There are a number of workgroups focused on furthering specific areas of our vision. See below to find out more about each workgroup’s mission and activities:

Adolescent ROSC

Contact: Beverly Dotson

Goals:

  • Long-term recovery for adolescents, especially inner-city, youth-supportive housing
  • Creating a system that goes beyond our group and into the community
  • Inviting new people to the table
  • Communicating AROSC happenings to agency staff/new employees
  • Establishing new partnerships and building relationships (e.g., churches)
  • Expand our AROSC Resource Directory

Past Activities:

  • Established teen leadership trainings at agencies throughout the community
  • Created a community-wide teen leadership session for recovering adolescents from meeting and getting to know one another
  • Developed a handbook for teen leadership trainings
  • Established an alumni network for recovering adolescents

Behavioral Health Integration

Contact: Kristen Clancy and Alicia Kowalchuk

Goals:

  • Continuous development of collaborative opportunities between primary care, dental, mental health, and substance use disorder treatment providers
  • Development and distribution of a directory listing recovery-friendly healthcare/dental providers as well as up-to-date treatment providers to benefit primary care physicians

Past Activities:

  • Created a series of CEUs sponsored by different hospitals and organizations to increase cross-training across disciplines
  • Held ethical trainings to increase cultural competencies for multiple disciplines
  • Had an event to present on Houston Resource Guide

Criminal Justice

Contact: Open Position

Mission: Develop resources and promote ideas to assist justice-involved people in preventing recidivism and diverting from incarceration by providing them with needed avenues to transition and sustain long-term recovery

Goals: TBD

Past Activities:

  • Updated the criminal justice resource guide for substance abuse, including veteran’s resources
  • Strengthened collaboration with numerous groups including people connected with recovery community centers, Santa Maria Hostel, and the VJO
  • Promoted the use of recovery coaches and trainers with justice-involved persons

Faith-based Recovery Advocacy

Contact: Pastor Camelia Joseph

Mission: Engaging, educating, and empowering faith communities by being a resource for the prevention and recovery of substance use disorder and mental health

Goals:

  • Connect Faith Communities to youth recovery treatment and prevention resources
  • Build collaborative relationships and bridging the gap between professionals and faith leaders
  • Offer continuing education to develop our knowledge and awareness of recovery and mental health treatment and prevention and of resources and our understanding of the traditions and needs of the Faith Community

Housing

Contact: Don Hall

Mission: Increase awareness of recovery resources among housing providers

Goals:

  • Identify recovery-friendly housing
  • Identify housing with recovery challenges
  • Provide narrative/checklist to service providers and individuals in recovery seeking housing

Lifespan Prevention Epidemiology

Contact:  Melissa Romain-Harrott and Sandy Olson

Mission: The L-PEW is focused on the epidemiology (distribution, demographics, and determinants) of substance use prevention, active substance use, and substance use recovery through data- and research-informed efforts

Goals:

  • Engage in collaborative efforts of leveraging knowledge and expertise regarding best practices for substance use prevention
  • Recognize the need for addressing prevention across the lifespan, as opposed to predominantly (but not solely) primary prevention during youth

Peer Supporting Peers

Contact: Open Position

Mission:  We want to create a safe space to discuss our experiences and barriers to care. We would like to share resources and support each other as we continue on this journey of recovery

Goals:

  • Meet regularly to provide support to peers
  • Share resources with other peers
  • Provide educational opportunities to peer members

Recovery Advocacy

Contact:  Suzanne Jarvis

Mission: Promote recovery through education and advocacy to build awareness, inspire action, and influence policies that create systemic change

Goals:

  • Advocate in Austin at the Capitol to bring the recovery conversation to the legislative session
  • Educate the community on recovery language and issues
  • Create recovery education opportunities for hospitals targeting social workers, case managers, and community health workers and offer CEUs

Past Activities:

  • Screened The Anonymous People in Austin at the Capitol to bring the recovery conversation to the legislative session
  • Hosted “Our Stories Have Power Training” at FRRESH to educate the audience on recovery language
  • Created recovery education opportunities for hospitals targeting social workers, case managers, and community health workers and offer CEUs
  • Launched the Generation Found documentary

Recovery To Work (Employment)

Contact:  Pastor Camelia Joseph

Mission: Educate employers to reduce the stigmas that block people in recovery from being hired into good-paying jobs with good companies

Goals:

  • Connect with employers through employer membership groups
  • Educate major employers to reduce the stigma that those in recovery face
  • Connect those in recovery to major employers

Recovery Community Centers & Peer Support

Contact: Dorothy West

Mission: To provide sustainable programming for peer recovery community centers for those who are in recovery or working to achieve recovery from substance use and mental health

Goals:

  • Continue building rapport in the community and provide recovery support services with an emphasis on health and wellness
  • Build a stronger recovery coaching community through training/education
  • Job placement enhancement for peer coaches and individuals in recovery
  • Work to keep the fidelity of recovery support services
  • Mentor other RCO’s toward accreditation

Past Activities:

  • Sustained and enlarged support groups for the criminal justice population
  • Created a work therapy program
  • Produced a Health Day in James Bute Park next to the HRC for outreach
    Continued to train recovery support coaches as well as train recovery support coaches specifically for transitional-age youth
  • Revised peer-coaching manual
  • Participated in the committee for creating recovery specialist supervision
  • Collaborated with organizations within the community (e.g., Change Happens) to create more educational opportunities
  • Expanded peer recovery supports and work with the co-occurring population in treatment facilities
  • Compiled research on demographics reached within the community
    Compiled the location of services/events geographically within the community

Working with Communities

Contact: Sandy Olson

Mission: To grow a recovery-friendly and resource-rich community that supports people as they work to achieve long-term recovery

Goals:

  • Conduct “first call” training in various settings to educate lay members of the community about how they can approach a person who may have substance use disorder and offer hope and support

Past Activities:

  • Hosted the all-day event, Family Recovery Resources Expo and Symposium – Houston (FRRESH)
  • Created “first call” training to educate lay members of the community about how they can approach a person who may have substance use disorder and offer hope and support
  • Hosted the SOPHE CEU webinar on the public health impact of addiction recovery through the Society of Public Health Educators

Working With Families

Chairs: Jamie Edwards and Jon Todd

Goals:

  • We will address the issue by opening the conversation and sharing available options for family education and connection
  • We’ll work on increasing group members from various disciplines (MSW, MFT, LPC+) and adding a cultural perspective to the Working with Families Work Group
  • The solution is creating more viable options with increased accessibility. Engaging with individual behavioral health facilities and associated case managers to share the available options for familial support
  • A large part of any solution involves asking and then listening with both ears