Empowering Change: The Heart of Recovery Communities

In this episode of Conversations with Rich Bennett, Rich and cohost Wendy Beck engage with local recovery advocates to explore the significance of National Recovery Month and the community’s role in supporting those affected by addiction. Sponsored by Rage Against Addiction, the discussion highlights various recovery events in Harford County, personal stories of overcoming adversity, and the impactful programs offered by the sponsor, such as sober living homes and grief support. The episode underscores the power of community in fostering recovery and healing.

Events from August 31 – September 21 – Addiction Connections Resource (acrhelps.org)

Nature Based Therapy | Nature Worx

Achieve Behavioral Health (achievebhs.org)

Sponsor Message:

This episode is proudly sponsored by Rage Against Addiction, a dedicated non-profit organization that provides critical support for individuals and families affected by addiction. Their comprehensive programs include sober living homes for women, postpartum care for new mothers in recovery, and grief support for those who have lost loved ones to substance abuse. Rage Against Addiction is committed to empowering recovery and fostering community connections. To learn more about their impactful work or to get involved, visit rageagainstaddiction.org.

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Rage Against Addiction
Rage Against Addiction is a non-profit organization dedicated to connecting addicts and their famili

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Transcript

Rich Bennett 0:00
Sit here with Wendy. She had an idea. Well, she always has ideas. So we have a table, families. we're going to go around to everybody, introduce themselves to them. Wendy is going to take charge. 

Wendy Beck 0:12
Hi, I'm Wendy from Rage Against Addiction. 

Shawn Partain 0:14
Hi. I'm strong teen and I work for Addiction Connections Resource. 

Elliott Slattery 0:17
I'm Elliot Slattery. I work for Chief Behavioral Health. 

Philip Hosmer 0:20
Phil Hosmer, executive director of Nature Works. 

Wendy Beck 0:24
So today we're gathered because we want to talk about Recovery month. September is National Recovery Month, and half our county always takes some time to celebrate, celebrate those in recovery. And with the national going along with, I guess the national guidelines this year is the art of recovery. So we're going to we're going to kind of try to do a little play on that within our community. And then we also have some of our nonprofits and treatment centers here today to talk about what they're going to be doing in Harford County during the month of September. And I'm going to let Shaun kind of kick it off because she's been the lead on this and collecting all that data from everybody around town. 

Shawn Partain 1:12
So starting in August 30th or August 31st, which August is an International Overdose Awareness Month, and then the August 31st is Overdose Awareness Day. Voices of Hope is going to be doing a vigil, and then that's going to kick off the following month's month, which is September, which is National Recovery Month. And the first event in September is going to be Ripken's family recovery night, and that's going to be hosted by Ashley Addiction Treatment and achieve behavioral health. And then following that, next day is the big softball for sobriety that's been going on for a little bit with ACR and we split it up. This year is going to be family friendly on the seventh, and then we're going to do a competitive day on the 14th to allow more participants. And then after that, we got Rage Bingo, which also been going on for a really long time. It's a really good time on September 15th. And then after that we have the special reunion for Ashley. You don't have to be alumni in order to attend. It's a great event on campus. Their campus is beautiful. I'll be September 21st and then after that, 

Nationally, peer professionals and professionals working in this field are recognized on September 20th, and we encourage everybody for that day to wear purple, which is the recovery color and right after that, next day is rest and recharge. 

And that's what nature works and that's actually event they do each month on the third Saturday. It's a free event for people that are working in the field to really, you know, reset and get out in the nature. But this one's going to be specifically for those working in the recovery field. And then we also are encouraging everybody in the county to participate in something that's been going on for about maybe seven years, five, seven years, and that is to put purple lights out. Yes. And your front yard, the town of Bellaire, and I think have Eddie Grace has participated as well, have 

been a part of putting out purple lights. And then also, like the health department and other organizations have donated lights to the towns to really recognize, like those who support people in recovery. And I think it's been a really good hit in the towns. But I really want to see this year people in our community really getting involved. I know how much that argument has been affected by substance use, and I know that we have so many supporters, but like let's let them see that by putting out those lights in your front yard, even changing out your light bulb in your like in front of your porch, front door, and you can get those on Amazon, you can reach out to the health department. I'm sure they'd be more than willing to provide some lights for you, but really, let's support that. And if you guys have any questions about the events that I just listed, one place you can go to ACR, I put all of the events on our calendar for the month and I link each organization's website so that you can sign up or donate so you can go to ACR, helps talk to our event page. 

Rich Bennett 4:49
One thing of these purple lights, those of you listening don't make the mistake of getting a black light. Black light looks purple. Well, it's not the same. I found the easiest thing to do was just get the smart light bulb. Okay, Because you can change colors. And this way you're not changing the light bulb every time. Or whether it be purple, blue, green. You don't want the ribbon out there. Oh, yeah. And everything else. 

Shawn Partain 5:17
If you're not too sure, like I know ACR has like the spotlights and they have, like, the red spotlight. Yeah. Like you have the spotlights from Amazon and like, you can change the color. And so, you know, you have purple and. 

F2 S6 5:28
Yeah that's so. 

Rich Bennett 5:31
And it's it's not for the Ravens it's for recovery month but because season you know it is football season and everybody should have purple lights. 

Shawn Partain 5:40
Anyways I feel like they end up getting like you know people keep them up for Ravens. 

F2 S6 5:45
As well. 

Shawn Partain 5:46
So it's like double use. Why not? 

Rich Bennett 5:49
And where was the data? 

Shawn Partain 5:50
Where purple data, where purple will be September 20th, which is like professional like people working in the field, professional day. 

Rich Bennett 5:58
Okay. 

Wendy Beck 6:00
I guess, Eliot, you can tell us about what's going on first, because you are the first event of September and what's happening at Ripken Stadium. 

Elliott Slattery 6:09
So we've been working with the people who work for the Iron Birds to create a recovery month event for everybody. So I think normal tickets are 12, 13, maybe 15 bucks. But for an extra charge or the 18 to 20 bucks, donations will be gathered and they'll go to Rage Against Addiction. We've worked with Ashley to put on this event to help like pay for the event and everything. So it's going to be recovery night. So a lot of stuff going on. There is going to be about recovery. We're going to have an old timer and recovery throw out the first pitch. We're going to have the serenity Prayer before the national anthem. It's going to be a real fun event. They're going to celebrate recovery on the field and some of our rock stars in recovery will be able to run the bases like at the beginning of the game. And we'll announce their clean time and it's going to be pretty fun. It's a whole orchestrated thing. So we haven't done all the planning yet. So I don't know who some of these people will be supposed to get together with actually today or next week to figure that out. The name might change all kind of stuff. We just kind of said what we had together so far right now. But those are all the things we get in that day. There's a couple more. I think we'll have a recovery announcer in the stadium who will support the other announcers. It'll it's going to be real fun. We will have a bunch of tables for some of the local community recovery partners that will be there. So people will get a lot of information about what's going on and what they can do to support loved ones into getting into recovery. 

Wendy Beck 7:51
So you're going to have resource tables there? 

Elliott Slattery 7:53
Yep, we're going to have resource tables. 

Wendy Beck 7:55
Are people like rage or other? Yeah. 

Elliott Slattery 7:57
Okay. Yeah, I think we're going to have rage. ACR actually asks, and I think we get one or two more tables and figure out kind of how we want to do those. But I'm thinking like nonprofits are like big support that anybody can reach out to type of tables. 

Wendy Beck 8:13
So can you can you tell us a little bit about Angie for our listeners who aren't familiar? 

Elliott Slattery 8:18
Yes. So Achieve Behavioral Health is a local treatment facility that I run. And what we do is so when people are looking for help, there's a couple of things they get asked right away, right? So most people need to enter detox for what they're going through, which will help curb any withdrawals that happen from whatever substance they are using. Then they'll end up going to either residential or some kind of soup based setting for treatment. So page P means partial hospitalization, which is a term that's like not really what it is. You know, it's just kind of what the state and everybody created to call it what it really is. It's a six hour day of clinical services, Right. And that's normally happens every day for first like 28 to 45 days. Right. It's strongly recommended because in early recovery, we kind of have to relearn how to live life without substances and us. Right. So we do that. We also have an IOP program which is considered intensive outpatient, which means it's more hours than standard outpatient. It's normally two and a half, 3 hours, four nights a week. So this kind of helps people if they have to work during the day to still be involved in some kind of clinical services. This is also strongly encouraged. If you're unable to do residential or PE because it just like I said, it helps us get acclimated to living life in recovery. We work with a lot of local sober living that people need housing and things like that. So then another thing I'll say to that will help educate the listener. So if I'm a person out there struggling, I'm like, Hey, I need help. A couple of things have come into place are what kind of insurance do you have? Because local providers, that's kind of how they get paid to provide these services, right? So there's generally a difference between somebody who might have private insurance or state insurance or no insurance at all. Right. So so there's like a difference, right? So some places only accept private insurance. We accept Medicaid. So we're geared more toward people who really need to rebuild their life in some capacity. Right. We help people get insurance who don't have it. So we also accept people who have no insurance at all and help them get set up so that afterwards they're able to participate in other services. Right. And get like medications they may need. And get the support they might need clinically. And we try to help get the ball rolling. A lot a lot of the patients we get come from either being unhoused or come from jails or come from situations that aren't so great. And we kind of pride ourselves in making sure they have everything they need. A lot of our patients come in and don't have any clothes. We have a lot of donations that we receive, so people end up leaving with everything they need clothes, food, that kind of stuff. We're able to support people in getting all those things and we work a lot with the nonprofits like ACR Range, etc. to like help kind of gather these things. We also have men's programming and women's programming that are separate. 

So I'm a strong believer in gender specific care. I think that sometimes it's traumatic for women to be around men in treatment, and sometimes it's just not beneficial for men to to like, have to share vulnerable things in a group that's co-ed. So we've kind of created that space where they could be separate and have their own unique treatment experiences also helps to build camaraderie so that when they leave, they're able to engage with each other a little bit better and have closer knit relationships, which having that sense of 

companionship in early recovery and camaraderie is, I believe, one of the most important things people can have that had people surrounding them, supporting them, and just building a little team of people who are on the same mission, which is to achieve recovery. 

Rich Bennett 12:37
So you mentioned clues. People come there for new clues. 

Do you guys do like clothes drives or how do you get the clothes that you need? 

Elliott Slattery 12:47
Yeah, So luckily. So when I got clean almost 12 years ago, I had nothing. Right? So I really kind of make it a point to know who's able to help provide some of these things. Right. Okay. So pretty much how I do it is me and some of my staff just post on Facebook and a lot of people end up coming up and giving us whatever it is we need, Right. So and we get real specific. You know, we don't have necessarily a big enough space to hold like tons of donations. 

Rich Bennett 13:22
So one class. 

Elliott Slattery 13:23
So we get very specific with what we need, right? Like if we have a lot of large shirts, but we need some extra larges, we may say we need extra large shirts. And then once enough people say, Hey, I'm going to bring some by, we'll just delete the post so that we don't get overran by donations. 

Wendy Beck 13:40
Right. Do you know the daughter's house has a closet? 

Elliott Slattery 13:43
Yes. So Rachel told us for the women's. Yeah. So Rachel told us for the win. Rachel is. Is she the director? 

Wendy Beck 13:50
She's the program. 

Elliott Slattery 13:51
Program director of Rage. And she's helping us a lot with creating our women's program. Doing what we did for these gender specific programs is we took some of the rock stars in the local community that represent men's or women's, and we had them help us create what's going to be the best model for these gender specific type programs, right? Like the same example is a lot of local sober living. There's not many coed ones there either. Men's sober living, women's sober living. So we use some of the people involved in those to be like, If you could make a treatment model that works specifically for the people that come into your sober living, how would you have it structured? So we have like meetings every week where they sit around a table together and we say, Hey, we're doing this. What if we did this? Hey, we think this would set them up to get to where they need to be when they reach the next level. So we kind of pride ourself in that collaboration. Also, which I think is super important for treatment, to work with the outside partners and get advice because I believe treatment should operate in the same way that I think recovery should operate. Right? Like when I get clean, they tell me to ask for suggestions, to listen to what other people have to say. People have been around longer than me and they helped give me the guidance I need to get to the next level. Right. So why shouldn't the treatment center operate in the same way as recovery actually works? And what I think that does is infuse is the spirit of recovery and it. 

Wendy Beck 15:19
Spills over. 

Elliott Slattery 15:20
Exactly into the program itself. And guess what? The patients in there also get to know the community partners that exist outside of there that they're going to see when they leave. And what this does is it makes them comfortable when they get to the next place. So they're not like afraid of what it's going to be like or anything like that. They already know what it's going to be like and they already know the faces that they're going to see on the other side. So I think this is also very beneficial to the patients that we see. 

Rich Bennett 15:46
So how long have you guys been around? 

Elliott Slattery 15:48
So we've only been around like a year and a half, year and a half. But I've been working in treatment a long time. I've been in a lot of places. I've done practically every job you can do in a treatment center outside of being a clinician. And like I said, I've been active in recovery a long time, right? So I've seen some of the missing gaps. And that's why when we were making this, I tried to like, 

make it as spirited four tours of recovery as humanly possible, you know, wrapped around like state guidelines and stuff like that. So you kind of have to stay in those boxes. 

Rich Bennett 16:25
Now, you guys, if I were 23. 

Elliott Slattery 16:27
Now we are private business, okay. Yeah. And there were just have been a lot more like mandates. If we were a5a1c3. So we had it funded and then we operated it that way. 

Rich Bennett 16:44
But there's nothing saying you can't start a foundation right? 

Elliott Slattery 16:47
So we're thinking about that in the future, but we're trying to you. 

Rich Bennett 16:50
Right now build. 

Elliott Slattery 16:51
Yeah, we're trying to you. 

Wendy Beck 16:52
Can just support the ones that are already. 

Rich Bennett 16:54
Well, that. 

Elliott Slattery 16:54
Which is essentially what we're doing right now. So what we do is like we we give charitable donations to a lot of local nonprofits that we know we're helping everybody. Yeah. You know, so we kind of like, just do that wisely and just make sure we trust the people that we're donating to. 

Rich Bennett 17:13
You only got one location now. 

Elliott Slattery 17:15
So we have our main location here in Bel Air. And I guess I could say this because we already told our team. So we're opening up in North Carolina really? Yeah. So North Carolina used to not have any 

substance use treatment for people on Medicaid or without insurance. Right. This year they just changed their state's policies to allow Medicaid to cover substance use disorder treatment. So and 

one of our key players, additive, is housed in North Carolina. So they told us about this and we kind of took action because we want to be on the front lines of helping those communities down there get better. 

F2 S6 18:05
That's all education. 

Elliott Slattery 18:06
And we have a location in Baltimore City also. It's kind of a different program. It's considered a 3.1, which is low intensity residential treatment. 

And that program's also doing very well. That's for men. It's 15 beds. The staff down there, all rock stars. And it's pretty amazing program to really help guys get on their feet. That's a nine month to a year program. So it really helps guys who really need that additional support for longer term get back on their feet. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 18:40
Right. 

Wendy Beck 18:42
So if anybody I mean, in honor of recovery in general, if anybody needed to reach out to you guys, how would they do that? 

Elliott Slattery 18:50
Yes. So I'm going to say our main office number so you can call the main line. We have the best admissions people I can possibly imagine ever. They are pleas of sunshine and they greet people with like extreme kindness and respect. And they are hilarious, too. That's Olivia. 

Rich Bennett 19:14
Rollins. Like me. 

Elliott Slattery 19:18
But yeah, that's Olivia and Robby. So shout out to them. I always give them praise every single day. So our main line is four, four, three, four, six, 

41009. I'll say it again 

4434641009. And anybody can call there any time somebody will answer the phone. It's connected to some people's cell phones for after hours, so no one will ever not get the attention they need because we also understand the window of opportunity for someone to actually seek help is very small. So the minute that they want that help, we want them to be able to get it right. And it doesn't really matter what kind of insurance you have or anything like that. If you call that number, we'll figure out what police will accept. You talk to you about them. I take we take our admissions people, our case managers, everybody to tour other facilities that we're trying to land so that we can kind of have a firsthand view of what it actually looks like. And so we can know if we actually trust them to do the work they're supposed to do or not. So I keep this app pretty active and up to date on all of that so you don't have to worry about them just throwing you to the end. We've seen the places we're sending you to in person and we'll tell you all the pros and cons of every place you might be considering. So yeah, that's good. 

F2 S6 20:33
Mm hmm. Awesome. 

Wendy Beck 20:35
And then the day after that, you can place off ball. Yes. 

F2 S6 20:39
All right. 

Shawn Partain 20:40
So SOP offers, Sobriety has been going on for quite some time now. We've run the event so much that we split the family friendly day, which is open to people that just enjoy playing softball for the competitive day, which is the following week. People that play every single day of the year. So you don't want to be in that if you're like me and you're athletic, but not like that athletic. 

And so softball for sobriety. We grew it a little bit last year where we had a volleyball net cornhole bunch of yard games for participants that were watching. You don't have to be playing softball to attend. We have resource tables and we also have food trucks. 

F2 S6 21:26
Mocktail bar, a bar. 

Shawn Partain 21:30
But a mocktail drink trailer 

and other community of 

organizations. But they're tables and then just other free items like we usually cover the food, the mocktails usually are free and people rant and rave about those events. 

Wendy Beck 21:50
I feel last year was really good. Thank you. Their food was really good. I think we. 

Shawn Partain 21:55
Had Lizzy had also. 

Wendy Beck 21:57
Something. Yeah, it was really good. And then the mocktails as well. Yeah. 

Shawn Partain 22:01
This year we have old wine coming back. 

Wendy Beck 22:05
This year. 

Shawn Partain 22:05
This year we have old line barbecue. 

F2 S6 22:07
Coming over. 

Shawn Partain 22:08
Here. A couple of years ago we were able to schedule him. 

Rich Bennett 22:12
Over. 

Shawn Partain 22:12
Here, so we'll have him. And then for competitive day, we have the I think they're called the food guys and they cook out for the softball fields typically. So we brought them in for the competitive day and they'll be sort of serving like hotdogs and hamburgers and chips and drinks and stuff like that. 

Wendy Beck 22:34
No, no. This event is the main fundraiser for ACR, correct? 

Shawn Partain 22:40
Yeah. Yeah. 

Wendy Beck 22:41
Tell us a little bit about like, you know, the why and what and those of you who don't know about ACR give like a little plug about our addiction connection resources. 

Shawn Partain 22:52
So we are a501c3. So we operate on grant funds and fundraising essentially. So that's why. 

F2 S6 23:01
We do this and donation. 

Shawn Partain 23:03
And so that's why we do this fundraiser. And you know, we've grown we've been in operations for 23 years. I think that's when we first got our 501c3 

And, you know, we work individually with clients that are seeking help to navigate the treatment field. We work with everybody in the community and we offer peer support for each individual, whether that's a family member or a individual who's actually seeking the care. 

Like Elliot said, there's gaps, there's always been gaps and there probably always will be, unfortunately, you know, but ACR is goal is to remove those barriers, whatever that may look like. And 

hopefully put us out of business one day is the goal. 

Wendy Beck 24:03
I mean, and the ACR is really instrumental in getting a lot of our ladies into the houses. So when you come into sober living, you don't necessarily, you know, you might have come from treatment or I hope, like Elliot was saying, and then they don't have any funds. So we have our ladies reach out immediately to ACR and they cover that initial cost for them to get in, which is, you know, without it, they wouldn't be able to do it. And then without it, we wouldn't be able to do what we do. So we kind of all piggyback off of each other. And I really think that that's why it's really important for the community to understand. Recovery Month is about all of the things that create recovery in a community, from treatment to funding to housing. And then we're going to talk about some other things as well. And if somebody wanted to play on either the family friendly team or the competitive team, how would they how would they contact you to do that? 

Shawn Partain 25:00
Yeah. So we have flyers out on our Facebook, which is Addiction Connections Resource or Instagram, and there's a link in the bio on Instagram, ACR helps. And then also my email is as part tayne PR to Diane at ACR helps dot org and you can reach out to me and I can share that link with you as well. 

Wendy Beck 25:20
And I think Rage Against Addiction. Well, I know we're going to have a team. So what happens is that the community will it's, I guess, not only nonprofit, but like Rage Against Addiction will have a team and then actually treatment will have a team. 

F2 S6 25:35
We have a team achieve. 

Wendy Beck 25:36
We'll have a team so you can actually play on a team of of your choice. 

Shawn Partain 25:42
So if you don't have a team, you can sign up as an individual and then we can add you to a team. There is a lot of organizations that have teams, but then there's also community, like just individuals that are looking to play and get on the fun that just, you know, create a team. And then there's also other organizations outside of like the recovery community. For example, we had Anderson Buick, I guess. Yeah, I used to be. Boyles But now they're. Anderson So we have them coming back again. And other we have Highmark. Mark, I believe, is one of our team. So we have other organizations as well that put together teams. 

Rich Bennett 26:17
So it don't crack on me because I don't know what the rules are. But let's say somebody cannot run the bases that well. Can they hit the ball and have somebody run for them? 

Shawn Partain 26:30
That's not a silly question. So, yes, we do allow. 

Rich Bennett 26:33
You're going to make fun of me. No, I wasn't talking about for me, though. 

F2 S6 26:36
Yeah. 

Shawn Partain 26:37
So, for example, my son is 12. He's almost 13. He'll play, he'll hit and somebody else will run for him. If he doesn't feel like running or can't run. So that does happen. And yeah. 

Wendy Beck 26:50
I never knew that question. 

Shawn Partain 26:52
That is a good question. And we follow the ACA softball rules, if anybody's familiar. Yeah, I don't. I have other people that play softball more regularly. Help me with the planning of the rules and the arms and all that. 

Rich Bennett 27:07
Slow pitch or fast pitch. 

Shawn Partain 27:08
I think it's slow pads. 

F2 S6 27:10
Okay. 

Shawn Partain 27:10
Don't quote me. 

Elliott Slattery 27:12
It's slow. It's slow. And you can only hit one. 

Shawn Partain 27:15
I never played softball once. 

Elliott Slattery 27:17
You only get one home run because we got or like, is it each person or each team? Because we got we had a couple of home runs last year. 

F2 S6 27:25
And they don't count on it. I don't. 

Shawn Partain 27:26
Know. And I think that's. 

F2 S6 27:27
Like ACA. 

Elliott Slattery 27:28
Rules. It's like limited. Every home run after one counts as a double. 

F2 S6 27:32
Huh? Oh. 

Rich Bennett 27:33
Really? 

F2 S6 27:34
If you want to. Up there. 

Wendy Beck 27:36
I just did. It's. What is it? 

Shawn Partain 27:39
ACR helps that work. 

Wendy Beck 27:41
Okay. But I'm saying if you want to look up the rules for the game. 

Shawn Partain 27:44
Where, oh, ACA softball rules, but they're a little bit more lenient, we put out rules specifically for our event that are sent out. So the teams prior and then like for family day, there's like double home base and then for competitive day, it's just one home base. There's a lot. But if you guys are interested, just reach out to me. 

Wendy Beck 28:02
Individually and the date for the competitive. 

Shawn Partain 28:04
Is the 14th of September. We the following Saturday. 

Wendy Beck 28:07
So we got the ripken's on the sixth. The seventh is family day. The 14th is our softball competitive day. And then that takes us into the rage Bingo, which is going to be Sunday, September 15th. And we have other organizations and businesses that donate raffle baskets. So it's a basket. Bingo. It's it's fun. It is at the American Legion in Bellaire. And if you want more information about that one, you can just go to the Rage website, which is Rage Against Addiction dot org, and you can get your tickets there and an attribute that's always fun. 

Shawn Partain 28:45
And Wendy. 

Wendy Beck 28:46
What is rage? Still Rage Against the Texans is a non-profit organization that provides awareness and support to anyone that struggles from drug and or alcohol abuse, including the families. We have a few small programs. We have our A's ABC, which is after baby care. So we provide postpartum care packages to new Moms in Recovery, which is a mini baby shower, I like to call it. It's like a pre-determined checklist. So, you know, they get to they usually pick everything, but they get to pick like diaper bag. And if it's, you know, gender specific, you know, blankets or clothing and, you know, some some necessities like diapers and just, you know, health care card and a special item for for new moms as well. We want them to feel like loved because a lot of times they are overwhelmed and they don't have what they need. So that's a near and dear to our heart. We love when we're able to help somebody with that. But our main program is our daughter's house program, which is so we're living for women. We have three houses in Harford County and we house about 20 women at a time. We're usually full. We tend to run on a wait list and then, you know, we're we're going to maybe try to finagle getting another house at some point so we can, you know, support the community a little bit more. But that's that's a process and that's why the nonprofits need the donations and the fundraising and that kind of stuff. So you can always go on our website and we have a wish list you can buy from Amazon and it gets sent directly to one of our houses. So any kind of needs that we have because we provide all of the cleaning supplies, toilet paper, paper towels and that kind of stuff, that's that's a big help. Drug tests are very expensive as well, running a recovery house. So, you know, any any any way that you can help support these organizations, the money is well-spent, I will tell you that much. 

Elliott Slattery 30:42
And I'll say something cool. So when I first got clean in 2012, but it was 2013 when I went to my sober living ACR funded my sober living, right? So ACR is part of why I'm here, right? And then I'll say another thing. My fiancee went through Rage Against Addiction. So Rage against addiction is the reason that she's here. And we have a little baby named Elijah Brave. And he wouldn't be here if both of these things wouldn't be, was it? Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, wow. So apparently my fiancee was a participant of ACR, too. So now she she will not care. 

F2 S6 31:21
To name anymore. 

Wendy Beck 31:23
But that is actually how we piggyback off It is a daily process. You know, someone will call to get into sober living. So they and then they reach out to ACR to get funded or ACR gets them into the treatment, which ultimately gets them to the sober living house. And because of this, there is just this really large network, like you were saying, Elliot, how everybody kind of like is constantly interacting with each other. So there's this comfortable ness. Is that a word comfortable about? 

F2 S6 31:54
You said it's our community. Yeah. 

Wendy Beck 31:56
And now I think so, yeah. And it is. It's really it's awesome. Very awesome community. 

Rich Bennett 32:02
And the thing is, if all you guys, you always hear the phrase, you know, you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours in the recovery circle. You see that all the time? 

F2 S6 32:12
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 32:12
Because you guys are always looking out for each other and the people that are going through recovery, you're helping them. Whether I mean, I've seen you at a couple different places, you know, Sean, working wise. And I see that a lot of people, when the recovery world. Yeah, but it seems like they're always going to the same groups and they're helping the other people recover. Yeah. 

Shawn Partain 32:31
Yeah. I've worked like a lot with one in like the ABC program when I was at the health Department because of like the specific demographic I was working with there. 

Rich Bennett 32:40
And then that's how I found out about Wendy was when you were at the health. 

F2 S6 32:44
Oh yeah. Okay. Yeah. 

Shawn Partain 32:46
And then like, yeah, when I went to ACR, like where, you know, my population of people that I specifically work at with is grown. And, you know, I work really closely with Stell and Elliot. And, you know, now we're seeing a lot from nature work and, and like, I really like how we're flexible as a community because like ACR initially there was not a lot of medicated facilities that were like that was our primary focus was treatment and then like evolved and grown to like where the need is. So that that's what I really appreciate about the recovery community, you know, and I feel like we're like a bunch of I don't want to use this analogy, but I'm going to say, if nothing else, we're like brothers and sisters like you don't want. 

F2 S6 33:31
So I know that's good. 

Elliott Slattery 33:34
It is. And that's. 

F2 S6 33:36
And that's why. 

Shawn Partain 33:37
We also. 

Elliott Slattery 33:38
I make funny at least once a week. 

F2 S6 33:40
Yeah, he's a lot of fun. I am. 

Rich Bennett 33:44
There's a lot of people that use that term. You hear it in the military, you hear the police. It's a brotherhood and a sister. 

F2 S6 33:49
Yeah. 

Wendy Beck 33:50
Yeah, it's a network and first family. 

F2 S6 33:52
Yeah. 

Elliott Slattery 33:53
Yeah. And the beauty about it too, is like so example, the reason I have been able to do everything I've been able to do in my life is because the spirit of recovery and Harper County filled me up when I first got here. And I hope that we keep injecting that into the people that come here so that they can feel that gratitude to and take action, because that's what it is. It's like once you feel the love, you want to give the love. Yeah. So what we're really doing is we're creating a community where people feel that love and eventually they're going to be able to help us do this stuff. 

Rich Bennett 34:28
You create and share it for the good. 

Shawn Partain 34:31
Yeah, and to share like I got it. We're also in like Harvard County. I was like a resident of Caesar County at the time. I'm from Prince George's County, but I got sober here in Harper County. And like because of the established community here and it's I hear sometimes like people come in maybe new to the field or just like people in general try to like, really tear down the community. Like if it wasn't for this community, like it's a floor as many floors as there isn't any kind of situation. Like I hold this community and like what we're doing and I feel like Harper County has been a leading community for recovery. And if it wasn't here, if this wasn't here, then like people would not get sober. People would be dying. 

Wendy Beck 35:15
Well, and yes, and it's a real problem that's not going to go away. That's for sure. And I just I want to like I want to introduce another person that's at the table, which is also really a big piece to the recovery community as well, is having nonprofits that provide services in wellness. And we have nature works here today. And I'm going to I'm going to let him take it over and introduce himself. 

Philip Hosmer 35:44
Thank you, Wendy. I appreciate it. I'm Phil Hosmer and I'm with Nature Works. We're based in Bel Air and we are a non-profit organization and what we provide is nature therapy. So nature therapy is essentially helping people connect with nature, using all of their senses in a very mindful way. So nature is now an ally for their mental and behavioral health and another tool in their self-care toolkit. So when they're going through recovery and they they face all the challenges that are involved in recovery, nature can be another way they can feel better support their mental behavior helps. We're teaching self-care skills, essentially, and we work with about eight different treatment centers in central Maryland, including several here in Harford County. And what we've learned in our work with patients is that it's really hard it's hard work, right, to to move through the recovery process. And it's an ongoing process. And the people who do the work, like everybody at this table, it's hard on us, too, right? There's a toll that happens when you are constantly supporting others. Right. You're pouring yourself out for that person. You're also being empathetic to that person and you're listening very intently to that person story so you can better treat and support them. And in that process we can all suffer from burnout. It's a real thing. And unfortunately, this field sees people cycle through because they burn out, right? They don't support themselves. So we have designed specifically for people in the helping Professions is a special session once a month that's open to anyone. And the next one, the one for recovery month, is on Saturday 21st, and it's from 10 to 11:30 a.m., and it's free for anyone in the recovery field. A professional who works in the field to learn ways to take care of yourself with nature as your ally in that process. So in 90 minutes with us, we hope, first of all, you're going to enjoy it and have fun because that's our first goal with nature is to make it enjoyable because we want people to go outside more. 

Rich Bennett 37:34
And I'm going to put you in the field of poison ivy. Sure. 

Philip Hosmer 37:38
I promise we want to do that. 

So you're going to have fun. You're going to enjoy it, and you're going to learn ways that you can take care of yourself to be a better professional, a better person, a better spouse, all of the above with nature as the center point for that. So we are really excited about what we're doing to help others in the field and also what we're doing to help patients because we also provide direct services to patients. And we've worked with eight different treatment programs in the area and we hope to continue that work. 

F2 S6 38:06
So yeah, and. 

Wendy Beck 38:06
Where can they where is it on the 21st? 

Philip Hosmer 38:09
Oh, so yeah, the location that's kind of important. 

It's at Hartford Glen Environmental Education Center, which is a502 West Wheeler Road. It's really close to the festival. Bel Air, believe it or not. But when you go back there, you feel like you're in the middle of nowhere. So it's a great place to do. Nature works, it's convenient, but it's also very secluded. You can sign up for it at our website. Nature works, dawg, and that's an 80 you 

rew0rx dot org. It's also on our Facebook page, Our nature works Facebook page. It's free. Bring a spouse or friend if you like. And it's every third Saturday of the month. September. Specifically for people in the recovery field. 

Rich Bennett 38:50
Is it hard? Glenn Every month it is. Really? How did you strike that? Because isn't that part of Harford County public schools now? 

Philip Hosmer 38:57
So we only go until they close it down on the weekends, which is November. In November, we're going to find another location, but it's open every weekend until November. Okay. To the public. Now, the summer is open seven days a week to the public. 

F2 S6 39:10
And people. 

Wendy Beck 39:10
Sign up for do you just go? 

Philip Hosmer 39:12
You have to sign up. Yeah, it's it's on our on our website and our Facebook page. You can sign up, but it's free of charge. 

F2 S6 39:19
Okay. 

Shawn Partain 39:20
And I just love this because, like, obviously self care. I worked in the field, Eliot's working field, when I think we've all worked in this field for a long time and like in order to stay in the field, you have to take good, good self care. And I love nature. So I like that. But also like nationally, you are getting recognized right now. 

Philip Hosmer 39:36
Yeah, I work in the recovery field. We had a professor from University of Maryland study our work and look at our survey results and she published a paper that ended up being accepted to two different conferences this year, one in D.C. in January, and then just this past two weeks ago in Stockholm, Sweden. 

F2 S6 39:53
So, wow. 

Philip Hosmer 39:55
Conference So what. 

Wendy Beck 39:56
Can you just give like a little example, like just giving you like a little mini workshop, what it would look like. 

Philip Hosmer 40:02
So what a nature work session entails. So we always start off in a sharing circle and we check in with ourselves to see how we're feeling physically and emotionally. And then from there we start to use different experience or activities to tap into nature using all of our senses. So we do something called a five Senses meditation, where you're invited to be still and use each one of your senses individually to experience what you're hearing, feeling, smelling, sensing. So we're getting into our body sensory input and getting out of the thinking processing part our minds. So we're really resetting our emotional state and giving our mind a true rest, which is really hard to do. So we'll start out in a sharing circle and then we'll do things, for example, we'll go to a creek and I invite everyone to pick up a leaf from the ground, right, and do a visualization exercise where they're placing a problem that they're worried about on that leaf 

relationship, something they're worried about family problem. Put it on the leaf and I'll step over to the creek and take your leaf with your problem. Place it in the creek and let it flow away and wash away until it's out of sight. So that process of letting go using the leaf is manifesting the actual process of letting go. And for many people it's really helpful to have that physical process, help them, guide them through that letting go, right? That's just one example. We have 75 other experiences that we've curated over our time that invite people to use their senses, get involved with nature, we make friends with a tree. So ask people to find a tree that they're interested in, they find interesting and stand by that tree and get to know it using all of their senses and then to actually talk to the tree and share something with the tree that they're looking for insight on because trees are much older and wiser than human beings. So another example of getting involved know using nature in a different way than many people have actually experienced. And we like to see what often happens is a light bulb goes off and you see that people are really getting it and they really enjoy it and you have a really good feeling they're going to carry that with them in their in their journey, in their recovery. You see it sort of happened in front of you where they they suddenly get more relaxed. You see their face off and they start talking maybe a little bit more than they were. Maybe they were shut down the beginning and nature is open things up for them. 

Wendy Beck 42:15
Can I can I ask you a couple more questions, please? 

F2 S6 42:18
Yes. Yeah. 

Wendy Beck 42:19
Because, I mean, this is new for me. Yeah, I haven't I mean, I have heard of you guys, but I didn't really understand. So how long have you been with Nature Works? 

Philip Hosmer 42:26
So I founded the organization in 2017. Yeah, it's one in 2017, and we've worked with 4000 people to date. They've taken our program and they are not just people in recovery. We work with the general public as well. The first Saturday of the month is a session that's open free to anybody. So if anyone's listening who's curious about trying a nature work experience, the first Saturday of the month is also free. Okay, we do that as part of our mission. We think nature should be accessible to everyone, to not put any barriers. 

F2 S6 42:55
And how to. 

Wendy Beck 42:56
Come up with this. 

Philip Hosmer 42:57
So I've always loved nature myself. I always felt more alive when I was out there, but I never really understood why that was. So when I was having a mid-career crisis and trying to figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, I started diving into that. Why did I feel better in nature? And I realized there's a huge body of evidence actually supports the theory that human beings thrive when they're outdoors and they just have been disconnected from outdoors with our emphasis on indoor technology driven activities. So when I started to read the science behind it, a light bulb went off and I said, I need to help people connect with this. And I started to talk to people who have a lot of experience in the counseling field, education field, the environmental Ed field. And I kind of put the pieces together and we we launched it and we did a pilot program that actually worked really well and that led to us growing. So we got to where we are now. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 43:48
Since since Harvard came public schools. It's hard for Glenn. 

F2 S6 43:53
You've touched on this. 

Rich Bennett 43:54
No, no, I had him on the podcast before, and believe me, when I go outside now, I learn to enjoy nature a lot more. 

F2 S6 44:01
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 44:01
I mean, if I took the you you were on before this. Okay, so I was. Yeah, I'll get back to my thing. Okay. I was out back in my backyard and I kept seeing I thought it was a bumblebee at first, flying around the butterfly bush. I got closer. I was one of those hummingbird moths. Oh, wow. One of my best days, because it let me actually. 

F2 S6 44:22
Pettit Wow. 

Rich Bennett 44:24
I was like, wait, a light. Yeah, that oh, really? Hummingbirds won't come around me. But that hummingbird moth. Yeah, she felt. 

Philip Hosmer 44:31
Really connected to that moth and that moment. 

Rich Bennett 44:33
Right there. And it was wild. 

Philip Hosmer 44:35
And that was probably all you were thinking about that experience. Yeah, that. Yeah, yeah. Incident. That's what we try to make happen for people. Those moments like that where people see or smell or hear something and they really connect with that. So you try to create space for that to happen. 

Shawn Partain 44:48
When you were talking about the workshops, it just kind of dawned on me, I'm going to self-disclose a little bit. Like I tried. I've tried like several different therapies. I'm in recovery myself. So like I tried EMDR. I had really bad experiences with that, which I've heard people have great experiences with. But my counselor actually at one point, I've been with her for like ten years. But at one point I remember her taking me outside and like we did like some of those exercises where like I actually was like, notice what's around you? Yeah. And I like, I didn't even think about that. I enjoy nature. I hike a lot and go kayaking and garden. I have poison ivy right now. 

Philip Hosmer 45:21
You're really connected. 

Rich Bennett 45:23
She really wanted to connect with that, but it. So she hadn't even. 

F2 S6 45:29
Realized it was like I didn't even realize. 

Shawn Partain 45:32
I can't namedrop her because she gets mad at me when I. 

F2 S6 45:34
Tell people all the time, like, she can't talk about it. About it, I'm hurt. Right? Right. So it's not. 

Shawn Partain 45:38
Name dropping. 

F2 S6 45:39
Right? Right, right. 

Philip Hosmer 45:40
Yeah, That's cool. 

F2 S6 45:41
But what is your that? 

Wendy Beck 45:42
Can I ask your mission statement? 

Philip Hosmer 45:44
So our mission is to help people learn ways to connect with nature, using all of their senses to improve their mental and physical health. 

F2 S6 45:50
Okay, that's awesome. Yeah. 

Wendy Beck 45:51
And that that is just perfect for recovery month. So we appreciate you being a part of that because you what you're doing on the 20th is, something that you also do within the recovery community and treatment centers and that kind of stuff. And I think I did talk to your your coworker and I told her that I would love for them you guys to come in or have one for our ladies at our houses. 

Philip Hosmer 46:16
We would love to work with everybody here at the table if we can support what you're doing and support your staff and your clients, that would be part of our mission. 

F2 S6 46:24
So yeah, I'd be great. 

Shawn Partain 46:25
With. 

Rich Bennett 46:27
I want to get back to my question about the schools because especially being at Harvard, Glenn, because if they're not doing it, then they're missing out. I think was I guess it's probably just in the spring and fall where they send classes, their schools. Yes. Do you actually do anything with the school system? 

Philip Hosmer 46:44
We want to kind of we're still talking with them. The thing we're working through is that camp you're talking about for students at Harper County schools is mostly science based right now. They're learning about species and climate change and environmental ed. We'd love to work with them and infuse more of a personal nature connection module to what they do. 

Rich Bennett 47:03
And help with their mental health because. 

Wendy Beck 47:05
Well, it's funny. 

Philip Hosmer 47:05
That we're working on that conversation is a great idea. 

Wendy Beck 47:07
A long time ago and I was in elementary school, which was a long time ago. 

F2 S6 47:11
Yeah, 

Baltimore. 

Wendy Beck 47:14
I went to Baltimore County. We actually had a science teacher and he had his own classroom and instead of like getting taught science, we, like everybody in the school, would have a day, you know, let's say Thursday or whatever day that you would go to science class. And he would actually take us outside and we would do all kinds of stuff. And that was probably one of the most memorable experiences that I can, you know, kind of like, look back at in elementary school. I mean, we had like we would go out into the field and they would do that like, what travels faster sound or light right? Like, it was amazing. But we also went out there one time in there. We all got stung by bees, but. 

F2 S6 47:56
There. 

Shawn Partain 47:57
Was this. 

Wendy Beck 47:57
Guy is like, but they don't do that now. So now you have your science and your biology and all these things. But back then that was a really he would have a turtle in his office, you know, in his, in his classroom and stuff like that. And I just feel like it's so healthy and we've come so far from that. 

Rich Bennett 48:13
He may have experienced. 

Philip Hosmer 48:14
All right. Your teacher got you outside your experience firsthand. Yeah, that's very important. 

Shawn Partain 48:18
I think talking about adolescence, know you're going to the Ashley Clubhouse to work with them and there is a lesson. So that's really good. 

F2 S6 48:24
Yeah. 

Shawn Partain 48:25
I personally saw a spot for me. 

Elliott Slattery 48:27
Yeah, I was going to hype that up too, because like, that's the thing is so I moved to Florida for a little bit of my recovery and then moved back because like Sean was saying, like Harford County is the home of my recovery. It's always going to be my home, you know what I mean? So so when I came back, there weren't doing much in the schools. Ashley had just kind of opened the clubhouse. Ashley is getting involved in the schools more, using the clubhouse. That might be a great way into doing some of the nature work stuff. 

F2 S6 48:58
And going there actually. 

Elliott Slattery 48:59
Cool. Yes. 

Philip Hosmer 49:01
The one and two weeks, I think. Yeah. 

Elliott Slattery 49:03
Yeah. That's awesome. Like, I'm really grateful for the work Ashley does in the schools and also because I feel bad my buddy Mike from Ashley didn't come because he thought he had a meeting with me, but it turns out he's busy anyway. 

F2 S6 49:16
But so. 

Wendy Beck 49:18
I can come to the meeting today because I have a meeting. 

F2 S6 49:20
With you. 

Elliott Slattery 49:22
Yeah, exactly. So I texted him this morning. He was like, interesting, because. But he was like, I'm busy anyway. So mean, remember? Yeah. He was going to bail. Yeah. Sean reminded me that I, you know, ever since I had the baby, maybe even before I struggle remembering everything I said how was. 

F2 S6 49:39
Going, I feel like, yeah, we're going to. 

Wendy Beck 49:44
Forget the baby. 

F2 S6 49:45
Yeah, yeah. And your. 

Rich Bennett 49:47
Hair on top of your. 

Wendy Beck 49:52
As That's always. It's a pleasure, really. 

We didn't forget, but we saved it for last. There's another event. 

Shawn Partain 50:11
Yeah. I wanted to put this out there because this is obviously a very a program that I have a lot of connection to, and I forgot to mention it in the in the group, but wanted to put it out here. So a homecoming has a gala in September that's going to be September 12th, and that will be at the water's edge Convention center, I guess. Yeah, technically. 

Rich Bennett 50:31
Water's edge, event, center. 

Shawn Partain 50:32
Event, center. So that's a big event. 

Wendy Beck 50:35
And then want to explain a little bit about what homecoming is. 

Shawn Partain 50:38
Yeah. So homecoming is a longstanding I believe they classify theirself as halfway house and they are gender specific. And I was, you know, kind of thinking when Elliot shared that information about gender specific. I am an alumni of homecoming and I really, really struggled coming in just 

in a lot of ways. Women do. And that gender specific program was really beneficial for me. And it's a year long program, if not more. They have case management and and a lot of in-house services like therapy and big book studies 

and groups and meetings, they go out to meetings. So yeah, it's just a really good program. And they have their big fundraiser. September 12, Homecoming gallons and Fancier Events. 

Wendy Beck 51:34
The good time, right? Yeah. So we have a really nice, you know, variety for anybody that wants to kind of get to know the recovery community or support the recovery community, you can do anything from just putting lights at your house or you could to attend any of these events. Obviously, they're all open to the public. You know, you just go to the websites, purchase tickets, show up. And I think that you're going to be pleasantly surprised because I know that there is a stigma to, you know, addiction and people just don't understand that recovery is possible. And we want to prove you wrong. 

Shawn Partain 52:09
I love it when I hear you don't. 

F2 S6 52:10
Look like an addict. 

Elliott Slattery 52:11
Oh, yeah, I hear it all the time. 

F2 S6 52:13
Like, what does that mean? Yeah. 

Elliott Slattery 52:14
And I know. And the stigma is so real, you know, like, I think for a while I was in a bubble in recovery where the only people I talked to were other people in recovery and stuff like that. And the more I got into the professional world, yeah, I felt the blowback of the local community really kind of dismissing things or talking bad about people in recovery or treatment centers or sober living or whatever it is. And I think about this concept a lot, and I don't blame the general public for thinking some of these things, but the truth is, when it starts to affect your family or someone you know who you didn't think it was possible for them to experience this stuff, that kind of opens your mind a little bit more. 

There was like something on Facebook this week where they were starting to talk about a local treatment center 

and they said some pretty gnarly stuff. And I watched the community jump in there to explain what it was, and the person who posted it eventually deleted it, which satisfied me to a degree. But like you see this stuff all the time. I mean, when we first open, 

people were putting like competition actually. Yeah. And people were putting cones in our parking spaces and all kinds of stuff to try to stop us from doing things. 

Shawn Partain 53:46
And yeah, I will say that, like I was saying on the positive note, like there's, there's people that you don't want to access that care. Like, for example, me and Elliot, like I own a house in Bel Air, I am a taxpayer and like, so yeah, just try to like, you know, remind yourself when you're thinking these things to do a little bit more digging and that we become really active members of society. Yeah. And productive. And then also like people, like when you say those things, you might not know who you're talking to and that might that person might have lost their loved one. 

F2 S6 54:18
Right? 

Wendy Beck 54:19
Well, that's that's very relevant because, I mean, my connection with the recovery community isn't because I'm in recovery, it's because I lost my daughter and the experience that I had with that, which was a very difficult, long running, you know, experience in my life. And I never got to see her on the other side in the slum want to cry. But like, these guys are like everything to me because, like, it's a big deal when you lose somebody. But you can see that if they have the right resources. 

F2 S6 54:51
I don't know what's wrong with me. I know you're my. 

Wendy Beck 54:53
I can. 

F2 S6 54:54
Cry, but. 

Wendy Beck 54:55
But do. And this is what's happening here today. And maybe if this would have been available, there wouldn't be so many people that we have lost. 

Shawn Partain 55:03
Yeah. 

Elliott Slattery 55:04
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 55:05
And The good thing is we're talking about, you know, we're talking about it now. So more people are hearing about it. And I guarantee you there's people that are against it, recovery homes and all of this. I guarantee you they know somebody that's for sure has been in addiction. 

Shawn Partain 55:21
And they've been really affected by it. And they're thinking before they speak. 

Rich Bennett 55:24
Exactly. Yeah. Some of them may have lost somebody in addiction and they may think, oh, it doesn't help. But that was years ago. Harford County didn't have all the resources, that the country didn't have, all the resources it did that. And now we do. And it's helping. And excuse me for saying this. People need to get their heads out of their asses and realize this is a benefit to the community. Does it? But how was it. 

Wendy Beck 55:48
That was center. 

Rich Bennett 55:50
So. 

F2 S6 55:54
I we're we're not long. 

Wendy Beck 55:58
Sorry we tried to bring it back around. 

Rich Bennett 56:00
Here. Yeah I just what I hear about that stuff because remember, I all think it was the same post but another person and stuff just pisses me. 

F2 S6 56:09
Off because I can't be. 

Shawn Partain 56:10
Bothered by it because like, I feel like I don't want to, like, you know, resort to, like that same kind of negative energy. But yeah, I mean, I just try to educate people and I think that's what we're doing here. 

Wendy Beck 56:21
So yeah, and also I just I want to say this because I say this a lot. People in recovery have worked on themselves more than any other people in the in our population. 

F2 S6 56:33
I would have never had before in. 

Shawn Partain 56:35
My first. 

Wendy Beck 56:36
Year when you can do the work on yourself, that's where growth comes in and not your average, you know, neighbor or, you know, there's people that don't do that internal work and, you know, have the resources, you know, someone teaching you about nature or treatment and all of these things, it makes a big difference. And they're they're amazing human beings. And I'm and I'm always going to I'm going to love all of you always. 

Elliott Slattery 57:01
And we love you. And and it reminds me to like I was at a government meeting about the opioid restitution fund. Right. That's coming through. And somebody said, who even knows their neighbors anymore? And I was like, I know every single one of my neighbors. And they know me and they know my dog and the kids that are outside pet my dog and run up to my dog and they'll come knock on my door just to pet my dog. They know my son's name, you know what I mean? Like, they know everything. Like and I'm a person in recovery and I get to know the people around me now because I understand that everybody might be struggling with something, so why not be nice? And that's very much a byproduct of being a person of recovery who has been loved and supported by people. I did not know. And knowing that I have to be an active part of my local community like and that's the thing. And that's what causes closed mindedness in a community, not being an active part. Your actual community, right? Like so, so community connected. 

F2 S6 58:01
Yeah, it's not about connection. 

Elliott Slattery 58:05
So it's not just important for people in recovery to be connected to their community. It's important for the community at large to be connected to everybody around them so they get to know what's actually going on and who's actually impacted by the thing that might offend them or whatever it is, you know, and, and yeah, and that's what I hope to instill in my son, you know what I mean? Like, I want him to know, hey, when I go outside, there's a reason like my dad saying hi to everybody. And there's a reason when we go to the grocery store, people are coming up giving them hugs and stuff. You know what I mean? And when we go to church, people stay in a line to, like, talk to me. You know what I mean? Yeah. And yet I know I love attention. 

F2 S6 58:41
To it, but I know now. 

Elliott Slattery 58:46
I do love attention. My fiancee will tell you how much I love it. 

Wendy Beck 58:50
So what will we'll take away from this today is that, you know, we can start with hugging a tree. 

F2 S6 58:59
And then. 

Rich Bennett 58:59
Not. 

F2 S6 59:00
Showing. 

Wendy Beck 59:02
This in September. 

F2 S6 59:04
Oh, you're not hugging. 

Wendy Beck 59:05
So come to these events and you're going to see how the recovery community comes together so you can hug someone. Recovery. 

Shawn Partain 59:14
But not me currently. 

Elliott Slattery 59:15
So as well, hopefully you'll be healed up by then. Unless you really like the poison. 

Shawn Partain 59:19
I garden a lot. That's how I keep getting away. 

F2 S6 59:22
So I can. 

Shawn Partain 59:23
Get my neighbors vegetables. 

F2 S6 59:24
They can stop growing. 

Rich Bennett 59:25
Poison on.