that no one has to climb the mountain of recovery alone.

LEARN MORE:

https://www.luzerne.edu/arei/

https://www.luzernecounty.org/Do

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello and thanks again for listening to another
episode of All Better.
I'm your host, joe Van Lee.
Today's guest is Jamie Monahan.
Jamie works at Luzerne CountyCommunity College at the All One
Recovery Center.
Jamie's job is a recruiter anda peer mentor and a CRS that's

(00:22):
going to be certified recoveryspecialist for the new student
body.
This program is designed forpeople in recovery early
long-term recovery to return tohigher education.
We're going to discuss thattoday and how unique this
program is and their continualsupport for the census and our

(00:45):
residents and friends atFellowship House who are now
entering the program.
We also discuss a little ofJamie's history, entry into
recovery and what recovery meansto him.
Today I look forward to meetingmy friend Jamie Monahan.
Yo, we're here with G Money,jamie Monahan.

(01:14):
Jamie, thanks for coming on.
It's great to see you.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Joe, thank you.
It's a pleasure to be here andI'm excited to get started.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
We have a lot to talk about.
We've been keeping in touch thelast couple of years because we
share a common condition here.
Now it's recovery.
You know, some years ago it wasaddiction, and what you've done

(01:44):
over the last three years andevery time you reached out to me
I'm going to tell youstraightforward was it has been
an inspiration and anencouragement to me to see you
not get destroyed by addiction,depression or any other kind of
negative feelings that come withthat, and to and to watch the

(02:06):
people's lives you've impactedthat many people may not know
about.
That's in our field.
It was very inspiring to watch.
So I wanted to not only discussthat how you entered recovery.
We have a lot to talk about ofwhat you're currently doing in
your role now, which is, I think, the most interesting thing

(02:26):
happening for anyone who'sentering early recovery options
they can have now.
So how would you summarize whataddiction, what need was it
meeting?
That maybe you weren't aware ofinitially, but you came to find
out that the addiction was morethan just drug use.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
Well, there's a lot to it, you know.
Born on the streets of Scranton, I think all roads lead back
there and we do have aconnection in addiction and in
recovery.
But now, helping others succeed.
And for me, I put my head down,since I was 15 years old and
drank and started using drugs atthe age of 18.

(03:10):
After, you know, I earned afootball scholarship and thought
I was invincible until I losteverything.
And for me, addiction has somany meanings.
Addiction has so many meaningsand to look back at my life,
what it was, I think I needed togo through what I went through

(03:33):
to get where I'm going aftertoday.
Addiction took over my life aswe may know it and with mental
health, depression.
You know there's a lot thattook over, but humiliation was
number one.
And when I finally raised myhand and asked for help, this is
the first time in my life thatI wanted to go get help.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
Yeah, it's.
It's strange that the worst dayof your life if you can obtain
long-term recovery, it becomes acelebration.
The rest of your life, the mostdesperate day and I think
people who are new to say, an AAor an NA community go and see a

(04:15):
celebration.
Right, I'm celebrating fiveyears.
The room tends to forget thiswas the worst day of my life.
Now here's a cake.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
So cake and some coffee.
But you know what too, when Itravel now and speak on college
campuses or speak at treatmentcenters, everyone likes to talk
about the worst day, but I liketo talk about the first day.
Let's start climbing back upthat mountain Because at the end
of the day, we're settingourselves back up right.
When I decided to go totreatment at the end of 2020, I

(04:51):
wanted to run.
I wanted to get in my car anddrive and drive and drive, or I
didn't want to go on any further, and that was tough for me
because that would have been theeasy way out to give up.
That was tough for me becausethat would have been the easy
way out to give up and to put myhead down and say you know what
?
I'm going to listen to everysuggestion that comes my way.
I'm done running my lifebecause I just ran it into the

(05:14):
ground for the past 25 years,but listening to other
suggestions from people.
And you know what?
I didn't have insurance at thetime and Lackawanna County Drug
and Alcohol called me and saidwe have a bed open for you.
I didn't care what door it was,I was taking it, and when I
took it, I said, it doesn'tmatter what room we sit in.

(05:35):
These four walls could be asmagical as we want to.
They could be the worst roomI've ever been in, but how do we
succeed from here?
And it was a learningexperience.
And you know, I spent 71 daysin a treatment center 71 days
almost a quarter of a year.
And you know what?
They wanted me to go for 22 to28 days and I just used for 25

(05:58):
years.
Yeah, what's 22 days going todo to help me for the rest of my
life, after I just used for 25years?
It clearly wasn't enough time.
So I gave myself more time andI wanted to stay when I was
leaving because I wascomfortable.
Yeah, Safe.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
Yeah, that's a.
That's a struggle on the otherend.
So a clinician, um, seeingsomeone who does really well,
sometimes they could stay toolong and they rely a lot on the
provider because it is a specialplace and I don't know if you
relate to this, but maybe after25 years this is the first place

(06:38):
where you connected with peopleemotionally.
We didn't have to, like inScranton, make these
distinctions why people aredifferent, why I'm better than
in group out group that youcould connect with anyone that
was kind of sitting in the roomin a group, especially after 70
days, how deeply were youconnected with people?

Speaker 2 (06:55):
well, when I first walked in there funny quick
story I went to a group and Iraised my hand and said hi, I'm,
I'm Jamie and I'm an alcoholicand drug addict.
And half the room startedlaughing at me and you know, I
took a step back, thinking youknow I'm not supposed to be here
.
And some of the guys likethat's not true, you're one of
the employees here.
And I said no, I need to behere.

(07:17):
And within two weeks from myefforts, of my own recovery, I
became a community leader.
So I ran 25 guys for aboutalmost three months, getting
them out of their beds forbreakfast, their meds.
Let's go, let's get to groups,let's start programming.
And you know what too and Iheard all these statistics and

(07:38):
it's tough If you're sitting ina room of 50 guys, two are going
to make it.
And at that point I told theguys that didn't want to be
there move out of my way,because I need to go get this,
my life is over and I need tocreate a future for myself.
So everything I was doing, fromthe walk and the talk, was
totally different from when Ifirst went to treatment when I

(07:58):
was 26 years old, and I did 28days in Marworth and three
months later I was drinkingagain.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:06):
What do you think was different with?
You described it just earlierthat there was this moment and a
lot of people always describeit, but it's when it's happening
to me.
Or, like you just describedyourself how profound it is to
say what giving up meansSometimes that doesn't connect
with people intellectually.
Giving up what letting someonetake over my mind and stuff and

(08:30):
you're letting someone thatcares about you you might not
see it at first.
You're that act of humility andtrust is what you could call a
spiritual awakening.

Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah, and you know, from day one, when I met my
counselor or treatment she, shestarted telling me what can be
better in my life if I justlisten to her, and I said I'm
all yours.
But before I decided to go totreatment, it was a lot.
My world crashed down inDecember of 2020, running from
the law, Nowhere to go.

(09:03):
I was unhirable.
I just had a horrible, horriblerelationship and I blamed all
the outside factors on my usage.
And when I went to treatment, Ilooked at myself in the mirror.
I was afraid and I said tomyself you did all this.
Now it's what you do from herethat's going to define you for

(09:26):
the rest of your life.
You know we're going to havethe judgments and the stigma,
and I believe stigma it's anational pandemic right now and
it's hard to break that.
And you and your team,everything you're doing for your
clients here like I see allthat on social media I didn't
have that right.

(09:47):
I didn't have the.
Let's get together as acommunity.
Let's go out to a movietogether.
So they're not just livingrehab life, they're living life
in recovery before they go backto their communities.
Yeah, they don't have to hide,they don't.
And you know what, too?
Coming into recovery andsobriety, I felt like myself

(10:08):
again.
I didn't have to hide or wearmillions of masks, you know, and
that helped, because I feltaccepted into that room from
people that didn't even know me.

Speaker 1 (10:18):
We were just talking about that this morning the
exhaustion of mask, and it comesfrom Latin persona, which means
mask.
So person means mask, so aperson is an actor.
We only meet the actor and theinternal life could have been so
tormentive, for for many of usthat addiction just arrives as a

(10:38):
solution.
Right, and to hear you say thatand watch guys really have high
motivation in the beginning,but their ego starts doing some
of the work for them.
The egos can be healthy.
It's there to defend you, butit's been exhausted.
It was working.
My ego started kindergarten.
It was working overtime.
I don't have a personality, butI'm not going to let anyone

(11:00):
hurt me.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
Mine was doing pushups in grade school.
And when I when you know, I wasgifted athletically, so when I
was playing sports, that tookover and you were really good at
sports.

Speaker 1 (11:11):
There comes a status and a position with that that
will lead to a great identity.

Speaker 2 (11:17):
There's positives to it and especially in this area
too, we're high on sports andcoming back to the community,
losing a football scholarshipand have to go back into the
community with my head down, andyou know what?
My head's been low for yearsand this past three and a half
years I'm coming up.
God willing, I'm coming up onfour years sobriety, december

(11:39):
6th, and it's the most time I'vehad since I was 15 years old.
Congrats, continuous sobrietyand I just met an amazing,
amazing girl this year and justthe gifts that come into your
life when you start telling thetruth, when you start doing the
right things right.
And a big key to my successtoday is three and a half years

(12:07):
out of treatment.
I still do my hour of counselinga week and my therapy.
So I do two hours a week intherapy and counseling with drug
and alcohol and my mentalhealth.
That'll never change.
You know.
You know how we are.
We were in the same program atschool and we take on a lot.
You know, and I tried to.
I try to block all of it outwith taking five classes or
getting involved on campus untilI said you know what.

(12:28):
I need to be okay with myself.
I need to get that healthybalance and it's okay to go to
treatment.
Still, yeah, you know, guysthink they need to come out and
within six months I'm good, I'mgoing back into society, which
they get swallowed up again.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
It's just looking at the history should say
Alcoholics Anonymous an easy oneto point to.
We have.
There's this founder, billWilson, who writes a book,
becomes prolific, and thenthere's this huge gap in time.
If you don't read the historyof AA, he gets away from the
consequences of addiction in avery dramatic way and remains
away from them.

(13:04):
What he does not remain awayfrom the consequences of
addiction in a very dramatic wayand remains away from them.
What he does not remain awayfrom is depression, unhealthy
relationships, infidelity withhis wife, misappropriations with
what he was going to design forAA.
He gets restrained by thecommunity and he says he
achieves emotional sobriety 25years later you just described

(13:34):
you caught on to that early andso did I because I got married
and I can get away from theconsequences of an addiction
from cocaine drinking justcompletely.
I just couldn't handle any ofthem.
Daily basic things justcollapse on me.
That goes away in earlysobriety.
What does not go away and whatI don't have naturally just by
not drinking, is emotionalresiliency, stress, tolerance,

(13:58):
making intimacy coming easybecause of you know just my
perspective.
So therapy I'm glad youmentioned that and most people
should be really open to thatafter an initial sobriety,
because it's add nothing butmore fulfillment to my life and
the people around me.

Speaker 2 (14:16):
And you're totally right.
You hit it all by saying it wastough to me to get back into a
relationship.
Now that I'm sober this is thefirst time I've been into a
sober relationship how am Igoing to react?
How's my, my mental healthgoing to?
Is it going to take over?
And um, these were all theideas going through my head when
I just slowed down, took a stepback and I was honest and her

(14:41):
and I sat down and talked andsaid this is who you're getting.
That's awesome Right.
And today I'm totally different.
I sat down and talked and saidthis is who you're getting.
That's awesome Right.
And today I'm totally differentthan I was, and physically and
mentally, because I went intotreatment at 170.
Today I'm 210 pounds, but Ifeel good.
I feel good and I have cookieshere too, so we can celebrate.
We're good with those.
But I was talking to a coupleof close friends and support the

(15:03):
other day saying what did 2024bring for you?
And I said here's what itbrought for me.
You know, it gave me my mybusiness associates degree at
LCC.
I met a girl, I got a full timeposition on campus with
benefits, and I just gotaccepted two weeks ago to the
Penn State Online World CampusBusiness Program that I'm

(15:25):
starting as a junior in thespring.
And you know what, three yearsago last week I walked on that
campus homeless.
I had nowhere to live.
And you know what?
I was afraid to go back to myfamily in Dunmore because I
thought I exhausted all thoseavenues.
Yeah, my father just celebrated33 years of sobriety.
He's a graduate of Marworth of1992.

(15:49):
And I remember being 12 goingto visit him there.
Yeah, you know, now him and Igo together and we speak at
those events.
Oh, that's wild, which itbrings us closer.
And you know, I'm doing someoutdoor things.
Like, he just bought two kayaks.
We're going to take them out inthe water.
But you know what?
I'm not spending time in frontof a drink or drug for 17 hours

(16:09):
a day.
Yeah, you know, so there's.
I try to think about where Iwas, what I was thinking and
where I'm at today, and it'stotally different.

Speaker 1 (16:23):
That's a great transition to what I want to
talk about, this new positionthat you have.
We can't talk about it enoughbecause there's very few things
that I there's no program likeit.
So Luzerne County CommunityCollege, its main campus in
Nanticoke and its satellitecampus, which many of our

(16:44):
residents are now signing up to,the Steamtown and online
classes and this is a variationof any classes, from philosophy,
bio, nursing, technical skills,liberal arts, you name it
requirements 60 credits to anassociate degree.
Maybe I'm speaking too much,but there is a program that

(17:06):
allows people in recovery toexperience 60 credits with a
recovery grant all one recovery.
Did I butcher that?

Speaker 2 (17:20):
No, that was spot on and you know.
You know too.
I walked out of treatment marchof 21 and someone in recovery
said did you ever hear about thearea program at lcc?
I said no, what is it?
They said look it up, go findup.
So I walked on campus and and Imet with director she's amazing
Melissa Wassel, yeah, melissa,from day one, had my back, and

(17:43):
what I mean by that is I wasafraid of walking in there,
thinking I can't get financialaid.
There could be loans out there.
I'm not smart enough to go backto school.
I burned my bridges at EastStroudsburg University.
She said stop worrying aboutall that, let's take it one step
at a time.
So her staff around me helpedme get into school.

(18:03):
And when I tell you get intoschool, yeah, people see, if you
do what you're told, youreducation could be paid for.
But to maintain a 2.0 or higher, two check-ins a month, that
seems like basic to me.
And my first semester I was athree eight.
I didn't think I was smartenough until I see the letter in

(18:24):
the mail that I got the Dean'slist and I'm like it's not just
acing your classes and let metell you about this program.
So the all one recoveryeducational Institute gave me an
opportunity, not just a secondchance in my education, but a
second chance at life, to builda future for myself.
And it's bigger than me, likewe think.

(18:46):
All right, so the individualsucceeding after graduation.
These programs are giving us alife, a family, you know, after
we're done and look at you hererunning this for for guys I
can't even walk in life Right,and myself I saw this come to
fruition a few months back.
So my last semester I graduatedMay 23rd and when I walked

(19:08):
across the arena stage it wasawesome and I'd been waiting for
20 years to do that.
And, um, looking back, I wasthe work study in the recovery
office for a year and a half.
So, I basically sat withstudents.
You know what works for you,what doesn't work for you, how
are these classes?
And I went to Melissa and Isaid, melissa, there is an

(19:30):
opening here for a certifiedrecovery specialist.
I like to throw my hat in thering.
I'm not certified yet, so I didmy research.
All the Scranton classes werebooked, so I had a drive for 11
Saturdays in a row, from Marchto May, down to the Reading Area
Community College Wow, and Iput the time in.

(19:51):
And this was also with sixclasses, 18 credits, business
classes to graduate, along withdoing a collegiate business plan
competition that I had to getinto.
That just ended in May as well.
So when I came back, I did the77 hours, I passed the PA cert
board test and the job wasoffered me two months later.

(20:13):
Congratulations.
And to this week was mystarting.

Speaker 1 (20:16):
My fifth week and I've been chasing you for two
months to come on the podcast totalk about this.
You know disclosure and, forthe sake of the conversation, I
was in the same same boat and wedid not know this yet.
And if I, if I'm telling thisright, this is how I remember it
.
I make a plan for fellowshiphouse.

(20:38):
Other people buy into the plan.
It can work.
I never thought I'd work intreatment.
I'm done with advertising.
I am cooked.
I don't want any pretense to mylife.
I felt like the only space,professionally and personally,
was this authenticity ofrecovery and this kind of

(20:58):
vocation rising to me, to theonly currency left in my life is
to help people get out of theirown pain.
Like I really felt, like I hada second chance at life.
So I left school at theuniversity of Scranton um 2001
might've been junior philosophy,started a business.
I am unemployable.

(21:18):
This is why I'm a filmmaker.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
We can put our mask back on.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
Oh yeah, just, totally just.
The unconventional life iswhere I'm normal.
I am not a square.
Every time I tried to be asquare, life got horrifying for
me.
My addiction would come out.
So I go back to school, I do theCRS class.
This is four years ago now.
In the middle of the CRS classthey explain the Zern RE program

(21:47):
.
I never considered it.
I thought I would still startFellowship House, hire
clinicians and just be like.
You know the guy there and thisgentleman talked me into it.
He said why don't you?
You know you got all thesedegrees or classes.
We'll take them over to Luzerne.
Why don't you get all theserequirements done?

(22:08):
You should really study psychand human services.
I said human services.
I have fixed ideas in my headthat don't make sense.
I take a human services class.
He talks me into it.
I sign up.
I'm thinking how am I doingthis?
I got a kid on the way.
I'm strapped, I'm bootheeledwith cash.
I can't.
You know, I'm working in atreatment center First night in

(22:32):
the class.
Who do I see?
I swear to God you were in thatclass and we were in a support
group together and I just breath.
I could breathe a sigh ofrelief Like this is what I'm
doing, like I'm.
I'm improving my life, I'mgetting the life I want.
Um, I have the enough humilityand the arrogance is knocked out

(22:53):
of me that I can now learn itaway.
That was very difficult in my20s in these settings, because
of just how much noise wasalways in my head.
Did you have the noise?
Was it a different experience?
The first couple of classes,the easing- it was.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
And you know what too .
I remember that night and whenI walked in and saw you, I saw a
familiar face, yeah, and allthe worry and the anxiety went
out the window because you said,james, everything's going to be
okay.
And it's hard because you gointo rooms when you don't know
anybody, even when you'recelebrating, getting your chips
and stuff like that.
But to see you coming from thesame streets as me back in the

(23:35):
day, I knew there was adifferent way.
Right, there's a better way,and it helped me get through my
first semester, yeah.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yeah, same.
Here it was reciprocated, so Ijust finished myself undergrad.

Speaker 2 (23:51):
Congratulations At.

Speaker 1 (23:52):
SUNY for psych, and then I'll start an MSW program
in January.

Speaker 2 (23:58):
I'm going to be picking your brain because I'm
going fully online now too.

Speaker 1 (24:01):
Yeah, I loved online for me, the experience.
I think I excel better atonline modules because I don't
have the noise and sensory ofbeing in a room with a bunch of
people trying to figure out whattheir stories are.

Speaker 2 (24:17):
My mind's just fucking it's working all the
time, which is good Cats inthere, man.
But um, no, it's, uh it's.
I'm still waiting to wake upfrom a dream.
Yeah Right, this is too good tobe true for me.
And the the support that I getfrom my family and and you know,

(24:38):
my older brother and sisterlove them to death and just by
the text messages you're killingit.
Keep doing what you're doing.
And you know, when I walked outof that treatment for 71 days,
I wasn't looking for the pat onthe back.
This time People go to rehab andthink, all right, I just did my
time, you need to be back in mylife, and I had to put the work

(25:00):
in just to get my family back,and then the community.
And then I meet a beautifulwoman that just changed my life
this year and she's sosupportive.
Quick story, and she's going toprobably get mad at me, but she
showed up in my place not toolong ago, like about two months
ago, with a gift for me and it'sthe small things, right.
And I opened it up and theseare covers for my sobriety chips

(25:24):
.
Oh cool, she's not even insobriety, yeah, and for her to
care and support my chips, likethat took me to a whole nother
level, meaning from day oneshe's been listening to me and
it's helping me open up evenmore and now to succeed to the
path that I'm going on this falland all next year.

(25:45):
Funny thing is, I'm a hugeNotre Dame football fan and I
had to put all my Irish gearaway and pull out the Penn state
stuff because I'm going to be aPenn state student.
Now you have to right.

Speaker 1 (25:54):
New life, man Rebirth .

Speaker 2 (25:56):
You get to live two lives now too, right, new life,
man Rebirth.
You get to live two lives now,right, and but walking into LCC,
I work every day now, which issomething I love to do, right,
and I work.
Jim Ezekiel, she is the, she'sthe airy academic facilitator,
so she meets with the studentson the academic side of it and
I'll meet with them on therecovery side of it and we kind

(26:23):
of split it up for them and makeit easier for them.
You know, she makes sure thatthey're taking the right classes
, they're not taking too manyclasses, their academic balance
is there for them.
And then I I work with theirsupport and recovery for the
whole semester.
And recovery plans kind of charton that and you know I talked
to them too, saying that we havea lot of relationships with a
lot of agencies out there in thecommunities and if you need
help with X, we're here to helpyou.

(26:44):
If you come to us and saythere's a barrier in my way,
we'll sit down and figure outwhat community agency can help
you with that barrier so you cancontinue your education and
some of that's is that kind ofroll into the idea of the KEYS
program.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
That's Keystone Education Guild Success and it's
a program for parents.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
Is that a resource?
No, it's a pro.
Well, yes, for parents, forsingle parents, but it's for
anybody that have barriers intheir way, which is food
insecurities.
And you can help them get theresources for, say, SNAP
benefits, food stamps, and thenthese barriers could slowly be
removed so college could keephappening at the pace that's

(27:24):
right for them Exactly, so theydon't have to worry about I need
a bus pass or I don't have gasto get to my classes, which the
keys program will help them putthat in place.
So they're reimbursed all that,which is awesome.

Speaker 1 (27:36):
It's amazing what kills people?
It's shame, and you know a lotof this.
We could point to all thereasons.
It's just this cultural shamethat could rise up from whatever
we have as ideas of success orwhat the generation or our
parents should have had easier,um, laid out before someone.
And this is all make-believe.
It's in your fucking head.

(27:57):
Take one problem at a time.
And now that you're the CRS,you're the go-to, the guy to say
, okay, let's get rid of thesebarriers.
That A would diminish recoveryand B diminish the life you
should have.

Speaker 2 (28:12):
And the life they could have Could have.
Yeah, and you know it too.
Like students will come in andsit with me now, like here's
where I'm at, here's where Iwant to be, what's your gap to
get there?
And I'll help them with thatgap, right.
Like a lot of people will comein and say it's too impossible
to do, it's too high of amountain to climb, and I said,

(28:32):
listen, if there's anyone thatknows, it's me and let's put our
egos aside and let's walktogether.
It's me and let's put our egosaside and let's walk together.
Yeah, you know, and they comeback.
They come back a month laterwhen they do their check-ins.
Like, jim, I'm loving my classes, I'm loving my professors and
you know what, when I firstwalked on campus, I was kind of
the nerd because I would sit infront of the class.
Yeah, I would raise my hand atthe end of class and you know

(28:53):
the younger, younger studentswanting to get out of there when
I'm still asking the questions.
But I needed to ask questionsthis time to help my life and to
understand why I'm here.
What put me here?

Speaker 1 (29:04):
Jim, I.
We have cores here.
We call them the 12 fellowshiphouse cores, and the cores were
designed as components of whatwill create the best culture, a
culture that could stay with youand then even years or far, far
away from fellowship house.
It's House, it's the values youcan use to create culture for
your family and friends,wherever you go.
The first one we have iseducation and we break it down

(29:27):
to its kind of Latin roots toshine a light upon, to bring
forth, bring up, and we'll givein that lecture.
I'll break down learning tothree kind of dimensions Western
, eastern and Indigenous.
So we're not even getting tothe point of formal education
and we go through ADD,oppositional defiance, things

(29:48):
that could have hindered, pre orafter or during addiction that
you could have blamed.
Maybe we can tackle these alltogether and at the end of that
lecture we break it down toservices and we break it down to
you.
You came in that week after andwe have a census right now of 30
between two houses, 40 with theoutpatient, and our area is

(30:11):
blessed with multiple providers,not just us, us and I think
education, formal or informal,is essential to stay quotations
awake, a life of intention, alife where I have gratitude more
easily than depression becauseI'm alive and I got a second
chance To watch you take thisposition at this program.

(30:33):
I think this program should benational news, I think it should
be offered to everybody, but tohave it right for recovery
people.
It produces recovery, it keepsrecovery.
So a few things you have peersupport, you have groups that
happen weekly.
You help manage a schedule thatwon't be, you know, defeating.

(30:57):
Let's just ease into this.

Speaker 2 (30:59):
And this grant covers what so the grant will cover
maintaining a 2.0 or above.
Okay, two check-ins with myselfand our academic facilitator.
If they go through thefinancial aid process and

(31:20):
complete everything they need tocomplete, we'll help take care
of their tuition gap.
All right, so if you're inLuzerne County, it's cheaper, of
course, than you're living inLackawanna County.
It's double the tuition, and soin county a lot of people can
go through the program with nofinancial problems at all, and

(31:45):
not even that too, it's helpwith books.
I need help with books.
I can't come up with $500 rightnow to start the semester.
We'll find something to helpthem.
Meaning we have a book lendinglibrary of students that are in
our program that don't need thebooks anymore.
For someone coming in behindthem, it's pretty substantial.

Speaker 1 (32:06):
I've been in that library, it's big.

Speaker 2 (32:08):
Yeah, and we turned it into a recovery lounge where
people could just go in there,study, eat, talk, connect.
But I just want to give you aplug as well, because, growing
up and living not too far fromyour Scranton Greenridge
location, driving by that newlocation, it just blows my mind

(32:30):
how it looks today.
Right, and I'm connecting withmore people in the region
because of your podcast, becauseof your post on social media,
and a lot of those industryleaders want to talk with us now
because I'm reaching outbecause of your podcast.
Oh great, and it's helping mehelp students, not just on our

(32:52):
main campus in Nanaco, but wehave seven satellite campuses.
Yeah, you do, and that makes mereach out to more community
college in Pennsylvania.
So here's what we're doing whatare you doing?
And we're trying to communicatewith them to see if we can all
talk the same language for ourstudents.

Speaker 1 (33:09):
Well, good, I took the liberties of being generous
with some of our languagecommunity partner.
You like that?
Well, I say this becausethere's a portion of our census
that comes from not only atri-state area.
It's like this reverse braindrain.
This is how I'm looking at it,and this isn't just framework or

(33:29):
clever language on my part.
We're recruiting talent, we'relocating them in Scranton, we're
anchoring them here, and a lotof our residents are now signed
up for Luzerne.
Be it if it's Lackawanna.
They went to the University ofScranton, but Luzerne was the
great entry level for some ofthese kids' barriers to not only

(33:51):
education but recovery.
These kids are extremelytalented.
They have high sensory.
They look at the world with adifferent perspective and the
world returned some cruelty.
So addiction was a solutionfrom that and they're going to
be talent here.
Many of them have plans to livehere.
The community was so impactful.

(34:11):
So it's the reverse of braindrain, this idea.
We're just recruiting myfavorite people in the world
addicts and alcoholics.

Speaker 2 (34:20):
And you know what, too, I've been seeing as a
student transitioning into myprofessional role there that
students will walk in thataren't in recovery, but maybe
their mother or father are, orthey're in active addiction and
they need help and support toget through their classes
because it's too much stress ontheir plate, wow.
So we're kind of opening uplike the Al-Anon for them as

(34:41):
well, man, to support studentsthat want to get away from their
home for a few hours and taketheir classes.

Speaker 1 (34:47):
That just happened organically.
What you're saying is the samething as a good provider versus
a bad.
The families, the patient likethe whole unit and now that's
happening there.
I mean, I guess that's just theorganic course of what would
have happened.

Speaker 2 (35:02):
And they don't know about it.
Yeah, and it's like, once onestarts to open their mouth and
talk about it more, coming outto saying you know what I do
need help.
Well, let's talk about somebarriers.

Speaker 1 (35:14):
Someone hears this program.
It's still things like so let'ssee some hurdles Maybe they
wouldn't share.
I was already in school 10years ago.
Three years ago, 15, 20.
Um, I didn't pay back a studentloan.
They're asking me to fill out aFASA financial aid.

(35:34):
What happens when you have apotential student fill that out
and they have unpaid uh,stafford loans?
How do you guys deal with that?

Speaker 2 (35:44):
So we have a few options.
One we work very closely withOVR Office of Vocational
Rehabilitation so they can gothere and they can see if they
qualify to get some of theireducation taken care of.
Two if they come to LCC, sayback 10, 15, 20 years ago, and
they have a balance still, wehave a debt forgiveness program

(36:08):
where they would sign up withour financial aid.
They would have to maintain acertain GPA, make sure they're
going to all their classes andnot fail on any of them, and
then the financial aid officewill work with them.
Wow, and also, too, some ofthem will go in and say I have a
$5,000 or $10,000 balance.
They just want to see a goodfaith pay.
If you go to them and say I cangive you X per month to get me

(36:30):
where I'm going, they'll workwith you.

Speaker 1 (36:32):
And you just walk someone through that.

Speaker 2 (36:34):
And that's it.
And you know what too?

Speaker 1 (36:44):
We sit down and say all right, what are all?

Speaker 2 (36:45):
the barriers.
Yeah, let's take them one at atime, cause, joe, you know, in
early recovery we wanteverything back yesterday, yeah,
and the world's ending.
Right, let's get.
Let's hunker down, yeah, but um, no.
So once they start seeing thatthey take their deep breath and
they exhale that there arepeople that want to help.
You know, and I always say thistoo, like when I so my home, I
practice AA and my home group isin Pittston and it's the

(37:07):
junction group on Sunday nights,but that's where I met people
that worked at the treatmentcenter, where I was going, when
I walked in there and when I wascelebrating my three, six, nine
months, my year, who was inthere hugging me?
People that never even seen meor met me before, right, where
are the people that ran with mefor 20 years?

(37:28):
None of them were around.

Speaker 1 (37:30):
I'm waiting for them.
They'll arrive soon, right?

Speaker 2 (37:33):
There was one that came and I want to give him a
shout out Tommy Hurst, one of myboys.
He's the king man, hurst Hearstone of my boys, he's the king
man, hearstie, is going strong,he's doing fantastic, but the
support from people that I knowfrom my hometown that say Jamie,
you can keep doing it, keepgoing, keep going there's a
purpose for all this.

Speaker 1 (37:51):
So that's one complexity.
You just took that chess pieceoff the board and half the
battle would be to show up to anappointment.
Just keep showing up to theappointment, you'll find out.
You'll find a way into theschool and it's very the highway
and the entry is very broad andit could change your life.
Because if thought is containedto just language um, and you're

(38:16):
limited in your thoughts toyour language, education will
change your life.
It'll change your world,because if you change your mind,
the world is changing.
I really love the supportyou've been giving our guys.
I'm really happy for the newposition.
Is there anything about thisprogram that I'm failing to kind

(38:38):
of explore?
That you think is a challengeor frequently asked question
from people.

Speaker 2 (38:45):
No, we're covering everything, but there is
something that I do want totouch on.
So, like I said, I wasunhirable, I had no skills and I
always thought I was entitledthat why don't I get the
promotion?
Or they owe me more money,right?
And when I got hired five weeksago and I started full time,
this isn't a job for me, this ismy career, this is something I

(39:06):
love to do, it's a way of life,right, yeah?
And like I show up early, Ileave late and I want to be
there to help because it's it.
It gave me a sense of purposethat you know.
I waited.
I dropped out of school in 2000and I waited 22 years to get a
job and two months after Igraduated, I got a full-time job

(39:28):
with benefits and everythingthat I need to help and to take
that frustration off my plate.
Am I going to get a job out ofgraduation?
It might take six months to ayear.
I just patiently did thiswithout working.
For how many months, how manyyears?
But I still have to stay thecourse.
And when the job came up, Ijumped on it because I was doing

(39:49):
this as a student.

Speaker 1 (39:51):
You were, you were in the office doing this for other
people.
When I was there, I was.

Speaker 2 (39:54):
And you know what?
The the?
The ladies are going to laughand yell at me, but they they
kind of still see me once in awhile as their work study.
The ladies are going to laughand yell at me, but they kind of
still see me once in a while astheir work study the shred
papers or go get this for us.
But you know what?
That's just their support forme.
Yeah, and it helps.
You've got a great team.

Speaker 1 (40:08):
They're a part of my family.
The whole staff there is reallyspecial and that's a special
program.
You're in a great environment.
It's a dream job.

Speaker 2 (40:20):
And after Jan and I left a few weeks ago talking to
your guys here, melissa and Italked about getting with you,
coming up with the handhandshake, moving forward for
your guys that come in.
We would love to do this notjust once every three months or
every semester.
Come up even more because nowwe offer certified recovery
specialist classes that are Igot two ready to sign up, man.

(40:42):
Yep, that are going to be on theWilkes-Barre LLC campus on the
square, and we partnered withNorthbound Recovery Hub.
What they're going to be doingnow, I believe it's Tuesday,
thursday, saturday for a month.

Speaker 1 (40:55):
That's a great company Northbound and coorg.
You can check that out.
It's October 15th throughNovember 16th this year,
tuesdays and Thursdays at six tonine and on Saturdays, nine 30
to 4 PM.
That's a Luzerne Countycommunity college.
To public square, wilkes-barre,pa.

(41:16):
Check it out.
Two of the guys that I had inmind.
I know what this is and I knowwhat the experience has been
from a handful of people.
This milestone of getting it'sa really, really good class.
I took this training.
The information blew my mind.
I spent 14 years in recovery.

(41:37):
What the hell are you going toteach me?
Even when I came back, 90% ofthe information I had no clue.
It was like the the, thereality and data of addiction
and my misunderstanding to myown stigmas, being a person that
was in recovery, where it wasbreathtaking, it was astonishing
what I did and it changed mylife.

(42:00):
Hence us sitting here and I'mgood I know this will happen for
other people here that arebrilliant and they're in our
program and they're scared ofschool and they want to take
this course, though, becausethey love recovery, they love
knowing they figured out what'swrong with them.
I know after that class,knowing they figured out what's

(42:22):
wrong with them, I know afterthat class.

Speaker 2 (42:24):
It's whatever the they're, they're boundless.
This class could be a steppingstone for them to remove that
barrier.
Let me just dip my toe in thewater with these.
With these classes for a monthand the benefits of it they get
six credits towards theirgraduation, which is awesome.
So what I just did from Marchto May yes, I'm getting a
full-time position with it, butthat would have been nice to get
six more credits towards PennState, towards my junior year.

(42:46):
Yeah, but with this program fora month and I believe we're
going to start doing this everysemester for them that they can
get certified, they can getcertified quicker.
That'll go towards theirgraduation at LCC with their
credits and I believe it goesthrough all majors.

Speaker 1 (43:04):
The course breaks down into a lot of great topics
that you'd be surprisedDiversity, training diversity,
multiple populations, thedisparity of how trauma and
addiction rises, andsocioeconomic statuses.
Almost some discussions onde-escalation, how people pay,

(43:25):
what a Medicaid population is,what ethics are when approaching
someone, especially theirinformation and what they're
comfortable with.
It's a real comprehensive,exciting course.

Speaker 2 (43:40):
I still have the handbook on my desk opened up
because I'm still learning fromit.
My class ended I think it wasMay 18th, and I took the test
right away because I graduatedMay 23rd, so I wanted my
associates and my cert all linedup before I got hired.
Yeah, and I still go back tothat.
I didn't know what a recoverycapital was.
Yeah, and now I'm creating thatfor the students and putting an

(44:03):
environment around them so whenthey're not on our campus, they
can still succeed with theirself-care, their recovery, their
life, their education, theirfamily.
But just little things likethat I'm pulling out of and
customizing it for our students.

Speaker 1 (44:17):
And just the importance of what would seem so
bland vanilla documentation.
How it's not about.
It's about protecting peopleand I found that their approach
to that in the class wascomprehensive could serve you
the rest of your life in thisfield.

Speaker 2 (44:35):
I wish I could tell everybody to go back and do this
program, but you know, for meit's let me worry about myself
first, let me get right so I canhelp others.
And, um, when Jana and I lefthere that day, she's like what a
great building, what a greatstaff here and the clients are
amazing.
I think you have a couplealready signed up for our fall
semester and, um, you know,we're willing to come up and sit

(44:58):
with them.
So they can't, if they can'ttravel down, we're willing to
come up and sit with them.
So if they can't travel down,we're going to come up and sit
with them, and if they have anykind of problems or barriers
with their online classes, we'llget the right people in front
of them.

Speaker 1 (45:09):
We've got a study hall we just built out.

Speaker 2 (45:11):
That's awesome.

Speaker 1 (45:12):
A computer lab on the first floor.
Guys are excited, they're ready, we have backup tutors and I
think they have to get morefamiliar with the services, so
I'm looking forward to it.

Speaker 2 (45:24):
I guess I guess I could say that this is this was
the.
This is the scholarship I waslooking for.
I had the athletic scholarshipback then, but this is the team
that I wanted to be on my wholelife.
Right, the biggest one in theworld is staying sober, helping
another alcoholic or drug addictand continuing to push this in
the right direction.
And what you're doing againonline is eye-opening, not just

(45:49):
for myself, but the community,just connecting and it spiders
out from one of your podcasts.
I've talked to three differentpeople at three different
agencies that want to help.
Yeah, and it's the connectionfrom you and I had back in the
day Well.

Speaker 1 (46:05):
I'll end with some CRS facts.
22 million Americans identifyin some form of recovery.
There might be 3 million in theNRA at any given time.
Can you imagine if there was apolitical voice in a lobby for
resources that improved andempowered lives, maybe just
education?
That'd be a really dangerousorganization that could never be

(46:29):
ignored.
If we had half of that, and noteven having a political slant,
just as a slant towards thedignity any social workers
should fight for, what if we allstarted talking?
22 million people.

Speaker 2 (46:45):
Well, we have to start somewhere, and I believe
it starts from within, with thatperson, and it expands out.
But just spreading the word isgoing to help.
And it's tough, but I will doone speech at a time, one campus
at a time, to talk to peopleabout stigma, about judgment and
, you know, not to put so muchpressure on the person trying to

(47:09):
change their life.
No, extend a hand to help them.

Speaker 1 (47:14):
Jim, it was great having you.
I got to go start IOP.
I'm out of counselor.

Speaker 2 (47:19):
I got to go to my orientation online tonight, all
right, thanks for having me.
This has been a gratefulpleasure and I really appreciate
it.

Speaker 1 (47:27):
You're going to get the sound effect right.

Speaker 2 (47:30):
Yeah, I'm official.

Speaker 1 (47:37):
I'd like to thank you for listening to another
episode of All Better.
You can find us on allbetterfmor listen to us on Apple
Podcasts, Spotify, GooglePodcasts, Stitcher, iHeartRadio
and Alexa.
Special thanks to our producer,John Edwards, and engineering

(47:59):
company 570 Drone.
Please like or subscribe to uson YouTube, Facebook, Instagram
or Twitter and, if you're not,on social media, you're awesome.
Looking forward to seeing youagain.
And remember, just becauseyou're sober doesn't mean you're

(48:19):
right.
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