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2016-02-19 / Front Page
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'I’m not a victim, I’m a warrior'
Turning Point seeks funding to strengthen substance abuse recovery program
By Nancy A. Cavanaugh
ncavanaugh@eagletimes.com
(From left to right) Larry Beach, operations manager of Transition House, recovery Coach and pathways Guide; Brandy Cheney, recovery coach and youth advocate; and Michael Johnson, executive director, along with their mascot, Buggy, stand in front of Turning Points Recovery Center in Springfield. — NANCY A. CAVANAUGH
(From left to right) Larry Beach, operations manager of Transition House, recovery Coach and pathways Guide; Brandy Cheney, recovery coach and youth advocate; and Michael Johnson, executive director, along with their mascot, Buggy, stand in front of Turning Points Recovery Center in Springfield. — NANCY A. CAVANAUGHSPRINGFIELD — On Feb. 1, Kim Hazlett moved into her own apartment — something she couldn’t have imagined being able to do five months ago when she was set to be released from a 28-day program at Serenity House in Wallingford.
“I didn’t know where to turn. There are only two beds in halfway houses for women in Rutland and they were both full,” she said. “The roadblocks were endless. I was going to be homeless and I had nowhere to go but back to jail.”
Then she saw a brochure for Turning Point Recovery Centers (TPRC).
TPRC, which is in its 12th year of operation in Springfield and its sixth year offering transitional housing, offers those in the area who are dealing with substance abuse a place to find help and recover. The transitional housing has room for seven people.
“I saw Larry Beach’s name and knew it was God telling me where to go,” said Hazlett.
Beach, who is the operations manager at Transition House as well as a recovery coach and pathways guide for VT Recovery Network, was a family friend going back to Hazlett’s teenage years. Her father had been a recovering alcoholic.
“Larry had been my father’s first sponsor,” she said. “When I saw his name I knew where to go.”
Her father took his life in 1996 — one week after he had pinned a one year medallion for sobriety on her.
His death started Hazlett on a 19-year spiral which ended with her serving time in a Jamaican jail before being transferred to Vermont, where she served time in a federal prison for a felony drug charge.
“I asked the judge if I could go for treatment,” said Hazlett. “I had hit the bottom, I knew drugs and alcohol were not working for me.”
One of the first things Hazlett needed to learn was how to interact with people.
“I had no people skills. I talked like a trucker, I screamed and had no respect for authority,” she said. “Larry heard me talking to my PO [probation officer] and told me that was unacceptable.
“[Turning Point] taught me how to take care of myself, how to cook and made me whole again,” Hazlett continued. “They say you have to start at the age you were when you became an addict. I was 13 when I had my first drink. That’s how I was acting.”
One of the programs she became involved with was Families in Recovery, which focuses on helping family members and the client to develop a relationship. Hazlett, who has three children and five grandchildren, worked with her daughter Felicia. They both still attend the program.
“Without it, I wouldn’t have been able to be at my first grandson’s birth,” Hazlett said.
On Wednesday, Hazlett along with TPRC Executive Director Michael Johnson and other staff members traveled to Montpelier for Recovery Day. They spoke about some of the programs at TPRC, like the Families in Recovery and the youth program, which has an advocate going into schools around the area to talk about recovery programs. He expressed to the senators how important it was to get more funding to support programs like theirs.
Johnson wasn’t sure if it will help get more funding, but got “an overwhelming response when I talked about the youth program.”
“This is the most valuable program in Springfield,” Johnson said. “We serve 850 to 1,000 people monthly.”
One of the challenges the center faces is finding enough money to support the work they do.
“We’re a nonprofit and we could use some more support. We don’t have a lot of resources in this area,” said Johnson.
The organization circulated a petition in Springfield that requested $9,000 be raised by the voters to be given to TPRC. The petition led to the formation of Article 26, in which the citizens will vote whether or not to appropriate $9,000 to fund TPRC on March 1.
“We haven’t been on the ballot for three years,” he said.
The money would be used to support the programs they have as well as help pay for some recent expenses, like a new hot water heater for the Transition House.
“It would bolster the program. It will be useful in many ways,” Johnson said. “We can do more with what we’re doing now, possibly train more coaches. We hope people will vote yes on the ballot.”
Some of the programs at TPRC that would be helped with the additional funding include Making Recovery Easier, which has given Hazlett tools to work with.
“In Making Recovery Easier, I learned HOW — Honesty, Open minded and Willingness,” she said. “I keep it with me every day. It is the only way my program will work for me.”
She credits the organization for saving her life and making her whole again.
“They gave me hope, opportunities and showed me I’m not alone,” Hazlett said. “I know I’m not a victim, I’m a warrior. I fight for my recovery as much as I did for the drugs.”
Hazlett still volunteers at TPRC and has started working as an advocate for women in prison.
“I want to help other women and addicts,” she said.
Johnson is proud of what Hazlett and others who have been through the program have accomplished.
“It is about changing what you do with your life. The more you stay connected, the better your chance to stay sober.”
For more information about TPRC, call (802) 885-4668 or visit the organization's website at www.turningpointvt.org.
Amazing to me that I can drive by the U-Turning Point on most any day and see a half dozen or more lazy drunks loitering about, chain smoking, hour after hour. Yet, instead of putting these losers to work generating needed revenue, management is content to demand further fleecing of responsible home owners. Keep in mind the U-Turning Point is a tax exempt property involuntarily subsidized by us same home owners.
ReplyDeleteThere are legitimate charities within our community and this is far from one of them. Not a soul there that wouldn't benefit from a public ass-kicking to get the bottle out of your mouth, get a real job and pay your own way.
But alas they will extol the infamous addict's mantra, "YOU OWE ME!"
Unfortunately Non-profits have exploded in Vermont. I don't think that most people realize how much folks are making. People are getting salaries and bonuses. The trick is to spend as much as you make. Only a portion actually goes to the cause. Most are getting State or Federal Grants. Others hire firms to get donations. There are WAY TOO MANY here. Working is not necessary when you collect from 40 different Entitlement Programs.
DeleteUnfortunately Non-profits have exploded in Vermont. I don't think that most people realize how much folks are making. People are getting salaries and bonuses. The trick is to spend as much as you make. Only a portion actually goes to the cause. Most are getting State or Federal Grants. Others hire firms to get donations. There are WAY TOO MANY here. Working is not necessary when you collect from 40 different Entitlement Programs.
DeleteOuch! Have a drink and relax Machinist. Life is too short man. By the way, if those knuckleheads at the state house would legalize pot, all this treatment stuff would be paid for by those who use it.
DeleteSo long as you keep voting for all of the Social Service Agency special appropriations that Stephanie Thompson made easier this year, it isn't involuntary.
ReplyDeleteThree children and five grandchildren yet no mention of the children's father(s)or grandfather(s)
ReplyDeleteIt is very hard to find work, even with 1 DUI temp agencies won't hire you and many, many businesses won't even give you an interview. I was lucky that business people knew me, but I still don't have full-time work. My transgressions were over 5 years ago. I had never been arrested prior and haven't since. Turning Point gives people some hope. Please don't judge people until you have walked in their shoes.
ReplyDelete8:55, if life gets meaner and survival becomes harder for more and more, people start losing the veneer of civilization, that willingness to understand others' needs and situations, that spirit of helping others either personally or vicariously (e.g., through public funding), and to believe that the future can be better than the present.
DeleteSpringfield is by no means a town at the bottom (Newark, N.J., is a far better example of that), but there are some residents who behave as though it is and cannot bring themselves to behave otherwise. It might be because they used to have faith in the American dream, but have found it is being denied them.
The name "Turning Point" suggests that when you go there you will turn yourself around. Outsiders - including potential job offerers - need to see evidence of the turnaround; evidence of willpower.
DeleteWho's fault was it that YOU got the DUI? Did you not know the rules regarding drinking and driving? I don't feel sorry for you honestly, my kids are on those roads that you are driving drunk on.
DeleteI think it would be reassuring for all if we were aware of the regimens residents of sober houses and halfway houses are to adhere to and the systems of support and monitoring that are in place for them.
ReplyDeleteYes...they are all required to sit on their front porches without their shirts on, smoking cigarettes and surveying the junk in the yard. Corner of Central Street and Church Street, North Springfield.
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