Why and how do we address recovery in Elijah Rising Restorative Care?
In this episode, Jessica Gobble, Elijah Rising’s Recovery Specialist, explains how addiction feeds trafficking and trafficking feeds addiction.
Traffickers have learned that they are able to make more profit off of an exploited individual when they exploit them in multiple ways.
For instance, if a trafficker coerces a woman into transporting drugs across the border, distributing them, and then engaging in prostitution, they generate more profit compared to solely exploiting them for sex. This overlap between addiction and trafficking is prevalent for numerous reasons.
Jessica also discusses:
- The distinction between forced and voluntary drug use, and their distinct impacts on individuals.
- The significance of medical detox and its role in the recovery process.
- The importance of empowering individuals to direct their own healing journey and providing support as allies.
Learn more about Elijah Rising »
Follow us on Instagram »
Donate and Support Our Work »
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome back to the Elijah Rising
podcast.
Today we have a very specialepisode that's going to kick off
a series specifically arounddrug trends, addiction and
recovery in the anti-traffickingcommunity.
So today I'm joined by theamazing and wonderful Jessica
Gobble.
Jessica is our recoveryspecialist here at Elijah Rising
(00:22):
and she covers so much.
You are responsible for so muchand so much implementation
around substance abuse, aroundaddiction and recovery in the
home, in the safe homespecifically.
We're really glad to have you,jessica.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Thank you, Micah.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
I'm glad to be here.
I'm excited about this andnervous about this and nervous
You're going to do amazing, solet's just jump right in.
So why, in your opinion?
Why do we cover?
Why do we even addressaddiction and recovery and
substance abuse in the work ofanti-trafficking, isn't it just,
(01:00):
you know, open a safe home, getthe women in, get on some
therapy and then they'll be goodto go Like.
Why do we cover it?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, no, it's not, and we cover it because they
cross in so many ways.
They're really a nexus.
So addiction and traffickingfeed each other and they both
have to be addressed if we wantto be successful in the fight to
(01:27):
end trafficking.
So the first thing is thataddiction to substances
dramatically increases the riskof being trafficked, for both
the person addicted and theiroffspring or family members.
So we want to address the factthat people who are addicted are
not only higher at risk forbeing trafficked, but their
children are, so we are tryingto break cycles here.
(01:49):
So we want to be aware of howthis impacts multi-generations.
Also, 84% of survivorsself-reported being given drugs
or using drugs during theirexploitation.
Self-reported means the numbersare probably higher because a
lot of people, for fear ofcriminalization, do not
self-report, and over 90% ofsurvivors are impacted by
(02:13):
addiction, whether it's theirown or someone in their family's
addiction, and that includeswhether they were forced to take
drugs or whether they willinglytook drugs.
They were forced to take drugsor whether they willingly took
drugs, and traffickingsignificantly increases the risk
for substance use issues, evenafter being freed from the life.
(02:34):
So once someone has been freedfrom the life, a survivor
suffers from extreme physicalailments and complex PTSD, and
they're at a higher risk fordeveloping a substance use
disorder even after they'refreed.
So we want to make sure thatwe're supporting in that way.
Trafficking feeds addiction andaddiction feeds trafficking.
(02:55):
So we have to address them bothto decrease the risk and
increase long-term survival, andwe want to break the cycle.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Yeah, so what?
I heard you say something thatI want to make sure we kind of
go back to for those who may nothave caught it.
You said who are who willinglytake drugs or who are forced to
take drugs or substances.
Can you touch on that a littlebit for our listeners?
Speaker 2 (03:19):
so traffickers weaponize drugs.
They they use drugs to try andcontrol the people that they're
trafficking and they use force,fraud and coercion to give drugs
to people who have not yet beentrafficked, oftentimes to get
them in a situation wherethey're vulnerable, like a
grooming situation.
Yes, like a grooming situation.
(03:40):
Once someone has beentrafficked, if they are under
the influence of substances,they're much less likely to try
and escape from the life.
When someone is under theinfluence of stimulants, they're
able to be more productive forthe trafficker, so they can stay
up with no sleep, so it's moremoney for the trafficker.
Also, I read an article thatwas produced by the DEA and they
(04:04):
were talking about how largecriminal organizations have
recognized that they can makethe most money off of people
that they use for humantrafficking in multiple ways.
So they're going to use themfor labor as mules to bring
drugs across the border.
Across the border, they'regoing to use them to distribute
(04:27):
drugs so that the people thatare actually doing the crimes
are not at risk for, or at highrisk for, getting arrested, and
then, once they are done withthem or they're a little bit
older, they're going to use themfor sex trafficking.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Wow.
So, yeah, so it seems like Imean there's not really a
separation, like there's so muchoverlap that you really can't
divide out the population, thepeople that we're serving, right
into like this camp or thiscamp or this camp.
It's all kind of mergingtogether, is what you're saying?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Yes, and the solution , the need for recovery is going
to be there, whether someonewillingly used substances or
whether the substances wereforced on them.
So, someone that has a physicaladdiction.
The addiction is notdiscriminating.
It does not care if you weregiven drugs against your will or
you willingly took drugs.
You still are going to needrecovery.
You still are going to need allof the services that we need to
(05:17):
provide.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Yeah, I can imagine that's very complex.
Yeah, it is as you weed throughthat.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
So you know, if we're talking about our safe home,
which is 24 hours, seven days aweek, 365, right, um, but
there's a process to get intothe home, like there's a process
to even an intake, how wewelcome the first kind of few
hours that a woman comes to us.
So we want to handle thatreally cautiously and just
mindfully.
And then obviously we can youknow, as she progresses through
(05:49):
the her time in her home,whether that's a few months or a
year.
But can you talk to ourlisteners a little bit about
what does it look like, whatdoes her journey look like when
she's about to come into a safehome?
Maybe she's applied, she's beenadmitted.
What does that process looklike as she's coming in,
possibly with an addiction ormultiple addictions or substance
(06:09):
issues?
How do you sort through thatSure?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
So in the very beginning, part of our
application process is ascreening and interview and we
look at in-depth at theirsubstance use history and a lot
of times if someone is beingtrafficked they may not even
know what substances areincluded in their substance use
history.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Wow, that makes it so complex.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Yes, so they can describe how they felt.
They can say I was physicallyparalyzed, maybe, or I felt like
a zombie, but they may not evenknow what their drug.
So we try to assess as much aswe possibly can what their needs
are, based on their drughistory.
We need to assess if they aregonna need medical detox when
(06:54):
they come to us, if there'sgoing to be a need for rehab
because they'll need some kindof medical supervision.
We wanna make sure that whenthey arrive to us we are capable
of meeting all of their needs.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Can I pause you just for a second?
Can you speak to what ismedical detox for those who
don't know anything about it?
Speaker 2 (07:16):
So some substances, when you are, when they're
removed from your body and youstop taking them, you're
physically dependent on them andit can be harmful and even life
threatening if you're notmedically supervised.
So there's different classes ofdrugs.
Alcohol is one of them, butalso yeah, I know people don't
(07:38):
realize that it can be reallydangerous if someone is
physically addicted to alcohol,so they need medical supervision
while they're detoxing.
But there are otherbenzodiazepines I think a lot of
people know about opiatewithdrawal and that's very
painful and uncomfortable.
It's not actually aslife-threatening as some other
(07:59):
medications, so it would need tobe medically supervised for
their safety while they detoxedand that could be, you know,
like 3 to 14 days, and a lot oftimes the medical professionals
will give them medication tohelp ease that process and make
sure that they're safe.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
So you know, one of our key I don't know goals or
like the values that we hold atthe safe home is safety physical
safety, felt safety, emotionalsafety, all of these things.
So what I hear you saying isyou know, as a safe home, as
someone who's running a safehome like for those of you out
there maybe who are listeningand you're thinking about
opening a safe home this is sucha critical aspect because
(08:36):
literally, it is life and death.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
It is, and it's not just life and death for the
person coming in.
Part of what we want to do toensure the safety of our home is
make sure that the personcoming in is not presenting a
risk for the people who arealready in our home.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Yeah, great point.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
So safe for everyone in the home and for our staff.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
So we need to make sure that when they come in, we
do a search, especially withthings like fentanyl, which is
such a tiny amount of fentanyl.
It's so potent and it can bedeadly for such a small amount.
So we have to be reallythorough and some of these
things can be harmful if they'reabsorbed through a cut in your
(09:16):
skin.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Wow, so we have to make sure that we're practicing
safety.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
So for physical safety, obviously, but also for
the residents in the home.
If someone were to come in andthey were under the influence or
they had symptoms of detox,that could be a trigger for
someone who is in the home whohas a few months removed from
their substance and they seethat and it triggers them and it
could send them into a mentalobsession.
So we want to provide supportfor the person coming in for
(09:45):
everyone in the home.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
This is very complex.
We're making sure that we'remitigating this population, but
also this individual who'scoming in, and we want to look
at all the risks across theboard.
Wow, oh my goodness.
So I'm sure there's so muchnuance to how you guys handle
you know you're saying you'redoing searches and things like
that.
Can you touch on that justreally briefly for our listeners
(10:10):
, like what is an intake processand when you're doing those
searches, what does that looklike?
Speaker 2 (10:15):
So, first and foremost, what it's important
for us that it looks like isthat it's dignified.
So we want to make sure thatthe women that we are serving,
that we truly are serving them,and that everything that we're
doing is with dignity andrespect, and so when we're doing
a search, we don't want to belike a prison guard or a police
(10:37):
officer, who do their job verydifferently than we do.
We want to be really respectful.
So we have them open theirsuitcase or their box or their
trash bag, whatever theirbelongings are in and take them
out, and they're part of theprocess with us.
At the same time, we do want tomake sure we're safe.
So we're having hawk eyes aswe're doing the search for their
(10:59):
safety too, and it's beenexpressed multiple times that
they really appreciate that theywant it to be a safe place, so
they want to know that we'redoing a thorough job.
So, even though they'reparticipating, they're shaking
everything out.
We're having to go through allof their medications.
A lot of times we have to.
Certain medications can't comeinto the home.
(11:20):
There are obviously some thingswe're not going to allow in,
but because so many pills arepressed now and they can look
like medications, we have tocheck everything to make sure
it's actually what it says it is.
We have to verify that.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
You have to check everything to make sure it's
actually what it says it is.
We have to verify that.
You have to check every pill.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Yeah, we have to make sure you know.
A pill bottle will have adescription of what the pill
would look like.
And we also have it's calledlike a drug Bible.
And it has, you know, adescription and a picture of
different doses.
So we make sure yeah, we haveto be really thorough so that we
can ensure that it's safe.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Yeah, so there's not like one or two pills in the
bottle that are something else,or vice versa.
Gosh, it's so fascinating.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
So even you know, our education coordinator pulled
out a pencil and went to turnthe lead up one of those
mechanical pencils and went toturn the lead up and a needle
popped out.
So instead of a you know, alead, there was a needle in it.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
So, having to be careful it was a sewing needle,
thankfully, but still that couldbe self-harm, that could be any
kind of drug or substances.
There's a whole lot of nuancethere, absolutely Wow.
So once you go through thisintake process and you're like,
okay, we're safe, you know, wewe graciously pack up all of her
(12:37):
things again and we transporther to the actual safe home, so
she's entering into the safehome.
Once that happens, through hertime with us going to meetings
and going to the educationcenter and going to counseling
all these things right, theservices that we offer.
How do you address addiction andrecovery through that process?
Speaker 2 (12:55):
It's a longer term Sure.
So we have a holistic approachin that we have various lanes
and sometimes there is overlap.
But just for the recovery lane,what we do is we provide
one-on-one meetings.
So they have weekly, sometimesmultiple times a week, meetings
with a recovery specialist.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Is that because you know someone may have a higher
need for that kind of one-on-onesupport?
Is that how you determinewhether it's a once a week or
multiple times?
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Yes, so yeah, and usually if it's multiple times
in a week, it would be for alimited time, but they need
additional support, or they mayget bad news and need additional
support.
Sure, there may be a certainanniversary date that's coming
up and there's additionalsupport for that.
We also might meet multipletimes in a week to celebrate
good news.
So not just additional supportwhen something has been tragic,
(13:50):
but if there's like a recoverymilestone coming up, then we
might have a special meeting tocelebrate that date.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
So or they've accomplished, like they've
worked all 12 steps.
They've accomplished something,anything like that we want to
celebrate.
So there's going to beadditional meetings for that,
okay.
And then, in addition to thoseone-on-one meetings, um, we have
recovery groups in-house.
We use lots of curriculum,recovery curriculum.
We have recovery groups outsideof the home that we participate
(14:19):
in.
That would be specialized.
It's really individualized,based on the resident's need.
It's not one size fits all withrecovery.
Everybody is going to havedifferent needs and it also is
going to be self-directed.
So their level of involvementin their own recovery and desire
is going to be part of what'sdetermining how much recovery
they're getting while they're inour program.
(14:40):
And then we have volunteersthat come and lead recovery
meetings.
We get to go to some recoverymeetings in churches and we have
celebrations.
If someone has like one yearclean and sober, we're going to
have a party to celebrate.
They're going to have anopportunity to share their
experience, strength and hope,what God has done for them in
that year and what that year hasmeant to them, so that they can
(15:02):
share it with the people whomay have just come in the house.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
And they get to see what they can hope for.
They can hope for and we alsohave volunteers that come and
lead, not just substance userecovery groups, but for
codependency like boundaries isone of the things that we go
through.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Because they're all intertwined.
Yes, yeah, I mean there'sreasons that you maybe have a
substance disorder or usehistory that may be separate
from forced violence andcoercion and the trafficking
space, right, yes, so they'reall kind of, yeah, intermeshed.
Yes, so you mentioned youtouched on that it's
self-directed.
So how many times maybe this isnot the right phrasing is it
(15:48):
very frequent that you see awoman coming out of sex
trafficking, coming into thesafe home program, who doesn't
have any addiction or substanceabuse history?
Number one, and then, if Ithink the second part of that
question is if it'sself-directed, do you ever have
like situations where somebodymaybe does have a substance
(16:09):
abuse issue but then denies thatthey either have that issue or
need that kind of help, and howdo you navigate that?
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Yeah, that's kind of a two part question.
So the first part is, yes, wehave people come.
We have had people come intoour program and I'm sure we will
in the future who have nopersonal substance use issues at
all or very minimal.
Sure, and I have neverexperienced someone who came
(16:38):
into our program who did nothave a need for recovery in some
capacity.
So my experience has been thatthe people that have come in who
did not have a need forrecovery in some capacity, so my
experience has been that thepeople that have come in who did
not have personal substance useissues had loved ones that had
substance use history.
Okay, so they actually neededrecovery from codependency.
So people were their drug ofchoice rather than substances
(16:59):
being their drug of choiceTotally Okay, but there was
still definitely a need forrecovery, so it just looks
different, that's so fascinating, yeah, okay.
And then as far as if someone isnot recognizing the need or the
level of need that we may thinkthat they would benefit from.
That's very normal.
(17:21):
There are different stages ofrecovery.
That's very normal.
There are different stages ofrecovery.
Pre-contemplation would be likenot even realizing that you're
on a recovery journey or thatyou need to be on a recovery
journey.
Denial is a very common part ofaddiction and it even can be in
and out of denial.
So someone may come in andreally want a lot of help with
(17:41):
their addiction history and thenthey may decide I call it back
problems.
They start to get things backin their life.
Good things come back in theirlife and suddenly it feels like
everything is fine.
So they have back problems.
They don't need recoverybecause you know everything is
as it should be in the world.
But things don't stay that way.
So we walk with them patientlywe're not trying to strong arm
(18:04):
them into anything and so wewant to present them with the
truth.
So we help them to recognize alot of times what is their
history, what has happened as aresult of using substances in
the past, and a lot of times aswe we patiently walk asking
(18:27):
these sort of strategicquestions.
We get to watch their eyes getopened and there's kind of an
awakening.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Interesting.
So, you're really there as likea champion of their own healing
journey.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Yeah, absolutely.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
And it may vary at different times while we're with
us.
Sometimes there might be a bigfocus on the case management
aspect and that's where all oftheir energy is focused, Because
it can be overwhelming thatthere are so many different
avenues that they are being ableto have restoration happen in.
And it's hard to focus on allof those at once.
(19:03):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
And just to clarify what I think you're saying is
like I mean, they're growing inso many areas like education.
They might be getting their GEDor maybe they already have
their diploma.
I mean they already have like abachelor's, but they want to go
back to school.
Or you know, there's education,there's their trauma history,
right, they're working throughthat.
You're talking about recoveringaddiction.
You're talking about healthyrelationships Like that's all I
(19:30):
mean, just those, and that's notall of it, right.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
So you're talking about legal name changes, like
having to address if theiridentity has been sold and
reused, and so many differentthings.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
It's a lot to cover at one time for anyone.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Right, yes, Okay, so you know.
We hear this a lot like.
The healing journey is notlinear.
This is the same thing for therecovery.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
I say that about recovery.
The recovery journey is notlinear.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
It's not linear, don't expect it to be just
perfect progression or whatever.
Which?
Speaker 2 (19:59):
is why we don't freak out about relapse.
Right, which is why we don'tfreak out about relapse, right,
because it's not linear.
It's very common for people totake two steps forward, one step
back.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
That is such a good point.
So I want to give a littleteaser, a little plug, because
we're going to do two moreepisodes with you and I think
we're going to cover that inanother episode about relapse
specifically how do we handlethat, what do we expect, what
are we looking for and watchingfor, mitigating for?
So if you enjoyed this podcast,be sure to like, subscribe,
(20:32):
send it to your friends, spreadthe love.
We will be back next time againwith Jessica as we cover drug
trends that we're seeing in theanti-trafficking space.
So thank you so much, jessicano-transcript.
Hello and welcome back to the Elijah Rising
podcast.
Today we have a very specialepisode that's going to kick off
a series specifically arounddrug trends, addiction and
recovery in the anti-traffickingcommunity.
So today I'm joined by theamazing and wonderful Jessica
Gobble.
Jessica is our recoveryspecialist here at Elijah Rising
(00:22):
and she covers so much.
You are responsible for so muchand so much implementation
around substance abuse, aroundaddiction and recovery in the
home, in the safe homespecifically.
We're really glad to have you,jessica.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Thank you, Micah.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
I'm glad to be here.
I'm excited about this andnervous about this and nervous
You're going to do amazing, solet's just jump right in.
So why, in your opinion?
Why do we cover?
Why do we even addressaddiction and recovery and
substance abuse in the work ofanti-trafficking, isn't it just,
(01:00):
you know, open a safe home, getthe women in, get on some
therapy and then they'll be goodto go Like.
Why do we cover it?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, no, it's not, and we cover it because they
cross in so many ways.
They're really a nexus.
So addiction and traffickingfeed each other and they both
have to be addressed if we wantto be successful in the fight to
(01:27):
end trafficking.
So the first thing is thataddiction to substances
dramatically increases the riskof being trafficked, for both
the person addicted and theiroffspring or family members.
So we want to address the factthat people who are addicted are
not only higher at risk forbeing trafficked, but their
children are, so we are tryingto break cycles here.
(01:49):
So we want to be aware of howthis impacts multi-generations.
Also, 84% of survivorsself-reported being given drugs
or using drugs during theirexploitation.
Self-reported means the numbersare probably higher because a
lot of people, for fear ofcriminalization, do not
self-report, and over 90% ofsurvivors are impacted by
(02:13):
addiction, whether it's theirown or someone in their family's
addiction, and that includeswhether they were forced to take
drugs or whether they willinglytook drugs.
They were forced to take drugsor whether they willingly took
drugs, and traffickingsignificantly increases the risk
for substance use issues, evenafter being freed from the life.
(02:34):
So once someone has been freedfrom the life, a survivor
suffers from extreme physicalailments and complex PTSD, and
they're at a higher risk fordeveloping a substance use
disorder even after they'refreed.
So we want to make sure thatwe're supporting in that way.
Trafficking feeds addiction andaddiction feeds trafficking.
(02:55):
So we have to address them bothto decrease the risk and
increase long-term survival, andwe want to break the cycle.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Yeah, so what?
I heard you say something thatI want to make sure we kind of
go back to for those who may nothave caught it.
You said who are who willinglytake drugs or who are forced to
take drugs or substances.
Can you touch on that a littlebit for our listeners?
Speaker 2 (03:19):
so traffickers weaponize drugs.
They they use drugs to try andcontrol the people that they're
trafficking and they use force,fraud and coercion to give drugs
to people who have not yet beentrafficked, oftentimes to get
them in a situation wherethey're vulnerable, like a
grooming situation.
Yes, like a grooming situation.
(03:40):
Once someone has beentrafficked, if they are under
the influence of substances,they're much less likely to try
and escape from the life.
When someone is under theinfluence of stimulants, they're
able to be more productive forthe trafficker, so they can stay
up with no sleep, so it's moremoney for the trafficker.
Also, I read an article thatwas produced by the DEA and they
(04:04):
were talking about how largecriminal organizations have
recognized that they can makethe most money off of people
that they use for humantrafficking in multiple ways.
So they're going to use themfor labor as mules to bring
drugs across the border.
Across the border, they'regoing to use them to distribute
(04:27):
drugs so that the people thatare actually doing the crimes
are not at risk for, or at highrisk for, getting arrested, and
then, once they are done withthem or they're a little bit
older, they're going to use themfor sex trafficking.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Wow.
So, yeah, so it seems like Imean there's not really a
separation, like there's so muchoverlap that you really can't
divide out the population, thepeople that we're serving, right
into like this camp or thiscamp or this camp.
It's all kind of mergingtogether, is what you're saying?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Yes, and the solution , the need for recovery is going
to be there, whether someonewillingly used substances or
whether the substances wereforced on them.
So, someone that has a physicaladdiction.
The addiction is notdiscriminating.
It does not care if you weregiven drugs against your will or
you willingly took drugs.
You still are going to needrecovery.
You still are going to need allof the services that we need to
(05:17):
provide.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Yeah, I can imagine that's very complex.
Yeah, it is as you weed throughthat.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
So you know, if we're talking about our safe home,
which is 24 hours, seven days aweek, 365, right, um, but
there's a process to get intothe home, like there's a process
to even an intake, how wewelcome the first kind of few
hours that a woman comes to us.
So we want to handle thatreally cautiously and just
mindfully.
And then obviously we can youknow, as she progresses through
(05:49):
the her time in her home,whether that's a few months or a
year.
But can you talk to ourlisteners a little bit about
what does it look like, whatdoes her journey look like when
she's about to come into a safehome?
Maybe she's applied, she's beenadmitted.
What does that process looklike as she's coming in,
possibly with an addiction ormultiple addictions or substance
(06:09):
issues?
How do you sort through thatSure?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
So in the very beginning, part of our
application process is ascreening and interview and we
look at in-depth at theirsubstance use history and a lot
of times if someone is beingtrafficked they may not even
know what substances areincluded in their substance use
history.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Wow, that makes it so complex.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Yes, so they can describe how they felt.
They can say I was physicallyparalyzed, maybe, or I felt like
a zombie, but they may not evenknow what their drug.
So we try to assess as much aswe possibly can what their needs
are, based on their drughistory.
We need to assess if they aregonna need medical detox when
(06:54):
they come to us, if there'sgoing to be a need for rehab
because they'll need some kindof medical supervision.
We wanna make sure that whenthey arrive to us we are capable
of meeting all of their needs.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Can I pause you just for a second?
Can you speak to what ismedical detox for those who
don't know anything about it?
Speaker 2 (07:16):
So some substances, when you are, when they're
removed from your body and youstop taking them, you're
physically dependent on them andit can be harmful and even life
threatening if you're notmedically supervised.
So there's different classes ofdrugs.
Alcohol is one of them, butalso yeah, I know people don't
(07:38):
realize that it can be reallydangerous if someone is
physically addicted to alcohol,so they need medical supervision
while they're detoxing.
But there are otherbenzodiazepines I think a lot of
people know about opiatewithdrawal and that's very
painful and uncomfortable.
It's not actually aslife-threatening as some other
(07:59):
medications, so it would need tobe medically supervised for
their safety while they detoxedand that could be, you know,
like 3 to 14 days, and a lot oftimes the medical professionals
will give them medication tohelp ease that process and make
sure that they're safe.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
So you know, one of our key I don't know goals or
like the values that we hold atthe safe home is safety physical
safety, felt safety, emotionalsafety, all of these things.
So what I hear you saying isyou know, as a safe home, as
someone who's running a safehome like for those of you out
there maybe who are listeningand you're thinking about
opening a safe home this is sucha critical aspect because
(08:36):
literally, it is life and death.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
It is, and it's not just life and death for the
person coming in.
Part of what we want to do toensure the safety of our home is
make sure that the personcoming in is not presenting a
risk for the people who arealready in our home.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Yeah, great point.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
So safe for everyone in the home and for our staff.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
So we need to make sure that when they come in, we
do a search, especially withthings like fentanyl, which is
such a tiny amount of fentanyl.
It's so potent and it can bedeadly for such a small amount.
So we have to be reallythorough and some of these
things can be harmful if they'reabsorbed through a cut in your
(09:16):
skin.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Wow, so we have to make sure that we're practicing
safety.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
So for physical safety, obviously, but also for
the residents in the home.
If someone were to come in andthey were under the influence or
they had symptoms of detox,that could be a trigger for
someone who is in the home whohas a few months removed from
their substance and they seethat and it triggers them and it
could send them into a mentalobsession.
So we want to provide supportfor the person coming in for
(09:45):
everyone in the home.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
This is very complex.
We're making sure that we'remitigating this population, but
also this individual who'scoming in, and we want to look
at all the risks across theboard.
Wow, oh my goodness.
So I'm sure there's so muchnuance to how you guys handle
you know you're saying you'redoing searches and things like
that.
Can you touch on that justreally briefly for our listeners
(10:10):
, like what is an intake processand when you're doing those
searches, what does that looklike?
Speaker 2 (10:15):
So, first and foremost, what it's important
for us that it looks like isthat it's dignified.
So we want to make sure thatthe women that we are serving,
that we truly are serving them,and that everything that we're
doing is with dignity andrespect, and so when we're doing
a search, we don't want to belike a prison guard or a police
(10:37):
officer, who do their job verydifferently than we do.
We want to be really respectful.
So we have them open theirsuitcase or their box or their
trash bag, whatever theirbelongings are in and take them
out, and they're part of theprocess with us.
At the same time, we do want tomake sure we're safe.
So we're having hawk eyes aswe're doing the search for their
(10:59):
safety too, and it's beenexpressed multiple times that
they really appreciate that theywant it to be a safe place, so
they want to know that we'redoing a thorough job.
So, even though they'reparticipating, they're shaking
everything out.
We're having to go through allof their medications.
A lot of times we have to.
Certain medications can't comeinto the home.
(11:20):
There are obviously some thingswe're not going to allow in,
but because so many pills arepressed now and they can look
like medications, we have tocheck everything to make sure
it's actually what it says it is.
We have to verify that.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
You have to check everything to make sure it's
actually what it says it is.
We have to verify that.
You have to check every pill.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Yeah, we have to make sure you know.
A pill bottle will have adescription of what the pill
would look like.
And we also have it's calledlike a drug Bible.
And it has, you know, adescription and a picture of
different doses.
So we make sure yeah, we haveto be really thorough so that we
can ensure that it's safe.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Yeah, so there's not like one or two pills in the
bottle that are something else,or vice versa.
Gosh, it's so fascinating.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
So even you know, our education coordinator pulled
out a pencil and went to turnthe lead up one of those
mechanical pencils and went toturn the lead up and a needle
popped out.
So instead of a you know, alead, there was a needle in it.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
So, having to be careful it was a sewing needle,
thankfully, but still that couldbe self-harm, that could be any
kind of drug or substances.
There's a whole lot of nuancethere, absolutely Wow.
So once you go through thisintake process and you're like,
okay, we're safe, you know, wewe graciously pack up all of her
(12:37):
things again and we transporther to the actual safe home, so
she's entering into the safehome.
Once that happens, through hertime with us going to meetings
and going to the educationcenter and going to counseling
all these things right, theservices that we offer.
How do you address addiction andrecovery through that process?
Speaker 2 (12:55):
It's a longer term Sure.
So we have a holistic approachin that we have various lanes
and sometimes there is overlap.
But just for the recovery lane,what we do is we provide
one-on-one meetings.
So they have weekly, sometimesmultiple times a week, meetings
with a recovery specialist.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Is that because you know someone may have a higher
need for that kind of one-on-onesupport?
Is that how you determinewhether it's a once a week or
multiple times?
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Yes, so yeah, and usually if it's multiple times
in a week, it would be for alimited time, but they need
additional support, or they mayget bad news and need additional
support.
Sure, there may be a certainanniversary date that's coming
up and there's additionalsupport for that.
We also might meet multipletimes in a week to celebrate
good news.
So not just additional supportwhen something has been tragic,
(13:50):
but if there's like a recoverymilestone coming up, then we
might have a special meeting tocelebrate that date.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
So or they've accomplished, like they've
worked all 12 steps.
They've accomplished something,anything like that we want to
celebrate.
So there's going to beadditional meetings for that,
okay.
And then, in addition to thoseone-on-one meetings, um, we have
recovery groups in-house.
We use lots of curriculum,recovery curriculum.
We have recovery groups outsideof the home that we participate
(14:19):
in.
That would be specialized.
It's really individualized,based on the resident's need.
It's not one size fits all withrecovery.
Everybody is going to havedifferent needs and it also is
going to be self-directed.
So their level of involvementin their own recovery and desire
is going to be part of what'sdetermining how much recovery
they're getting while they're inour program.
(14:40):
And then we have volunteersthat come and lead recovery
meetings.
We get to go to some recoverymeetings in churches and we have
celebrations.
If someone has like one yearclean and sober, we're going to
have a party to celebrate.
They're going to have anopportunity to share their
experience, strength and hope,what God has done for them in
that year and what that year hasmeant to them, so that they can
(15:02):
share it with the people whomay have just come in the house.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
And they get to see what they can hope for.
They can hope for and we alsohave volunteers that come and
lead, not just substance userecovery groups, but for
codependency like boundaries isone of the things that we go
through.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Because they're all intertwined.
Yes, yeah, I mean there'sreasons that you maybe have a
substance disorder or usehistory that may be separate
from forced violence andcoercion and the trafficking
space, right, yes, so they'reall kind of, yeah, intermeshed.
Yes, so you mentioned youtouched on that it's
self-directed.
So how many times maybe this isnot the right phrasing is it
(15:48):
very frequent that you see awoman coming out of sex
trafficking, coming into thesafe home program, who doesn't
have any addiction or substanceabuse history?
Number one, and then, if Ithink the second part of that
question is if it'sself-directed, do you ever have
like situations where somebodymaybe does have a substance
(16:09):
abuse issue but then denies thatthey either have that issue or
need that kind of help, and howdo you navigate that?
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Yeah, that's kind of a two part question.
So the first part is, yes, wehave people come.
We have had people come intoour program and I'm sure we will
in the future who have nopersonal substance use issues at
all or very minimal.
Sure, and I have neverexperienced someone who came
(16:38):
into our program who did nothave a need for recovery in some
capacity.
So my experience has been thatthe people that have come in who
did not have a need forrecovery in some capacity, so my
experience has been that thepeople that have come in who did
not have personal substance useissues had loved ones that had
substance use history.
Okay, so they actually neededrecovery from codependency.
So people were their drug ofchoice rather than substances
(16:59):
being their drug of choiceTotally Okay, but there was
still definitely a need forrecovery, so it just looks
different, that's so fascinating, yeah, okay.
And then as far as if someone isnot recognizing the need or the
level of need that we may thinkthat they would benefit from.
That's very normal.
(17:21):
There are different stages ofrecovery.
That's very normal.
There are different stages ofrecovery.
Pre-contemplation would be likenot even realizing that you're
on a recovery journey or thatyou need to be on a recovery
journey.
Denial is a very common part ofaddiction and it even can be in
and out of denial.
So someone may come in andreally want a lot of help with
(17:41):
their addiction history and thenthey may decide I call it back
problems.
They start to get things backin their life.
Good things come back in theirlife and suddenly it feels like
everything is fine.
So they have back problems.
They don't need recoverybecause you know everything is
as it should be in the world.
But things don't stay that way.
So we walk with them patientlywe're not trying to strong arm
(18:04):
them into anything and so wewant to present them with the
truth.
So we help them to recognize alot of times what is their
history, what has happened as aresult of using substances in
the past, and a lot of times aswe we patiently walk asking
(18:27):
these sort of strategicquestions.
We get to watch their eyes getopened and there's kind of an
awakening.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Interesting.
So, you're really there as likea champion of their own healing
journey.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Yeah, absolutely.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
And it may vary at different times while we're with
us.
Sometimes there might be a bigfocus on the case management
aspect and that's where all oftheir energy is focused, Because
it can be overwhelming thatthere are so many different
avenues that they are being ableto have restoration happen in.
And it's hard to focus on allof those at once.
(19:03):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
And just to clarify what I think you're saying is
like I mean, they're growing inso many areas like education.
They might be getting their GEDor maybe they already have
their diploma.
I mean they already have like abachelor's, but they want to go
back to school.
Or you know, there's education,there's their trauma history,
right, they're working throughthat.
You're talking about recoveringaddiction.
You're talking about healthyrelationships Like that's all I
(19:30):
mean, just those, and that's notall of it, right.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
So you're talking about legal name changes, like
having to address if theiridentity has been sold and
reused, and so many differentthings.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
It's a lot to cover at one time for anyone.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Right, yes, Okay, so you know.
We hear this a lot like.
The healing journey is notlinear.
This is the same thing for therecovery.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
I say that about recovery.
The recovery journey is notlinear.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
It's not linear, don't expect it to be just
perfect progression or whatever.
Which?
Speaker 2 (19:59):
is why we don't freak out about relapse.
Right, which is why we don'tfreak out about relapse, right,
because it's not linear.
It's very common for people totake two steps forward, one step
back.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
That is such a good point.
So I want to give a littleteaser, a little plug, because
we're going to do two moreepisodes with you and I think
we're going to cover that inanother episode about relapse
specifically how do we handlethat, what do we expect, what
are we looking for and watchingfor, mitigating for?
So if you enjoyed this podcast,be sure to like, subscribe,
(20:32):
send it to your friends, spreadthe love.
We will be back next time againwith Jessica as we cover drug
trends that we're seeing in theanti-trafficking space.
So thank you so much, jessicano-transcript.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.