Vermont Legislature SmartTranscripts:

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons]: Celebrating recovery day and we do that by listening to folks who are working in the field of recovery and learning what we can so we can write legislation that's helpful. And so I'm Senator Ginny Lyons and Ray, you want to please?

[Representative Golrang "Rey" Garofano]: Ray Garofano, Chittenden 23 Essex And Essex Junction.

[Representative Anne B. Donahue]: Anne Donahue, I'm from Northfield, also represent Berlin.

[Representative Esme Cole]: Hi, Esme Cole of Hartford on Human Services House.

[Representative Todd Nielsen]: Representative Nielsen, I represent Brandon Firesdale.

[Representative Golrang "Rey" Garofano]: Okay. Thank you.

[Unidentified Director, Recovery Partners of Vermont]: Senator Martin Larocque Ulik, I represent Burlington, Winooski, Essex Junction, Essex Town, and Colchester.

[Gregory (co-founder, Jenna's Promise)]: Good morning. I'm Daniel Noyes. I represent Wilkett, High Park, Johnson, and Belvern. Doug Bishop, representative for Colchester, Chittenden County District.

[Nicholas Farias (also transcribed as "Paris")]: Senator Donahue, represent the Orange District.

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons]: So I represent Chittenden Southeast, which is a big chunk of Chittenden County, mostly the rural parts of of the county. So we're we're we're going to begin and just call folks up and listen to your testimony. Because of the time constraints that we have in the senate, I'm gonna suggest that questions be held unless it's a critical understanding. And our committee, please do not be offended if the senators get up and leave. We have a hard stop at 10:45. And we can listen and see the rest on YouTube, which is always fun.

[Representative Golrang "Rey" Garofano]: And we also have witnesses coming at eleven upstairs,

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons]: so we'll need to make our way out. So as soon as you walk through this year, come on up.

[Unidentified Director, Recovery Partners of Vermont]: Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak with you this morning. Yes, thank you for hearing my testimony today on behalf of Vermont's Pure Recovery System. As a woman in long term recovery myself, it's especially meaningful to be speaking with you on recovery day as we celebrate the many ways Vermont systems improve the lives of our friends and neighbors and make our communities more vital. I'm feeling especially grateful today because just one year ago today, Recovery Day twenty twenty five, was my first day as the director for this amazing organization. So that's got me feeling a little misty today. System of recovery service organizations, that's recovery centers who

[Danielle Wallace]: are in

[Unidentified Director, Recovery Partners of Vermont]: the process of becoming certified and our certified recovery residences, work closely with our treatment provider partners to provide a safety net for people changing their lives to adopting recovery lifestyles. You may know that Recovery Partners of Vermont is a membership organization that represents 14 recovery organizations across the state, organizations that include the recovery centers and the recovery residences. And we partnered very closely with the Vermont Association of Mental Health and Addiction Recovery to celebrate Recovery Day twenty twenty six and advocate for the funding we're requesting to continue these life saving services. Our system has grown in both size and sophistication in recent years. Recovery centers have expanded their recovery services into rural areas through their satellite offices, and new recovery residences are established in proximity to recovery centers to provide easy access to their peer recovery programs for their participants. Many of our current recovery leaders and staff are once program participants themselves. It's their lived experience not only as people in recovery from the ills of substance use, but also as people who benefited from Vermont's recovery system that's instrumental to our organization's ability to help people recover. Today,

[Ashley Brown]: you'll

[Unidentified Director, Recovery Partners of Vermont]: be hearing testimonies representing the full scope of recovery programming in our state. That includes our RTB's recovery centers and residences, as well as our treatment provider partners. While treatment facilities are not part of RTB, they are integral to the work of our recovery organizations in the continuum of care. Recovery organizations connect with various systems, including not only treatment facilities, but also correctional facilities, emergency departments, DCF, schools, and so much more. We play a unique role in our integrated system. Recovery is so much about community and connection, and you can hear that through the ways our work happens in the communities. Recovery Partners of Vermont is asking for your support of our FY27 budget request to help support our local recovery services. First, we're asking the legislature to please renew the $800,000 recovery centers received in prevention funds in FY26. This people would level fund recovery centers and preserve current services at a time when recovery centers are facing increasing demands. Recovery centers are much more than the welcoming supportive centers, the buildings that they started out as. They are now the hub from which various folks connect with our community partners, as I just mentioned. Recovery centers are also requesting your support for the Vermont Department of Health's recommendation to appropriate $1,250,000 in FY27 opioid abatement funds to continue the successful peer recovery coaching program that's happening within our correctional facilities, and to include that in your budget memo to appropriations. Connection is the key to the success of peer recovery services, And this connection to corrections facilities helps people reconnect with the community and gain a firm footing. Finally, we're asking that Vermont certified recovery residences that the legislature support these opioid abatement funds for FY 2027. Dollars 1,750,000.00 for ongoing operational support for the growing number of certified residences. So that's for the currently operating residences and the new residences that will come online this year. And 250,000 to provide scholarships to cover first month and other fees for individuals entering a recovery residence. They often, as they're getting started and building some stability in their lives, may not have that first month's rent, or after a few months, they may not have found employment yet in some of the rural areas, it may take longer. So they may need some scholarship funding as bridge funding as they're getting started. Certified recovery residences are currently working to scale this resource across Vermont so that every individual who is recovering from addiction has the opportunity to start their lifelong harm to recovery in a home like setting with peer support, a safe environment, and assistance with support services and community resources in a substance free environment. Recovery residences are rapidly expanding in Vermont, which is why operational and start up costs are so important and are needed each year. With the addition of the Women's Recovery Health Service Month in Essex, the Vermont Foundation of Recovery now operates 79 recovery beds statewide, reflecting a 40% increase in capacity since September 2024. And finally, but importantly, we're speaking today about S157. The language in section 2B1C effectively ensures the safety of all residents when an individual relapses or engages into behaviors that jeopardize the recovery and well-being of others in the residence. While some residences do have stabilization beds available, Vermont's recovering residences do not provide clinical treatment services to any individual who do that, it's a space for services. We appreciate the efforts across Vermont to increase access to treatment and stabilization beds. This helps ensure that individuals have a safe place

[Astrid Bradish]: to go if they

[Unidentified Director, Recovery Partners of Vermont]: are threatening the health and safety of other residents. The application of Vermont's landlord can't allow to recovery residences has been a barrier to scaling this resource. This bill makes permanent a legislative solution that has proven it to be effective. You'll hear today from people with lived experience who have benefited from these programs and how this funding in this bill will improve access and efficacy. S-one 157 clarifies that recovery residences differ from typical rental housing and that their programs provide accountability and standard and importantly, make their community to share with

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons]: Thank you. And thank you for commenting on s one fifty seven because this is exactly why the senate committee needs to hear testimony today. Thank you. And an investment in recovery is an investment in prevention. We know that.

[Danielle Wallace]: Welcome.

[Gregory (co-founder, Jenna's Promise)]: Nice to

[Ashley Brown]: Good to see you.

[Gregory (co-founder, Jenna's Promise)]: So for those of you who don't know me, I'm Gregory Hajoille. I'm the cofounder of Genas Promise, and so I'm probably not gonna break any news here when I say that I'm speaking on behalf. But I'm also here to speak on behalf of all recovery residents in this as well. From the Vermont Foundation of Recovery Defense House to Second Wind, there's a whole Hosannaic of residents gathered across the state as lighthouse, as beacon to those looking for a. I'm here to ask you to support these organizations, including the proposed opioid settlement recommendation for. This, which is 1,750,000.00 for ongoing operations and $200,000 for scholars. And I'm here to kind of explain why S157 deserves your support as well. But my hope is that I can do this from a somewhat unique perspective of a covered village. This coming Sunday, February 15, mark seven years since I got a call. In the middle of the night for my mom, he told me that my sister had died and that I needed to come over immediately. And I will never forget that. The immense pain and horror and this almost visceral feeling that there is a wrenching of the seeds of a whole family that will forever carry an end piece. You can't go through a moment like that, honestly. And yet, Jenna's desire to help others would inspire what became Jenna's promise. It's hard to believe, as I look at this thing, the seventh anniversary, hard to believe that hope can come from a night like that, that daybreak could be birthed from heartbreak, but it can't. We saw the gaps that my sister continued to fall through and we wanted to build something that could fill them for those who might need the same supports to Jenna. Today, Jenna's Promise is unique in that we call ourselves a recovery village, where a means of looking at a holistic way of recovery integrates four pillars, a program based residential system, a workforce development program, a health and wellness program and therapeutic supports. And Genas Promise doesn't just lift the people inside our doors, it lifts the town around us. We've helped empty buildings have become workplaces. We've seen neighbors let slip the stigma that cast the shadow of judgment on those of the public. And we felt a community once defined by loss defined by people. This is an integrated ecosystem where housing, clinical care, wellness and work and community life operate as one coordinated path. As Jenna's promised, the residents is one building in

[Tyler Hughes]: a larger village, not the container.

[Gregory (co-founder, Jenna's Promise)]: Each pillar has phase requirements for residents to move through, and when they've succeeded in the requirements of each pillar, they can move on to the next of four phases. And I have the most amazing team who force every house of themselves into the water, not because they made tons of money, because let's be real, this is a nonprofit. They, like myself, they believe, they believe in the work, they believe in mission, they believe in the residents that are looking for another chance. We have three of those people in the

[Tyler Hughes]: group right

[Gregory (co-founder, Jenna's Promise)]: now. We have our executive director, Amanda Green, who'll stand. We have Madison Mary, who runs workforce development, and April Christensen, who runs the residential part of Dennis Collins. You guys will stand up and deserve a round of applause. Great distances to come to the place, they put up with my dad jokes because they believe in the work of recovery and they believe that work of recovery is their calling. When you support places like Jenna's Promise and other recovery residences, you don't only support the incredible refugees, you support the people who moved mountains, people like Amay, Faber, and Tannen. And that brings us to S-one hundred fifty seven. S-one hundred fifty seven gives places like Genas Promise lawful footing to what we call compacting accountability. At Genas Promise, expectations live across the village. Almost every resident gives the recovery village their ball in, and it's only in incredibly rare cases that our team is forced after exhausting all actions to act. A resident may refuse clinical engagement, they might undermine the workforce. Those challenges can occur outside just the residential pillar, yet the only legal mechanism to protect your whole is a decision to touch his residents. NS-one 157 aligns law with lived reality. It allows an interdisciplinary team to act not in punishment, but in stewardship of the community. Because our processes already move with care. We have accountability plans with a restorative action. We have team meetings that occur over and over again, and then we build improvement plans we have to escalate, we'll put them on probation for use, we'll even phase them back earlier to the program and often give them the final warning after that. They have repeated chances to choose the path forward and engage in the program that they signed up for. Only after every option, usually after months is exhaustive, does exit become a last resort? S-one 157 gives us permission to be consistent, fair and responsible. And residents will tell you that when someone cannot engage and supports the program, the impact is felt by everyone around them trying to rebuild their lives. Most people in this line of work will tell you that accountability is critical in early recovery. It's the banks of the river, the channel that keeps the water flowing forward. That's why Recovery Village offers so many supports and we aren't alone in this. Incredible partners, allies in the world of recovery residences will tell you they offer supports that are also incredibly critical to help their guests stay in the path that they have worthily worked and walked. This bill doesn't make any of us heartfelt. It makes us safer, it makes us fairer, and it makes us more predictable for the residents. And for residents trying to rebuild their lives, predictability is a form of hope. Because in recovery, even hope needs scaffold. I saw what happened with Jenna when she returned home after treatment with few options to continue her treatment. No scaffolding the whole of her recovery. I know if she had access to the growing infrastructure of our friends who have built that mosaic of recovery residences, she would have had a better shot. I hope had there been a generous promise for her, maybe she'd be here in the sea, except for me. The scaffolding wasn't there. And now for seven years, she hasn't been there. They say the greatest lessons in life are purchased for pain. I wouldn't be in this room asking for your support for S-one 157 and for the proposed opioid settlement recommendations for references if I didn't believe it wouldn't make a genuine difference. And in the dangerous world of recovery, a difference too often is whether you spend your Christmases with that dating hole of your family, or with your youngest boy laughing at the dinner table besides the aunt that he should have met and known and loved. So please support all of us, recovery residents, recovery village and our incredible teams in this room that go above and beyond in making that difference.

[Tyler Hughes]: Thank you.

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons]: Thank you. And I guess this is for everyone who's testifying. If you have your testimony and it is on, we have it. So if you haven't submitted it, please do. Thank you very much. So Astrid Radish Boyt is here.

[Astrid Bradish]: Thanks for having us. I'm Astrid Bradish, but I'm the CEO of Turning Point Recovery Center in Springfield. I'm a person in long term recovery, first and foremost. It's been great to be able to do this work and to be here today. I want to talk to you about the importance of recovery coaching at our center in Springfield and to ask the legislature to please renew the $800,000 we received in prevention funds in FY twenty six in order to level fund recovery centers and preserve current services in a time when recovery centers are facing exponential demand. Recovery is about people and connection. It's about interrupting death and rising from the ashes. It's about community reintegration. And really,

[Tyler Hughes]: it's about learning to adapt until the day is strong.

[Astrid Bradish]: As a leader of a turning point, a very grateful leader, I get to be a part of others' recovery journeys. I get to witness their growth and their lives. I'm honored and humbled to be a part of their journeys. To illustrate the impact we get to have on people's lives through our center and our two satellites, while interviewing a potential client for a transitional living, a coach shared a connection with one of our coaches on the team shared a connection with

[Tyler Hughes]: the interviewee. It had been about a

[Astrid Bradish]: year since we met as a coach. They met as a fortunate participant for the first time. Then she moved away. Upon her return, she sought out services once again to support her ongoing recovery. The coach barely recognized the woman standing before us. The woman remarked, I remember you. You're the man that helped save my life. You helped get me on this road. This woman continues to receive coaching at our center, in fact, as turning point coaches with demonstrating a life saving choice for her and her family. Taje, who credits Coach John as the man who saved my life. I didn't know I could build a life, any life. He's now in recovery and guides others in their journey, volunteers at the center and gardens in the summer with us. In addition to two recovery residences providing embedded recovery coaching, we also provide vital ongoing services. Our long standing support line is available 20 Folks can call or text and talk with a nationally certified coach day or night. This may mean the difference between returning to use or talking through choices. Potentially life or death. Our drop in center is staffed for folks seeking services such as the complicated navigation of treatment. Sometimes we even struggle with all of the hoops that folks have to jump through. Referrals to behavioral health, and human services like basic needs, food, clothing, housing. We offer support groups every day between our three locations in Springfield, Windsor, and Bellows Falls, for a highly rural area. We have the opportunity to walk alongside people as they rebuild their lives, reconnect with family, be brothers, parents, sisters, husbands, and wives, be humans, and live lives built for integrity and hope. Without the financial support to continue to keep our doors open, our services robust, and being there in people's time of need, folks like me may not have chosen to vote without your support. Again, we ask that you renew the $800,000 we received in prevention funds in FY 'twenty six in order to level fund our recovery centers and preserve current services. Thank you, Todd.

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons]: Thank you. Thank you for your work. Dylan Johnson.

[Dylan Johnson]: Dylan? Hello. Can everybody

[Ashley Brown]: hear me? Hey. Hi. Alpha.

[Dylan Johnson]: Sorry. I the the road's really bad at five in the morning when I was getting ready to come in, so decided to do the Zoom.

[Representative Golrang "Rey" Garofano]: You're smart.

[Ashley Brown]: Yeah. I don't have

[Dylan Johnson]: good snow tires. What am I doing? Good afternoon, everybody. My name is Dylan Johnson, and I'm a recovery coach and data analyst for the Turning Point Center of Bennington and an intake coordinator for the Paradise Residential Treatment Facility. I'm here today to connect my own personal story of recovery and redemption with the importance of recovery programming, including residential treatment. My journey began in Baltimore, Maryland, where I was born and raised. I had a wonderful childhood with a loving and supportive family. And in spite of that, I still ended up using substances for the first time in my late teens and heroin at the age of 21. Within a year, I had lost everything. My job, family, friends, house, everything. I had moved to California when this happened and because of it, had to move back into my father's house in Baltimore to try and get sober. Even with my father supporting me, I quickly relapsed again and wound up homeless in West Baltimore. This was most likely due to my father being in over his head. He was not a specialist, and while he tried his best, it was not at the level of a treatment facility. While on the street, I ended up getting into legal trouble. This led to me being put on probation in Baltimore in the 2019, and I once again moved back in with my father. Despite his limitations, I was very lucky to have a family member with a house who was willing to help. If I did not have him, I'm unsure what I would have done. Residential treatment facilities and recovery residences were never brought up by any of the agencies I had contact with in Baltimore, nor was I offered any recovery programming such as one on one recovery coaching. Not long after being put on probation, my father died in his sleep from a heart attack. My mother, who lived in Vermont, came down to Maryland and begged the PO to transfer me to Vermont where she lived and they finally acquiesced. Once I touched base in Vermont with my probation officer, I quickly realized that there are better ways of doing things. He implored me to get in touch with Turning Point. I went and introduced myself and was immediately connected with Bennington's recovery community. I started going to therapy recovery groups and utilized Turning Point's connections and programming. Soon after, I went to community college to get a degree in behavioral science. While at CCV, I took a work experience class. I had to find an internship with a recovery organization. My first thought was the Turning Point Center. I went in, explained my situation, and applied. I was hired on the spot. Today, I am a recovery coach in our center, the ED, and probation and parole. I'm in charge of our data collection, and I am the intake coordinator for the Paradise Residential Treatment Facility. I often think about the lack of opportunities afforded to me in Baltimore. I'm sure there were recovery residences and recovery centers, but at no point did anyone with any authority recommend them. If I did not have my father, I don't know what I would have done. It felt impossible to get sober on the street. Having a safe and structured environment to get sober in is paramount. As the intake coordinator, I meet with every individual who moves into the Paradise Residential Treatment Facility. I see them at their lowest, the most decisive moment in their recovery, and I see them after months of treatment as they prepare to depart. The opportunities afforded to them through residential treatment are immense. They're able to shower and sleep in a warm bed at night. They're required to connect with the recovery coach, recovery groups, and any other necessary treatment options, as well as to clean up after themselves and manage their responsibilities. They learn how to live with other individuals to communicate more effectively and to advocate for themselves. Take it all together and they learn how to live a healthy substance free life. There's nothing more important. I hope my speech today demonstrated the importance of recovery programming, including long term residential treatment facilities and helping individuals get sober. I do want to clarify residential treatment facilities and recovery residences are separate, but they complement each other in the system of care in an important way. Often an individual steps down from one to the other as their recovery progresses and they need less immediate clinical intervention. Many people are here today asking for support for S-one 157, which is a bill that is needed and important for recovery This bill does not affect treatment facilities since those are clinical and already regulated. I'm so incredibly grateful for the opportunities afforded me by the Turning Point Center in the state of Vermont. Let's make sure they continue. Thank you.

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons]: Thank you. And thanks for taking the time to be with us this morning. We greatly appreciate it. And we understand we understand the snow tire situation. Yeah.

[Dylan Johnson]: I've lived here long enough. I don't have an excuse.

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons]: No. I think there are a lot of people who have that excuse. So thank you. And we'll turn to Danielle Wallace here. Thank you. Good morning. Good morning.

[Danielle Wallace]: So thank you for having me today. So grateful to be here on Recovery Day. So I'm here testifying in support of Ask 157 regarding the landlord tenant law as it relates to recovery residents in Vermont. So my name is Danielle Wallace. I'm the president of RRPB's Board of Directors, as well as the director of the Turning Point Center of Addison County. I'm also a person in long term recovery, which is most important. For me, means I haven't used substances in over a decade. Today, am deeply grateful that the thoughts of getting high no longer consume me. In fact, they rarely cross my mind. That wasn't the case in early recovery. I spent fifteen years of my life trying, often unsuccessfully, to get and stay sober. During that time, I did everything that was suggested. I attended multiple inpatient rehabilitation programs. I lived in several recovery residences and participated in more inpatient or outpatient rehabilitation programs than I can count. So as we all know, early recovery is hard. Temptations and triggers are everywhere. Whether it's the liquor storing fast on your way to work or the dealer you wouldn't expect only running to at the grocery store, desire to use can be feel all consuming. Early on, I was told that building a strong foundation would rob those temptations of that power. Recovery residents play a critical role in building that foundation. They're an essential part of the substance use disorder continuum of care. They provide more than just a substance free space to sleep. They foster accountability, connection, and mutual support. Unlike moving into a typical apartment, recovery residents cultivate family like relationships and social networks that offer encouragement, friendship, and hope. While the structure and programming of these houses can vary, one thing is not negotiable. For them to be safe, they must be substance free. What I hope was my last relapse began in the 2014. I was living under recovery residence. I had just, after completing an eighteen month inpatient rehabilitation program, I'm not from Vermont, I'm from Maine, And believe that I had everything under control. Thought everything that was asked, and I thought I was in a really great spot. I was working full time. I was attending Hallstep meetings daily. I was working closely with a sponsor. So I entered this house full of hope, and then I finally left the chaos of substance use behind me, which included incarceration, various homelessness. So the four bedroom single family house housed eight women. My roommate and I quickly became close. We attended meetings together, went to the gym together, and spent nights talking and laughing all throughout the night. So we shared a kitchen, a living room, and a bathroom. In that, it's almost impossible not to form strong bonds with people. After a few months, my roommate told me she had relapsed. Instead of informing the other women in the house, I chose to keep her a secret and just try to help her on my own. Each night I watched her hide substances in her dresser drawer, and each night she promised it was gonna be the last time. She never pressured me to use. She never even asked. Witnessing her in active addiction slowly eroded away at the foundation line pre admitted to eighteen months of inpatient treatment. So within a week, I convinced myself that using just one phone would be a problem. Denial rationalization before a free call took over, and having someone else using alongside me made it real easy. The relapse unfolded just like every other one. My focus shifted immediately from recovery work and family to getting a stay high. At the next house meeting, we were asked to take a drug test. When the results came back, we were asked to leave. So there was no contingency plan in place. I was given thirty minutes to make it to property and then asked to add all my belongings out within a week. While I was not able to stay in recovery in that house, this experience still mattered. Other women showed me that long term recovery was possible. Most importantly, I didn't ultimately harm their recovery, but I could have. Active addiction is like an infectious disease. Allowed me to remain in that house, could have jeopardized the lives of six other women. And today, our drug supply is far more dangerous than it was in 2014. My roommate died of an overdose a few years after that. So as a single mother, I deeply understand the challenges that people face in securing safe and affordable housing and the need to be protected from unjust landlord practices. But this is not it. This is not that issue. This is about whether this is about

[Unidentified Director, Recovery Partners of Vermont]: sorry, I got lost.

[Danielle Wallace]: So using those same rules to manage a recovering resident risk sorry, I just got lost. Doing so risk prioritizing continued housing for one person who is not ready for that environment over the safety of others in recovery is dangerous. So I support the language added to S-one 157 because it recognizes the unique role that certified recovery residents is and helps preserve their community to remain safe, effective, and accountable. So this language helps protect and strengthen a critical safety net, one that is essential for people in early recovery and ultimately for the health of our communities.

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons]: Thank you very much. Your last comments, your comments on the landlord tenant piece is critically important to us as we look at the bill. Thank you. Thank you. Great. And Ashley Brown is here.

[Ashley Brown]: Good morning Chair and members of the committee. My name is Ashley Brown. I am from Essex Junction, Vermont. I am here today to share my lived experience and ask you to continue supporting recovery residences in Vermont. On 06/11/2024, I decided it was time to take my life back. I entered treatment at Valley Vista for two weeks, and while I was there, I was offered a bed at Vermont Foundation of Recovery Women's Recovery Home in Essex. I was able to move door to door from treatment directly into recovery housing. That transition was critical for me. Instead of leaving treatment without a plan, I entered a safe, structured environment where recovery was possible every day. I lived at the B. Four Women's Recovery Home in Essex for seven months. During that time, my life was structured in a way that helped me rebuild from the ground up. I was expected to complete twenty hours of work, volunteering, or education each week. I attended a recovery meeting every day and committed to a home group. I already had a sponsor and we began meeting weekly to work through the steps. That level of accountability helped me stay focused and grounded in my recovery. During my time in the House, there were moments that showed me how important clear standards and strong support really are. There was an instance where a member was caught using drugs inside the home, before staff responded quickly and calmly, temporarily removing that person to protect the safety and well-being of everyone living there. What stood out to me most was how the situation was handled. There was open communication with the rest of the house. Staff checked in to make sure everyone was okay, and we were supported through what could have been a very destabilizing experience. I felt reassured knowing that the member had an alternative place to go while next steps were being figured out. There were also times when a member was not able to return to the house because they needed a higher level of care. In other cases, a member was able to come back and after a relapse, because they took responsibility, showed genuine remorse, and the rest of the house felt safe moving forward together. Being part of those conversations helped me understand that recovery residences are not about punishment. They're about safety, accountability, and meeting people where they are while protecting the recovery of the entire community. After just a couple of weeks, I started working at a restaurant. I attended new meetings at Turning Point, where I would meet my sponsor and review the steps I had completed. I also learned about recovery coaching and connected with the recovery coach. We had met weekly ever since, and those meetings had been a space where I could work through the practical and emotional challenges of rebuilding my life. Whether it was paperwork, planning, or decision making, I always left knowing I had taken another step forward. As I became more stable, I started giving back by volunteering at Turning Point. Having had a safe place to recover, it felt meaningful to support others who were beginning their own journeys. Through Turning Point, I learned about higher ability, which helped me enroll at Vermont State University after six months of sobriety. Together, we mapped out a realistic path that allowed me to maintain employment while building a career. After seven months in a recovery home, I was able to move into one of B. Four's transitional apartments in Essex. That next step gave me greater independence while keeping me connected to support and accountability. Today, I'm working at an electrical company where I'm excelling and continuing to grow. The accountability structure and support provided by Recovering Housing made all of this possible. I am truly worlds away from the person I was when I first entered recovery, and I could not have done it without the many people and systems that supported me along the way. When I decided to get sober, I did not know what kind

[Danielle Wallace]: of life I was trying to get back. What I

[Ashley Brown]: had felt since then has exceeded my expectations. I'm here today because recovery residences work. They provide stability and accountability to the community at a critical moment where people are most vulnerable. I respectfully ask you to continue supporting recovery residences in Vermont so more people have the same opportunity as COVID.

[Representative Golrang "Rey" Garofano]: Thank you for sharing, Doug.

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons]: That's terrific. And, you know, each one of you keeps mentioning things that we key in on as we're going forward. Higher ability being another one. Sounds great. And I can't imagine the journey you've taken over the past two years. Congratulations. Really amazing. Amazing. Oh, we're gonna move on to Nicholas Farias.

[Astrid Bradish]: Thank you. Welcome.

[Nicholas Farias (also transcribed as "Paris")]: Yeah, it's nice to be here. So my name is Nicholas Paris, I'm a graduate of a men's house up in Derry, Vermont. I recently just left, I finished, I did twelve months there and I left two months ago and came back. I lived in Colchester but you know, prior to all that year ahead, same in my life. My life was in turmoil, I didn't know how to live, I didn't even know how to regulate the happy from sad. And that's what I learned up at Ben's house was how regulate my emotions and not only that but how to live in a safe environment, a stable place where I was held accountable, where I was, you know, I had a structure where I would go to Journey to Recovery, where I would do the groups there, I would participate, you know, like I had, I was pushed along the way from day one to the day I left. And that's what I loved about it. And it gave me, and that's where I was able to gain my life back, gain the respect that I needed to be a productive member to society. Where I was able to learn how to love, I was able to learn how to be a friend, be a father, be a brother, be a husband, be a normal person in society all in a safe environment. All in a place where I knew that if I did mess up, I was okay because of my recovery coaches, because of my support system that was already established there, that they were so openly willing to comfort me, to make me feel welcome, to make me feel loved, to make me feel like I was someone. I never felt that prior to my use of active addiction and alcoholism. But I got that there and that gave me the drive day in and day out to persevere through my hard times, the times I wanted to run, my ups and downs. Because I knew that one, wasn't like nothing bad was gonna happen. Two people are there to support me and care for me. And three, that they wanted to see me succeed. That's what they wanted. They wanted me to persevere through this and return back to my life. My life, a life that I thought I'd never have ever, you know, I thought my life was in shambles, gone, I was gonna give up. I wanted, I did give up, but they gave it back. That's what I love. And I'm so grateful for it. I mean, look at my son and it's funny, I was sitting there and I looked at a picture and there was a picture of me at, I had to, I supervised visits with him. I wasn't even able to see him. Had, just to begin, I had supervised visits with him in like four by four room and he's on a tricycle and I was like, I was looking at that picture and it hit me and I was like, because of the opportunity that Ben's house gave me and the structure that he gave me and the security they gave me and the love that they gave me and the coaching and every other thing that I needed for my life, I got my son all the time now. Because of them, because of their willingness to love and to care and to help me grow was what I needed. And yeah, I can't say more, I'm not reading off my script or anything like that. Like I've been listening and stuff like that. I feel like this is what I need to say because like I had a hard past, but like what I didn't have was a life. What I didn't have was responsibility. What I didn't have was those key three key things that I think I need to be a productive member of society. You know, I work in, I work in a hard construction field and and I'm right in it but you know, no day is different and I still revert back and I still reach out and I got a recovery coach. Amazing one. One that never gave up on me ever, ever, like even ever, ever. Seriously, like ever.

[Tyler Hughes]: That

[Nicholas Farias (also transcribed as "Paris")]: foundation was her and then she passed it on to me and she saw me struggling. She was like, did they fall even when I was in the sober house? But she pushed and pushed and pushed and that's what Ben's house is.

[Astrid Bradish]: Emotionally fall. No relapse. No emotional fall.

[Nicholas Farias (also transcribed as "Paris")]: Yeah, no, none of that. You know what I mean? No, but like with the stuff I needed, I needed that push. I needed it all. And I got all that at Ben's house, all that from during the recovery. She took me in open arms and then gave me everything, helped me rebuild, helped me get all my doctors, all those typical things that a normal human being is going to need, full circle thing. Yeah, I don't II. I'm sorry. I'm like kind of off off my script and stuff but like that's just real. It's just, you know, you're on your script.

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons]: Yeah. You're on your script.

[Nicholas Farias (also transcribed as "Paris")]: I just want to be real and like that's the reality of it, you know, and and it's it's beautiful. It's beautiful, you know, it's it's great that there's a place where you can go and learn how to deal and manage your life all with the understanding that it's okay to to mess up.

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons]: Thank you. And sometimes messing up is what kicks you forward.

[Nicholas Farias (also transcribed as "Paris")]: That's what you gotta do. Right?

[Ashley Brown]: Got it. Yeah. You got it.

[Nicholas Farias (also transcribed as "Paris")]: Thank you, guys. I hope that

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons]: Thank you. Thank you. That's that's from the heart. We have someone from Janice Promise here. Thank you.

[Representative Golrang "Rey" Garofano]: Good morning.

[Gregory (co-founder, Jenna's Promise)]: I'll be

[Unidentified Director, Recovery Partners of Vermont]: my nurse. No, no need to

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons]: be nervous. We've had a friendly crowd here and back there.

[Nicole (last name not stated)]: My name is Nicole. I'm currently a resident at Addison. My sobriety date is 12/22/2025. I'm here today and it's something I honestly never ever saw myself doing. Not long ago, was overwhelmed, broken, and unsure that I would ever find my way back to myself. Today, I'm here to tell you that recovery is possible and that places like Janice Promise are the reason why. I'll be very clear about something. Janice is not just a bed. It's a program, it's a community, and for people like me, it's the difference between surviving and actually rebuilding a life. I came to Jenna's Promise January 6 after first going to Sobriety House. Since being here, I've participated in IOP, health and wellness programming and workforce development, all through Jenna's promise. For the first time in a long time, I'm not just sure. I'm learning who I am as a person, how to live with structure, accountability, and how to stand on my feet again. I've had clean time in the past. I know what recovery can look like, but life didn't change in an instant. On 09/20/2024, my son was shot in Rutland. I was living in North Carolina at the time. I drove back immediately and went straight to the hospital. But I wasn't allowed in when I arrived. I was scared, exhausted, and overwhelmed. I reached out to the wrong people. That night I relapsed. I spent nine hours waiting before I was allowed in. My son was alive, but then coma in the ICU. I stayed by his bedside until he was released just before Christmas. I then stayed with him was sent home with a feeding tube and several drains and was still pretty sick. Finally, on March 26, he had his last tube removed. I did the best I could to be strong for him, but I was unraveling inside. Anyone who's been to trauma like that knows how quick your old habits can come back when you're drowning in fear and grief. That relapse doesn't define me, but it does remind me how fragile recovery can be without the right supports. On November 19, was arrested. As strange as that may sound, that moment became turning point. My lawyer and the judge did not wanna send me back out with just two weeks of treatment. They wanted something more, something that would actually help change my life. That's how I found Jenna's Promise. What I found here is community, people who don't give up when things aren't, the big of their heart, a program that treats recovery as more than abstinence, it treats it as learning how to live again. Jenna's Promise is giving me tools, structure, accountability, staff, repair, and something I'd lost along when, hope. Recovery housing programs like Jenna's Promise are not optional extras, they're essential. They reduce relapse, they reduce incarceration, they help people return to the workforce and become productive members of the society. They keep families together and most importantly, they give people a real chance to heal. I'm here today sober, grateful, present, and rebuilding my life, not because I have a bed, but

[Danielle Wallace]: because I have a program and

[Nicole (last name not stated)]: a community that believes I'm worth investing in. Please support recovery residences, please support Jenna's promise, please continue to invest in recovery not just for people like me but for families, communities, and the future of Vermont. Thank you for listening.

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons]: Thank you. Congratulations. So we have Tyler Sears is here. And Tyler, I don't know whether you were here in the room when I announced that the Senate may have to get up and leave. We have a hard stop in six minutes, but let's see how it goes. We're good. We're good. You take your time.

[Tyler Hughes]: My name is Tyler Hughes and I'm in recovery. For a long time I didn't think I'd ever be able to say that without feeling like a lot. Not because I didn't walk in recovery, but because my body didn't trust peace. Some of us didn't grow up learning how to feel safe. So peace and confidence always fell on ease. My mother gave birth when she was 13. Just a few years after I was born, I was taken into state's custody after showing up to school with a severe move in my head. I bounced around in the system like an arcade ball and never quite settled in one place. I learned earlier that things change fast, people disappear, stability isn't guaranteed. Untreated trauma and ADHD mixed together and no one would be a fast track to hurt conditions. It's a pain that sent me into the streets of Burlington really early. My nervous system adapted the only way it knew how, by staying tense, ready, by never fully trusting or resting or trusting anyone. I spent years moving between programs, for Legion and jail, where I would spend the vast majority of my adult life for a variety of charges sentenced to substance abuse. I had a weakness, but I had survivor. Substances didn't show up as dangerous. They introduced themselves as a relief. I believed it because they slowed down my mind, allowing me to ignore what I had been through and what I was facing. It gave me a feeling I didn't quite have the language for it yet. Regulation. Once your brain learns that relief can be instant, it forgets everything that isn't, that takes around relief. If you move this way through every aspect of your life, telling you that nothing will make you happy like you're up to you. You just go over your double meat seduction and before you know it, drugs are the only thing that could get you out of bed. Addiction isn't someone wanting to destroy their life. They actually did not realize you have a life worth living to begin with. Without wanting pain to stop. Every time I got locked up, people acted like something was being fixed. Nothing was being healed. Carceration didn't fix me. It only delayed me being fixed to know all. Every time I'd be released with less skills, more trauma, further bond. But they don't see you out of jail the way it changes your thinking and makes you a product of your environment. It makes you hardened, agitated and it reinforces to believe that I already have this caring and deep inside. That I heard you talking about something to you, that was meant to be watched and managed and not cared or respected. This new way of forced thinking made me believe there is no hope and a life without substances. It cemented me further in a vicious cycle I was already having the hardest time breathing. I overdosed more times than I could just arrive, a total of five times than just this past summer. Once in 2016, overdosed at a Phoenix house bathroom. I wasn't found for six hours later by a house clean. Another time was this summer in a church parking lot. If not were Jessica being the Marsh Criminal Justice Reform, I wouldn't be here. She stayed giving me Narcan and chest compressions for the fifteen minutes it took emergency service to show up. There are many times like this that my life should have ended, not dramatically, just gone. Every time something had dropped the ending, not because I deserved it, but because I, not because I hadn't figured out. I was locked up for a series of drug related events, not when something was actually done new for me. I was set to value listening. For the first time in my life I wasn't treated like a problem to be controlled, was treated like a human being who needed to understand. I got around some of the state's best staff and directors with a few of similar backgrounds a lot and I immediately knew something would change. I could easily see it. I could see easily that my background in trauma and substance abuse could be used to help people around me. Validus helped me understand why I used this. They helped me understand that there's a purpose in my life and why I wouldn't discard it so many times before. Kevin Hamilton values as vice president pushed me to stay, to finish what I had started and drove it in my head that I was somebody else to beat this. He and Jessica saw something more for me than I had even hoped for for myself, Something I wasn't going to get by running my problems. But this time to dig deeper into my life, I learned everything I could about trauma diagnosis and addiction. I graduated from God of Mrs Bradford location. Success didn't come easy. It stands as my only successful outcome out of reaction. I went from there to the REGENS 3.1 program, the Resiliency Program. Here individuals can be housed upwards of ninety days receiving treatment for substance abuse and co occurring disorders while being connected to community resources and reintegrated back into society. I utilized the lessons in time to write a detailed memoir of my life, what I say, a memoir of addiction, institution and God. Not because I wanted to be an author because I needed to tell the truth about addiction, about institutions, about God and what happened and survival becomes a way of life for too long. I wanted to bring awareness to the fact that jails, institutions and death are not the only ways I have addiction. Recovery is the option to give you back everything that addiction took and it starts by giving you a chance to reshape your life. Something I never would have been able to learn without these few very special people in my life. Ones that instilled purpose and passion but they no other option but to stay. For the first time I became teachable, not defensive, not guarded, not brace for impact. I stayed long enough to realize that there truly is so much more to life than what I'd settled for. And it came the only time I didn't vote when things felt uncomfortable. The first time I stayed present instead of escaping, I've had stability exist without sat down for me. Then moved four months sober, not because I was scared straight because I was finally shown another way to live. Was I finally more than a case file and came to manage the board to be checked or accounted for. Recovery didn't take the edge away, gave me the direction and that's because healing is possible. Treatment works, compassion works. People change not just when they're ready, but when they're given a chance to be understood instead of punished. When they're treated instead of processed. I didn't stay because it was easy. I stayed because I'm trying to lose my life before staying for God I've missed out in VCR save lives. It's only for places like these that help me regardless where you're at in your recovery, not just when you get clean, that you're sober today. Thank you.

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons]: Thank you.

[Unidentified Director, Recovery Partners of Vermont]: This

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons]: has been absolutely exceptional, and thank you all for sharing with us. The Senate is going to have to leave or the House is

[Ashley Brown]: We have

[Tyler Hughes]: Windsor, so that's

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons]: a wrap.

[Unidentified Director, Recovery Partners of Vermont]: We could go offline, and

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons]: thank you so much for sharing with