Building skills and networks in 2022 with our regional recovery coaches
One of the key activities that NCACH is doing throughout 2022 is hosting or co-sponsoring workshops and skills-based trainings to further expand what our network of organizations can do to improve regional health. Our work together is designed to build capacity and bring value to our partners that can help advance everyone's mutual goals.
In many ways, this capacity-building strategy is about improving the health of our network so every partnering organization is well-equipped to achieve and sustain their objectives. Working with a strong network of partners helps us all more effectively address root causes and improve how our systems do things.
Our first such in-person training in the facilities of our new NCACH Conference Room at 801 Eastmont Avenue occurred on March 30 with members of our regional recovery coaches. Verónica Arroyo-Pérez, Community Resource specialist at Action Health Partners (and the 211 representative for Chelan and Douglas counties), presented a look into the web-based resources of the 211 system and how they can be used as tools to advocate for community needs. About a dozen recovery coaches who are connected with the Alano Club of Wenatchee and the Central Washington Recovery Coalition took part in the training. Our participants had a chance to each grab a laptop and do some hands-on digging, learn what features they could use in their work, and offer feedback to help improve the online resources from 211.
Since 2019, NCACH has helped train just over 100 recovery coaches. One training can have far-reaching ripple effects. Many of those who have received training through NCACH are employed to do recovery coach work for their communities at sites such as HopeSource, Family Health Centers, and Women’s Resource Center. They are all part of the effort that includes advocating for people who are entering recovery, bringing Narcan vending machines to our region (with a location added in Omak -- now the third such site in the region -- at the end of March), and taking action to assist community members in order to promote and sustain their long-term recovery.
Recovery coaches are game-changers who assist others by providing mentorship, help others overcome obstacles, and offer key emotional supports. The recovery coach model is self-directed and individualized, and workshops such as those being offered by NCACH helps those coaches further focus on how they view all of the pieces of what they do toward holistically supporting recovery and the person-centered path of each individual's recovery.
Workshops that build connections such as this one between the region's recovery coaches and the 211 system are an essential part of the ongoing outreach NCACH does with our entire network of partners to become better together in our mutual work, and to build better health for our communities.
