community in the behavioral healthcare discussions, helping to ensure that prevention, treatment and recovery services are included in the Essential Health Benefits of the developing NY State Health Exchange. Thanks to our friends at the Legal Action Center for spearheading the pro-active EHB efforts.

LIRA continues to be represented on the LI area Behavioral Healthcare Organization (BHO) team and our folks sit on the advisory board and several related sub-committees.The emergence of Friends of Recovery New York (FOR-NY) at the state level combined with the extended reach of Faces and Voices of Recovery (FAVOR) on the national landscape has contributed mightily to the recognition and presence of the recovery community. Recovery coaching has become a respected, accepted and reimbursable adjunct to individual recovery efforts. Locally there have been improvements in the sober housing community, an increase in available treatment beds for adolescents, creation of drug specific task forces, the forming of the Communities of

Solution coalition, emergence of the Prevention Resource Center, passage of the Good Samaritan Bill and the I Stop legislation. For the past few years the emergence of Narcan trainings and access to these life saving treatments have reversed overdoses and saved over 100 lives. A renewed commitment to advocacy by the LI Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence under the guidance of

Jeff Reynolds has made a significant impact.

LIRA’s annual Rock N Recovery Celebration has become a local tradition celebrating recovery along with over 200 other National Recovery Month celebrations. The two consecutive Brooklyn Bridge Recovery walks in 2009-2010 drew more then 25,000 participants, including the governor other politicians and celebrities, helping to raise the visibility of the recovery community.

Clearly there is much to be grateful for as we continue to press forward seeking to level the playing field for individuals in recovery, their family members and those still in need of help.

As we all work together again to address the next great challenge of discrimination in

treatment coverage, let us also take time to pause and recognize the many milestones we have reached together along the way.

ROCK N RECOVERY IV

LIRA Members: Anthony R, Joan P, Nicole C, Jeannie A, Debbie T, Bruce T at the 4th Annual Celebration.

LIRA hosted our 4th Annual Rock N Recovery celebration at the Deer Park Community

Center in September 2012. Over 200 attendees partied into the night at our free event, while enjoying a sumptuous hot Italian buffet and celebrating National Recovery

Month. More then $1000.00 in door prizes were given away thanks to many donors. LIRA presented our Friend of Recovery Award to Nancy Beckett-Lawless Director of Provider relations at Seafield. Nancy is a long time

LIRA member and avid supporter of individuals and families in recovery.

Once again the LIRA board opted to present two separate recovery community scholarship awards of $500.00 each to Lisa S & Jeff R.

Congratulations to these well deserving recipients chosen from the pool of nominees.

2010 Recovery Community Scholarship Award recipient Henry D presents one of our two 2012 Awards to Lisa S

Many supporters donated funds, goods, door prizes or resources; valued from $50 - $500.00 and all were acknowledged on our scroll of honor throughout the evening.

You can see the complete 2012 scroll of honor donor list on pages 7-9.

We would like to acknowledge the following individuals for their time and energy, helping to make our annual event a huge success:

Tina Bruzzo, Richard Buckman, Nicole Carey, Jean Fessenden, Gene Foley, Larry Gise, Eugenia Karahalias, Ed Olsen, Joan Phillips, Anthony Rizzuto, Craig Sehlhoff, Bruce Till and Debbie Turkel-Nardozzi,

We had a major contribution from other students in the Chemical Dependency CASAC studies program at Suffolk Community College. Thanks to Kirk Kaplan for encouraging students to join LIRA and participate in our events and advocacy efforts.

ROCK N RECOVERY V

SAVE THE DATE! Our Rock N Recovery V celebration will take place on Friday evening

September 27th 2013 at the Deer Park Community Center. Plans are already underway and will once again include our annual recovery community scholarship award(s) and our Friend of Recovery Award.

STUDENT CORNER by Nicole Carey

The challenge and concern of many students heading into the addiction field is how can we be effective as counselors? Much of our job involves helping others discover a healthier way to live to become productive members of society. We learn that many of these people do not have their own resources to accomplish this, and need help. This is why I became a part of LIRA. As students, there is plenty of training in our daily routines, but for me the real impact came from participating in this organization and learning more about how the dynamics of the government and legislation can impact our career, and the individuals and families we strive to help so much. A lot goes into learning how to deal with chemically dependent people, but there is not enough attention paid to how important advocacy is for them. In my opinion there is a growing need

for families to exercise their full range of insurance benefits to access treatment and to have resources accessible to guide them in doing so. In this growing field however, few students take an interest in this area, which is unfortunate because it is something that they can have a tremendous impact and influence on. I believe part of our responsibility as aspiring addiction counselors is to give a voice to a population that is not yet able to speak for themselves. Most of our clients do not know how to navigate systems or to verbalize their needs which is why they need people like us to help advocate and spend time working on bringing their needs into public view. I believe coursework should be mandatory for this.

Advocacy is a huge part of our responsibly as counselors. Our work is not finished after a session ends.

RECOVERY 2012-13

Friends of Recovery New York (FOR-NY)

Hosted the annual statewide Recovery Advocacy Day in Albany. A busload of LIRA members traveled to Albany on a frigid

February morning to join in the festivities and meet with legislators. Our Long Island contingent included 16 CASAC students from Suffolk Community College and the Outreach

Training Institute who participated in advocacy training and also shared powerful personal stories with their representatives about the impact of addiction on their families.

OASAS Commissioner Arlene Sanchez-Gonzalez & FOR-NYPresident Laura Elliot Engel with SCCC CD students & others

FOR-NY is the new coordinating body for

Recovery Coach training in NY State. The web

3

site for-ny.org lists all upcoming training’s and will soon feature additional components for coaches to interact with each other and for access to individual peer to peer services. Best wishes to FOR-NY founding Board member Betty Currier who relocated to North

Carolina to be near family. Thank you for many years of service and meaningful contributions to the recovery community in New York.

RECOVERY HOUSING

The Suffolk Oversight Board continues to meet aiming to help make improvements in housing conditions for individuals in recovery. After several set backs the enhanced rate RFQ for quality housing operators was approved for 46 beds in Suffolk. This pilot project has roots in the groundwork we did years back and is one of the recommendations we suggested to the

Suffolk County Welfare to Work Commission.

OASAS recently issued a housing request for proposals under the Medicaid Redesign Team recommendations. The RFP grant comes with funds for case managers and reasonable per bed unit funding. This is a rare and welcomed initiative and we hope Long Island operators are represented when the funds are awarded.

State Senator Lee Zeldin of Islip proposed legislation (S4697) to create oversight and certification of sober homes in Suffolk. The bill gives responsibility to NY State OASAS for certification and oversight. It remains unclear whether this bill will become law as questions remain regarding several of the far reaching provisions. LIRA remains concerned about the right to privacy for individuals in early recovery living in the community and the bill language that calls for a public listing of the residences.

The location of homes should not become public knowledge as residents would then be labeled by identification as a resident. These vulnerable folks deserve to have their identities protected which should be a primary concern for lawmakers too. We enthusiastically support oversight which was one of our original goals!

LEGISLATIVE NEWS

After groundwork by LI area providers with Assemblyman Saladino set the stage, State

Senator Kemp Hannon introduced legislation

(S4623) that would give treatment authorization decision making ability to

Qualified Healthcare Professionals (QHP). Assembly members Cusick and Saladinohave co-sponsored a same as bill (A7003). For far too long dollar driven insurance companies have denied access to sorely needed treatment contributing to countless tragic deaths and a depletion of vital economic resources. This legislation is a long time coming and we urge everyone to be vigilant and responsive when asked to lend your energy and enthusiasm to support the bill. LIRA also supports (A4799) introduced by Queens Assemblyman Dendekker, which would prohibit discrimination by government employers against people in recovery because of a past problem with alcohol or other drugs.

We will need an all out and persistent effort across the state, matching local efforts in order to put an end to insurance company abuses regarding addiction treatment. Giving decision making authority to addiction professionals will save countless lives and millions of dollars and help to eliminate both blatant and veiled discrimination that has gone on for too long.

Congratulations to Freshman State Senator

Phil Boyle of Babylon appointed Chair of the Senate Alcoholism and Drug Committee. Having a local leader of this committee should be helpful as many of our local groups seek to address a myriad of addiction related issues.

Congratulations and heartfelt thanks to State

Senator Tom Duane who retired from the

Senate after many years of public service. Tom was our biggest ally and well known for his impassioned pleas on the Senate floor. He had served as Health committee chair and was a relentless advocate for New Yorkers affected by addiction and mental health issues, gay and lesbian rights and those impacted by HIV & AIDS. His presence will be sorely missed.

FACES & VOICES OF RECOVERY

Since 2001 FAVOR has been our national leader and the nationwide voice of the recovery community. With our friend Pat Taylor at the

helm FAVOR has accomplished so much to put the recovery community on the map and ensure that we are represented in all matters related to our people and issues. LIRA has worked closely with FAVOR having co-hostedseveral trainings. Pat and other FAVOR staff have been presenters and trainers and have participated in LIRA Recovery month events on several occasions. We applaud the FAVOR efforts and pledge our ongoing support.

RECOVERY PAYS DIVIDENDS

More then 23 million Americans are in recovery. Recent survey results from FAVOR in conjunction with researcher Alexandre Laudet supports prior evidence that when people recover the negative impact on various systems improves dramatically saving millions of dollars in costs to society. Some highlights include enormous reductions in emergency room use and criminal justice involvement. You can see the full findings of the report on the web site Facesandvoicesofrecovery.org

It is more important then ever that America invests in recovery as we continue to focus on eliminating discriminatory practices.

ARCO The Association of Recovery Community Organizations is another nationwide initiative, FAVOR launched ARCO which has held two leadership summits. LIRA is a proud charter member and we were represented at the nationwide ARCO Summit in Philadelphia in November 2012. We look forward to continuing to grow this group of more then 75 organizational members.

Patrick Kennedy Co-Sponsor-Federal Parity Bill, RichardBuckman-LIRA & Pat Taylor- Faces & Voices of Recovery at ARCO Leadership Summit at PRO-ACT in Philadelphia.

LIRA MEMBERS IN THE SPOTLIGHT. Ed Olsen was recently named Program

Director with Bridgeback to Life in Bethpage

Anthony Rizzuto was honored by NASW Nassau Division as citizen of the year.Eugenia Karahalias was recognized with an

Unsung Hero Award at the Caron Breakfast.

Joan Phillips, Craig Sehlhoff & Nicole Careywere all elected to the LIRA Board of Directors.

Joan Phillips & Jean Fessenden landed positions with Project Hope providing disaster assistance to those impacted by Tropical Storm Sandy. Congratulations to these dedicated LIRA members.

Eugenia Karahalias with her “Unsung Hero” Award

Thank you to Jim Devine, Bert Johnson and

Gene Foley for past service on the LIRA board. We appreciate your contributions.

Kudos and best wishes to LIRA supporter Jaci Best formerly of the Suffolk County Division of

Community Mental Hygiene as she begins her new journey as a LI Regional Office Director for NY State OPWDD.

Congratulations to our long time friend and treatment pioneer Jim Cusack who celebrated 60 years of sober living in October 2012. Wow!

Thank you and a belated farewell to our friendBarbara Abrams formerly of the division who came out of retirement to present a proclamation at last years Rock N Recovery! Best wishes to past Friend of Recovery Award winner Mary Silberstein who has taken her passion west to a new position as Program

Director at Central Nassau Guidance Center.

A big shout out to this talented group of LIRA supporters, all honored at the Caron Awards Breakfast for outstanding contributions to “the field”. Gary Butchen, Ken Lavery, Kirk Kaplan and Jeff Reynolds. Way to go guys!

LIRA TIDBITS

LIRA is a community partner in the upcoming

Families in Support of Treatment (FIST) event to be held on June 7, 2013 at St Frances De Chantal Church in Wantagh. This event is focused on increasing access to treatment for those in need. Please save the date and join the FIST groups on Linkedin and Facebook. This initiative has roots in the well attended event “The Fallen” that took place in

Huntington last September. A crowd of more then 700 people attended the gathering. LIRA and dozens of community programs had resource display tables, provided materials and answered questions at the event, paying tribute to young folks who lost their lives to addiction. LIRA members participated in the Statewide Call to Action Summit, Long Island Region, held in October 2012. FOR-NY,NYSAM, and

ASAP collaborated to address regional community concerns about escalating prescription drug addiction, related criminal justice issues, and the need for increased prevention and improved access to treatment.

LIRA members facilitated two of the breakout sessions covering the Science of Addiction Recovery and Recovery Coaching.

LI Call to Action Summit: Presenters Ed Olsen, Pam Mizzi (Prevention Resource Center) & Richard Buckman

At the summit Massapequa Assemblyman

Joseph Saladino first shared his intention to

sponsor legislation authorizing addiction treatment professionals to certify the need for treatment, the type of treatment needed and the duration. In nearby Pennsylvania, Legislative ACT 106 has been a law since 1989. The law authorizes physicians and psychologists to certify and quantify addiction treatment, not the dollar driven insurance companies. The time is now for New York State to take similar action and empower addiction treatment professionals to help save lives. We implore our state lawmakers to make this law a reality.

Did you now that in 2008 The St. Lawrence ATC in upstate NY was granted a waiver by the OASAS Commissioner to provide inpatient treatment for pathological gambling? This is the only facility in New York that has such a waiver. To make a referral call315-393-6602.

On Long Island help for problem gambling is available at the Thomas Kenny Gampro Program at Pederson Krag call 631-920-8053

SUPPORT LIRA

LIRA does not receive any funding or grants and all of our work is done by non compensated volunteers including our dedicated board of directors, members of the community, affected families and individuals in recovery. In essence LIRA’s good work is made possible only with the support of our members and friends through various donations. Please consider supporting LIRA by making a 100% tax deductible contribution. Please make checks payable to Friends of Recovery LI and mail to FOR-NY LI Chapter

PO Box 262 Franklin Square NY 11010-0262Your generosity makes it possible for us to continue our educational and advocacy efforts.

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Please remember to join us for the FIST event at St Frances De Chantal in Wantagh on Friday June 7th 7PM-9:30 and at our Rock N Recovery V celebration at the Deer Park

Community Center on Friday September 27thfrom 7PM-11. Additional details are available by accessing the Facebook and Linkedin pages.