Larry Pool has been working with Heartland Alliance Health for four years to address his opioid addiction, and the medical assisted treatment (MAT) program has helped turn his life around. His doctors and case managers have helped him in some of the darkest times of his life, but today he is sober and working as a Peer Support Specialist at the Bobby E. Wright Behavioral Center.
Larry used for a majority of his life – 27 years to be exact. He knows dozens of people that were close to him – all opioid users – that have died.
“That was my whole circle, I’m the only one left. I can’t help but wonder if they were given a chance at harm reduction that they would still be alive.”
Larry tried sobering up countless times, but it was only after the Haymarket Center introduced him to Heartland Alliance Health that his path to recovery truly began. It was there that he met his longtime case manager and confidante, Tony Strong.
“Tony’s understanding of this process helps a lot. He has lived the same experiences I have. I’ve seen him at meetings, and I see how serious he is about it,” Larry said. “Tony and Heartland don’t judge. You know, there’s a lot of stigma around people in recovery, and these people were not doing that. And knowing where Tony’s been allows me to open up in a way that many others can’t understand.”
Tony has been working for HAH as a community health worker for years. When he found sobriety, he found purpose in being a guide for others who have walked the same path – and believes that clinical spaces desperately need the legitimacy and understanding of those with lived experience.
“Individuals who share similar experiences as addicts and users are the key to this success,” Tony said. “They can gain the trust of this population, usually in a matter of minutes, when authority figures fail too.”
For the last four years, Larry comes to the HAH healthcare center on the Near West side multiple times a month. He would pick up his suboxone, meet with a clinician, and work with Tony to focus on the other parts of his life – looking for support groups and thinking about the big picture stuff in his life. After a year, he began seeing a therapist and started using HAH as his primary care provider.
Over time, Larry saw himself nearing the same end of the path in which Tony walked – and began looking for work in human services. He believed that his own experiences could now help others seeking recovery – and has found himself working in the human service field as a peer support specialist for the Bobby E. Wright Center on the city’s west side.
Tony and the HAH team have walked with Larry during his most difficult times of his life. Life doesn’t just stop when you are going through recovery – making the team’s wrap-around services a critical element to healing. They would help Larry find positive solutions to legal issues, find work, and build Larry’s life from the ground up. Two years into the program, Larry was in pretty good shape.
“I had gotten a job, I was seeing a therapist, I had a relationship with someone – but then that relationship went sour. In the process of all of that, things got really hard again.”
But the process to recovery isn’t linear – people end up hitting bumps in the road to recovery.
Two years into his recovery, Larry found himself homeless and without many options for support. He lost his car, his job, and a few relationships which he held dear. He couldn’t help but see a world with nowhere – and nobody – to turn to. Moments like these often create the pressure that sends someone into relapse, and even Larry admits how easy it could have been for him to fall back into his 27-year habit.
“But you know what I did? The next morning, I went in and went straight to Heartland. It was then that I knew I was making progress. No doubt in my mind,” Larry said. “Looking back on that, I am just so grateful that I had that strength – and it’s just so encouraging for me and the work I do today. If I can do this anybody can.”
Heartland Alliance Health would have accepted him back whether he had used that night or not. Harm reduction is a pillar of our philosophy of care, meaning clinicians and social workers alike understand that recovery is a day-by-day process. Understanding that relapses happen creates a dynamic between provider and patient that is authentic, honest, and focused on the most important aspect – overall quality of life.
“The most important part of this program is that you participate in your recovery,” Larry said. “In order for this medication to work correctly, you have to be dedicated to your own personal program. That means you have to be honest with your doctor – and honest with yourself.”
Ultimately, it’s that trust that builds individual strength. When a person you realizes that they are supported, the burden of stigma falls away and the only pressures involved in recovery are the individual hopes and goals of the participant. Through these relationships, those in our harm reduction model aren’t driven by shame or fear – instead, can be motivated at the possibility of building meaning in their lives.
