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Community DC Ginny Atwood The Chris Atwood Foundation · Community D.C.

0:03
Speaker 1: Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Community DC.
0:06
Speaker 1: I'm your host Dennis Glasgow. This morning, we welcome back
0:09
Speaker 1: to the program Jenny Atwood. She is the director of
0:12
Speaker 1: Advocacy and Development for the Chris Atwood Foundation, supporting those
0:16
Speaker 1: in recovery dealing with substance use disorder and their families
0:20
Speaker 1: in Northern Virginia. We'll talk more in detail about what
0:23
Speaker 1: the foundation is, what it offers, how you can help
0:25
Speaker 1: with donations and volunteering, and much much more, plus a
0:29
Speaker 1: big gala that's coming up in Vienna, Virginia on October fifteenth,
0:32
Speaker 1: and of course hearing about the start and the origin
0:35
Speaker 1: story of the foundation with Chris's story along with the families.
0:39
Speaker 1: Here's my conversation with Jenny. I hope you enjoyed as
0:41
Speaker 1: much as I did.
0:43
Speaker 2: Good morning, Jenny, Good morning Dennis.
0:45
Speaker 1: It's great to have you back on the program to
0:48
Speaker 1: talk about the Chris Atwood Foundation. Of course, you have
0:50
Speaker 1: a big gala coming up Heroes for Hope October fifteenth
0:53
Speaker 1: in Vienna, Virginia. We will talk a lot about that
0:56
Speaker 1: because I know that's right around the corner. But what
0:58
Speaker 1: I would like to do, Jenny, even though there's a
1:00
Speaker 1: lot of listeners in community DC, they kind of know
1:02
Speaker 1: what you and the Chris Outwood Foundation do. I'd love
1:05
Speaker 1: for you to tell the story because I know it's
1:07
Speaker 1: close to home on how it started. It means a lot.
1:09
Speaker 1: You've been doing this for years now, tell us about
1:12
Speaker 1: your story because I know it's real special.
1:14
Speaker 3: I'm now a director of development and advocacy. Advocacy is
1:18
Speaker 3: my biggest passions. I'm hoping to be able to get
1:20
Speaker 3: more involved in, you know, federal legislative advocacy as well,
1:26
Speaker 3: you know, creating a system, improving the system that we
1:30
Speaker 3: have for people and families with substance use disorder because
1:34
Speaker 3: right now, the system is kind of set up for
1:36
Speaker 3: a lot of people to fail and then punishes them
1:39
Speaker 3: when they do. And we did have that experience with
1:42
Speaker 3: my brother who he was fifteen when he got addicted
1:46
Speaker 3: to heroin and then he passed away at the age
1:50
Speaker 3: of twenty one after a long up and down battle,
1:53
Speaker 3: you know, in and out of treatment. He wanted so
1:56
Speaker 3: badly to you know, get his life back on track.
2:00
Speaker 3: But you know, when you opioids are extremely powerful no
2:05
Speaker 3: matter what age you are. But when you're fifteen and
2:07
Speaker 3: you your brain becomes dependent on them.
2:10
Speaker 2: It's it's really hard to shake.
2:12
Speaker 3: And unfortunately, in twenty thirteen, I was at work, and
2:20
Speaker 3: you know, my brother had been kind of doing okay,
2:23
Speaker 3: but in a weird place, and i'd seen him that morning.
2:27
Speaker 3: We lived together at the time, and there was I
2:30
Speaker 3: had a little bit of concern about him, but I
2:32
Speaker 3: always had concern about him, you know.
2:33
Speaker 2: So I was like, all right, I got to get
2:35
Speaker 2: to work, said goodbye.
2:36
Speaker 3: Was sitting at my office or sitting at my desk
2:39
Speaker 3: and just about to answer some emails, and I got
2:42
Speaker 3: kicked by this feeling of dread like I've never felt before,
2:46
Speaker 3: just out of nowhere, and I knew that something terrible
2:50
Speaker 3: had happened. And I drove straight home and I found
2:55
Speaker 3: him unresponsive in his room. And unfortunately, twenty thirteen, access
3:01
Speaker 3: to narcand was not what it is now. It was
3:04
Speaker 3: really hard to get You had to have a prescription
3:07
Speaker 3: and go to the pharmacy, and I didn't have it,
3:09
Speaker 3: and so I wasn't able to revive him, and he
3:13
Speaker 3: ended up passing away in the hospital.
3:16
Speaker 2: The next day.
3:16
Speaker 3: And you know, we sat around the kitchen table just
3:20
Speaker 3: a few days after his death, going like, what just happened?
3:25
Speaker 3: How could we have gotten here? And we all were
3:29
Speaker 3: just struck by this realization that if we if this
3:32
Speaker 3: could happen to us, it could happen to anybody, And
3:36
Speaker 3: if we don't do something to try to fill these
3:39
Speaker 3: gaps in care, then we're just going to watch our
3:41
Speaker 3: friends and neighbors and other family members go down the
3:44
Speaker 3: same path. And so we decided to start the Chrisowd Foundation,
3:48
Speaker 3: and our goal is to is to fill those gaps
3:50
Speaker 3: in care and to navigate people through this complicated system
3:55
Speaker 3: of getting help for substance use disorder and mental health issues.
4:00
Speaker 2: And that's what we do.
4:01
Speaker 1: Jenny, if you don't mind me asking, because I know
4:03
Speaker 1: you've talked about this before of your personal experience, you know,
4:06
Speaker 1: because I think it's one thing to have a horrific
4:09
Speaker 1: thing happen like your brother passing the way he did
4:12
Speaker 1: and what he was up against, and the family too,
4:14
Speaker 1: because families are involved in this, since our friends and
4:16
Speaker 1: co workers when it comes to substance abuse, when it
4:18
Speaker 1: gets to the level it did for Chris. But I'd
4:21
Speaker 1: love for you to share about what that's like because
4:23
Speaker 1: I think most people when it comes to a disease
4:26
Speaker 1: or something like happening with your family and Chris, it's
4:28
Speaker 1: never going to happen to me, and then it does,
4:31
Speaker 1: and then it's awe and shock, isn't it? And then
4:33
Speaker 1: what you do afterwards? In your family responded incredibly by
4:38
Speaker 1: coming up with the foundation. But what's it like to
4:40
Speaker 1: happen in the family like it did with you guys?
4:44
Speaker 3: Well, I, you know, dealing with any kind of chronic,
4:48
Speaker 3: life threatening disease and your family is tough. But I
4:51
Speaker 3: always say that dealing with addiction is its own special
4:57
Speaker 3: kind of hell. As a family member, it is just
4:59
Speaker 3: so incredibly difficult because not only are you dealing with
5:04
Speaker 3: this disease, and that's what it is, it's a disease.
5:06
Speaker 3: It's a horrific disease that can destroy lives, and but
5:12
Speaker 3: also you're dealing with this huge stigma, and there's stigma
5:15
Speaker 3: against your loved one, but there's also stigma against the families.
5:20
Speaker 3: Like my mom when she was, you know, sharing with
5:25
Speaker 3: one of her friends about what was going on with Christopher.
5:29
Speaker 3: You know, something dramatic had happened. I don't remember the details,
5:31
Speaker 3: but she was kind of sharing with her friend and
5:34
Speaker 3: her friend goes, what why is he like this, what
5:37
Speaker 3: did what did you do wrong? Boy? You know, and
5:41
Speaker 3: that's kind of you know, that was her. Usually you
5:44
Speaker 3: don't hear that said to your face. But that's what
5:47
Speaker 3: a lot of people think, is that you know that
5:50
Speaker 3: this is bad people doing bad things, or you know,
5:53
Speaker 3: bad families doing something wrong. You know it's the parent's fault,
5:57
Speaker 3: and there's all this pressure people and who have a
6:01
Speaker 3: loved one often here you know what I think is
6:04
Speaker 3: well meaning advice but also very misguided that you know,
6:08
Speaker 3: you have to let them hit rock bottom, you have
6:10
Speaker 3: to practice tough love, you've got to kick them out,
6:12
Speaker 3: throw them in jail, all these things. And it's said
6:16
Speaker 3: as if that's the prescription for fixing the person. You
6:20
Speaker 3: do these things, they're going to hit rock bottom, they're
6:22
Speaker 3: going to see the light, and they're going to turn
6:23
Speaker 3: around and make different choices and then it'll all be okay.
6:26
Speaker 3: But that's not how addiction works, right, Because one of
6:29
Speaker 3: the key components of addiction is continued use despite negative consequences. So,
6:34
Speaker 3: whether it's the justice system or families or whoever, throwing
6:38
Speaker 3: more negative consequences at the person doesn't make them use less.
6:42
Speaker 3: If anything, it makes them use more. Because their life
6:45
Speaker 3: that was already so difficult for them to cope with
6:47
Speaker 3: if they had to turn to drugs is now even harder.
6:50
Speaker 3: So it's just sometimes it feels like, you know, just
6:52
Speaker 3: an uphill battle.
6:53
Speaker 2: But we do know.
6:56
Speaker 3: I don't want to paint to morose of a picture
6:59
Speaker 3: because actually there's a lot of hope. Seventy five percent
7:02
Speaker 3: of people with substance use disorders find recovery, So recovery
7:07
Speaker 3: isn't just possible, it's probable. There's a lot that families
7:12
Speaker 3: can do. Families are told that they're totally powerless, and
7:14
Speaker 3: it's true that we didn't cause our loved ones addiction.
7:17
Speaker 3: We can't cure it, but we can contribute positively to
7:22
Speaker 3: their healing. And there is a lot of empowerment and
7:25
Speaker 3: education that families can have, and that's one of our
7:29
Speaker 3: programs actually, is a family education and support program that
7:33
Speaker 3: helps families to learn about what addiction is and isn't
7:36
Speaker 3: and what their role is in this process.
7:40
Speaker 1: You know, I love that you do that because I've
7:42
Speaker 1: talked to enough nonprofits that back in the old days,
7:44
Speaker 1: when there weren't people to relate to that had either
7:47
Speaker 1: the same disease or the same issue that happened with
7:49
Speaker 1: a singularly or a family, including my story too. I've
7:53
Speaker 1: told you and many people and my listeners that when
7:55
Speaker 1: I had ra and rumatatiarthritis back in eighty seven, there's
7:58
Speaker 1: no internet, no social media education, I thought I was
8:01
Speaker 1: the only person on the planet that had it. So
8:03
Speaker 1: it's very isolating. And what I love, Jenny, that you
8:06
Speaker 1: do with your family and the Chris Owood Foundation and
8:09
Speaker 1: what you're doing to advocate, is that you're having families
8:12
Speaker 1: come together saying, hey, listen, we went through almost the
8:15
Speaker 1: same thing. We can talk about it together. And I
8:17
Speaker 1: love that you offer that up because talking and relating
8:20
Speaker 1: human condition, right, it's a really big deal.
8:23
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, It's impossible to overstate the impact of lived experience.
8:27
Speaker 3: That's the core of everything that we do at the
8:30
Speaker 3: Chris Outwood Foundation is it's lived experience. All of our
8:34
Speaker 3: staff are in recovery from substance use disorder or mental health,
8:39
Speaker 3: and we've got a few people who are our family
8:41
Speaker 3: members of somebody and.
8:44
Speaker 2: We've been there. We get it.
8:45
Speaker 3: And so like this huge stigma that people face when
8:50
Speaker 3: reaching out and asking for help is so much less
8:53
Speaker 3: when you're coming to somebody who you know gets it
8:56
Speaker 3: because you know they're not going to judge you, and
8:58
Speaker 3: that brings down the walls, makes people so much more
9:01
Speaker 3: likely to be open to treatment and support and education.
9:07
Speaker 3: And yeah, it really is a game changer, both for
9:09
Speaker 3: the individual and for the families.
9:11
Speaker 1: You know, always every time I talk to a person
9:14
Speaker 1: starts a nonprofit or a profit, they come up with
9:17
Speaker 1: the idea and they have and they execute it and
9:20
Speaker 1: then it turns into something either better or very different.
9:23
Speaker 1: When you started the Atwood Foundation for Chris, as it
9:26
Speaker 1: started out, what did you think you wanted it to be?
9:29
Speaker 1: And then I want to talk about what it is today.
9:32
Speaker 3: So the very very first idea that we had was
9:35
Speaker 3: to help people get access to treatment, and we were
9:39
Speaker 3: going to provide treatment scholarships. And we pretty quickly veered
9:43
Speaker 3: away from that just because of how expensive treatment is
9:47
Speaker 3: when you're paying out of pocket, and you know, we realized, well,
9:52
Speaker 3: we could help I don't know, a.
9:55
Speaker 2: Dozen people a year.
9:56
Speaker 3: We didn't know what our fundraising potential was going to
9:58
Speaker 3: be at the time, but we could help like a
10:00
Speaker 3: dozen people a year with this, or you know, if
10:02
Speaker 3: we pick some other gaps to fill, we can help
10:05
Speaker 3: a whole lot more people, and luckily insurance has gotten
10:09
Speaker 3: a little bit better about paying for treatment, but it's
10:11
Speaker 3: still that that whole system still needs so so much work,
10:17
Speaker 3: you know, because people can get into treatment and have
10:20
Speaker 3: it covered by insurance now, but insurance is still only
10:22
Speaker 3: covering thirty days. Maybe some insurances only want to cover
10:26
Speaker 3: two weeks, and that's nothing.
10:29
Speaker 2: You know.
10:30
Speaker 3: People are just barely getting their their the drug out
10:34
Speaker 3: of their system at that point, you know.
10:37
Speaker 2: And so we we eventually went in a different direction.
10:43
Speaker 3: And the direction that we went in first was access
10:46
Speaker 3: to narcan because that was my experience, you know, not
10:49
Speaker 3: having it and realizing, well, this is a huge gap
10:51
Speaker 3: because all of these deaths from opioids are preventable. Narcan
10:56
Speaker 3: will reverse an overdose every time you get it there
11:00
Speaker 3: in time, and you use enough narcan, it works every time.
11:04
Speaker 3: So just the idea that this safe medication, it's even
11:08
Speaker 3: safer than tile and all, you know, that we had
11:11
Speaker 3: no access to it was ridiculous, I mean, and we
11:14
Speaker 3: had sent my brother to some of the best treatment
11:15
Speaker 3: centers in the country and at that point, like none
11:19
Speaker 3: of them were providing access to narcan either, and that
11:22
Speaker 3: I think really just shows how far addiction treatment and
11:27
Speaker 3: the field has to come to catch up with other diseases,
11:30
Speaker 3: because can you imagine, you know, you send your kid
11:32
Speaker 3: with a life threatening allergy to one of the best
11:35
Speaker 3: allergy clinics in the world and they come back without
11:37
Speaker 3: an EpiPen. I mean, that just would never happen, right,
11:39
Speaker 3: that would be probably malpractice.
11:43
Speaker 2: And so yeah, again it's that stigma. So we.
11:48
Speaker 3: Changed some laws in Virginia to allow community dispensing of narcan,
11:52
Speaker 3: and then we started dispensing narcan out, you know, in
11:56
Speaker 3: the field, rather than trying to get people to go
11:58
Speaker 3: to the pharmacy. And we've now given out over one
12:01
Speaker 3: hundred and thirty four thousand doses of free miloc zone
12:04
Speaker 3: and we've received reports of over twenty eight hundred lives
12:06
Speaker 3: that have been saved with it.
12:07
Speaker 1: That's extraordinary. And you know, one of the things I
12:10
Speaker 1: was thinking as you were talking about and what you
12:12
Speaker 1: do specifically on a daily basis with advocating, we always
12:15
Speaker 1: find out that when it comes to the laws or
12:17
Speaker 1: the process is how appalling the system is. Right now
12:20
Speaker 1: and I can just hear it in your voice as
12:22
Speaker 1: you talk to me about what you're up against daily
12:24
Speaker 1: as you advocate, I'd love for you to talk about this,
12:26
Speaker 1: about what you're doing now, finding out what's going on,
12:30
Speaker 1: how you can hopefully make the system better what you
12:32
Speaker 1: and your team have. But where are you right now
12:34
Speaker 1: with advocation?
12:37
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, our most recent advocacy work was in
12:39
Speaker 3: opening a recovery community center in Fairfact City. We faced
12:43
Speaker 3: a lot of exclusionary zoning laws that did not support
12:50
Speaker 3: work like ours coming into the community, and there was
12:52
Speaker 3: some nimbi's, you know, some not in my backyard people
12:55
Speaker 3: who said, oh.
12:56
Speaker 2: Well, you know, helping people is great, but not here.
12:58
Speaker 2: We don't want that.
12:59
Speaker 3: Here, And so we had to do a lot of
13:00
Speaker 3: advocacy around this isn't those people, This is you. This
13:04
Speaker 3: is your community. This is your neighbors, your children, your coworkers.
13:09
Speaker 3: You know, addiction impacts. Seventeen percent of Americans have had
13:14
Speaker 3: a substance use disorder. Right, that's a big chunk of
13:18
Speaker 3: our community and helping them makes our whole community better
13:23
Speaker 3: in so many different ways, and.
13:25
Speaker 2: So we were ultimately successful.
13:27
Speaker 3: We now have had our recovery community center up and
13:30
Speaker 3: running for a couple of years now, and some other
13:34
Speaker 3: areas that we've done work is in promoting harm reduction,
13:37
Speaker 3: which is a really misunderstood philosophy and set of tools.
13:43
Speaker 3: You know, people think it's enabling drug use, when in
13:47
Speaker 3: fact it's actually enabling recovery because people who are enrolled
13:50
Speaker 3: in a harm reduction program are five times more likely
13:53
Speaker 3: to get into treatment than folks who are actively using
13:57
Speaker 3: drugs who are not in a harm.
13:58
Speaker 1: Reduction program can do ref You don't mind me interrupting,
14:01
Speaker 1: because I want to know why that is? Why why
14:03
Speaker 1: is there such a misnormal Why is there misinformation about that, specifically.
14:08
Speaker 2: About harm reduction.
14:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, well, I mean because one of the tools
14:12
Speaker 3: of harm reduction is providing sterile use supplies like needles
14:16
Speaker 3: and so on its face, that's really like counterintuitive to
14:20
Speaker 3: a lot of people. Okay, you want somebody to stop using,
14:22
Speaker 3: so give them needles.
14:23
Speaker 2: What That makes no sense, right?
14:26
Speaker 3: But the truth is is that because of the power
14:29
Speaker 3: of addiction and the way that it just hijacks people's brains,
14:32
Speaker 3: they are going to find a way to use no
14:34
Speaker 3: matter what. Once they're addicted, their brain is literally telling
14:37
Speaker 3: them they need this drug the same way that they
14:39
Speaker 3: need food and.
14:40
Speaker 2: Water and oxygen.
14:41
Speaker 3: It is a requirement, and so they will use a
14:44
Speaker 3: dirty needle, they will share, they will do anything, and
14:48
Speaker 3: so providing a syringe is not helping them do it.
14:51
Speaker 3: It's just helping them not to overdose or to get
14:55
Speaker 3: a you know, a disease like HIV or hepatitis C.
15:00
Speaker 3: And what that means is that we can keep people
15:03
Speaker 3: healthier and keep them alive because dead people don't recover.
15:07
Speaker 3: So that's a key component. We got to keep people
15:09
Speaker 3: alive first and foremost. And then the message of harm
15:12
Speaker 3: reduction is so important. It's that we care about you,
15:17
Speaker 3: and you matter, Your life matters, even while you are
15:21
Speaker 3: using drugs. Right you are valuable enough that we care
15:24
Speaker 3: more about you than we care about what you put
15:26
Speaker 3: in your body. And that powerful message of love and compassion,
15:31
Speaker 3: and we're going to help you wherever you are. We're
15:34
Speaker 3: not going to force you to be perfect. We're not
15:37
Speaker 3: going to force you to quit right now when you're
15:39
Speaker 3: not ready. Because people don't just make one eighties overnight.
15:43
Speaker 3: They make small incremental changes, and harm reduction is all
15:46
Speaker 3: about celebrating those small positive changes, and oftentimes that leads
15:52
Speaker 3: to abstinence. But when you come in and your requirement
15:56
Speaker 3: is your life only matters, and We're only going to
15:58
Speaker 3: help you if you can complete leately quit using all drugs.
16:01
Speaker 3: People just can't get there, you know. They're like, that's
16:04
Speaker 3: that's too far, that's too much for them, and they
16:07
Speaker 3: get left behind and they get diseases and they die. So,
16:10
Speaker 3: you know, and the other piece of it is just
16:13
Speaker 3: that that lived experience. So our peers are out on
16:16
Speaker 3: our harm reduction van. And when I say peers, I
16:19
Speaker 3: mean people with lived experience. So these are people who've
16:22
Speaker 3: been in addiction and now they're in recovery, and they're
16:24
Speaker 3: out in the community on the van providing all kinds
16:28
Speaker 3: of things. Because harm production is a lot more than
16:30
Speaker 3: needles too, They're they're providing that and then they're disposing
16:34
Speaker 3: of the used ones. But they're also providing HIV and
16:36
Speaker 3: HEPSA testing. They're providing hygiene kits and NARCAN and education
16:43
Speaker 3: and assistants seeking you know, housing and transportation and nutrition support,
16:48
Speaker 3: all these different things that people need. And they're developing
16:52
Speaker 3: trust with these individuals who don't trust easily, and then
16:57
Speaker 3: that means that when that person does decide, you know what,
17:00
Speaker 3: I don't want to live this life anymore. I think
17:02
Speaker 3: I'm ready to make a change, They know exactly who
17:05
Speaker 3: they can go to. They have that trusting relationship, and
17:09
Speaker 3: then we can scoop them up, get them into detox,
17:11
Speaker 3: get them into treatment, and start them on the way
17:14
Speaker 3: same day.
17:15
Speaker 2: And that's the power.
17:17
Speaker 1: Of Harmona And that's a really big deal. So I
17:20
Speaker 1: want to keep on going on that because I think
17:22
Speaker 1: we've got everybody's attention. So if there is a coworker,
17:25
Speaker 1: a family member, or somebody on their own, anybody that
17:29
Speaker 1: wants to reach out to you, how far does your
17:31
Speaker 1: net spread you can help somebody, And then what kind
17:33
Speaker 1: of tiers of levels do you have to help somebody
17:36
Speaker 1: that might have an addiction problem.
17:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we serve all of Northern Virginia, and we
17:42
Speaker 3: actually can serve a little bit the whole state with
17:45
Speaker 3: one of our programs. We have a free Narcan mailing program.
17:48
Speaker 3: So if you're hearing this and you're not in Northern Virginia,
17:50
Speaker 3: you can go to our website, THECAF dot org and
17:54
Speaker 3: go to get help, and there's a place where you
17:56
Speaker 3: can order Narcan through the mail and just watch a
17:59
Speaker 3: quick training.
18:00
Speaker 2: Video and we'll mail it anywhere in the state.
18:02
Speaker 3: Our other programs are more local to Northern Virginia and
18:06
Speaker 3: we have I mean we don't we don't look at
18:08
Speaker 3: them as tears necessarily, but we have services for the
18:13
Speaker 3: whole spectrum of substance use disorder and mental health. We've
18:16
Speaker 3: in recent years gotten a lot more into mental health support.
18:19
Speaker 1: I love I love it. I love that you do
18:20
Speaker 1: that too, because they're they're kind of interconnecting, right.
18:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's kind of this like false dichotomy that you
18:26
Speaker 3: have an addiction or you have a mental health problem,
18:28
Speaker 3: but usually it's both.
18:30
Speaker 2: They overlap a lot.
18:31
Speaker 3: Uh, and so yeah, it really depends on the individual
18:34
Speaker 3: what they need. Every everything that we do is just
18:38
Speaker 3: completely customized to the person. We have a warm line
18:43
Speaker 3: that people can call and it's going to be answered
18:46
Speaker 3: by a peer every time, who you know is non
18:49
Speaker 3: judgmental and gets it. That number is seven oh three
18:53
Speaker 3: six five three four two two one, and we'll just
18:58
Speaker 3: ask you what do you need?
18:59
Speaker 2: You know?
19:00
Speaker 3: Sometimes, you know, we we think we may know what
19:03
Speaker 3: somebody needs, and we don't. Right, It's our philosophy is
19:09
Speaker 3: and this is part of harm reduction as well, that
19:11
Speaker 3: we need to respect people and respect their autonomy and
19:17
Speaker 3: respect that they are the experts on their themselves and
19:20
Speaker 3: their own stories, and so we just have an interview
19:23
Speaker 3: process of figuring out like, what is it that's a
19:26
Speaker 3: challenge in your life and what are your goals. If
19:28
Speaker 3: we come at you and we say our goal for
19:30
Speaker 3: you is that you get this job and you you know,
19:33
Speaker 3: get into abstinence, people don't respond to that. But if
19:36
Speaker 3: if it's self driven, if it's if it's person centered,
19:41
Speaker 3: then it's a lot more successful. And so we have
19:45
Speaker 3: services all the way from you know, support for people
19:48
Speaker 3: in active use, all the way into long term recovery.
19:52
Speaker 3: And we are in the jail helping people in the
19:54
Speaker 3: Fairfax County Jail as well as the Prince William County Jail.
19:59
Speaker 3: We're out in the community in our narcand van. We
20:01
Speaker 3: have a housing program. A lot of people getting out
20:04
Speaker 3: of treatment, getting out of incarceration, they don't have anywhere
20:07
Speaker 3: substance free to live. So if they go back to
20:09
Speaker 3: that house they were living in where they were using,
20:11
Speaker 3: that's a recipe for disaster. So our housing program is
20:16
Speaker 3: also a big part of what we do.
20:18
Speaker 1: All right on the NAP bar on the website to
20:20
Speaker 1: take action. There are two big deals that I want
20:22
Speaker 1: you to talk about donations and volunteering, and then I
20:26
Speaker 1: want to talk about funding, but let's talk about donations volunteering.
20:29
Speaker 1: How do people get involved in that?
20:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, you can also call the warmline for that and
20:34
Speaker 3: say that you're interested in helping out, and there's lots
20:37
Speaker 3: of ways that we can get you plugged in.
20:39
Speaker 2: We have events.
20:40
Speaker 3: We have kit packing, so all of the the narcand
20:44
Speaker 3: kits and the harm reduction kits. There's a lot of
20:47
Speaker 3: components that go into those, and we always need volunteers
20:49
Speaker 3: to come and help us put together kits.
20:52
Speaker 2: And then there's our Gala.
20:54
Speaker 3: We have two big events every year and our galath
20:57
Speaker 3: coming up in just two weeks actually exactly today, and
21:00
Speaker 3: that is a great way to help out by donating
21:05
Speaker 3: through that, but also to learn more about what we
21:08
Speaker 3: do and meet our peers. And it's such an inspiring
21:12
Speaker 3: night of hope.
21:13
Speaker 2: We call it Heroes for Hope because.
21:17
Speaker 3: You know, it's we recognize all the loss that we
21:20
Speaker 3: have experienced as a country, all the thousands and thousands
21:24
Speaker 3: of people who have lost their lives, but it's mostly
21:28
Speaker 3: about the hope of recovery and the hope of of
21:32
Speaker 3: change and lived experience, and so it's a really it's
21:34
Speaker 3: a really wonderful night. And we invite people to go
21:37
Speaker 3: to our website, THECAF dot org and a box will
21:40
Speaker 3: pop up about the gala and you can click on that.
21:43
Speaker 3: There's also raffles through that and other ways. Yeah, and
21:48
Speaker 3: then as far as funding, you know, we're funded by
21:51
Speaker 3: a lot of different things. We're funded by the community,
21:53
Speaker 3: but a big chunk of our funding is grants. We
21:57
Speaker 3: have a lot of government grants, which have been challenging
22:00
Speaker 3: recently because we have experienced some of the federal funding cutbacks.
22:06
Speaker 3: And so the new Recovery Center that we opened up,
22:09
Speaker 3: a lot of our rent money for that was from
22:12
Speaker 3: a federal grant which just got swiped out from underneath
22:15
Speaker 3: of us, So about two hundred thousand dollars that we lost.
22:18
Speaker 3: And so the gala is more important than ever this
22:21
Speaker 3: year because we really need to find other ways to
22:26
Speaker 3: fund our works and send things in.
22:29
Speaker 2: The government realm 're a little unstable right now, all.
22:31
Speaker 1: Right, And one of the things of this program that's
22:33
Speaker 1: great to Jenny is that I always get a lot
22:35
Speaker 1: of small medium and business owners to say, hey, that
22:38
Speaker 1: subject matter actually is part of my family and I'd
22:40
Speaker 1: love to be part of it. So if there's anybody
22:42
Speaker 1: listening in the business community and DMV and they want
22:44
Speaker 1: to reach out to you maybe to partner up with something,
22:46
Speaker 1: whether it's an event, the Gala or anything else regularly
22:50
Speaker 1: or even one time, how do they do that with you?
22:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, they can call the warmline and go online click
22:57
Speaker 3: on the Gala information. There's a link there for sponsorships,
23:00
Speaker 3: and we have sponsorships all the way from a thousand
23:03
Speaker 3: up to ten thousand dollars, so it's pretty affordable for
23:06
Speaker 3: smaller businesses too, and we welcome support. I mean, like
23:10
Speaker 3: I said earlier, helping people with substance use disorder helps
23:14
Speaker 3: the entire community. And I know a lot of business
23:16
Speaker 3: owners have had trouble with hiring sometimes because you know,
23:21
Speaker 3: people aren't passing drug tests or things like that. You
23:24
Speaker 3: know family members that are impacted by their loved ones.
23:28
Speaker 3: You say, the ripple effects just go on and on.
23:30
Speaker 3: So having business owners support this is it would be
23:36
Speaker 3: hugely helpful.
23:37
Speaker 1: I know you've touched on the Gala, but if somebody
23:39
Speaker 1: were to get on there and get tickets and want
23:41
Speaker 1: to be part of the evening, where's it at and
23:43
Speaker 1: what can they expect that entire evening if they attend.
23:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, it is October fifteenth at Westwood Country Club in
23:51
Speaker 3: Vienna and it starts at six and we do awards
23:58
Speaker 3: for local recovery hero those that have been doing wonderful work.
24:02
Speaker 3: So we get to celebrate that, we talk about the
24:04
Speaker 3: work that we do. It's a nice sit down dinner,
24:07
Speaker 3: we have some fun entertainment. This year we're having a
24:10
Speaker 3: spoken word performance by a local guy to actually who
24:14
Speaker 3: are in recovery sharing their experience.
24:16
Speaker 2: So it's a great night outstanding.
24:20
Speaker 1: A few things that I want to talk about before
24:22
Speaker 1: I let you go, and then some final thoughts once
24:24
Speaker 1: again back to advocating and all that you've done and
24:27
Speaker 1: all that you've learned, and as we're in present day
24:30
Speaker 1: with all the challenges, as you look forward to the foundation,
24:33
Speaker 1: what are you looking forward to talk about maybe passing
24:35
Speaker 1: and what's on the horizon for you that hopefully is
24:39
Speaker 1: something special that will happen not on with the foundation,
24:41
Speaker 1: but in the arena that you're doing everything with.
24:47
Speaker 3: Well, the first I mean, there's a lot, it's hard
24:49
Speaker 3: to pick one, but I think the first thing that
24:50
Speaker 3: comes to mind for me because it's something that's impacted
24:53
Speaker 3: my family personally is I am looking forward to manifesting
25:00
Speaker 3: that the hospital systems and the justice system are going
25:07
Speaker 3: to continue. And they have made improvements, but there's a
25:09
Speaker 3: lot of them that happened. It's kind of pockets here
25:12
Speaker 3: and there in how they support people. Because if you're
25:16
Speaker 3: using for long enough, odds are you're going to end
25:20
Speaker 3: up either in a hospital or a jail or a morgue.
25:23
Speaker 3: Two of those places we can intervene and save people
25:26
Speaker 3: one of them, obviously it's too late. So those two
25:30
Speaker 3: critical intersections need to be armed to the teeth with
25:32
Speaker 3: all of the best evidence based resources that we have.
25:36
Speaker 3: And I'm really proud that in Fairfax County and some
25:42
Speaker 3: of the other areas of Northern Virginia, we've been able
25:45
Speaker 3: to partner with law enforcement in a really impactful way
25:48
Speaker 3: and just transform the way that the jail helps people.
25:51
Speaker 3: And I say help people because they're not just locking
25:54
Speaker 3: people up now they're actually helping people. And it's huge
25:58
Speaker 3: and I want to see that all across the country.
26:01
Speaker 2: So that's my dream.
26:02
Speaker 1: Do you have any peers across the country that do
26:05
Speaker 1: kind of what the Atwood Foundation does and what are
26:07
Speaker 1: you hearing from other regions? In the country. If you
26:09
Speaker 1: do have a chance to talk to other people, imagine
26:11
Speaker 1: they either you run into them, they reach out, You
26:12
Speaker 1: reach out. What's happening around the rest of the country
26:15
Speaker 1: right now and kind of what you do.
26:18
Speaker 2: Well.
26:19
Speaker 3: Funding is a big concern for everybody right now with
26:22
Speaker 3: you know, a lot of us are grant funded, and
26:24
Speaker 3: so we're all kind of feeling the squeeze there. We're
26:28
Speaker 3: worried about Medicaid losing Medicaid and so many of the
26:31
Speaker 3: people we serve are on Medicaid and if that gets
26:34
Speaker 3: taken away, that's going to be really truly catastrophic for
26:38
Speaker 3: a lot of people. So there's a lot of anxiety
26:40
Speaker 3: right now. But yes, there are a lot of different
26:44
Speaker 3: peer organizations around the country and the number is growing
26:47
Speaker 3: because the evidence is showing just how impactful lived experience is.
26:53
Speaker 3: And we have the opioid settlement money that is starting
26:56
Speaker 3: to come through, which you know, it's not going to
26:58
Speaker 3: solve the whole problem, but it is it is something
27:02
Speaker 3: that is you know, starting to have an effect. And
27:06
Speaker 3: one thing that I also want to advocate for, since
27:09
Speaker 3: you asked earlier, is that that those settlement dollars make
27:12
Speaker 3: it to organizations like the Chrisoud Foundation, because right now,
27:15
Speaker 3: only the parties of the lawsuit, which is the state
27:18
Speaker 3: and local governments, can receive the funding, and not all
27:21
Speaker 3: of them are partnering with organizations like ours. But when
27:25
Speaker 3: public and private, you know, nonprofits partner together, it's way
27:31
Speaker 3: better than either of us trying to do it alone.
27:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, that makes sense, So okay, well listen, we only
27:36
Speaker 1: have a few minutes left. I just want to get
27:37
Speaker 1: some final thoughts from you. We'll also talk about the
27:40
Speaker 1: gala one more time. Give the website and the phone number,
27:44
Speaker 1: and let's kind of wrap it up, so the floor
27:46
Speaker 1: is yours, Jenny.
27:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, I think that there are many people who
27:52
Speaker 3: are listening to this right now who have been impacted
27:54
Speaker 3: by addiction and mental health in some way, and I
27:58
Speaker 3: just want to empower you to do something big or
28:01
Speaker 3: small to make a difference in the community and for
28:04
Speaker 3: your loved ones. And you know, you can call our
28:08
Speaker 3: warmline at seven oh three six five three four two
28:11
Speaker 3: two one to seek support for yourself or for a loved.
28:15
Speaker 2: One, or to offer to volunteer.
28:17
Speaker 3: You can go on our website, THECAF dot org to
28:20
Speaker 3: make a donation, buy a ticket to the gala or
28:23
Speaker 3: a sponsorship and truly make a.
28:26
Speaker 1: Difference outstanding, And then it looks like the recording as
28:31
Speaker 1: we play this on the Sunday morning on all our
28:33
Speaker 1: Iart stations. It is just around the corner. In fact,
28:37
Speaker 1: it's about a week and a half away from the gallas.
28:39
Speaker 1: So I know that you don't want people to wait
28:40
Speaker 1: till the last second to get tickets on the website.
28:42
Speaker 1: Let's give the website just one more time. Remind them
28:45
Speaker 1: about the time and the location, just so that we
28:47
Speaker 1: can get that on everybody's radar.
28:49
Speaker 3: Yes, October fifteenth in Vienna, Virginia at Westwood Country Club.
28:54
Speaker 3: Tickets are at the CAF dot org outstanding. Well, I
29:00
Speaker 3: do think tickets will sell out this year, so I
29:01
Speaker 3: would say.
29:02
Speaker 2: If you get them now, yeah, it's a good problem
29:04
Speaker 2: to have.
29:05
Speaker 1: So yeah, don't wait till the end. Is the message
29:07
Speaker 1: from Jenny. It's great to see you and great to
29:09
Speaker 1: talk to you, and please give my best to your
29:11
Speaker 1: family and everybody at the foundation. You do such great
29:15
Speaker 1: work and you know I always tell you this, Jenny.
29:17
Speaker 1: And while what happened to your family and losing your
29:21
Speaker 1: brother hasn't happened to me, but We've all had enough
29:24
Speaker 1: tragedy in our life for for for a lifetime. I'm
29:27
Speaker 1: just in awe about what you took out of losing
29:30
Speaker 1: a family member with Chris, your brother, and what you've
29:33
Speaker 1: turned it into. And it's just remarkable, and you continue
29:37
Speaker 1: to get bigger and better all the time, and it's
29:39
Speaker 1: just really cool what you're doing. So continue success. Thank
29:42
Speaker 1: you for your valuable time on Community DC and we'll
29:44
Speaker 1: check it again.
29:45
Speaker 3: Okay, Guilds and make the world and better.
29:53
Speaker 1: Pace to learn more at she can stamps, a message
29:58
Speaker 1: dropped you by the ad Council m