A Mid-Project Report to the Community

The Recovery in Community pilot project is working in the Orcas Island community! The first half of the project can be summed up briefly: So far, so good, and SO challenging!

Our RIC family has expanded. The now six-member Oversight Committee includes Ryan Carpenter, Jim Connell, Donna Delong, Larry Hampel, Susan Hull, and Erin O’Dell. Coordinator Janine Heimerich and Lead Advocates LarryHughes, MSW, and Sophie Lappas are regularly fielding calls and evaluating referrals from community organizations, the public, and potential clients. We continue to be grateful for the volunteer services of Webmasters Bruce Bennett and Karla Pineda. RIC has also established working relationships with a growing network of community agencies and other resources and has trained its first group of volunteer advocates.

We have served 14 clients in just the first half of the pilot project, far more than the 6-10 we projected for the entire pilot project period. Though we underestimated the number of clients RIC would assist by now, we can say that have managed the number well. The seven who have taken the first three steps with RIC—spoken to our coordinator, been assigned and met with an advocate, and accessed at least one service/support with the advocate’s help—are to date showing clear and meaningful progress toward recovery and healthy reconnection to their community. The other seven clients are either too new to yet assess, or a minimum standard of progress has not been met.

RIC has identified and trained eight volunteer advocates, age 30s to 70s, who have a range of backgrounds, including business, medical, social service, military, and broad community involvement. All have direct or family/friend experience with mental health and addiction, and all are deeply committed to RIC’s aims and values.

RIC has established working relationships with 10 community organizations or individuals. We have also learned that we need to similarly develop relationships with resource partners off-island, as well. We have undertaken to create a database of local and regional providers that includes detox and rehabilitation centers, medical and mental health services, social services, insurance, transitional housing and food resources, employment services, and more.

Not surprisingly, challenges have emerged in our first five months of operation: We have seen missed opportunities to support a client’s progress when partner organizations are unable or unwilling to act immediately to move a client toward circumstances that are safe. In some instances it has meant that we could not help a client find shelter or begin treatment, for example, when their current situation was dire. We hope to close this gap as we move into the second half of our pilot project and beyond.

It can present an obstacle, too, when RIC is unable to fully exchange confidential information with professional organizations—probation departments and mental health providers, for example. We are looking at ways to establish specific permissions with organizations as a way to alleviate concerns about confidentiality and avoid stalling a client’s progress.

The challenges, however, pale in comparison to the clear evidence that RIC is needed and heartily embraced by the Orcas Island community. We are doing something right—finding and helping unserved and underserved clients by offering opportunities to connect with needed resources. Even beyond what we expected, RIC is making a positive difference in clients’ lives.

Thank you for the many forms of support you have provided to RIC since the beginning, from your encouragement to spreading the word to donating to fund our pilot project. It’s working! And we anticipate more good things to come. Thank you!