December 31, 2024 • 35 mins
Kurt Snyder began his career at the University of Mary where he received hisbachelor of science in addiction studies in 1998. He has worked in the addictionfield since 1999 and has served as executive director of the Heartview Foundationsince 2005. He is a Licensed Addiction Counselor, Licensed Social Worker andholds a master’s degree in management. Snyder is a graduate of the AddictionTechnology Transfer Center Advanced Leadership Institute. In 2011, hespearheaded the effort for Licensed Addiction Counselors to gain direct access tothe North Dakota Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) and NorthDakota became the first and only state to allow Licensed Addiction Counselorsdirect access to this tool and better monitor their patient’s controlled substancehistory. Along with positions as an advisory board member for the Mountain WestAddiction Technology Transfer Center, past chairman of the North Dakota Boardof Addiction Counseling Examiners, and past chairman of the North BehavioralHealth Planning Council, Snyder is a founding board member for the North DakotaProfessional Health Program, the monitoring program for impaired physicians.
Snyder has been awarded the 2017 University of Mary Presidential Leadership Award, the 2023 Walt Odegaard Leadership Award from NDANO, and most recently was honored by Governor Burgum and First Lady Kathryn Burgum with the Phoenix Award at Recovery Reinvented. The phoenix is famous for rising from the ashesto be born again and is a testament to second chance opportunities and renewal.Kurt has been is recovery from addiction since June of 1993.
Snyder has been awarded the 2017 University of Mary Presidential Leadership Award, the 2023 Walt Odegaard Leadership Award from NDANO, and most recently was honored by Governor Burgum and First Lady Kathryn Burgum with the Phoenix Award at Recovery Reinvented. The phoenix is famous for rising from the ashesto be born again and is a testament to second chance opportunities and renewal.Kurt has been is recovery from addiction since June of 1993.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to These Are Your Neighbors, a podcast hosted by
the City of Bismarck Human Relations Committee and produced by
Dakota Media Access. The purpose of the podcast is to
show the diversity of your neighbors and to encourage inclusivity
among the Bismarck community.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Welcome to These Are Your Neighbors? A podcast hosted by
Tia Jorgeson and Sargana Whisky, both members of the City
of Bismarck's Unior Relations Committee. Thank you for joining us
as we interview our neighbors who are subject matter experts
and diversity, inclusion, accessibility, and equality.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Our guest today is Kurt Snyder. He began his career
at the University of Mary where he received his Bachelor
of Science and Addiction Studies in nineteen ninety eight. He
has worked in the addiction field since nineteen ninety nine
and served as the executive director of the Heartview Foundation
since two thousand and five. He is a licensed addiction counselor,
licensed social worker and holds a master's degree in management.
(01:02):
Snyder is a graduate of the Addiction Technology Transfer Center
Advanced Leadership Institute. In twenty eleven, he spearheaded the effort
for licensed addiction counselors to gain direct access to the
North Dakota Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, and North Dakota became
the first and only state to allow licensed addiction counsellors
direct access to this tool and better monitoring their patient's
(01:24):
controlled substance history. Along with positions as an advisory board
member for the Mountain West Addiction Technology Transfer Center, past
chairman of the North Dakota Board of Addiction Counseling Examiners,
and past chairman of the North Behavioral Health Planning Council,
Snyder is a founding board member for the North Dakota
Professional Health Program, the monitoring program for impaired physicians. Snyder
(01:47):
was awarded the twenty seventeen University of Mary Presidential Leadership Award,
the twenty twenty three Walt Odegard Leadership Award from Indano,
and most recently was honored by Governor Bergham and First
Lady Catherine Bergham with the Phoenix Award at Recovery Reinvented.
The phoenix is famous for rising from the ashes and
to be born again. It's a testament to second chance
(02:09):
opportunities in renewal. Kurt has been in recovery from addiction
since June of nineteen ninety three. Welcome, Thank you so Kurt.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
It seems that the University of Mary played a big
role in Bismarck being your home. Can you talk about
your college experience.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
Yeah. Absolutely. I was fairly new in sobriety. So my
choice to come to the University of Mary was really
a leap of faith. And I was approached by their
wrestling coach, kind of a legendary man, Milo Trustee, and
I still had some regrets from my days of using
(02:49):
drugs and alcohol. I was a good wrestler, and I
never took advantage of the gifts that I had, and
I regretted that. So my choice to come to Mary
was really about to just give it one more shot
and to do, you know, the best I could and
no longer lose sleep over it.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
And that's kind of one thing that I really resonated
with with your story was going back to school older.
I just re enlisted, and I'm enlisted enrolled, I'm almost forty.
What would you say to somebody who thinks maybe they're
too old for an opportunity.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
Oh, it's intimidating, it really is. And yet you know,
you get the hang of it, and as an older student,
I just did some things that I didn't do when
I was young. I showed up, I paid attention, I
did the best I could, and I got great grades.
You know, I realized when I was in class that
other students weren't taking notes, and I'd feverishly take notes,
(03:49):
and then I realized they all had copies that were
passing them around. So, you know, I had to kind
of get beyond myself and start asking some of the
younger people, you know, hey, what are you doing about this?
How do you study in a group? All those things
were foreign to me.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
So you talked about wrestling and going back to college.
So what did it mean for you to go back
to college and go back to the sport you loved
being older than most of the people on your team.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
Oh, it really was a personal journey where the outcome
really didn't matter. The outcome was based upon my effort,
and I just wanted to go back and do the
best I could. I actually had better than I could
have ever imagined outcome, and that was It was wonderful.
(04:39):
But it was really about the journey. It wasn't about
the destination. It was about making that part of my
life right again.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
How how did the rest of the team react?
Speaker 4 (04:51):
Oh, it was I had one good day in my
college wrestling career and it was the last day, and
you know, I never lost again. I took third in
the nation for the University of Maria and became an
All American. And my college teammates were like, who the
heck are you and where did you come from? Because
I truly struggled all year long and I had one
(05:12):
good day.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Oh that's that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
I'm guessing your personal struggles with addiction is kind of
what led you into your career path. Do you mind
just telling us a little bit about your struggles with addiction?
Speaker 4 (05:26):
Sure, I was a lifetime user. My addiction started when
I was so young. I think that I trace it
back to about seventh grade. I could roll joints when
I was in fourth grade. I mean, it was part
of my life from such an early age. And so
when I found myself at the end of my rope,
(05:49):
and really I didn't know how to live and I
was really considering suicide or I knew that if I
didn't do something, I would die. Just from my using,
I found myself following a path that others helped me
to find, and so it was really it was a
(06:09):
struggle and I was lost. I was broken. And when
I showed up in the treatment program that I went
to in San Antonio, Texas, in a lot of ways,
they helped me to understand how to live and to
live without drugs and alcohol was something that was a
foreign concept to me. I didn't know how I would
ever enjoy life. I didn't know how I was going
(06:31):
to go through all of those events where drugs and
alcohol were such a prominent part of your lifestyle. So
it was changing everything I knew about myself and about life.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
And how old were you when you went to the
treatment program.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
I was twenty six years old, so I was still
pretty young. And actually I remember thinking, how am I
ever going to have fun if I no longer use
drugs and alcohol? And it was I guess the incredible
answer that came to me from others. I didn't have
any of the answers myself at that time, but the
(07:07):
answer was how much fun are you really having right now?
And the truth was I wasn't and I don't think
that at that point drugs and alcohol would ever have
been fun again, it was just painful existence.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
So what are some misconceptions then that people have about
people that struggle with addiction.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
I think that you become chained to your addiction. You
are it's a disease where I no longer have that
choice at that moment. And so a lot of times
family members are perplexed because they see you choosing drugs
and alcohol over them, and they think it's a choice
(07:55):
that you love that more than them, and it's not.
It really is. Almost at that point I use because
I have to, like, I have to breathe, so I'm
it's not my priorities. People look at you and go,
(08:16):
how could you choose that over over your children, over
your spouse, over other important things? And it's not that
I was really choosing it over those things. It was
that it had me and it was dragging me down
a path I couldn't I had no choice about.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
And how long did you say that you were addicted
until you were seventh grade until twenty sixth when you
went to treatment correct well.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
And you kind of talk about how people think it's
a choice. It's so interesting to me. I struggle with
really bad depression, suicidal ideations, and it's the same thing
with mental health, right, why don't you just feel better?
You're making this choice. We wouldn't say that to somebody
with you know, like why don't you just fix your
broken ankle? So it's just it's a concept that I
(09:01):
understand why they think it, but I really wish it
was something that would go away. And I think that's
kind of something that you guys do at Heartview is
really tried out to work within that stigma. But can
you just tell our listeners about all of the work
that you do there.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
Oh gosh, Harview Foundation is such a wonderful agency. We
just celebrated sixty years in October, and you know, it's
been such an amazing organization over those years. The first
forty years was really you know, in Mandan, we had
impatient it was a hospital based program. And the last
(09:39):
twenty five years was more of a redesign. And my
part in Heartview was we walked away from the impatient
hospital side and we became residential and outpatient, and we
really did a redesign of how we serve people and
more community based services. You know, if you think of
(10:00):
impatient or even residential for that matter, it's really disruptive
in people's lives to go somewhere for thirty five or
forty days. Now. Granted, sometimes people need that without ab
without a doubt, but the bed should be our last choice,
not our first choice. Instead, we need to build out
outpatient and community based services. Harvey Foundation is a five
(10:23):
to one C three nonprofit and I think that as
I went through treatment and discovered the power of treatment
and the group and how it changed me, I wanted
to be a part of that, and that's why I
went back to become an addiction counselor. And what was
so amazing about Heartview is that my passion to give
back to others because of what was what I had
(10:46):
found in recovery was so easily married with an organization
that had the same mission of just being there for
people that were struggling. So Harview has grown. We have
a approximately one hundred and eighty employees today and we
offer the state of North Dakota sixty one residential treatment beds.
(11:08):
But even though we offer sixty one beds, we have
at any given time probably six hundred and fifty active patients.
So obviously most of those patients are not in a
bed so.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Is and I probably should know this does Heartview is
it specifically addiction or is it also mental health or
is there some cross over there?
Speaker 4 (11:30):
Yeah, that's a great question. You know, people don't come
through the door with just alcohol or you know, opioid.
We come through the door with a myriad of different issues,
including coexisting medical issues and mental health issues. So in
order for us to be very effective, we need a
team that is, you know, disciplines of multiple different backgrounds.
(11:57):
My chief medical officer, doctor Melissa Hanke, she's actually triple boarded.
She's a psychiatrist. She's also an internal medicine doctor and
addiction medicine. So we have nurses and addiction counselors and
social workers and you know, case managers and mental health therapists.
So it's a real team effort of help. And because
(12:18):
people come through the door and they people are complicated
and the issues they bring are complicated.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
And she is an awesome human being. I can't speak
to her as a doctor, but I'm assuming she's awesome
because as a person she's one.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Of the best. So can you talk to us about
the different programs that you offer at Hardview.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
Yeah, so we as we went through the opioid epidemic,
we really followed a path of trying to bring the
best evidence based services to that population, and that includes
the use of medications. The three medications that are available
are bub and orphine, methadone, and vivitro, and so we
(13:01):
we use a combination of all three medications. And so
that's one portion is we really kind of specialized in
treating the opioid addicted population. So we have an OPIA
treatment program. We use bube and orphine in a clinic.
So that OPIA treatment program actually has almost two hundred
(13:22):
and eighty people that are active in that program. And
then we have you know, a lot of different levels
of care all the way from residential where you stay
with US twenty four to seven, to day treatment programs
where you're there Monday through Friday eight till three, and
then iop programs where it's more of a half day
program or outpatient including even down to one time a
(13:46):
week for an hour and a half. So it's it's
really based upon being able to support people as they
start to recapture their lives and as you go and
recovery and you need less and less support, we disengage more.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
And more, do you take any data on how often
people go through your program and then have to come
back again.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
We you know, there's a lot of national data. It's
hard to collect data like that. But what we do
is we collect data based upon improvements. So like when
people come into our for example, our opiate treatment program,
we do a baseline where we ask about their how
how often have they overdosed? What's their frequency? At the er,
(14:35):
do you have a job, do you have a house,
what's your kind of the main areas of life? And
then at six months we ask those same questions again,
and then annually thereafter, and you see all of the
data going in the right direction. You know, people are
more gainfully employed, they make more money. You see them
less involved with the medical setting, even to the point.
(14:58):
One of the things that I think is so incredible
is that eighty percent talk about overdosing when they can
come in the door, and at one year it's less
than one percent. That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
That is again probably a silly question, but when we
think or here overdosing.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
We typically think of some.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Sort of a drug. What is it referred to overdosing
when it's alcohol or like, how does that compare I guess.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
Yeah, you can overdose on other drugs as well. You
know alcohol obviously people can drink to the point where
they die as well. It's just that opioid users. It
is really unique how the opioid UH works within the body.
How when you have too much of the drug in
(15:50):
your system, it'll shut down your breathing in your heart
and you you just slowly die in front of people.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
So then your work in there, And I guess I
had no idea hartview was so large. How do you
guys get your funding as a nonprofit? Is it state
or federal grants, donations, fundraisers?
Speaker 4 (16:12):
You bet. I look at our fund Our funding streams
kind of like a three legged stool. One is through
a fee for service, so we are a provider. All
of our services are reimbursed through insurance, Medicaid, Medicaid Expansion,
Blue Cross, so there is a if somebody comes to us,
(16:34):
they have copays and out of pocket costs, just like
any other health service. So there's that leg. There's then
grant writing. We do a lot of grant writing, and
our grant writing is really built around writing grants that
are filling a need, filling a gap. They're also sustainable
(16:55):
and not a one off, but actually help us get
somewhere that we're trying to accomplish in terms of what
the need is coming through the door. And then the
third leg of the stool is fundraising, and traditionally our
fundraising has been in efforts around capital campaigns where we're
trying to build infrastructure within our organization. It's hard to
(17:17):
buy buildings or remodel buildings, and so our fundraising has
been in that area.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Mostly with the fee for service and the insurance was
that from the get go or has that kind of
just grown as you guys have grown.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
Yeah, it really was back in the eighties and nineties,
insurance would cover services where it was really lacking prior
to some of the changes with the Affordable Care Act.
Was that there were lifetime limits. Excuse me. People would
people would go and they'd have twenty days of residential
(17:59):
life lifetime. You know. I mean it's like there were
limits that really affected how you actually would treat an
illness that does have a chronic relapsing side to it.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
So are you a state wine agency or what different
cities do you serve?
Speaker 4 (18:18):
Yeah? Actually, if you look at our services at any
given year, we serve about forty seven or forty eight
of the fifty three counties. So we have a sixteen
bed residential in Cando, North Dakota, kind of the north east.
Most of our services are in Bismarck, but then we
also have a residential program in Dickinson and we're currently
(18:39):
building out an outpatient program there as well. But we
do cover so much of the state in terms of
people accessing our services.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
So you said, how many people six hundred and fifty
at any given time you serve, and that's throughout the state, correct,
And what are the numbers like in Bismarck.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
Then, well, the majority of those folks are in Bismarck
because in Cando and Dickenson and we don't have that
outpatient setting up. We're building it in Dickinson. So in
Bismarck probably you know, five hundred plus of those individuals
are in services in Bismarck.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
So why can Do.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
That's an interesting scenario. But can Do used to have
a treatment program and it was a for profit and
went out of business. It was owned by the hospital.
We were approached, and we were approached by them saying, hey,
you know, if we would and Dakota Medical Foundation said
they would buy and give us the building if we
(19:37):
ran it for five years. Well, Candy's going to celebrate
ten years in August, and we've really had a wonderful
relationship with that community, with the Towner County Medical Center.
We're actually the fifth largest employer in Towner County and
it's a it's a beautiful space. It's thirteen acres about
twelve thousand square foot and we do some really incredible
(19:59):
things like equine assisted therapy. We have horses and have
a round pen, we have a therapy dog. And the
relationship with the community was actually recognized by Governor Bergham
and First Lady Catherine at Recovery reinvented for being a
supportive community of recovery. I can tell you that there's
probably been ten patients that have relocated to can Doo,
(20:23):
North Dakota because it was such a safe, supportive environment.
There's employment, there's just opportunities for people to feel like
I'm welcome here. And so Candu's done an amazing job.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
So for those of us maybe thirty years out of
North Dakota geography, where is Candy located in the state.
Speaker 4 (20:46):
Yeah, can Do's a little bit about twenty miles from
Devil's Lake and it's only a community about eleven hundred people,
so it's very small, but it's also you know, they
had a vision that we belonged in their community and
they've supported us and we thrived, and so you know
(21:06):
a lot of folks up in that area come to
us for services and you know, we if they come.
We also partner with the hospital for HMP and medical
and and really support in that way as well. They
also provide medications for opiate addicted individuals. So Candy has
just been a great partner.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
So with all of this, did the pandemic impact how
you served people in the community.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
Yeah, that's been We have a residential program downtown in
one oh one and we it was small, and so
we bought twenty third Street facility. It was the men's
shelter that Ruth Myers closed and we renovated it and
we opened it on February tenth, one month later COVID hit.
(21:52):
And what was incredible about that for us is that
all of the patient rooms at twenty third Street had
their own bathroom, so we were able to isolate people
if we needed to, and we we never missed a
beat through through COVID, we were able to maintain uh
community services like a residential without having outbreaks that shut
(22:14):
us down. And you know, COVID was hard on everybody,
and especially on the population we serve. I think, you know,
there was a lot of people in recovery that had
discovered their secret sauce. I go to meetings, I go
to the gym, you know, I do all these things
that I do socially in my community. I go to
(22:34):
church and that's what helps me stay sober, and COVID
shut all of that down. So we saw a lot
of people in recovery struggling because that secret sauce was
not available anymore. We also saw people that were that
were in the middle of their addiction that they no
longer had people seeing how bad it was. They were
(22:56):
isolated and by the time you were digging them out
of their home, it was like, oh my god, they
were so impacted. So we saw people come through our
door that were so much more impacted during COVID, and
it was much more difficult to treat we, I guess
in other ways, we learned how to do telehealth really well.
(23:17):
We learned a lot of lessons with telehealth when it
works well and when it doesn't. So you know, there
was some silver linings, but.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Not much so other than telehealth, Is that really the
only kind of change of business that you guys implemented
or were there any other big things that COVID did
teach you?
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Yeah, I think that's primarily. I think that Traditionally, in
addiction treatment, we are an industry that's pretty rigid. We
have square hole, square and round holes, and you got
to fit in them. And I think COVID really helped
us to become more flexible. And you know, understand that
(23:59):
people come from all types of backgrounds and circumstances, and
we really, I think became better at being more person
centered than versus. We have a program and here's how
you fit into it.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
So what types of addictions are most commonly seen in
the areas you serve?
Speaker 4 (24:19):
So alcohol is king in North Dakota without a doubt.
More people come in with alcohol as identified as the
drug that is ruining their lives more than anything else.
We also see opioids as a strong number two, and
I think because we specialize in treating opiates, we probably
(24:42):
see more than maybe some of the other treatment programs do,
but it is definitely a strong number two. And then
of course methamphetamine, marijuana and so forth in terms of
different parts of the state. You know, I don't know
that I could speak to that. We're still seeing across
(25:02):
the state. Fentanyl is now rampant with the opioid population,
and fentanyl is really changing how we have to serve people.
It's so much more powerful that it. People's tolerance levels
are so much higher and their lives are so much
more impacted because of the fentanyl.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Aside from fentanyl, what other drugs are considered opioids.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
Well, there's a farm pharmaceutical, so oxycotton, you know, there's
there's all the opioids that are morphine and heroine, so
there's a classification. You know. The opioid epidemic started as
a pharmaceutical. It was the oxycotton and what was prescribed
(25:49):
through the medical community. As the medical community understood what
was happening, uh, they changed their practices, but it was
already jet fuel to so much and and the transition
then became heroin. It then transitioned some years later into
synthetic opioids, and more recently it's almost all fentanyl.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Do you do any treatment for people who have addictions
to like sleeping medication, because I've heard that ambient is
getting more addictive, and is that a treatment that you
guys do at all?
Speaker 4 (26:22):
Well, we see people with people come with multiple drugs
that they're using. Ambient would not be one of the
top drugs that people come through the door saying, hey,
I got a problem with this, but it's sometimes I
got a problem with this because I'm also doing methanphetamine
and I'm doing other things, and I'm you know, it's
(26:44):
a part of the mix. Would be probably how I
would describe it.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
So, are certain addictions harder to treat than others?
Speaker 4 (26:54):
Well, yeah, I believe so. I think that for example, opioids,
if you do not use medications, five percent retention rate
because the people that are using opioids, once they cross
that line into that addiction, it very quickly turns from
(27:14):
I'm not using to get high, I'm using to avoid withdrawal.
I don't want to be sick, so I use so
I'm not sick. And so with the use of medications,
we see almost a fifty five to sixty percent retention rate,
which is incredibly different. There were some articles back during
(27:36):
when the epidemic was more in Kentucky and Appalachia where
there were a lot of people that were dying leaving
treatment and abstin and only treatment. Really was kind of
was how come people are dying as they're leaving treatment.
And I can tell you a little difference with opioids
compaid compared to alcohol. When you drink alcohol, you build
(27:59):
a tolerance. If you quit for six months and then
you relapse, your tolerance levels back pretty quickly. If you're
using opioids and you build a tolerance, you quit for
six months, your tolerance resets, so then you use and
you're almost like your opioid naive. And especially if you
use what you used to use, or you use fentanyl,
(28:21):
people will overdose and sometimes fatal overdoses. So I would
I would say with opioids and without using medications, it's
incredibly hard to treat. You know, there's other drugs like methfetamine.
Meth Fetamine really affects people's receptor sites and endorphins in
(28:45):
a way where I become pleasureless. So when I quit
using methphetamine, I don't feel joy in any area of
my life. Well, if you don't feel joy in any
area of your life. Your mind's telling you, hey, I
know what will make you feel better. Right, So it's
a high relapsing and a lot of times with methanophetamine,
it's it's low intensity outpatient services over a long period
(29:09):
of time, so your body can start to rebuild that
ability to feel joy naturally and you know, and you
instead of being in that space of anaedonia or or pleasurelessness.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
So how can an individual get involved, either to volunteer
at your organization or to donate money? How can they
get involved?
Speaker 4 (29:33):
Well, I think our website is really a dynamic place,
so it does allow you to understand different ways you
could donate, different ways at different scenarios that that you
could support, you know, giving heart stay coming up. That's
that's a great opportunity for all of the local charities.
(29:56):
We definitely see that as a valuable part of helping
us to fill gaps in different areas. I do have
to say we've not been the best in volunteer just
because of the confidentiality of our work. However, there is
you know, we have events like a Monster Mile Halloween event,
(30:20):
which is just a lot of fun and there's always
opportunities to help with some of those events, and if
you are an alumni or you know a family member
of somebody, we definitely find ways that people can help
if they want to. So on our website would be
the best way to get a hold of us, and
you know, Director of Communications, Jennifer grow would be a
(30:42):
great place to start.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
So how would you kind of explain the work that
you do and why it's so important to families who
are lucky enough to not have to use them.
Speaker 4 (30:56):
Yeah, the work that we do, Oh my gosh, it's
it's a people that are impacted by this disease. They're
desperate and they their families are desperate. And I think
that so many times, addiction is like a boulder into
a pond of water. It ripples in all areas, and
(31:16):
it affects our healthcare system, our jails, it affects, you know,
our first responders, It affects families and our workforce, and
it is devastating when people are in the middle of that,
because it is it's you just don't know how to
get out of it. It's it's you become hopeless. And
(31:37):
yet when people can find that other side and start
to do a path of recovery. I think recovery is
very much the same thing. It's like a boulder into
a pond, a positive ripples out into the community. Now
I'm not over using my healthcare, or I'm not in
the er, and I'm part of my family and the
(31:58):
workforce again. And so it really is I think so
often we're helping people reclaim their lives and they were
sitting on the sidelines for workforce and now they're rejoining
the workforce. And everybody knows in North Dakota we need
that as far as the people that are lucky not
to have had this in their lives, that's getting fewer
(32:22):
and fewer. National data suggests that one out of ten
Americans struggle with substance use issues. And when you do
the math on that, there's very few families that don't
have somebody, and there's very few classrooms that don't have
children with parents that are struggling. Or if you have
(32:44):
a job where you employ five hundred people, I'll guarantee
you you have employees or spouses that are struggling. So
it's really important that communities understand the vast impact that
addiction has on the people that they love.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
All right, Well, we're already to our last question, and
we ask everybody the same last question. So our last
question for you is, how would you encourage your neighbor
to create an atmosphere of inclusion, equality, diversity, and accessibility.
Speaker 4 (33:18):
Yeah, that's such a great question. That's got a long answer,
but I'll be really brief. I think the people could
educate themselves an addiction and how to support right. I
go to fundraisers all the time in Bismarck, and the
alcohol flows freely, and as a person in recovery, sometimes
(33:39):
I have a hard time finding non alcohol options. So
communities really need to understand how they can better support
people that are struggling to try to find recovery. You
go to small town in North Dakota, and we co
op our schools, we co op our churches, but there's
two bars in every corner of every small town. It's
(34:00):
sometimes the social fabric. And I'm not anti alcohol by
any means, but I do think that when you educate
yourself about how to support people in recovery, it allows
you to create events or to do things in your
community that are more inclusive to the population that may
be sitting on the sideline, wanting to be a part,
(34:20):
but afraid that if I do that, I'm at risk
or I'm afraid. I'll give one other example sometimes working
with family members. Family members a lot of times will
do a lot of things that don't help their loved
one because they're desperate. They want to help, but they
don't know how and they're not doing the things that
could help. So the education of just how to be
(34:44):
a better community member or make my events more recovery
inclusive would be really great, without a doubt.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
I think that's kind of the first time that answer
has ever really prompted that thought process for me. So
thank you. Thanks to everyone for tuning in too. These
are your neighbors with our guests Kurtznyder, thank you for
wanting to get to know your neighbors as we hold
these important, necessary conversations. If you found this conversation as
important as we do, please make sure you share it
with your neighbors.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
Thank you for tuning in to these or your Neighbors.
A podcast hosted by the City of Bismarck Human Relations
Committee and produced by Dakota Media Access. The purpose of
the Bismarck Human Relations Committee is to create an atmosphere
of inclusion, equality, and accessibility through education and outreach to
recognize the value of a diverse community. For more information
(35:45):
about the Human Relations Committee, visit bizmarckand dot gov.
Welcome to These Are Your Neighbors, a podcast hosted by
the City of Bismarck Human Relations Committee and produced by
Dakota Media Access. The purpose of the podcast is to
show the diversity of your neighbors and to encourage inclusivity
among the Bismarck community.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Welcome to These Are Your Neighbors? A podcast hosted by
Tia Jorgeson and Sargana Whisky, both members of the City
of Bismarck's Unior Relations Committee. Thank you for joining us
as we interview our neighbors who are subject matter experts
and diversity, inclusion, accessibility, and equality.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Our guest today is Kurt Snyder. He began his career
at the University of Mary where he received his Bachelor
of Science and Addiction Studies in nineteen ninety eight. He
has worked in the addiction field since nineteen ninety nine
and served as the executive director of the Heartview Foundation
since two thousand and five. He is a licensed addiction counselor,
licensed social worker and holds a master's degree in management.
(01:02):
Snyder is a graduate of the Addiction Technology Transfer Center
Advanced Leadership Institute. In twenty eleven, he spearheaded the effort
for licensed addiction counselors to gain direct access to the
North Dakota Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, and North Dakota became
the first and only state to allow licensed addiction counsellors
direct access to this tool and better monitoring their patient's
(01:24):
controlled substance history. Along with positions as an advisory board
member for the Mountain West Addiction Technology Transfer Center, past
chairman of the North Dakota Board of Addiction Counseling Examiners,
and past chairman of the North Behavioral Health Planning Council,
Snyder is a founding board member for the North Dakota
Professional Health Program, the monitoring program for impaired physicians. Snyder
(01:47):
was awarded the twenty seventeen University of Mary Presidential Leadership Award,
the twenty twenty three Walt Odegard Leadership Award from Indano,
and most recently was honored by Governor Bergham and First
Lady Catherine Bergham with the Phoenix Award at Recovery Reinvented.
The phoenix is famous for rising from the ashes and
to be born again. It's a testament to second chance
(02:09):
opportunities in renewal. Kurt has been in recovery from addiction
since June of nineteen ninety three. Welcome, Thank you so Kurt.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
It seems that the University of Mary played a big
role in Bismarck being your home. Can you talk about
your college experience.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
Yeah. Absolutely. I was fairly new in sobriety. So my
choice to come to the University of Mary was really
a leap of faith. And I was approached by their
wrestling coach, kind of a legendary man, Milo Trustee, and
I still had some regrets from my days of using
(02:49):
drugs and alcohol. I was a good wrestler, and I
never took advantage of the gifts that I had, and
I regretted that. So my choice to come to Mary
was really about to just give it one more shot
and to do, you know, the best I could and
no longer lose sleep over it.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
And that's kind of one thing that I really resonated
with with your story was going back to school older.
I just re enlisted, and I'm enlisted enrolled, I'm almost forty.
What would you say to somebody who thinks maybe they're
too old for an opportunity.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
Oh, it's intimidating, it really is. And yet you know,
you get the hang of it, and as an older student,
I just did some things that I didn't do when
I was young. I showed up, I paid attention, I
did the best I could, and I got great grades.
You know, I realized when I was in class that
other students weren't taking notes, and I'd feverishly take notes,
(03:49):
and then I realized they all had copies that were
passing them around. So, you know, I had to kind
of get beyond myself and start asking some of the
younger people, you know, hey, what are you doing about this?
How do you study in a group? All those things
were foreign to me.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
So you talked about wrestling and going back to college.
So what did it mean for you to go back
to college and go back to the sport you loved
being older than most of the people on your team.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
Oh, it really was a personal journey where the outcome
really didn't matter. The outcome was based upon my effort,
and I just wanted to go back and do the
best I could. I actually had better than I could
have ever imagined outcome, and that was It was wonderful.
(04:39):
But it was really about the journey. It wasn't about
the destination. It was about making that part of my
life right again.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
How how did the rest of the team react?
Speaker 4 (04:51):
Oh, it was I had one good day in my
college wrestling career and it was the last day, and
you know, I never lost again. I took third in
the nation for the University of Maria and became an
All American. And my college teammates were like, who the
heck are you and where did you come from? Because
I truly struggled all year long and I had one
(05:12):
good day.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Oh that's that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
I'm guessing your personal struggles with addiction is kind of
what led you into your career path. Do you mind
just telling us a little bit about your struggles with addiction?
Speaker 4 (05:26):
Sure, I was a lifetime user. My addiction started when
I was so young. I think that I trace it
back to about seventh grade. I could roll joints when
I was in fourth grade. I mean, it was part
of my life from such an early age. And so
when I found myself at the end of my rope,
(05:49):
and really I didn't know how to live and I
was really considering suicide or I knew that if I
didn't do something, I would die. Just from my using,
I found myself following a path that others helped me
to find, and so it was really it was a
(06:09):
struggle and I was lost. I was broken. And when
I showed up in the treatment program that I went
to in San Antonio, Texas, in a lot of ways,
they helped me to understand how to live and to
live without drugs and alcohol was something that was a
foreign concept to me. I didn't know how I would
ever enjoy life. I didn't know how I was going
(06:31):
to go through all of those events where drugs and
alcohol were such a prominent part of your lifestyle. So
it was changing everything I knew about myself and about life.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
And how old were you when you went to the
treatment program.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
I was twenty six years old, so I was still
pretty young. And actually I remember thinking, how am I
ever going to have fun if I no longer use
drugs and alcohol? And it was I guess the incredible
answer that came to me from others. I didn't have
any of the answers myself at that time, but the
(07:07):
answer was how much fun are you really having right now?
And the truth was I wasn't and I don't think
that at that point drugs and alcohol would ever have
been fun again, it was just painful existence.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
So what are some misconceptions then that people have about
people that struggle with addiction.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
I think that you become chained to your addiction. You
are it's a disease where I no longer have that
choice at that moment. And so a lot of times
family members are perplexed because they see you choosing drugs
and alcohol over them, and they think it's a choice
(07:55):
that you love that more than them, and it's not.
It really is. Almost at that point I use because
I have to, like, I have to breathe, so I'm
it's not my priorities. People look at you and go,
(08:16):
how could you choose that over over your children, over
your spouse, over other important things? And it's not that
I was really choosing it over those things. It was
that it had me and it was dragging me down
a path I couldn't I had no choice about.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
And how long did you say that you were addicted
until you were seventh grade until twenty sixth when you
went to treatment correct well.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
And you kind of talk about how people think it's
a choice. It's so interesting to me. I struggle with
really bad depression, suicidal ideations, and it's the same thing
with mental health, right, why don't you just feel better?
You're making this choice. We wouldn't say that to somebody
with you know, like why don't you just fix your
broken ankle? So it's just it's a concept that I
(09:01):
understand why they think it, but I really wish it
was something that would go away. And I think that's
kind of something that you guys do at Heartview is
really tried out to work within that stigma. But can
you just tell our listeners about all of the work
that you do there.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
Oh gosh, Harview Foundation is such a wonderful agency. We
just celebrated sixty years in October, and you know, it's
been such an amazing organization over those years. The first
forty years was really you know, in Mandan, we had
impatient it was a hospital based program. And the last
(09:39):
twenty five years was more of a redesign. And my
part in Heartview was we walked away from the impatient
hospital side and we became residential and outpatient, and we
really did a redesign of how we serve people and
more community based services. You know, if you think of
(10:00):
impatient or even residential for that matter, it's really disruptive
in people's lives to go somewhere for thirty five or
forty days. Now. Granted, sometimes people need that without ab
without a doubt, but the bed should be our last choice,
not our first choice. Instead, we need to build out
outpatient and community based services. Harvey Foundation is a five
(10:23):
to one C three nonprofit and I think that as
I went through treatment and discovered the power of treatment
and the group and how it changed me, I wanted
to be a part of that, and that's why I
went back to become an addiction counselor. And what was
so amazing about Heartview is that my passion to give
back to others because of what was what I had
(10:46):
found in recovery was so easily married with an organization
that had the same mission of just being there for
people that were struggling. So Harview has grown. We have
a approximately one hundred and eighty employees today and we
offer the state of North Dakota sixty one residential treatment beds.
(11:08):
But even though we offer sixty one beds, we have
at any given time probably six hundred and fifty active patients.
So obviously most of those patients are not in a
bed so.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Is and I probably should know this does Heartview is
it specifically addiction or is it also mental health or
is there some cross over there?
Speaker 4 (11:30):
Yeah, that's a great question. You know, people don't come
through the door with just alcohol or you know, opioid.
We come through the door with a myriad of different issues,
including coexisting medical issues and mental health issues. So in
order for us to be very effective, we need a
team that is, you know, disciplines of multiple different backgrounds.
(11:57):
My chief medical officer, doctor Melissa Hanke, she's actually triple boarded.
She's a psychiatrist. She's also an internal medicine doctor and
addiction medicine. So we have nurses and addiction counselors and
social workers and you know, case managers and mental health therapists.
So it's a real team effort of help. And because
(12:18):
people come through the door and they people are complicated
and the issues they bring are complicated.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
And she is an awesome human being. I can't speak
to her as a doctor, but I'm assuming she's awesome
because as a person she's one.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Of the best. So can you talk to us about
the different programs that you offer at Hardview.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
Yeah, so we as we went through the opioid epidemic,
we really followed a path of trying to bring the
best evidence based services to that population, and that includes
the use of medications. The three medications that are available
are bub and orphine, methadone, and vivitro, and so we
(13:01):
we use a combination of all three medications. And so
that's one portion is we really kind of specialized in
treating the opioid addicted population. So we have an OPIA
treatment program. We use bube and orphine in a clinic.
So that OPIA treatment program actually has almost two hundred
(13:22):
and eighty people that are active in that program. And
then we have you know, a lot of different levels
of care all the way from residential where you stay
with US twenty four to seven, to day treatment programs
where you're there Monday through Friday eight till three, and
then iop programs where it's more of a half day
program or outpatient including even down to one time a
(13:46):
week for an hour and a half. So it's it's
really based upon being able to support people as they
start to recapture their lives and as you go and
recovery and you need less and less support, we disengage more.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
And more, do you take any data on how often
people go through your program and then have to come
back again.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
We you know, there's a lot of national data. It's
hard to collect data like that. But what we do
is we collect data based upon improvements. So like when
people come into our for example, our opiate treatment program,
we do a baseline where we ask about their how
how often have they overdosed? What's their frequency? At the er,
(14:35):
do you have a job, do you have a house,
what's your kind of the main areas of life? And
then at six months we ask those same questions again,
and then annually thereafter, and you see all of the
data going in the right direction. You know, people are
more gainfully employed, they make more money. You see them
less involved with the medical setting, even to the point.
(14:58):
One of the things that I think is so incredible
is that eighty percent talk about overdosing when they can
come in the door, and at one year it's less
than one percent. That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
That is again probably a silly question, but when we
think or here overdosing.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
We typically think of some.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Sort of a drug. What is it referred to overdosing
when it's alcohol or like, how does that compare I guess.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
Yeah, you can overdose on other drugs as well. You
know alcohol obviously people can drink to the point where
they die as well. It's just that opioid users. It
is really unique how the opioid UH works within the body.
How when you have too much of the drug in
(15:50):
your system, it'll shut down your breathing in your heart
and you you just slowly die in front of people.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
So then your work in there, And I guess I
had no idea hartview was so large. How do you
guys get your funding as a nonprofit? Is it state
or federal grants, donations, fundraisers?
Speaker 4 (16:12):
You bet. I look at our fund Our funding streams
kind of like a three legged stool. One is through
a fee for service, so we are a provider. All
of our services are reimbursed through insurance, Medicaid, Medicaid Expansion,
Blue Cross, so there is a if somebody comes to us,
(16:34):
they have copays and out of pocket costs, just like
any other health service. So there's that leg. There's then
grant writing. We do a lot of grant writing, and
our grant writing is really built around writing grants that
are filling a need, filling a gap. They're also sustainable
(16:55):
and not a one off, but actually help us get
somewhere that we're trying to accomplish in terms of what
the need is coming through the door. And then the
third leg of the stool is fundraising, and traditionally our
fundraising has been in efforts around capital campaigns where we're
trying to build infrastructure within our organization. It's hard to
(17:17):
buy buildings or remodel buildings, and so our fundraising has
been in that area.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Mostly with the fee for service and the insurance was
that from the get go or has that kind of
just grown as you guys have grown.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
Yeah, it really was back in the eighties and nineties,
insurance would cover services where it was really lacking prior
to some of the changes with the Affordable Care Act.
Was that there were lifetime limits. Excuse me. People would
people would go and they'd have twenty days of residential
(17:59):
life lifetime. You know. I mean it's like there were
limits that really affected how you actually would treat an
illness that does have a chronic relapsing side to it.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
So are you a state wine agency or what different
cities do you serve?
Speaker 4 (18:18):
Yeah? Actually, if you look at our services at any
given year, we serve about forty seven or forty eight
of the fifty three counties. So we have a sixteen
bed residential in Cando, North Dakota, kind of the north east.
Most of our services are in Bismarck, but then we
also have a residential program in Dickinson and we're currently
(18:39):
building out an outpatient program there as well. But we
do cover so much of the state in terms of
people accessing our services.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
So you said, how many people six hundred and fifty
at any given time you serve, and that's throughout the state, correct,
And what are the numbers like in Bismarck.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
Then, well, the majority of those folks are in Bismarck
because in Cando and Dickenson and we don't have that
outpatient setting up. We're building it in Dickinson. So in
Bismarck probably you know, five hundred plus of those individuals
are in services in Bismarck.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
So why can Do.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
That's an interesting scenario. But can Do used to have
a treatment program and it was a for profit and
went out of business. It was owned by the hospital.
We were approached, and we were approached by them saying, hey,
you know, if we would and Dakota Medical Foundation said
they would buy and give us the building if we
(19:37):
ran it for five years. Well, Candy's going to celebrate
ten years in August, and we've really had a wonderful
relationship with that community, with the Towner County Medical Center.
We're actually the fifth largest employer in Towner County and
it's a it's a beautiful space. It's thirteen acres about
twelve thousand square foot and we do some really incredible
(19:59):
things like equine assisted therapy. We have horses and have
a round pen, we have a therapy dog. And the
relationship with the community was actually recognized by Governor Bergham
and First Lady Catherine at Recovery reinvented for being a
supportive community of recovery. I can tell you that there's
probably been ten patients that have relocated to can Doo,
(20:23):
North Dakota because it was such a safe, supportive environment.
There's employment, there's just opportunities for people to feel like
I'm welcome here. And so Candu's done an amazing job.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
So for those of us maybe thirty years out of
North Dakota geography, where is Candy located in the state.
Speaker 4 (20:46):
Yeah, can Do's a little bit about twenty miles from
Devil's Lake and it's only a community about eleven hundred people,
so it's very small, but it's also you know, they
had a vision that we belonged in their community and
they've supported us and we thrived, and so you know
(21:06):
a lot of folks up in that area come to
us for services and you know, we if they come.
We also partner with the hospital for HMP and medical
and and really support in that way as well. They
also provide medications for opiate addicted individuals. So Candy has
just been a great partner.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
So with all of this, did the pandemic impact how
you served people in the community.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
Yeah, that's been We have a residential program downtown in
one oh one and we it was small, and so
we bought twenty third Street facility. It was the men's
shelter that Ruth Myers closed and we renovated it and
we opened it on February tenth, one month later COVID hit.
(21:52):
And what was incredible about that for us is that
all of the patient rooms at twenty third Street had
their own bathroom, so we were able to isolate people
if we needed to, and we we never missed a
beat through through COVID, we were able to maintain uh
community services like a residential without having outbreaks that shut
(22:14):
us down. And you know, COVID was hard on everybody,
and especially on the population we serve. I think, you know,
there was a lot of people in recovery that had
discovered their secret sauce. I go to meetings, I go
to the gym, you know, I do all these things
that I do socially in my community. I go to
(22:34):
church and that's what helps me stay sober, and COVID
shut all of that down. So we saw a lot
of people in recovery struggling because that secret sauce was
not available anymore. We also saw people that were that
were in the middle of their addiction that they no
longer had people seeing how bad it was. They were
(22:56):
isolated and by the time you were digging them out
of their home, it was like, oh my god, they
were so impacted. So we saw people come through our
door that were so much more impacted during COVID, and
it was much more difficult to treat we, I guess
in other ways, we learned how to do telehealth really well.
(23:17):
We learned a lot of lessons with telehealth when it
works well and when it doesn't. So you know, there
was some silver linings, but.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Not much so other than telehealth, Is that really the
only kind of change of business that you guys implemented
or were there any other big things that COVID did
teach you?
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Yeah, I think that's primarily. I think that Traditionally, in
addiction treatment, we are an industry that's pretty rigid. We
have square hole, square and round holes, and you got
to fit in them. And I think COVID really helped
us to become more flexible. And you know, understand that
(23:59):
people come from all types of backgrounds and circumstances, and
we really, I think became better at being more person
centered than versus. We have a program and here's how
you fit into it.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
So what types of addictions are most commonly seen in
the areas you serve?
Speaker 4 (24:19):
So alcohol is king in North Dakota without a doubt.
More people come in with alcohol as identified as the
drug that is ruining their lives more than anything else.
We also see opioids as a strong number two, and
I think because we specialize in treating opiates, we probably
(24:42):
see more than maybe some of the other treatment programs do,
but it is definitely a strong number two. And then
of course methamphetamine, marijuana and so forth in terms of
different parts of the state. You know, I don't know
that I could speak to that. We're still seeing across
(25:02):
the state. Fentanyl is now rampant with the opioid population,
and fentanyl is really changing how we have to serve people.
It's so much more powerful that it. People's tolerance levels
are so much higher and their lives are so much
more impacted because of the fentanyl.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Aside from fentanyl, what other drugs are considered opioids.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
Well, there's a farm pharmaceutical, so oxycotton, you know, there's
there's all the opioids that are morphine and heroine, so
there's a classification. You know. The opioid epidemic started as
a pharmaceutical. It was the oxycotton and what was prescribed
(25:49):
through the medical community. As the medical community understood what
was happening, uh, they changed their practices, but it was
already jet fuel to so much and and the transition
then became heroin. It then transitioned some years later into
synthetic opioids, and more recently it's almost all fentanyl.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Do you do any treatment for people who have addictions
to like sleeping medication, because I've heard that ambient is
getting more addictive, and is that a treatment that you
guys do at all?
Speaker 4 (26:22):
Well, we see people with people come with multiple drugs
that they're using. Ambient would not be one of the
top drugs that people come through the door saying, hey,
I got a problem with this, but it's sometimes I
got a problem with this because I'm also doing methanphetamine
and I'm doing other things, and I'm you know, it's
(26:44):
a part of the mix. Would be probably how I
would describe it.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
So, are certain addictions harder to treat than others?
Speaker 4 (26:54):
Well, yeah, I believe so. I think that for example, opioids,
if you do not use medications, five percent retention rate
because the people that are using opioids, once they cross
that line into that addiction, it very quickly turns from
(27:14):
I'm not using to get high, I'm using to avoid withdrawal.
I don't want to be sick, so I use so
I'm not sick. And so with the use of medications,
we see almost a fifty five to sixty percent retention rate,
which is incredibly different. There were some articles back during
(27:36):
when the epidemic was more in Kentucky and Appalachia where
there were a lot of people that were dying leaving
treatment and abstin and only treatment. Really was kind of
was how come people are dying as they're leaving treatment.
And I can tell you a little difference with opioids
compaid compared to alcohol. When you drink alcohol, you build
(27:59):
a tolerance. If you quit for six months and then
you relapse, your tolerance levels back pretty quickly. If you're
using opioids and you build a tolerance, you quit for
six months, your tolerance resets, so then you use and
you're almost like your opioid naive. And especially if you
use what you used to use, or you use fentanyl,
(28:21):
people will overdose and sometimes fatal overdoses. So I would
I would say with opioids and without using medications, it's
incredibly hard to treat. You know, there's other drugs like methfetamine.
Meth Fetamine really affects people's receptor sites and endorphins in
(28:45):
a way where I become pleasureless. So when I quit
using methphetamine, I don't feel joy in any area of
my life. Well, if you don't feel joy in any
area of your life. Your mind's telling you, hey, I
know what will make you feel better. Right, So it's
a high relapsing and a lot of times with methanophetamine,
it's it's low intensity outpatient services over a long period
(29:09):
of time, so your body can start to rebuild that
ability to feel joy naturally and you know, and you
instead of being in that space of anaedonia or or pleasurelessness.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
So how can an individual get involved, either to volunteer
at your organization or to donate money? How can they
get involved?
Speaker 4 (29:33):
Well, I think our website is really a dynamic place,
so it does allow you to understand different ways you
could donate, different ways at different scenarios that that you
could support, you know, giving heart stay coming up. That's
that's a great opportunity for all of the local charities.
(29:56):
We definitely see that as a valuable part of helping
us to fill gaps in different areas. I do have
to say we've not been the best in volunteer just
because of the confidentiality of our work. However, there is
you know, we have events like a Monster Mile Halloween event,
(30:20):
which is just a lot of fun and there's always
opportunities to help with some of those events, and if
you are an alumni or you know a family member
of somebody, we definitely find ways that people can help
if they want to. So on our website would be
the best way to get a hold of us, and
you know, Director of Communications, Jennifer grow would be a
(30:42):
great place to start.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
So how would you kind of explain the work that
you do and why it's so important to families who
are lucky enough to not have to use them.
Speaker 4 (30:56):
Yeah, the work that we do, Oh my gosh, it's
it's a people that are impacted by this disease. They're
desperate and they their families are desperate. And I think
that so many times, addiction is like a boulder into
a pond of water. It ripples in all areas, and
(31:16):
it affects our healthcare system, our jails, it affects, you know,
our first responders, It affects families and our workforce, and
it is devastating when people are in the middle of that,
because it is it's you just don't know how to
get out of it. It's it's you become hopeless. And
(31:37):
yet when people can find that other side and start
to do a path of recovery. I think recovery is
very much the same thing. It's like a boulder into
a pond, a positive ripples out into the community. Now
I'm not over using my healthcare, or I'm not in
the er, and I'm part of my family and the
(31:58):
workforce again. And so it really is I think so
often we're helping people reclaim their lives and they were
sitting on the sidelines for workforce and now they're rejoining
the workforce. And everybody knows in North Dakota we need
that as far as the people that are lucky not
to have had this in their lives, that's getting fewer
(32:22):
and fewer. National data suggests that one out of ten
Americans struggle with substance use issues. And when you do
the math on that, there's very few families that don't
have somebody, and there's very few classrooms that don't have
children with parents that are struggling. Or if you have
(32:44):
a job where you employ five hundred people, I'll guarantee
you you have employees or spouses that are struggling. So
it's really important that communities understand the vast impact that
addiction has on the people that they love.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
All right, Well, we're already to our last question, and
we ask everybody the same last question. So our last
question for you is, how would you encourage your neighbor
to create an atmosphere of inclusion, equality, diversity, and accessibility.
Speaker 4 (33:18):
Yeah, that's such a great question. That's got a long answer,
but I'll be really brief. I think the people could
educate themselves an addiction and how to support right. I
go to fundraisers all the time in Bismarck, and the
alcohol flows freely, and as a person in recovery, sometimes
(33:39):
I have a hard time finding non alcohol options. So
communities really need to understand how they can better support
people that are struggling to try to find recovery. You
go to small town in North Dakota, and we co
op our schools, we co op our churches, but there's
two bars in every corner of every small town. It's
(34:00):
sometimes the social fabric. And I'm not anti alcohol by
any means, but I do think that when you educate
yourself about how to support people in recovery, it allows
you to create events or to do things in your
community that are more inclusive to the population that may
be sitting on the sideline, wanting to be a part,
(34:20):
but afraid that if I do that, I'm at risk
or I'm afraid. I'll give one other example sometimes working
with family members. Family members a lot of times will
do a lot of things that don't help their loved
one because they're desperate. They want to help, but they
don't know how and they're not doing the things that
could help. So the education of just how to be
(34:44):
a better community member or make my events more recovery
inclusive would be really great, without a doubt.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
I think that's kind of the first time that answer
has ever really prompted that thought process for me. So
thank you. Thanks to everyone for tuning in too. These
are your neighbors with our guests Kurtznyder, thank you for
wanting to get to know your neighbors as we hold
these important, necessary conversations. If you found this conversation as
important as we do, please make sure you share it
with your neighbors.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
Thank you for tuning in to these or your Neighbors.
A podcast hosted by the City of Bismarck Human Relations
Committee and produced by Dakota Media Access. The purpose of
the Bismarck Human Relations Committee is to create an atmosphere
of inclusion, equality, and accessibility through education and outreach to
recognize the value of a diverse community. For more information
(35:45):
about the Human Relations Committee, visit bizmarckand dot gov.
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