00:00:05:01 - 00:00:05:16
People have an
00:00:05:16 - 00:00:08:09
idea of
what an addict might look like
00:00:08:16 - 00:00:12:02
and someone who's
in a rehab or detox.
00:00:12:02 - 00:00:15:18
They come in the room and they see me
and they're like, Yeah,
00:00:16:00 - 00:00:17:00
this is another guy
00:00:17:00 - 00:00:21:07
from my insurance company
to tell me what I need to do.
00:00:21:12 - 00:00:25:21
And I tell them that I use drugs
and alcohol for 22 years,
00:00:25:21 - 00:00:29:10
and they sit back in their chair
and they go, What?
00:00:29:22 - 00:00:32:12
That's the magic of peer support.
00:00:32:12 - 00:00:36:00
When you tell them who you are
and you watch that
00:00:36:00 - 00:00:38:19
wall come down.
00:00:44:15 - 00:00:45:16
Our roles
00:00:45:16 - 00:00:49:10
within the health
plan is to literally partner
00:00:49:10 - 00:00:52:20
with the individuals
that are receiving services.
00:00:53:03 - 00:00:56:02
So if that individual needs community
resources.
00:00:56:08 - 00:00:59:08
There is nobody better than a peer
support to be able
00:00:59:08 - 00:01:02:12
to identify
what those community services are
00:01:02:18 - 00:01:07:06
and travel with that member
to those organizations.
00:01:07:08 - 00:01:11:03
They're really known
as the individual that's walking
00:01:11:03 - 00:01:16:13
the step by step journey
with our members.
00:01:16:19 - 00:01:20:13
Most of us are known
for being transparent
00:01:20:15 - 00:01:26:02
with our stories in that there's
just this honesty that occurs.
00:01:28:23 - 00:01:31:00
Being a person who has
00:01:31:00 - 00:01:34:18
lived with HIV for nearly 30 years,
00:01:35:02 - 00:01:38:09
it's an honor
and a privilege to be this age
00:01:38:10 - 00:01:41:17
when most of my friends did
not make it out of their thirties.
00:01:43:08 - 00:01:47:17
It became very clear to me
that I did not know how to cope.
00:01:47:19 - 00:01:51:16
What used to be what we would call
party favors, you know,
00:01:52:04 - 00:01:55:01
drugs and alcohol became the thing
00:01:55:01 - 00:01:58:13
that kept me from being so afraid.
00:01:58:14 - 00:02:01:22
Every day
I realized that I was in trouble.
00:02:02:02 - 00:02:05:00
One day when I got out
of the hospital and went to the bar.
00:02:06:16 - 00:02:09:07
Who does that?
00:02:11:15 - 00:02:15:09
Homelessness for me
looked just like it does
00:02:15:09 - 00:02:19:04
for most women who experience
homelessness for the first time.
00:02:19:11 - 00:02:20:11
It's shocking.
00:02:20:11 - 00:02:22:03
It's demoralizing.
00:02:22:03 - 00:02:24:07
Really, It's a state of confusion.
00:02:24:15 - 00:02:27:23
There wasn't a recognition
of my coping skills
00:02:27:23 - 00:02:31:05
that I had developed my entire life.
00:02:31:12 - 00:02:36:23
Were actually feeding
a diagnosis of extreme
00:02:36:23 - 00:02:42:13
anxiety, swinging into very
serious depressive disorders.
00:02:44:03 - 00:02:46:17
I started feeling like
00:02:46:17 - 00:02:51:20
my life as I knew
it was never going to be the same.
00:02:51:20 - 00:02:55:16
And I didn't know what to do
if I didn't have the peer encounter
00:02:55:16 - 00:02:56:12
that I had.
00:02:56:12 - 00:02:59:13
I don't know
that I would be sitting here
00:02:59:13 - 00:03:03:06
today.
00:03:03:06 - 00:03:08:04
Having peers come from different
backgrounds is very, very important.
00:03:09:08 - 00:03:12:11
I often tell people I might not have
walked in your shoes,
00:03:12:11 - 00:03:14:19
but I probably walked down
that same block.
00:03:14:19 - 00:03:18:17
We come from the places where
the people that we serve come from.
00:03:19:20 - 00:03:23:21
I think having peers
in our behavioral health system
00:03:23:21 - 00:03:29:02
is not only important, it's essential
because peers understand
00:03:29:17 - 00:03:33:08
the complexities of different
00:03:33:08 - 00:03:38:00
diagnosis
and living through those complexities
00:03:38:06 - 00:03:42:16
on a day to day basis
and different circumstances.
00:03:43:01 - 00:03:45:17
But also peer support can
00:03:45:20 - 00:03:48:18
and does drive down health care costs
00:03:49:01 - 00:03:51:15
because people are using prevention
00:03:51:20 - 00:03:54:17
rather than, you know,
after the fact, health care.
00:03:56:02 - 00:03:58:06
There's a settling of oneself
00:03:58:06 - 00:04:00:11
that occurs
when you're a peer support.
00:04:00:16 - 00:04:04:16
There's a transparency that happens and that makes us
00:04:04:16 - 00:04:07:09
better people.
00:04:07:15 - 00:04:11:07
Doing this work has made me feel like
00:04:11:07 - 00:04:14:13
I have the life that I only imagine
other people have.
00:04:14:22 - 00:04:18:14
I'm a black gay man living with HIV
00:04:18:23 - 00:04:22:02
with 20 years free from addiction.
00:04:23:06 - 00:04:25:22
Life is good.
