Tell us a little bit about you and how you got connected to prevention work.

 Briefly tell us about your organization and your community. What is the mission of your work? 

What inspires you to help others in the community?

What is a mental health or substance use resource you find to be helpful as a professional working in this field?

What is a resource you recommend to a community member who may want information about mental health or substance use?

What tips (2 – 3) can you share about building mental health and substance use resources for the unique needs of rural communities?

Meagan, tell us a little bit about you and how you got connected to prevention work. Growing up in Green Bay, my father was very involved in ministry, in fact he started a homeless shelter. My priority as a young person was to take the guest’s minds off of their day. That human to human connection had a huge impact on me. Learning their stories and hearing those repeated, underlying connections they had to substance use stuck with me. I went on to school knowing that I wanted to help people address those connections. Prevention made the most sense. Although I had friends and knew people that went into nursing, social work, and many other helping professions, to me it just felt right to work further upstream to support people. I wanted to work smarter, not harder to help people find find their voice. Now I get to work across a continuum of care and we’re all working together to make changes.

 Briefly tell us about your organization and your community. What is the mission of your work? Whether I’m working in my role as a prevention specialist or with the Northwoods Coalition, there really seems to be a connection to “strong coalitions, healthy communities.” Within prevention we are always helping people move towards the recovery trajectory, it just depends where in my different roles I am approaching it. Moving at the community level, I am one to one, hearing individual needs. Within broader systems work, we are looking at systems level and trying to make the environments work better around and for people.

What inspires you to help others in the community? The guests that I met at the homeless shelter when I was younger gave me that human connection that was rewarding and enriching and helped me connect to my purpose early on. The role my family played that inspired me to do this work; being present for others in service was just part of my family life growing up. I also think consistently about one of the first recovery coaches I trained; her personal life story sits deeply with me and grounds me in this work. Being present with this recovery coach and seeing all she has achieved, watching her grow to be her best self, helps remind me how important and valuable it is to give voice to others is – the immense internal reward it is to do this work. To see others succeed is deeply rewarding. 

What is a mental health or substance use resource you find to be helpful as a professional working in this field? Ahhh, what a hard question! There are many great resources out there. CADCA is the biggest resource that I lean on the hardest. It has a lot of materials, connections, and links; it’s my go to. I loves how they advocate for prevention coalitions. Now is a time to give them additional support for all they do to support coalition work.

What is a resource you recommend to a community member who may want information about mental health or substance use? The Prevention Technology Transfer Center PTTC for our regional area, Great Lakes ROTA-RC as a regional hub and connector, and Alliance for WI Youth as state wide coalition. Each has their place in the work and each offers for something different. For anyone struggling – 211 definitely has it figured out!

What tips (2 – 3) can you share about building mental health and substance use resources for the unique needs of rural communities?

1. “Nothing for us without us” – Making sure you have people with lived experience at the table. Make sure they are in the process from the beginning.
2. Do an environmental scan of your community. So often we are duplicating efforts. We have to work smarter, not harder. 
3. Don’t overlook 100 cups of coffee. Its important to get to know people. Its what will make your coalition, your community stronger. Its what determines buy in to where you want to go in your efforts.

Tell us a little bit about how you got into recovery work? Ever since I had a personal experience with recovery, I’ve looked for ways to get involved. When I was seventeen, I experienced the detention center system. When I came through this and started getting help to get sober, I wanted to become a volunteer too. This lead to more experiences in the field of recovery and I’ve been working and volunteering in the recovery realm since 1996.

Briefly tell us about your organization and your community. What is the mission of your work?

I’m now working in an outpatient setting – I love this work because the people we see are out in the community they live in, so we are helping to initiate and sustain change. We work alongside our clients and we meet them wherever they are at in the change process. Serving on two boards within the community is one of the highlights of my life. I love being a part of creating new opportunities for those in recovery, and with addiction, in our community. It’s building recovery capital.

I currently serve on the board for Community Recovery Alliance – they offer free recovery resources and places where people hang out and get coaching. They also offer multiple pathways of recovery. Its not a one size fits all approach and the team is tremendous. I also serve on the board for Recovery NOTES – which is a monthly open mic night for people in recovery, allies and families that provides music, poetry, storytelling and an array of talent in our community. NOTES stands for “New Opportunities to Enjoy Sobriety. COVID slowed it for a while, but its growing again. 

What inspires you to help others in the community? I remember when I got sober and I felt good in my own skin for the first time. I felt serenity. It was then that I realized recovery was possible for me. It was the first time I could see how other people were doing it [achieving sobriety]. It was that feeling that helped me on my journey, but it also inspired me to want to help others.

Seeing how other people working in recovery can be a support for those recovering… I love that experience of watching people go through those experience of positive changes. I love seeing other people get their family member back. The experience that other people can recover and change, that change is possible. Is the rainbow for others to see that they can do it too. Millions of others have.

What is a mental health or substance use resource you find to be helpful as a professional working in this field?

Treating people with kindness and helping with basic needs and resources can be the catalyst for a whole new life for someone.

People are losing their Medicaid, and we are seeing that happening heavily in our state, especially if they are earning over $14.00/ hr. CRA is a non-profit organization that can work as a resource broker to help. 

NMSAS (Northern Michigan Substance Abuse Services) people can accessing free coaching and free training.

Michigan state offers the free Peer Support Warm Line the Michigan Peer Warmline is a statewide warmline for Michiganders living with persistent mental health and/or substance use conditions. The warmline will connect individuals with certified peer support specialists who have lived experiences of behavioral health issues, trauma or personal crises, and are trained to support and empower the callers.

What is a resource you recommend to a community member who may want information about mental health or substance use?

Recovery Community Organizations (RCOs) – these are growing around the country. Find out if you have one in your community. 

PHIP – pre-paid, in-patient program. These are specific to Michigan.

What tips (2 – 3) can you share about building mental health and substance use resources for the unique needs of rural communities?

• Know what is happening currently. 
• Getting involved with groups that are already involved with doing something. 
• If needed, organize and create something to fill the gaps, if there is something that is needed and there is nothing happening. 
• Find enthusiastic and creative people who share your passion and vision to do the work, and want to make a difference.