DANIELLE DONALDSON: Welcome to Peer Into Recovery, a podcast with a focus on the profession of peer support. For more information about how to subscribe, please visit our website at www.vprsn.org. Welcome, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I am your host, Danielle Donaldson. In this episode, I’m going to be speaking with Jim Kochany about Community Inclusion. Jim is a registered certified peer recovery specialist, certified family support partner, and certified community health worker. He is currently in a new position as a Community Inclusion Specialist for Henrico-Kochany, but has worked with the CSB since 2016 on their Assertive Community Treatment Team and Psychosocial Rehab Treatment Programs. Jim is also DBHDS certified as a trainer for the Peer Recovery Specialist Certificate Program and a Recovery Ally Trainer. Hi Jim, welcome, and thank you for joining me. How are you doing today?

JIM KOCHANY: I’m doing great, Danielle. Thanks for having me on. I really appreciate it.

DANIELLE DONALDSON: Oh, well, I’m happy that you’re here. And I appreciate you coming on the podcast to talk about your work as a community, sorry, I’m kind of stumbling over my words, Community Inclusion Specialist, because I’m excited to learn more about it. yes, so just to begin, just to give some people, the listeners, some background on how you began working in peer support, what led you to become a peer support specialist?

JIM KOCHANY: yes, I actually, and probably like many people, I actually suffered in silence for many, many years. The big deterrent was stigma. I was so afraid of admitting I had a mental health or behavioral health challenge. Once again, too, society, especially with my parents’ generation, was not discussed. We never discussed personal information about ourselves, any of our weaknesses. So I suffered the majority of my childhood and young adult life without even being diagnosed. Once I got married and had children, my kids started showing some signs of anxiety and depression. As my son especially hit teenage years, it became really bad. He actually had several suicide attempts. And we started seeking treatment. My wife and I started educating ourselves about mental health. I didn’t know anything about really mental health diagnosis or treatment.

It was through community stakeholders like Mental Health America of Virginia and NAMI CVA that I started going to family support groups, peer support groups, education classes. And I really started getting educated about mental health. I soon ended up getting training with trauma-informed care through Mental Health America of Virginia and facilitating some of the peer-to-peer classes for NAMI Central Virginia. So it ended up becoming a real passion. And I actually found my purpose. I went back to school and I got a degree in human services, and then I continued on at the University of Richmond. And then I ended up working for Henrico Mental Health as a certified peer recovery specialist. I then went to Hanover County and worked on their clinical care coordination team. And then I came back to Henrico and continued on their assertive community treatment team as a peer. And then I am currently working under a grant fund through the Department of Behavioral Health as kind of a new career, a community inclusion specialist. So that’s a little bit about my past history. But it’s been a transformation and a journey. And it’s just been a growth, something about growing and changing and just being out there to serve others.

DANIELLE DONALDSON: That’s wonderful. Thank you for sharing your story. So for those of those who have not heard the term before, what does community inclusion mean?

JIM KOCHANY: Well, community inclusion, it’s a little bit different than being in a recovery community. You know, when we think of treatment programs, we always like people to have peers that are in recovery. So a recovery community could be a support group, a treatment program, a halfway house, you know, working under or with a specified team. But community inclusion is actually working your recovery in the community, participating in mainstream community life just like everybody else. So what we’re trying to do is to get the word out there and partner with churches, organizations, nonprofits, you name it, to be welcoming to those of us who are in recovery and give us a place just to be like everyone else.

DANIELLE DONALDSON: Yeah. So I imagine that must be kind of a challenge because, of course, speaking as a peer myself, obviously, we want to live our lives as we want to live them and to do the things that we want to do and not be excluded from any of those because of our challenges. But it’s obviously kind of a balancing act because there’s two parts of Community Inclusion. There’s the peer themselves, but then the community aspects. So how do you get the community, you know, quote unquote, a community, and that obviously is a very broad term. How do you get them involved or excited about this concept?

JIM KOCHANY: Well, it’s been especially hard with the pandemic and COVID. Once again, the mass population has been in isolation, but it’s much harder for people that are already stigmatized and discriminated against and marginalized because of their mental health or behavioral health or disability. So, a big part of this is actually first of all, getting with the peer themselves and trying to help them explore and identify their own self-directed community resources and how they want to be out in the community. A lot of times when we talk with people, we ask them, so what are your likes? What did you do before? You know, we go through a list, you have family support, you know, what are your hobbies?

The second thing we’re working on is trying of course to educate the community about mental health, about substance abuse, about diagnosis treatment, and also the challenges and the obstacles to get people back in the community living their best life. You know, so what we also do is we try to reach out to once I say once again, local area businesses. We’re trying to get them to become recovery allies and partners. And once again, we want them to be welcoming contributors to Community Inclusion. The main thing is to recognize that Community Inclusion plays an important part of everybody’s recovery process. Another thing we’re asking for is, you know, to have the growth and the access to inclusive drop-in or virtual centers. In the Richmond metro area and as well as far as I know, there’s only one in chesterfield, which would be Friends for Recovery. There’s one in Roanoke on our own and charlottesville. So we’re trying to get some more drop-in centers where people can just come and be, whether it’s just having a cup of coffee, playing a board game, maybe listening to music, karaoke, just to come in and just to be with other folks.

Once again, too, a lot of our people don’t have transportation and they’re having a hard time getting to places, so they’re staying isolated and at home. We’re also looking to help advocate at the legislative level for behavioral health funding, which include inclusive community campaigns, to get a campaign out there to say to the rest of the community, we’re just like you. I’m a firm believer that everybody’s on the spectrum somewhere, especially with all the trauma that has occurred in our culture. You know, everybody’s either depressed, has anxiety. We watch the news, we see terrible things. So just to get the community to realize we’re just like everybody else, and that we need to belong and we have a right to belong. You know, another thing is to engage and support citizenship and civic opportunities. We help with self-improvement, education, and employment. And the big thing is to remember is that community inclusion, once again, is self-determined, is determined by the person with the dignity of risk, that people have the right to at least try it if they fail, you know, just like with any other kind of treatment. Peer support plays a big role, too. You know, we go out and we actually will meet people for the first time or continually take them to new places in the community that they might not necessarily want to go by themselves. I think it’s always great to go with another person. We also link people to recreation and leisure activities and spiritual places of worship, you know.

DANIELLE DONALDSON: So, are you working a lot one on one then as a Community Inclusion Specialist?

JIM KOCHANY: Well, right now, we are because of COVID. So, what I will actually do is for somebody that might be graduating services, and once again, in behavior and health, our outcomes are for the person to live as independently as they can and take charge of their own recovery. So, right now, due to COVID, I am working one on one, and I will have an interview with somebody and see what obstacles they’re having to getting out into the community. Definitely strength-based, see what strengths they have, what likes they have, what future plans they have to get out in the community. Because once again, we know that people that have behavioral health challenges have much higher rates of recovery, wellness, and life expectancy when involved in welcoming and nurturing communities. So right now, it is one-on-one. COVID restrictions look like they’re going to clear up, so we are going to start getting some groups going out, some meet-up groups, and that’s usually through Facebook or Meetup or some form of social media to get people, even just to go out and have pizza on a Saturday afternoon. Maybe to go walk at the james River, just to be together, and then once again, to be included with the rest of the community. That’s the main goal.

DANIELLE DONALDSON: Do people have to be referred to you for your services, or is this available to anyone who’s involved with Henrico County Mental Health?

JIM KOCHANY: Well, usually, it’s for people that would be maybe, as of now, graduating from any kind of services, or even people receiving services, if they have a need to get out of the community, to work on their isolation, to work on their social skills. I know for myself, what kept me out of recovery was I had such severe anxiety and social phobia that I isolated for basically 10 years of my life with two small children. Once I started feeling accepted in the community, that’s when the growth and the recovery really took off.

DANIELLE DONALDSON: Yeah, and I can relate to a lot of your story there as far as having, you know, social anxiety. I do see the benefits of feeling empowered and comfortable to go out and participate, you know, to the best of your ability. So for peer recovery specialists out there that maybe don’t have a community inclusion specialist at their agency or organization or employer, what could they do? What would you recommend that they could do to help kind of facilitate community inclusion for the peers that they work with?

JIM KOCHANY: Sure. Actually, you know, as part of the domains as a peer recovery specialist, I’ve actually, you know, as part of my job working on ACT teams, I’ve actually been doing that for years just by taking people out shopping, people that normally would be homebound, people that have anxiety disorders, just having them go with me one to one, shopping maybe to the library, even just to walk, you know, as peers, we do a lot of our great things just by walking and talking with people. Of course, then too, pre-COVID, we did groups, wellness groups, walking. We went to many area parks, museums. We did lunch together. I had a men’s group, which we would go to McDonald’s maybe once a week and just be together as peers out in the community. A lot of the peer work, people have been doing this already. The main focus with Community Inclusion is getting to the resources in the community, the organizations, the churches, the businesses to become recovery allies and partners, and to recognize that stigma and misinformation is what causes discrimination and marginalization. So part of our jobs as peers is to educate people about mental health, behavioral health, substance abuse, and to let them know we’re just like everybody else.

DANIELLE DONALDSON: So how are you doing that? How are you trying to change kind of the hearts and minds of some of these businesses and organizations that you’re reaching out to? Are you doing presentations? Are you bringing, you know, material? Like, what does that look like for you?

JIM KOCHANY: Well, since this position just started, I actually did a mass email with actually what my job description is, with an introduction, a little bit about Community Inclusion. I’m actually going to, I’ve actually contacted many restaurants to see if they’re welcoming. So a lot of it’s going to be, you know, knocking on people’s doors and letting them know who I am and what I do. The hardest part, especially with churches, is the majority of them are closed during the week. They’re only open on Sunday. Another thing would be social media, a Facebook account, a meetup group, also doing a monthly calendar with Community Inclusion supports in the community. I’m also partnering with Mental Health America of Virginia, as well as NAMI-CVA to get the word out about Community Inclusion. I think there was a program that NAMI at one time raised friends, where actually people on the weekend, a group of peers would get out and they’d go to the movies, they’d go bowling, they would go shopping down on Terry Street, for example, just getting folks out in the community around other people. And that’s one of the hardest parts, especially with COVID, is actually getting people to understand what Community Inclusion means.

DANIELLE DONALDSON: Yeah, yeah. I mean, it seems kind of obvious in a way, but it’s also very broad. So it obviously could include so many different types of interactions. So for, and maybe this is kind of an odd question, but kind of what is in it for a business or an organization to become a recovery ally? What would be the advantage?

JIM KOCHANY: Well, yeah, I mean, that’s a great thing. First of all, to be part of the change movement, which is to welcome everybody in our diverse society. That’s number one. Once again, too, as a business owner, when you start welcoming people from all different populations, it’s going to increase the revenue that you make. Another great suggestion is for, which I’m working with VCU Rams and Recovery and their Recovery Ally Program is to start educating businesses on how to become a Recovery Ally. A lot of that has to do with recovery language, recovery education, taking a stigma pledge. I know NAMI and Mental Health of America Virginia have stigma pledges that we’re not going to stigmatize people with behavioral health problems. Just to become a welcoming, nurturing and supportive ally and partner in the community. And when we do that, it makes all of society better. You know, we are welcoming to everybody. We learn about mental health and we learn that it is a brain disease, that people with mental health challenges are not violent. They’re actually the recipients of violence more than what society tells us about mental health.

DANIELLE DONALDSON: True, true. So, I guess looking ahead to the future, what would be kind of an ideal, what would you think would be an ideal situation for kind of, and this might be kind of too vague to answer, but you know, like an average peer, you know, what would be an ideal day for them if Community Inclusion were, you know, commonplace, if stigma was not an issue? What do you think that would look like for them?

JIM KOCHANY: Well, I mean, you know, I think there’d be a lot less stares and looks. I mean, I not only was embarrassed when I, I was on pre-recovery, but I’ve taken many, many people out in public and right away, you get the stares, get people looking at you. People don’t smile as much at you, but maybe more smiles and more recognition that these are people just like us and that we belong. And that’s one of the challenges out there is because everybody’s not going to right away understand behavioral health. But the goal, first of all, is advocacy always to advocate for mental health change, to advocate for mental health support, to advocate for welcoming communities. And part of that, education goes hand in hand with that. The other part is just empathy, having sincere empathy for our fellow man and recognizing that behavioral health is a disease, just like heart disease, diabetes, etc. So it is a challenge. But the main thing is just to get out there and do it, and just to bravely walk in the community, take groups in the community, educate, volunteer. I can’t say enough about Mental Health America of Virginia and NAMI, about how y’all have helped the behavioral health community by having warm lines, by all of the activities that you do in the community to support mental health and behavioral health. Virginia Peer Recovery Specialist Network, this podcast, these are all so, so, so important to helping the masses out in the community understand the mental health and how we can make things better, not only for the recovery community, but for the community at large.

DANIELLE DONALDSON: Well, yeah, like you said, I mean, I agree with you, I don’t think mental health challenges, there’s an on or off switch. I think, like you said, it’s a spectrum and we all move across that spectrum on a daily basis, on an hourly basis, over a lifetime. Yeah, I think we see mental health or behavioral health is kind of this on or off switch, and I just don’t think that’s the way it works.

JIM KOCHANY: I agree.

DANIELLE DONALDSON: So do you have any particular success stories that you could share? I mean, I know you have, you know, this is a new position for you, but do you have, yeah, do you have any success stories that you can share with us?

JIM KOCHANY: Well, I mean, I have my own success story because, you know, I was a person who was actually on disability because of my physical as well as mental health challenges for many years. I’m now working full-time. I’m actively contributing back to society, and I found my passion and I found something that I really love. We’re currently working with people vocationally to get back into the community. Once again, we know, as we know, when people have a purpose, they enjoy life, they live longer, their recovery rates are higher, they have less hospitalizations. So we are currently working one-on-one with folks to get out of the community. A big obstacle, once again, is transportation, which we’re trying to link with transportation for people. Richmond, currently, the buses are running free. I believe that’s till June 1st. But we’re trying to find a network for people to have transportation to go places. That’s number one. The second is we’re trying to link with faith communities to be welcoming at churches, as well as businesses. Anybody that’s listening to this podcast, hopefully my email will be on the website. If they want to contact me and be part of a welcoming recovery community, I would love to put them on a referral list of a place that people can go. Basically, I’ve been calling up a lot of businesses and sending a lot of emails. So we are looking for partnerships in the Richmond metro area, as well as state-wide, to have Community Inclusion with welcoming partners that welcome people with behavioral health, welcome all people with disabilities.

DANIELLE DONALDSON: So, yeah, you need like almost like a sticker that they can put on their door, you know, that says, is there something like that?

JIM KOCHANY: Well, there is. I know the LGBT community has a sticker that welcomes. And that’s something I’m going to be working on, kind of getting some sort of sticker without copyright, and somebody else’s idea. But just a sticker that says, we welcome, we welcome people with mental health challenges. We welcome people with substance misuse challenges. We welcome people with disabilities. We welcome people, diverse people from all populations. You know, once again, I’m a firm believer that, you know, we’re here to love each other. And that’s, you know, as we get older, you really find out that that’s the purpose, and really to love each other and support each other.

DANIELLE DONALDSON: Well, and like you said, there is some benefit I can see to the agency or business or organization, because I know I personally would seek out businesses, that if I knew that this existed and I was, you know, out running errands, and, you know, there’s a store there that’s got this sticker that says, you know, we’re recovery allies, you know, I’m likely going to go in there just for that reason, because they support something that I, you know, that’s near and dear to my heart. So, yeah, I think that’s a good idea just to highlight it in the community. Plus, it makes it more obvious for those who maybe don’t have a close friend or family member or themselves that struggles, you know, for some people, mental health challenges is kind of on the fringe. And so seeing that, you know, on their favorite store window might educate them as well, inspire them to learn more.

JIM KOCHANY: There is, I mean, there’s, when you start Googling stuff, there is one recovery coffee shop in downtown Richmond. So I’m trying to find a network of more coffee shops and restaurants that people will know are, you know, recovery friendly. There is a Recovery Ally sticker, but with that, you need to take the Recovery Ally training. And a lot of that is education on mental health and substance use. And then also the pledge to be stigma free, which is very important. So, you know, we’re trying not to copyright.

DANIELLE DONALDSON: Right, right.

JIM KOCHANY: But we’re also going to be in partner with them. But that’s what I’m looking to try to do is come up with some sort of emblem and present it to area businesses and churches to let people know that they are Recovery Community Inclusion friendly and welcome them.

DANIELLE DONALDSON: So, we’re almost towards the end here. Do you have any final thoughts or advice that you would like to share with maybe other peer recovery specialists working here in Virginia and what they might be able to do to help facilitate community inclusion in their area?

JIM KOCHANY: Sure. I mean, once again, our society has gone through some great changes for the positive. Once again, I think the future looks bright. The big thing is to keep advocating for change, keep an open conversation just like this podcast is, to address the need for unbiased community inclusion. This helps as peers, we help people face the obstacles of stigma, discrimination, and marginalization. Once again, recovery is about growth. They say the top of one mountain is the bottom of another. So we must keep climbing. Once again, things don’t happen overnight. But to have a social conscious that people with behavioral health challenges need to be included and live a life just like everybody else, you know. That’s the main thing is just to keep advocating, keep pushing, keep taking, going out in public, keep looking for places that will welcome people from all diverse populations.

DANIELLE DONALDSON: Well, you did send me quite a lot of good resources regarding this concept. So I will be including those in the show notes for this episode. So for people who want to learn more, please go check out the website, the web page for this particular episode.

JIM KOCHANY: And I’m sorry, Danielle, I do want to say Temple University. They’re collaborate on Community Inclusion. They have a great website with a lot of resources for peers. And I’ve gone down the list, Spirits Works Foundation. But once again, you can put them on the website. But Temple University has a great program for Community Inclusion. So if anybody gets a chance to look that up. Yeah.

DANIELLE DONALDSON: Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. And thank you for what you do and for joining me today. I really appreciate learning more about this. So thanks for taking the time.

JIM KOCHANY: Hey, thank you, Danielle. And thank you for being a mentor to me.

JIM KOCHANY: We’ve done trainings in the past and the work that you do with, you know, with Mental Health of Virginia America and with the peer network. I mean, it’s just awesome. So, I mean, I know you’ve been doing this for years and we really appreciate your passion for helping us and those with, you know, mental health and behavioral health challenges.

DANIELLE DONALDSON: Well, thank you. I appreciate that too. And while we’re thanking everybody, I’d also like to thank our listeners for listening to the Peer Into Recovery podcast, which is brought to you by the Virginia Peer Recovery Specialist Network and Mental Health America of Virginia. And if you like our show and would like to subscribe to the podcast, please visit our website at www.vprsn.org. And please leave us a review on itunes. In the meantime, take care of yourselves, everyone. See you soon.