Podcast
Ep. 7 Transcript: Staying Connected in a Syndemic with Jason Cox
Transcript
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. Thank you for joining us. I am your host, Danielle Donaldson. In this episode, I’m going to be speaking with Jason Cox about Staying Connected in a Syndemicwith. Jason Cox is the lead certified peer recovery specialist with Alive RVA and Saara of Virginia. He has worked alongside others in the community, such as the DEA, Discovery Education, SAFE Opioid Prevention Taskforce, and many others to assist in taking positive action in the community and reduce the stigma of substance use disorder one step at a time. Jason is living in long-term recovery and plans to continue gaining knowledge to become the most effective peer recovery specialist possible. Jason is truly grateful for the opportunity to give this knowledge to those who need help and seek recovery from substance use disorder and addiction. Hi, Jason. Thank you so much for joining me today. How are you doing?
JASON COX: I’m doing well. Thank you. How about yourself?
DANIELLE DONALDSON: I’m doing pretty good too. I’m glad the week is almost over.
JASON COX: Yes. Yes, absolutely.
DANIELLE DONALDSON: So just to get started, would you mind sharing with the audience how you started working in peer support?
JASON COX: Sure. So I was actually painting for the first year of my recovery. That was something that I never really did before.
But at about a year, I had an opportunity to take the Peer Recovery Specialist 72-hour course. At the time, I really didn’t have the money either. But a friend of mine, well, actually another organization that I was managing a recovery house for, offered to pay a large portion of the fee. Somebody that believed in me and wanted to give me an opportunity to move forward with this career path. So I did, I took the course. Then another friend that also was in recovery and working in recovery. I took the course, I will continue painting. Then a friend of mine stopped me after one of our recovery meetings and asked me if I would be interested in working for SAARA Virginia and said that he might have an opportunity for me. So he gave them my name and gave me their information. I went up there and talked to them and I’ve been with SAARA Virginia ever since.
DANIELLE DONALDSON: That’s wonderful. I love hearing all these stories of people paying it forward. Somebody recognizes potential in you and then you can do the same for others. That’s one of my favorite things about peer support.
JASON COX: Absolutely.
DANIELLE DONALDSON: Before we get into it, could you please describe what a syndemic is for those who are new to the word?
JASON COX: Sure. Well, I just discovered it a couple of months ago, but I think most people have or if they haven’t, it’s something that’s new to us. It’s having two pandemics go on at the same time or two. We’ve got an epidemic with the opioid epidemic, and then we have the pandemic that’s going on with COVID.
DANIELLE DONALDSON: What about this topic has drawn you in? What interests you about creating connections, fostering connections in a syndemic?
JASON COX: For one, it’s probably the first time any of us have ever encountered this, and especially for those of us in recovery. We’re trying to deal with the isolation that comes with our disease, and then the isolation that’s presented with COVID, and it has kind of exacerbated just the feelings of loneliness and isolation. And so what it has done for, I think, the peer recovery world, is that it’s kind of exploited some of our weaknesses in the ways that we connect, and it’s allowed us to get better in that sense.
DANIELLE DONALDSON: Yeah, I think I understand what you mean. So I know some of the obvious challenges, for example, obviously we’re all isolating to protect ourselves and others from catching COVID, but what are maybe some of the other challenges that peer recovery specialists are facing that aren’t as immediately obvious?
JASON COX: Well, I think one of the most apparent that we’ve seen working on the Alive RVA warm line is that we’re seeing a lot more. So we get a lot of calls from folks that have co-occurring disorders. And for those of you that aren’t familiar, co-occurring just means that you’ve got two different illnesses as far as you may have substance abuse and then a severe mental illness along with it, or just a mental illness to go along with that. And so something that we’ve been really seeing a lot more of is the mental health aspect. So somebody may have their substance use disorder in check and their recovery on track and not their mental illness. And it has kind of had a lot of folks, their mental illnesses flare up on them, I guess you could say. But it’s presented a lot more challenges to not just us in the substance abuse world but to the mental health world as well. And so with us just being a peer run warm line, we get a lot of those calls where we may not have the experience necessary to kind of provide that therapeutic value that we can with substance abuse. So that’s probably the biggest challenge that we faced and making sure that we get those folks to somewhere, another resource where they’re going to get the best possible support. I’m a firm believer in, if I don’t have what is required to provide support to you, then I know who does. We’ve made a lot of connections along the way with different organizations. One of our partners is Mental Health America of Virginia, and they also have a warm line. So we’ve been referring a lot of folks that have this going on to them as well.
DANIELLE DONALDSON: Let me ask you kind of a follow-up question to that, because Virginia is unique in that they don’t, our peer recovery specialists do not specialize even further as in, you know, being specific to mental health recovery or specific to substance use recovery. It’s, you know, the intention was to combine both of those specialties into just one peer recovery specialist certifications. So how do you think that’s working? Do you, because I come to this as a peer recovery specialist who obviously is on the mental health side. That is my lived experience, but, you know, I would love to learn more about substance use recovery. And, you know, there, it feels separate to me still. So I’m kind of curious as how you experience it on your end. And what do you think peer recovery specialists could do to kind of interact more? You know what I mean? As far as between the mental health and the substance use side.
JASON COX: Yeah, that’s a good question. So for one, SAARA of Virginia has been extremely instrumental in kind of helping with that, at least in my case and others that have participated at SAARA, whether it be volunteers or anything like that. So when I got to SAARA, essentially, my goal was to because I know there’s still so much to learn. But SAARA was able to provide me with a number of trainings on mental health. We’ve taken mental health first aid, that was provided for free by United Health Care, and I’m sure that they still do those trainings. I’m sure they’ve probably adopted a virtual platform. It’s been a while, but it was a really good, really informative training. We’ve taken other trainings like the assist training, which is applied suicide intervention training. For me, it was trying to really just gain as much knowledge as I could, so that I could be more effective. I know that I don’t know it all, and I also know that the information is out there. We just need to know what is it that we need to know and where can we get that training from. The staff there has continuously reached out to try to find out what new trainings are out there. There’s a lot of webinars. There’s a lot of topic discussions with other professionals in the field, where a lot of these issues are talked about.
I do definitely agree that it’s still kind of considered separate. I think a lot of that just has to do with the stigma. I mean, you see somebody with a severe mental illness, and then you see somebody that’s extremely sick with substance use disorder and it looks a lot different. Sticking a needle in your arm and stealing stuff may not necessarily go along with a severe mental illness or any type of other mental health challenge. So I think addiction and its uniqueness and kind of the symptoms of that have helped to separate it in society’s view. And it’s unfortunate, but really I think that the best thing that we can do is to continue to advocate and show, you know, the public and anybody else that has any type of interest because everybody’s really affected by this in one form or another. And so just to continue to advocate and show, you know, everybody what recovery can look like as opposed to what it may look like an act of addiction is probably our best tool.
DANIELLE DONALDSON: Do you have any recommendations for trainings that mental health peer recovery specialists could take to gain more information about substance use recovery?
JASON COX: That’s a really good question. And I think that kind of opens the door that really needs to be opened, is that there aren’t really any trainings that are specified towards the, that I’m aware of. I’m not going to say that there’s not any, but, you know, it’s, I think the best knowledge you could get is from, you know, talking to peer recovery specialists that’s, you know, got experience in that field or that kind of realm. And, you know, just kind of kick it around and ask your questions and stuff like that. And like I said, some of those discussions are happening. And I actually reached out to someone the other day to ask whether there was a training that would explain all of the multiple pathways to SUD recovery. Because that 72-hour course covers a lot of information. And it would be nice to have kind of like a briefer or a more brief course that someone could go through to just kind of for someone that’s already working in the field to brush up. But also something that’s not quite as extensive for someone that’s already in the field, but may be in the mental health world to take and brush up on as well.
DANIELLE DONALDSON: Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. I also, you know, I imagine I would love to see like a roundtable of just mental health and substance use disorder, peer recovery specialists, just kind of, you know, sharing ideas, sharing training, sharing their experiences with each other, kind of coaching each other through, you know, their own lived experience and what it looks like from the other side. I mean, I know there’s a lot of crossover, like you said, co-occurring disorders are not unusual, but.
JASON COX: Yeah, and I mean, to be honest, there’s like, you know, for me, I’ve never been like formally diagnosed with any type of mental illness. But at the same time, I know that there are days when I, when I suffer from, you know, a crippling dose of anxiety or, you know, there’s days when life shows up and I may not be as spiritually fit as I’d like. And, you know, depression comes on and stuff like that. So it’s not anything that’s ever been formally diagnosed for myself. But that’s not to say that I don’t have experience with coping with it, you know. I think a lot of people probably are in that same realm.
DANIELLE DONALDSON: Without a doubt. I mean, I think that, you know, anxiety, depression, a lot of those things are truly universal and everybody experiences them whether they receive a diagnosis or not. Has technology been any kind of challenge for you in this syndemic?
JASON COX: I tell you what, technology’s probably been a lifesaver for a lot of people. I know that 12-step fellowships have adopted virtual platforms due to COVID. And, you know, I’ve hear a lot of people say that it’s just not the same. And I agree. I mean, you know, getting getting or having that physical contact with someone, it’s not, it’s not the same. But at the same time, I mean, the recovery teaches us to follow the rules and like teaches us to be responsible people. And it’s there’s still a lot of people out there recovering. And and the digital platform and the technology that’s kind of like I said earlier, you know, it’s kind of exploited some of our weaknesses. And now, God willing, and the pandemic ends after everybody gets vaccinated or whatever that looks like. We can still keep this virtual platform around because it is extremely convenient when you’re not able to, you know, maybe, you know, you just get off work and you got to go home and you can’t necessarily go to a support group physically or anything like that. You can just pop on there and share where you’re at with some other folks that can help support you. So I think it’s been like just extremely instrumental in the recovery process for it, not just for SUD, but for mental illness. Being doing telehealth and stuff like that, I think it’s been a continuous lifesaver. And I would imagine and I hope that it will continue to be that.
DANIELLE DONALDSON: Yeah, I agree. I think that that’s been one kind of positive outcome from this, is that we’ve learned that we can’t, we can shift to a virtual environment. And like you said, it may not be ideal, but it is connecting some people in ways that they’ve never been able to connect before. For example, I live in Southwest Virginia, and transportation is a big issue down here. We don’t have the type of public transportation opportunities that someone in an urban environment would have. We don’t have that kind of bus service and that sort of thing. So that again, we still have internet, there’s still a technology challenge in that we probably don’t have the internet support either. But it is, I agree, I would love to see this continue and have more of a hybrid sort of approach from here on out, where we can still, you know, meet in person when it’s possible, but also continue this online connections as well for those, you know, that it’s either more convenient or maybe it’s even more comfortable. You know, as someone who deals with anxiety, you know, I actually feel more comfortable doing this than I would in person.
JASON COX: I mean, even if you don’t suffer from anxiety, let’s be honest. I mean, who really wants to go sit in the doctor’s office around a bunch of sick people, you know, while they’re trying to figure out what’s wrong with them, you know? So I think it’s got its ups and its downs. But I think for the most part, it has kind of shown us some new ways to connect. And I think the organizations that I’ve seen, or even the folks in recovery that I’ve seen, that take an open-minded approach to it, and don’t necessarily cast it aside right off the bat, are the ones that are actually, you know, really kind of thriving through all of this, as opposed to, you know, kind of just shutting it down, casting it aside. And then, you know, we one day we wake up and we’re wondering why we are so isolated, and, you know, we’re not connected like we should be to our support system.
DANIELLE DONALDSON: Mm-hmm. So let me ask you this. You know, overwhelm, compassion fatigue, I know that a lot of peer specialists or any really, anybody who’s in a supportive position for people in recovery, or even, you know, not even recovery, just any type of health care situation, overwhelm and compassion fatigue is always a risk, I guess, or a possibility. Do you have any tips or tricks that you’ve learned by working on the Warmline? Do you have any thing that you could share with the audience about that?
JASON COX: Yeah, that’s a good question. And I think, really, and I know it seems like I keep going back to this, but it’s just been so instrumental for me and the rest of the team, is that we continue to support one another. You know, I mean, these are things that need to be discussed if, you know, if for whatever reason, especially with the amount of calls that we get that are co-occurring where it doesn’t pertain to substance abuse, those calls can be extremely taxing because, you know, we’re, we want to help. It’s just that if I don’t have the experience to provide that, that kind of therapeutic value or that peer support, then it invokes a whole bunch of different feelings, you know, I don’t feel like I’m helping this person. Some calls, you know, the caller may get frustrated because they’re not getting what they need. And so, you know, it takes a toll on us, especially it has, it has a quite a cumulative effect where you continue to take these same calls, knowing that, you know, you don’t necessarily have exactly what’s needed to provide that type of support. And it makes you feel very helpless and it’s taxing emotionally. And then, and then eventually it starts taxing you physically because of depression or whatever the case may be.
But just staying, staying connected to your support group, you know, support, being supported by your, your, your staff, you know, not just the people that you work alongside, but the people that are over top of you. Having that support from above, you know, when you, when you need a day or you need to kind of share where you’re at. And, and without judgment, I think that’s extremely important because there’s no rule book, no rule book to this. You know, we’ve never been in a situation like this before. So it, it, it begs us to kind of be open-minded as, you know, not only a staff or people in recovery or supervisors or whatever the case may be. This is a time where we have to continue to support one another. And the less that we do, the worse that it will get. But that’s been the biggest thing that we’ve kind of, not just adopted, but like really tried to build on, is staying connected as a team to the team and having that open space where anybody can kind of voice where they’re at, about a particular situation. And we can all kind of chime in on, on how we’re all coping with it. And I think that’s been extremely instrumental in the warm line continuing to thrive and provide quality peer support.
DANIELLE DONALDSON: Do you guys have a regular process for that or does it just come up organically as needed?
JASON COX: Well, that’s another good question. So, yes, we do have a process. Basically, you know, if, if someone experiences a tough call, we’re linked in through, what is it? Microsoft Teams, where it connects the whole team. And if somebody has something that, you know, say somebody has a tough call, they can, they can say, hey, look, this is what, this is what I experienced on this call. And, and I’ve, I’ve been encouraged in everyone lately to, you know, drop those, those ideas or those feelings in that, you know, in that chat so that, you know, we get everybody’s perspective. Because again, you know, I, I don’t have all the answers, but I know that, you know, as a team, we can certainly, we can certainly get through whatever it is, better as a team supporting one another. And so that’s kind of in the process for that. And then also, if, if it’s something that, you know, they need to speak individually with me with, you know, that door is always open. And I think it’s really important just to kind of remind ourselves as, I guess, I don’t know, leadership, whatever, management, whatever you want to call it, that, you know, we’re, we’re subject to the same feelings, we’re subject to the same calls. These things can affect us too. You know, it may not be the case every day, but I think showing a healthy dose of compassion as opposed to judgment or ridicule goes quite a long way.
DANIELLE DONALDSON: Absolutely.
00:26:06.759 –> 00:26:20.899
DANIELLE DONALDSON: So, as a final question, for those out there who may not feel like they have a support system, do you have any recommendations or suggestions on how they can find connection?
00:26:20.919 –> 00:26:21.899
JASON COX: Absolutely.
00:26:21.899 –> 00:26:24.239
JASON COX: Yeah, that’s a great one.
00:26:24.239 –> 00:26:38.659
JASON COX: So, one of the big things that we definitely push to the peers’ calling is that, Saara, Virginia has virtual groups online that are extremely well-rounded.
00:26:38.659 –> 00:26:42.399
JASON COX: So, it’s not 12-step.
00:26:42.399 –> 00:26:46.939
JASON COX: It’s not, although 12-steppers are welcome.
00:26:46.939 –> 00:26:55.259
JASON COX: But these groups are, like I said, extremely vast in the amount of topics that they cover.
00:26:55.259 –> 00:27:01.499
JASON COX: There’s groups for, there’s one called All Recovery, which is kind of what it sounds like, you know.
00:27:01.499 –> 00:27:13.379
JASON COX: It’s just a group where folks can go in and discuss where they’re at in their recovery, regardless of pathway and, you know, without judgment and gain support.
00:27:14.839 –> 00:27:18.379
JASON COX: They can either show their face if they want to, if they’re not.
00:27:18.379 –> 00:27:22.419
JASON COX: If they don’t want to, they can choose to just call in.
00:27:22.419 –> 00:27:24.039
JASON COX: There’s a call in feature.
00:27:24.039 –> 00:27:26.959
JASON COX: And like I said, there’s a ton of different groups.
00:27:27.059 –> 00:27:28.859
JASON COX: So there’s anger management groups.
00:27:28.859 –> 00:27:31.159
JASON COX: There’s marijuana recovery groups.
00:27:31.159 –> 00:27:41.459
JASON COX: There’s medically assisted recovery support group for folks that are on MAT that may be stigmatized in other pathways of recovery.
00:27:42.479 –> 00:27:45.319
JASON COX: So it’s like I said, it’s very well-rounded.
00:27:45.319 –> 00:28:07.979
JASON COX: And there’s there’s a lot of great discussion and great support in those groups, great people leading them, got a lot of good volunteers that really enjoy what they’re doing and finding out this new information, coping skills, different techniques, and sharing that with like-minded folks that are headed in the same direction.
00:28:07.979 –> 00:28:33.499
JASON COX: And those people connect over this virtual platform and continue to stay connected and support one another, whether it be in the Saara groups or outside of that, which I think is a huge, it says a lot about those groups in general, you know, because those connections last even if they stop going, you know, which is, which is really, really huge.
00:28:33.499 –> 00:28:42.419
JASON COX: Also, if, and those are five days a week, three times a day, and each, each group is different.
00:28:42.419 –> 00:28:46.359
JASON COX: Like I said, I mean, the participation has gone up quite a bit.
00:28:46.359 –> 00:28:52.079
JASON COX: Like I said, we’ve got great staff leading that group and great volunteers that enjoy running the group.
00:28:52.079 –> 00:28:56.579
JASON COX: So that’s, that’s one huge way to stay connected.
00:28:56.579 –> 00:29:13.559
JASON COX: And like I said, you know, for those that don’t, you know, whether they want to protect their anonymity or just not be seen or not even be heard, they’re welcome to just kind of call in and listen to, to others’ experience and gain from that.
00:29:13.559 –> 00:29:20.999
JASON COX: And then, you know, us being on the warm line, we get calls from all over the United States.
00:29:20.999 –> 00:29:30.859
JASON COX: And that’s not something that, you know, I would say happens every day, but at least, you know, probably once a week we get a call from out of state or something like that.
00:29:30.859 –> 00:29:55.159
JASON COX: So, you know, we’re just kind of an open door for anybody that’s struggling with substance use disorder and seeking addiction recovery resources, whether it be in the Richmond area or even, you know, like I said, for somebody that’s out of state, we’ll pop on, you know, and try our best to find local resources in their area as well.
00:29:55.159 –> 00:30:00.959
JASON COX: So and everybody that answers the line is in recovery from substance abuse.
00:30:00.959 –> 00:30:13.959
JASON COX: So, you know, and there’s some really, really experienced, well-qualified, passionate folks that worked at Warmline.
00:30:13.959 –> 00:30:18.219
JASON COX: And I’m truly honored to be a part of it for sure.
00:30:18.219 –> 00:30:21.819
DANIELLE DONALDSON: Yeah, that’s a wonderful resource.
00:30:23.059 –> 00:30:50.259
DANIELLE DONALDSON: Warmlines in general, especially, like you said, when they’re staffed with experienced personnel, they can, even if they’re not familiar, like you said, with the state, for example, you guys have the experience to know what to look for and could probably find some resources more quickly than maybe someone who doesn’t even know what to Google.
00:30:50.259 –> 00:30:51.399
JASON COX: Right, absolutely.
00:30:51.399 –> 00:30:53.139
JASON COX: Yeah, and I mean, that’s been a big help.
00:30:53.139 –> 00:30:55.899
JASON COX: I think because we were talking about technology earlier.
00:30:55.899 –> 00:31:07.239
JASON COX: I mean, if somebody calls me from Kentucky and wants a methadone clinic that’s near them, all they got to do is give me a zip code and we can pull up some resources in their area.
00:31:07.239 –> 00:31:12.619
JASON COX: So, you know, technology continues to serve us well, you know?
00:31:12.619 –> 00:31:13.019
DANIELLE DONALDSON: Yeah.
00:31:13.019 –> 00:31:14.079
DANIELLE DONALDSON: Yeah.
00:31:14.079 –> 00:31:14.619
DANIELLE DONALDSON: Yeah.
00:31:14.619 –> 00:31:19.759
DANIELLE DONALDSON: Who knew that it would be such a savior in these times right now?
00:31:19.759 –> 00:31:20.619
JASON COX: I know, right?
00:31:20.619 –> 00:31:21.939
JASON COX: I know, right?
00:31:21.939 –> 00:31:24.899
DANIELLE DONALDSON: Well, thank you, Jason, for what you do.
00:31:24.899 –> 00:31:27.659
DANIELLE DONALDSON: And thank you so much for joining me today.
00:31:27.659 –> 00:31:31.999
DANIELLE DONALDSON: I really appreciate the time you took to speak with us.
00:31:32.979 –> 00:31:34.359
JASON COX: Yeah, no, it’s my pleasure.
00:31:34.379 –> 00:31:47.059
JASON COX: And if I could just say one more thing is that our warm line is in operation from 8 in the morning to midnight, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
00:31:47.059 –> 00:31:54.359
JASON COX: So if anybody, you know, if you know somebody struggling, please give them our number.
00:31:54.359 –> 00:31:56.359
JASON COX: It’s it’s I don’t know.
00:31:56.359 –> 00:31:57.979
JASON COX: Can I can I say the number on here?
00:31:57.979 –> 00:31:58.559
DANIELLE DONALDSON: Please do.
00:31:58.559 –> 00:31:59.079
DANIELLE DONALDSON: Yeah, please.
00:31:59.259 –> 00:32:06.079
DANIELLE DONALDSON: Feel free to share any phone numbers, website addresses, whatever you’d like.
00:32:06.079 –> 00:32:06.559
JASON COX: Awesome.
00:32:06.559 –> 00:32:06.839
JASON COX: Yeah.
00:32:06.839 –> 00:32:09.519
JASON COX: So the warm line number is 1-833-473-3782.
00:32:13.659 –> 00:32:17.739
JASON COX: And that is the Alive RVA Warm Line Project.
00:32:17.739 –> 00:32:22.019
JASON COX: And like I said, it’s it’s everybody loves what they do.
00:32:22.019 –> 00:32:24.059
JASON COX: You will get no judgment from us.
00:32:24.059 –> 00:32:32.639
JASON COX: We just want to help support you and kind of help you find whatever it is that you’re looking for, as long as it pertains to recovery from from your illness.
00:32:32.639 –> 00:32:54.399
JASON COX: And if we don’t have the experience required for whatever it is you’re going through, we are well connected in the community and take pride in our relationships with the community and other organizations so that we can send you somewhere reliable and that is going to provide you with exactly what it is that you need help with.
00:32:55.919 –> 00:32:57.439
DANIELLE DONALDSON: Excellent.
00:32:57.439 –> 00:32:58.599
DANIELLE DONALDSON: Thank you again.
00:32:58.599 –> 00:32:59.859
JASON COX: Yeah, thank you for having me.
00:32:59.859 –> 00:33:01.419
JASON COX: I really appreciate it.
00:33:01.419 –> 00:33:10.079
DANIELLE DONALDSON: And thanks for listening to the Peer Into Recovery Podcasts brought to you by the Virginia Peer Recovery Specialist Network and Mental Health America of Virginia.
00:33:10.079 –> 00:33:16.359
DANIELLE DONALDSON: If you’d like our show and would like to subscribe to the podcast, please visit our website at www.vprsn.org.
00:33:19.139 –> 00:33:21.679
DANIELLE DONALDSON: And please leave us a review on iTunes.
00:33:21.679 –> 00:33:22.959
DANIELLE DONALDSON: Take good care of yourselves.
