KYC’s Addic­tion and Recov­ery Pro­grams Empow­er Sub­ur­ban Com­mu­ni­ties to Address Sub­stance Misuse

January 06, 2020

Accord­ing to the Cen­ter for Dis­ease Con­trol and Pre­ven­tion, over­dos­es involv­ing opi­oids killed more than 47,000 peo­ple in 2017, and 36% of those deaths involved pre­scrip­tion opi­oids. Ini­tia­tives like Elk Grove Vil­lage Cares, launched in 2018, address sub­stance use dis­or­ders and addic­tion from a com­mu­ni­ty-based approach, rather than a law enforce­ment prob­lem, show­ing sig­nif­i­cant suc­cess­es at the local level. 

In response to our com­mu­ni­ties’ needs, Ken­neth Young Cen­ter has expand­ed its clin­i­cal and non­clin­i­cal addic­tion and recov­ery ser­vices, work­ing to build health­i­er, stig­ma-free, and safe com­mu­ni­ties for peo­ple liv­ing in and work­ing toward recovery.

The newest of these pro­grams is being led by Daryl Pass, KYC’s Com­pre­hen­sive Addic­tion and Recov­ery Act (CARA) Project Lead. Daryl joined KYC in Octo­ber and quick­ly coor­di­nat­ed with local may­ors and vil­lage man­agers to dis­cuss strate­gies and goals to build train­ing resources address­ing addic­tion and recov­ery. His work will focus on coor­di­nat­ing a sub­ur­ban net­work to train police offi­cers, first respon­ders, social ser­vice agen­cies, and com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers on car­ry­ing nalox­one, a med­ica­tion used to counter the effect of opi­oid over­dose with lit­tle poten­tial for abuse. In addi­tion, Daryl will lead SMART Recov­ery Groups for indi­vid­u­als strug­gling with sub­stance mis­use and addic­tion, as well as those in recov­ery. SMART Recov­ery focus­es on four key points to pro­vide par­tic­i­pants the tools they need to live health­i­er and pos­i­tive lifestyles:

1. Build and main­tain motivation
2. Cope with urges
3. Man­age thoughts, feel­ings, and behaviors
4. Live a bal­anced life

Unlike many recov­ery pro­grams like Alco­holics Anony­mous or Nar­cotics Anony­mous, SMART Recov­ery is not reli­gious­ly affil­i­at­ed, mak­ing it more eas­i­ly inclu­sive to peo­ple of vary­ing back­grounds and cul­tures, and aims to hold each par­tic­i­pant respon­si­ble for their recov­ery jour­ney. Groups specif­i­cal­ly cater­ing to youth, adults, and the LGBTQ+ com­mu­ni­ty have been estab­lished to cre­ate safe spaces for par­tic­i­pants to con­nect, dis­cuss, and learn from one another.

“The only thing that’s uni­ver­sal is that you seek a solu­tion” shared Daryl, whose pas­sion and enthu­si­asm light up the room. Daryl has been sober since 2012 and has since built his life around sup­port­ing oth­ers through to recov­ery. With a warm smile, he con­tin­ues that par­tic­i­pants are encour­aged to change their indi­vid­ual mind­sets from sub­stance mis­use to trans­for­ma­tion­al think­ing. They must remove neg­a­tive and judg­men­tal labels, and instead focus on your per­son­al expe­ri­ence. ​“Edu­cate your­self on the dis­ease, respect it, and learn to build your recovery.” 

As part of the North­west Sub­ur­ban Cook CARA project, KYC’s work will focus specif­i­cal­ly on our sur­round­ing com­mu­ni­ties: Elk Grove Vil­lage, Arling­ton Heights, Schaum­burg, Rolling Mead­ows, Des Plaines, Pala­tine, Prospect Heights, Mount Prospect, and Hoff­man Estates. How­ev­er, com­mu­ni­ties and clients will be accept­ed and sup­port­ed out­side this key area.

“We’re thrilled to have Daryl on our team” said KYC’s CEO, Grace Hong Duf­fin. ​“With­in moments of meet­ing Daryl, his sin­cer­i­ty and com­pas­sion dri­ve open and hon­est con­ver­sa­tion. Whether edu­cat­ing the com­mu­ni­ty or direct­ly sup­port­ing peo­ple work­ing toward recov­ery, I know Daryl will trans­form how peo­ple under­stand addiction.”

To join a SMART Recov­ery Group or to learn more, con­tact smartrecovery@​kennethyoung.​org.

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