Handed the Torch: Changing Seasons and Advocacy Coordinators

 2018 was been a busy year for our NCADD-NJ Advocacy Teams, and looking ahead to the coming year we have no plans for stopping the momentum.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their warm welcome as I adjust to the role of Advocacy Coordinator. As an NCADD-NJ Advocate for 6 years, I knew that Aaron Kucharski had made a tremendous impact on countless advocates across the state, myself included, and that taking over his role would be a large task. My background and experience in addiction and recovery have prepared me well for this position, and it is an honor to continue working with a program that has played such a pivotal role in developing a recovery-ready New Jersey.

Six years ago I was introduced to NCADD-NJ through a training held at Living Proof Recovery Center in Voorhees, NJ. I was an employee at LPRC (one of 3 employees at the time: today there are more than 12), that helped plan and launch the second state-funded, peer-led recovery center in the state. Part of my job was to book recovery-oriented events, and a training entitled “Our Stories Have Power” was one of them. This training was a major turning point in my own recovery, and in my professional path.

I approached Aaron after the training to thank him and to let him know what a profound impact the last 2 hours had on me.  I asked him directly: “How do I get your job?” We laughed about it then, and we continue to laugh about it today. This introduction to advocacy, and the power of language in recovery, woke something up inside me. It would send me on a journey that culminated in receiving the answer to the question I asked Aaron 6 years ago.

Since entering the recovery field, I have held various positions that have prepared me for a launch into full time advocacy work. I spent several years with a Program of Assertive Community Treatment (PACT) team, where we assisted people with mental illness/addiction diagnoses directly in their communities and homes. When the OORP (Opioid Overdose Recovery Program) grants were distributed I launched the program in Gloucester County, and oversaw expansion into 2 additional hospitals in Camden County, bringing the number of programs in the county to 3. I returned to school and was trained as an addictions counselor, and have worked in this capacity at several treatment facilities in New Jersey. I am a trainer in SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment), as well as a certified trainer for the CPRS (Certified Peer Recovery Specialist) certification in New Jersey. My recovery has been blessed with these opportunities to become a well-rounded addictions professional; these experiences also have shown me the many gaps in services, education, and opportunities available for those in, and seeking, recovery, as well as their families. I bring a slightly different perspective to our Advocacy Program, but I hope to be able to use my experiences to assist our Advocacy Teams in addressing the issues within their communities.

The power of grassroots advocacy cannot be denied. When I started as an NCADD-NJ Advocate, our primary focus was getting police to carry naloxone, and to get rid of the statute that prohibited EMTs from administering the same medication. It is hard to believe that this was a mere 6 years ago. We have come a long way, but must recognize that there is still much to be done.

By:

Heather Ogden

Advocacy Coordinator Public Affairs and Policy

National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence - New Jersey 

OLDER AND WIDER

 I’m 67 years old and am trying to recall being 27. Back then, I was idealistic, motivated and smart enough to get by. To be sure, 67 isn’t 27. I now know, and have experienced, more, and that seasoning hasn’t dimmed my ardor to topple injustice but has served to only better inform it. The decades have certainly given me more to think about. After marinating in the stew of the state’s legislative processes for lo these many years, there remains one question unresolved in my ruminations. Is the state government relevant to the average person in New Jersey? Or, is it just a collection of rascals acting on their petty ambitions off to the side of anything that really matters? Both assertions are on full display daily. However, I would argue that the government is capable of doing both a significant amount of good as well as bad.

NCADD-NJ’S Public Affairs Unit and Advocacy program are the vehicles for warriors (young and old) to battle for a better human condition. Our staff and volunteers have had a measurable impact on the crafting of public policy in the Garden State. In particular, we’ve seen enacted, expungement reform, drug court expansion, and enhanced substance misuse therapy for the incarcerated, to name merely three. In general, NCADD-NJ has been in the vanguard of the 180-degree change of perception of substance misuse as an illness that requires treatment and recovery services from an earlier view that saw it as a symptom of poor judgment that could be corrected by punishment.

Listed below are just a few of the measures moving in the state Legislature in the final quarter of 2018. They have two things in common. First, they all would improve the quality of life for those battling with addiction. Second, none would have made it as far as they have without the principled and experienced  efforts of the people living with that struggle and their families.

* A.2031/S.1339 – Ensures that insurance coverage for behavioral health care be on a par with that for medical and surgical services, and enhances oversight and enforcement of mental health and addiction parity laws

* A.4866 – Requires institutions of higher education to maintain a supply of opioid antidotes and permits the emergency administration of same by campus medical professionals or trained employees

* A.4513 – Establishes a gross income tax credit of up to $5,000 per year for physicians, physician assistants and advanced practice nurses who volunteer to provide opioid use disorder therapy in a drug treatment program   

* S.2330 – Allows persons convicted of certain drug offenses to qualify for a casino employee license

* A.4131 – Establish vehicle staffing and performance standards, as well as, review and reporting requirements for non-emergency Medicaid transportation

* AJR 70/SJR 94 – Establish a temporary task force to examine how best to treat individuals who experience multiple opioid overdoses and reversals; and make recommendations to the Governor and Legislature

* A.4546/S.491 – Requires public and private high schools to annually conduct written or verbal substance screenings on all students using a particular program (SBIRT – Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment)

* A.1467 – Facilitate the establishment of four new peer-to-peer recovery community centers

* A.216 – Mandate police training for interactions with people who may have behavioral health issues

* S.2100/A.3456 – Remove prohibition on voting by persons on probation, parole or incarcerated

* S.2244/A.3292 – Mandate that all prescription opioid medication include a warning sticker advising patients of the risk of addiction and overdose

* A.3288/S.948 - Designate sober living homes as beneficial uses in the context of the Municipal Land Use Act

* S.2321/A.3898 – Authorize public libraries to maintain a supply of opioid antidotes and permits emergency administration by trained library personnel

* S.1324/A.1189 – Mandate that a portion of forfeited assets in certain drug cases be directed to fund drug treatment

Ed Martone
Policy Analyst