Spring 2023 TI-ROSC Newsletter

Thank you for joining us for this third edition of the Northwest TI-ROSC Collaborative newsletter!

The Northwest TI-ROSC Collaborative is comprised of member organizations in Lake, LaPorte, Porter, and Starke counties who participate in monthly county stakeholder meetings reviewing best practices, continuous improvement, and strategic action planning in support of reducing opioid and substance use mortality and increasing access to treatment and recovery.

The contents of this newsletter include:

• Article on Recovery-Oriented Systems of Care: The Next Frontier
• Spotlights on TI-ROSC Leadership by County
• Events Calendar
  
• Newsletters will be published in the fall, winter, and spring of each grant year.
  

Northwest TI-ROSC Collaborative appreciates the support of HealthLinc and the Division of Mental Health & Addiction. Funding for this newsletter is made possible through the Mobile Integrated Response Systems grant, a part of the State Opioid Response grant.

The Next Frontier in Recovery-Oriented Systems of Care

Issue 3: Recovery-Oriented Systems of Care

In our TI-ROSC, or “Trauma-Informed Recovery-Oriented Systems of Care,” we are all working together to create a strong network of resources that addresses the full range of substance use and mental health issues in our communities, ranging from prevention to treatment. So, what is the next frontier in these long-term efforts to address these issues?

TI-ROSC member organizations often identify housing as a top concern across northwest Indiana. Whether it’s transitional, recovery, or affordable housing, the people we are working to support need a safe place to call home before, during, and after treatment. Transportation is often a challenge in many communities, and when someone is taking the first, vulnerable step into treatment, transportation issues can quickly derail progress. Plus, the lack of recovery housing options forces many people back into the same problematic living situations that first triggered or exacerbated their mental health or substance use issues. Finishing a 90-day course of treatment is a promising and positive step, but it requires a strong support network throughout treatment and upon returning home.

While housing is a clear and growing need for our communities, it also requires many supports and resources to be successful. Funding housing is challenging. In fact, an expert panel on the value of recovery housing hosted by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing found that “Funding of services is largely focused on medical and/or clinical services rendered, not on quality of care and long-term outcomes.” Challenges also remain in understanding and recognizing the need and effectiveness of the various housing models.

The expert panel suggests a number of effective payment models for financing recovery care that are underway or under discussion around the country, including:

• Independent Recovery Payment Models that value recovery housing and are informed by American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) Criteria but tailored to the non-clinical nature of recovery housing. This model covers the continuum of care from treatment through recovery or covers treatment and recovery independently.
• Recovery Kentucky uses a unique public and private financing model to achieve financial stability. At the construction of each facility, Recovery Kentucky strategically deploys tax credits through the Kentucky Housing Corporation and generous funding from local partners to pay for each facility in full at completion, avoiding a mortgage. This keeps costs low for operators and new entries to the program.
• Ohio Recovery Housing (ORH) is built on a strong public-private partnership. It’s the National Association for Recovery Residences (NARR) state affiliate organization supported by the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS). To build trust within the recovery housing community, ORH’s model is peer driven, and its board is composed of local recovery housing operators. ORH and the OhioMHAS worked together to implement standards in a way that’s suitable for local operators, seeking input from community partners, research, and NARR to develop a unique implementation process for the state.
• Extending the Medical Model to Include Wraparound Services repositions recovery housing into current insurance plans as a wraparound service, since recovery housing contributes to improved health outcomes and cost savings within the healthcare system. This integration would allow recovery housing to be a more fully integrated complement to the medical model instead of being treated as an add-on service.
• Develop a System for Third-party Payers to finance recovery housing on a steady basis and avoid depending on unpredictable funding contracts and grants. Third-party payers have been used to cover other housing services, like assisted living and nursing home services. However, this option comes with potential administrative burdens and operating costs; stakeholders should first conduct a cost-benefit analysis of third-party payers.
• Implement a National Voucher Program to offer greater access to recovery services and flexibility in choice. Though it would require nationwide coordination, this option could build off prior initiatives, like SAMHSA’s Access to Recovery voucher program, to fund a competitive grant process while also collecting data on the impact of recovery housing. Public and private insurers are already exploring voucher program models to address social determinants of health, which could present an opportunity for the recovery housing community to participate in innovative benefit programs.

Check out the full report online to learn more about funding exploration for recovery housing.

Meet the TI-ROSC Stakeholders

In this newsletter, we introduce you to TI-ROSC leadership supporting Lake, LaPorte, Porter and Starke counties.

LAKE COUNTY Meet Pastor Michael Pirtle of City of Refuge Christian Church of Northwest Indiana

Emma’s House in Gary is a 12-bed certified recovery home for women transitioning from the justice system back into the community. Funded through a state Opiate Response Grant, Emma’s House offers a way for women to find their footing and any support services. Pastor Michael Pirtle, who oversees Emma’s House as part of his City of Refuge Christian Church of Northwest Indiana, says the idea for Emma’s House came out of his church’s ongoing outreach work with Lake County Community Corrections.

“We saw women as being the most vulnerable to leaving jail and having nowhere to go. They end up back into the same environments they came from, or back to the drug dealer’s homes,” Pastor Pirtle said. “Our church was putting them up in hotels until they could transition into a safe space. There was a corrections officer named Roderick Threat who donated his childhood home to my church. We completely renovated it and decided to use it as a home for these women who needed a safe place to go.”

 

Named after Roderick’s mother, who raised a large family in the home, Emma’s House has successfully supported women for the past six years. A retired Marine and a Navy drug and alcohol counselor, Pastor Pirtle moved to his wife’s hometown of Gary when he retired in 2004. Experience taught him that recidivism was an ongoing problem, so he got involved in outreach at Lake County Community Corrections and the church’s work. He earned his master’s degree and license in clinical counseling and addictions, and he got to work.

“Substance use is something I’m passionate about. I didn’t even know that I had a problem until I went to school to become a counselor. I just thought it was a normal way of life because I’ve never been arrested or in trouble, but I was a functioning alcoholic. But thank God, I haven’t drank since 1984. I’ve lost family members to this, and It’s something I want to be able to help people overcome,” he said. “Especially as an African American, mental health is a stigma in our community. People with mental health issues are considered crazy, which lets people avoid the conversations we need to have or take these issues seriously. I really like to help break that stigma so people can get the help they need.”

Breaking down the stigma for mental health treatment requires building trust through ongoing relationships, which Pastor Pirtle and his church volunteers foster through Emma’s House and Liberty Health Recovery Café, a place where people struggling with anything from divorce, unemployment, homelessness, or substance use can connect with community resources. Members of his church volunteer at Emma’s House and at Recovery Café, and sometimes they find that the experience helps them on their own paths.

“Church members want to support this work, and once they get to the café, they realize there are areas of their lives in which they need support,” Pastor Pirtle said. “Most of our members participate in recovery circles because it’s helping them become their best selves, too.”

Pastor Pirtle’s vision for Lake County is one in which stigma loses its grip on the community and allows them to seek the care they need. He says this can be achieved through education, which can stop substance use issues before they begin.

“I would love to see education provided in the school systems as a prevention opportunity for people in Lake County,” he said. “At a minimum, I’d love for Liberty House Recovery Café to be a hub for people to come for treatment or education on mental health and substance use issues.”

LAKE COUNTY Meet Pastor Dennis Walton Senior Pastor of Faith Temple of Christ Church

For Pastor Dennis Walton, assisting those within the community with substance use disorders and mental health issues is simply part of God’s calling and purpose for his life.

“This work is important to us because my call is to be Christ-like first, and we have a commission by our Lord to go into all the world and meet the needs of His people. Recovery is at the very heart of that—helping people who have real needs like housing, food, clothing, shelter, medical attention, and mental health care,” Pastor Walton said. “We take this beyond the four walls of our church.”

One of Pastor Walton’s outreaches is workforce housing within the Gary and Merrillville, Indiana region. He provides several homes for those who need transitional living as they reenter the community from the justice system or those who are working toward earning an education or becoming homeowners.

Pastor Walton is also the chair of Faith Works Network (FWN), which is one of the Region’s Faith, Community, and Civic Alliances focused on faith-led and collaborative, economic development. FWN is a coalition of clergy members, local stakeholders, organizations, businesses, and individual partners who believe in empowering and enriching the lives of others, specifically in the Gary and Northwest Indiana region. Through his partnerships, FWN has identified 20 homes in the community whose owners make these houses available for outreach.

“These homes are for people who’ve lost their way and need some social skills through training and emotional healing due to trauma they’ve experienced,” Pastor Walton said.

Last year Pastor Walton acquired a 74,000-square-foot former hospital building in Gary, which is now Faith Community Center North (FCCN), offering a holistic array of recovery services throughout the week (in collaboration with Pastor Michael Pirtle). The building has the capacity to house more than 200 people in recovery.

Pastor Walton’s work in the building also includes several training programs for the community to help with soft skills, work ethics, mentorships for men and women, and parenting services. These training programs are supported by state dollars through Geminus Corporation. He’s also exploring the idea of adding a workforce and contractor’s incubator training program to support employment and economic development in the area.

“We plan to increase our capacity so we can monetize the entire building. We’re looking at multiple functions to support six pillars for our community: farm-to-table food, holistic healing, business growth, environmental justice, community safety, and renewable energy,” Pastor Walton said. “We believe in taking an inclusive approach to this work because when it comes to the needs of the city, one organization can’t do it alone. We need everyone doing what they do best for the common good.”

Pastor Walton’s humanitarian service includes national and international work. He serves on the board of the Lake County Justice Department and he’s chaplain of the Merrillville Police Department. Pastor Walton has spent more than 20 years collaborating with the large Eternal Word Ministries (EWM) Inc. out of India, for which he serves as vice president.

“EWM has established more than 398 churches and five children’s homes in India. The organization provides 24-hour housing and humanitarian services for more than 1,000 children,” Pastor Walton said. Prior to the pandemic, he traveled to India more than a dozen times and witnessed the great need for recovery housing.

In Merrillville and Gary, Pastor Walton says his community could use more of one thing: recovery housing. “We’ve provided transitional housing for a while and have become accustomed to its challenges. People in these living situations need recovery sites—like Pastor Pirtle’s Recovery Center—they seem to do better with greater oversight and strict rules, rather than the general transitional housing setting,” he said.

“People in recovery need firm boundaries, and live-in staff within the recovery homes to provide structure, mentorship, and guidelines for successful recovery. People undergoing recovery are in a vulnerable place and need someone to care for them and walk with them all the way through. The cycle of poor mental and behavioral health can be broken if we give them enough love, care, and support.”

LA PORTE COUNTY Meet Katie Jasnieski, MA, LMHC, Chief Clinical Officer at Swanson Center in Michigan City

The Swanson Center in Michigan City is one of 24 community mental health centers (CMHC) in the state of Indiana. It offers many services to LaPorte County, ranging from pediatrics to geriatrics; child and adolescent case management; individual therapy; support groups; and school-based programming and services within LaPorte Community Schools and Michigan City area schools.

“Mental illness and addiction treatments are at the core of what we do,” says Katie Jasnieski, MA, LMHC, chief clinical officer at Swanson Center. “Our community is very large, and we partner with other agencies doing similar work because none of us can do it all. We help and rely on each other.”

Mental health and crisis intervention have been central to Katie’s career. Prior to the Swanson Center, she worked in Franciscan Health’s inpatient psychiatric unit for 21 years. Initially, Katie wanted to become an attorney to advocate for individuals with mental health needs. But after earning an undergraduate degree in psychology, Katie began working in a pediatric behavioral health unit in Michigan City and simply fell in love with crisis work.

“Crisis work is never the same – it keeps you on your toes, it keeps your skill sets fresh. You have to think fast and be ready,” Katie said. “You’re always looking for ways to assist and assess individuals and identify resources, which are constantly changing in our community.”

Katie ultimately earned a master’s degree in counseling and is helping the very same people she set out to advocate for through law.

“It’s funny that it’s come full circle,” Katie said. “I reduce recidivism in jails and hospitals through my work as a mental health coordinator for LaPorte County’s Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) Program and on teams for LaPorte County’s Veterans Treatment Court and Problem-Solving Court.”

Katie continues this work as the crisis prevention instructor for the Swanson Center. In this role, she trains others how to de-escalate situations and support people going through a crisis. She’s also the mental health coordinator for the CIT training provided by a large collaboration of organizations that has trained 25 law enforcement areas in crisis intervention. The goal is to train 120 officers in LaPorte County over two years through this grant-funded initiative.

“We’ve been trying for years to bring CIT to our community, and this law enforcement training has been a huge success. We’ve had two cohorts in January and March, and it was a great environment, a wonderful exchange of information, and excellent resources provided to law enforcement,” Katie said. “The officers were very engaged in the training, and their response was so rewarding. A week after the first training, three officers called me to tell me about three calls they responded to, asking me for feedback or connections to services. I’ve put a lot of time into this project, and this collaboration was totally worth it, just in those three calls.”

Going forward, Katie is focused on putting “community” back in “community mental health” through education, public resources, and collaboration.

“Building those partnerships and nourishing them is essential for us to meet the needs of individuals who are in crisis or need assistance in LaPorte County. That partnership is my ultimate goal.”

PORTER COUNTY Meet Krista Sills, Director of Supportive Services at Housing Opportunities, Inc.

“At the end of the day, our goal is for everyone to have a place to call home,” says Krista Sills, Director of Supportive Services at Housing Opportunities, Inc. in Valparaiso. But Sills knows that connecting people with a place to stay is just one of the many barriers that people living with homelessness face in her community.

“The majority of folks experiencing the barrier of homelessness would also potentially be experiencing other barriers, such as mental health and substance use needs,” she said. “Our staff make referrals to other local service providers to engage those relationships so people can work on overcoming those barriers while we address housing and stability in their lives.”

Housing Opportunities, Inc. offers several services for people living with homelessness in Porter and LaPorte counties: an emergency shelter for families, a resource center, street outreach services, affordable housing rentals, and rental assistance programs. Sills, who’s been with Housing Opportunities for over seven years, says a big part of the work is informing people about the services available to them.

“Sometimes, when folks come in here as walk-in appointments, they think their only option is a shelter. It’s a common misconception. If they have fixed income through Social Security or disability, they may qualify for our affordable rentals,” she explained. “We can start the application process with them, and they work with our property management team on the housing aspect while our resource center staff makes sure their daily needs are met.”

Sills says barriers and challenges look different for everyone facing homelessness, and there’s still a stigma that this population is lazy or lost.

“None of that is true. When you begin working in this field, you realize anybody can find themselves in this situation at any point in their lives,” Sills said. “Doing this work is important to me because we’re helping the entire community, not just these people who are invisible to the community. It matters because housing is a right everyone has and deserves.”

In fact, Housing Opportunities did an outreach initiative a few years back called the Invisible Project because people dealing with homelessness are often overlooked by their communities. Many would be surprised to know that 43% of the people housed last year were children.

“We see a lot of times families with children who are living in their vehicles or in a tent in the woods. They don’t want to lose their children to protective services, so they’re doing everything they can to keep their family unit together. When they come to see us, they’re very vulnerable,” Sills said. “That’s one reason our shelter serves only families – they often face more barriers simply due to the needs of having children: childcare, employment – it’s a domino effect. Our Resource Center helps with the day-to-day touches, but we also connect them to other services like healthcare and mental health.”

Housing Opportunities is currently working on a project with another local agency to provide both mental health and primary care services to this population. Housing Opportunities will provide housing and case management services while the partner provides healthcare services, all in one location.

“It’s important to start looking at projects that can offer a one-stop-shop because transportation is a huge barrier for these folks. If they don’t have services within walking distance, just arranging transportation is enough of a barrier to keep them from it,” Sills explained. “If we can work together closely and be a bigger collective support for this community, that will be key. It’s not just about constructing or expanding physical buildings; it’s about bringing our community together to recognize and support the folks who are struggling.”

PORTER COUNTY Meet Kristi Chervenak, Coordinator at Recovery Connection

Awareness about the resources available at Recovery Connection is growing in Porter County, but Kristi Chervenak would like it to be on everyone’s radar. The community recovery center in Valparaiso offers a wide variety of resources, such as peer recovery coaches, family support groups, NA and AA meetings, and connections to resources like GED courses. In the three years Chervenak has been at Recovery Connection (a program through PACT), she’s worked to get a seat at every table possible to spread awareness of the center’s services for the recovery community.

“When I first started, a couple of people a day walked through our doors. Now we serve thousands of people a year through our support groups and recovery coaches – that is huge for me because I know I’m making a difference and doing my job to get the information out there,” Chervenak said. “And we’re removing the biggest barrier for people in getting recovery support: the cost. Our services are free, so there’s no reason someone can’t find the help they need.”

Chervenak is passionate about substance use recovery because she grew up with close family members who struggled with it. She started working at the Porter County Coroner’s Office in 2014 and found that many families didn’t know where to find help for their loved ones. This inspired Chervenak to get involved with the Porter County Substance Abuse Council and the Community Coalition, and she began public speaking on the topic. When the job opened at Recovery Connection, she was ready.

“I really enjoy knowing that we’re helping our clients,” she said. “When our clients graduate through Restoration Court (for mental health issues) or Veteran’s Court and continue coming here and blossoming through their recovery, it’s the most rewarding experience for me.”

Chervenak is a member of the Hub Coalition’s speaker’s board, the Overdose Fatality Review team, and the Porter County Crisis Intervention Team. She continues public speaking in schools and is certified to offer the Overdose Lifeline presentation at schools to illustrate the long- and short-term effects of substance use on the body. She’s also certified to present opioid overdose and naloxone training in schools.

“With the amount of fentanyl available, this training is going to be the new normal, like how students were trained in D.A.R.E. years ago,” Chervenak said. “The great thing about naloxone is if you suspect someone’s having an overdose and you administer it, it won’t harm them if they haven’t taken an opioid. It’s a good resource.”

STARKE COUNTY Meet the Starke County Sheriff’s Department

We caught up with Stark County Sheriff Jack Rosa, department social worker Julie Mayhew, and Chief Deputy Jack Hudgens to discuss the department’s work related to substance use and mental health support in the Starke County community.

When Starke County Sheriff Jack Rosa took office at the beginning of 2023, he identified as a top priority responding to and supporting the mental health and substance use issues in the community.

“We have a substantial drug problem here in Starke County. I can’t think of anything that’s more important,” he said. “We’re working to determine the most effective way to help folks that doesn’t just put them in jail.”

Prior to this role, Sheriff Rosa has been in police work since 1977 and previously served as a coroner. He understands how critical it is to provide an intervention before it’s too late.

“It’s an urgent need. The coroner is the end of the line for some people. You often see cases where an intervention could’ve helped people before they got to the point of desperation. You could save some lives,” Sheriff Rosa said. “Our response team is working to intervene with these people before they get to the desperate point of overdose or death by suicide.”

In Starke County, a HealthLinc grant supports a mobile response team at the Sheriff’s Department, which includes a coordinator, a licensed clinical practitioner, a peer recovery coach, programming within the jail, and law enforcement social worker Julie Mayhew. She came to the Sheriff’s Department in 2021 after several years at the prosecutor’s office. Julie provides peer recovery coaching and resource connections to support people’s recovery. She also works with officers to identify potential needs as they respond to calls.

“Officers will contact me about someone who may need support. I also review call logs and reach out to victims of domestic violence to see if there are any services we can provide. You have to look at the bigger picture with these folks and their families, and you have to recognize that we live in a pretty low-income county, so there is poverty and drug use on top of that,” Julie said. “Last year we had 14 overdose deaths, an increase from the year before. We’re working to get to the root of that problem, and we’re bringing together all aspects of law enforcement, along with resources such as the MIRT (Mobile Integrated Response Team) to do it. HealthLinc has been a phenomenal resource for Starke County in assisting citizens in their recovery journey and mental health issues as they arise.”

The department analyzes each overdose at the Department of Health’s Overdose Fatality Review meeting to look for potential intervention points. The review team represents the Starke County Sheriff’s Department, Starke County Coroner, Starke County Prosecutor’s office, Department of Health, Starke County Health Department, Porter-Starke, and Department of Family Services.

Everyone can relate to the problem at hand because everyone knows someone who’s affected. Chief Deputy Jack Hudgens has been with the Sheriff’s Department since 2018 after serving at the jail. The department had an officer with a family member facing mental health issues who died by suicide. This drove home the importance of intervention. Chief Deputy Hudgens says even seemingly minor police calls can turn into crisis interventions.

“Every call is that person’s emergency. A recent complaint about a broken trash can turned into an in-depth conversation with a woman who just lost her husband to suicide. She has my card in case she needs to talk. In the grand scheme of things, a call about a broken trash bin may not seem like a big deal, but it can turn into something a lot more impactful,” Chief Deputy Hudgens said. “Every opportunity you get to make a positive impact is an opportunity to see what other services you can provide. We are public servants first, and we administer the best public service possible in every interaction.”

Julie sees similar opportunities in peer coaching.

“We have a woman who’s been in substance use for several years, and she was just honored through HealthLinc and our Community Corrections for her sobriety. She continues to work alongside her peer recovery coach to help with things like ensuring she’s getting to her doctor appointments, seeing if she’s having a good day, and encouraging her successes,” Julie says. “She says her peer recovery coach has been the one thing keeping her from relapsing several times.”

The Sheriff’s Department runs the Starke County F.A.R.M. (Foster A Recover Mentality) program for those in recovery while incarcerated to learn how to plant crops and then harvest and donate them to food pantries and churches. It aligns with the department’s goal to support those with substance use disorder in the long term.

“We’ve got a lot of plans like that to keep these folks engaged and busy so they’re not thinking about the next high,” Sheriff Rosa said. “We want them to build the habit of being active and doing something productive.”

The F.A.R.M program accepts non-violent offenders, typically those facing drug charges. They have the chance to sign up for class and participate in various farm projects to create a more purposeful experience while incarcerated. The F.A.R.M. recently graduated seven men.

“They were so grateful to the department for getting them treatment; an option that wasn’t available to them in the past when people with substance use issues were simply locked up,” Chief Deputy Hudgens said. “These programs are tools for success—both while these folks are incarcerated and after they return to the community.”

In pursuit of the service-first goals for the department, Chief Deputy Hudgens says there’s a focus on stopping substance use before it can really begin by starting with the younger generation.

“My personal soapbox is juvenile intervention. Those malleable teenage minds are some of the most impactful years of cognitive development,” he said. “If we can work with the schools to identify children who are having issues, whether it’s fighting, stealing cigarettes, substance use, or just kids who need support, we can assign them an officer as a peer coach. This could be an outlet. Maybe they can end up going down a different path.”

EVENTS CALENDAR Recovery Arts Series Grand Finale: A Celebration of Recovery

June 11, 2023, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Schiralli Art Gallery, 702 E. Lincolnway in Valparaiso

Join Hub Coalition of Porter County and Valparaiso Police Department in a gallery viewing and silent auction of art created by members of the recovery community. Proceeds from the fundraiser will be donated to participating recovery homes. If you know someone who would like to submit artwork to the event, contact Sam Burgett of VPD at [email protected] or 219-476-7999 ext. 2396. All works of art must be donated by June 1 to be included in the silent auction.

Franciscan Health Crown Pointe Events

Franciscan Health Crown Point offers a variety of events and educational opportunities throughout the year. Check out their events calendar on the Northwest TI-ROSC Collaborative website here.