In the News

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8:22. 9.73 WZBG, Litchfield County’s community radio station. Once a month, we get a visit with the folks from the McCall Behavioral Health Network. Our timing is pretty darn good today. Kelly Scherker is supervisor of supported employment and integrative therapies. That is quite a mouthful. It is. And it’s it’s your work is kind of evolved. You’ve been with McCall now for what about seven years you said. Yeah. So what we’re going to talk about today, and it’s kind of great timing because we’re transitioning from winter to spring, is really all about your wellness and the way in which you’re approaching life.

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And for a lot of us, springtime is a good time to strive toward resetting, you know, to get ourselves in the right place, don’t you think?

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It’s the absolute perfect time. You know, our topic for today is marching into wellness, right? So there’s a really fantastic symbolism of marching to the beat of what makes your soul truly happy. And when we talk about wellness and integrative therapies, it’s all about feeding the mind, body, and spirit.

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So how do you do this? What do you do when it’s winter transitioning into spring? And you just be intentional and take that first step in order to bring wellness into your life and then just keep going.

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Now, being intentional. I want to dwell on that for a minute. In other words, this is not something like, I’m in a bad mood and I got the blues and I’m waiting for it to change. Make a change, right? I mean, be active in that process, right?

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You have to. You have to put one foot in front of the other and think of yourself as a kind, gentle drill sergeant, right? It’s that left, right, left, right, left. And with winter transitioning into spring at this point, though, there’s all of these natural occurrences happening all around us that are going to fuel your ability to be intentional.

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It’s helpful. Yeah, some of those things might be daylight savings time, right? At seven o’clock the other night the sun was still shining. Normally I’m in my PJs ready to call it a day. Instead I was putzing around the house doing stuff and it just it felt good and it motivated me to do even more.

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Now for me, I got to wait a little bit because I’m an early morning guy. I’m up at 430 and I’m not kidding this morning, you know, the sun doesn’t come up until after 7 but we had early light a quarter up. That was good for me, for my soul. It’s like, here comes the light.

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Exactly.

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This is what I need in the early part of my work day. So it’s different for all of us, isn’t it?

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That’s a beautiful point. Yeah, the wellness journey for everyone is so very different. And so the tips that we talk about today, if it doesn’t feed your soul, maybe it’ll inspire you to find the things that truly do. And that’s what this is all about. It’s planting that seed and helping you find your way so that you can bloom beautiful flowers, right, as they’re blooming outside as well.

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Goes all the way back to that original document, the pursuit of happiness. There you go. Yes, and for some of us it might be turning off the news for a few days.

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That’s important.

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It’s your day off.

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And I mean I’m an outdoor guy and when I need to reset, I go outside and I wander around my yard or into the pasture next door or down the end of my driveway and look out across the valley. Nature nourishes my soul. That’s kind of my reset. And like you said, everybody’s got something different.

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For some it might be curling up in your sweats and grabbing a book You know or a cup of tea. That’s what I Know yeah, so I guess find your bliss right you have to you have to be aware

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You have to be mindful and you have to allow yourself to feel those powerful energies manifesting around you You know it’s really important that you focus on your wellness because it’s critical to managing daily stress and unexpected life disruptions that come up. We have to have a healthy wellness plan for ourselves and to some degree consistently do those things so that there’s a supportive foundation when we come up against stressors and interruptions to our daily routine.

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Now there’s two different ways I think of managing wellness. One is to have techniques that are planned and that you engage in consistently so that you have that foundation when things come up. Like you said, reading a book, curling up on the couch with your dog, right? Putting on your favorite Netflix show or Hulu show and watching it so you can get that flow, right? Where you are just in the moment doing something that you enjoy. Maybe it’s spending time with

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family and friends every week or it’s going for a run in the morning or after work or going to a weekly creative arts class, right, where you paint pictures and you’re in the arts and you can just really experience a creative flow within you.

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But…

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You cite… I’m sorry, you cite something here called the wellness wheel. Is that what we’re doing here is a wellness wheel?

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Not yet.

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Not yet?

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We’re going to fall into that in just a second.

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We’re getting there. Okay. It’s an incredible tool that everybody can have access to, which is wonderful. But the other technique that I think we really have to get comfortable with is finding those healthy, adaptable ways that we self-soothe in the moment when we’re up against something that those consistent practices aren’t really helping us with, right? So something that I really suggest and like to use are engaging my senses, right?

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So your sight,

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smell, taste, sound, and touch, it helps you feel more comfortable in your body, which is something that anybody in recovery from mental health or addiction is really working on, you know, primarily their objectives are, how do I feel comfortable in my body? How can I get through these triggers and cravings so that I can move forward and not succumb to the disruptions that life presents, right?So just some suggestions might be find something peaceful to look at in nature and

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just gaze away. With this weather, we have ample opportunity to do just that. There are multiple places in Connecticut where there’s waterfalls, right? Like how beautiful is it to go sit on a rock like Southford Falls and look at the water, you know? The water flow makes me, helps me sleep too. And water is really symbolic of like emotional wellness, right? So it’s symbolism.Look it up.

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Find the symbols that really speak to you. You can light an incense or a candle, dab on some essential oil, put on lotion, and just smell those, breathe in those, feel good scents. You can make a cup of herbal tea or coffee, right? Which is definitely my go-to’s but exactly if that’s not your cup of tea right maybe you have a sweet tooth.Yeah chocolate ice cream you can kind of succumb to the

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salty tooth if you want to right or there’s nothing like a big bowl of something really healthy and greeny and leafy right it’s brain food so you know engaging those taste buds is really important. Put on some music, turn it up, have a dance party, sing as loud as you can and just hear those tunes, right? Dance like nobody’s watching. And then one of my personal favorites though is using sensory fidget gadgets to engage your sense of touch. I always seem to have

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Flinkies and crystals in my bag, right? Which is definitely one of my favorites and it just it takes you outside of your body. It really helps shift you from being stuck to feeling unstuck So those are definitely some game changers. I would suggest and to find the ones that work best for you. I tend to drum

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If the music’s on I tend to drum. Do you do air guitar too? I do not. Well I do occasionally but for me I’ve always been percussive. It’s all about the drumming and that’s that’s a way in which I can recharge or refocus.

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I see drumsticks over there too.

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Yeah, exactly. Well, I had a drum kit for years, but it’s still something that helps me get back into that space where I can re-engage and get going. I love it. So, we talked about how quickly this show goes. It sure does.

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And we’ve only got about a minute to kind of wrap up here, because it’s almost 8.30, but taking a look at if there’s a way to really sum up this refresh, this re-approach to wellness as we reach springtime. Let’s do it.

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Lay it on us. All right.

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First off, I encourage everybody to look up the wellness wheel. You can certainly Google it. It has eight quadrants that it assesses so that you can identify which areas of your life you should really prioritize in deciding how to move forward with improving your wellness, right? So there’s that.

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The second is that I just want to highlight a personal story of some clients of ours that we work with. We have a really incredible collaborative relationship with Adventure Recovery. Their premise is that they help individuals strengthen their wellness and recovery by creating a relationship with nature. We have had multiple individuals come to us and give us specific examples of how the coping strategies they learned within those wellness techniques have helped them when they’re by themselves, outside of services, maybe no longer receiving treatment, right?

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And it really just soothes their soul

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and helps them get through those difficult moments. So Adventure Recovery does something called a fire ceremony where they help you learn how to create fire with flint, right? where you can put those things that no longer serve you

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And then there’s a letting go ceremony at a bonfire into the flames and take out something anew. We had a client recently come to us who discharged from a residential facility and he was really struggling, right? With triggers and cravings and whatnot. And he remembered this holistic modality of letting go of something into a fire.

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And he was able to do just that. And it really helped him succeed with maintaining his anxiety, his depression, and abstaining from all substances. So it was a really beautiful, beautiful story. And there’s so many more just like that, you know. But McCall, as an organization, has really focused and embraced this idea of wellness and integrative therapy.

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So currently, we are in the process, and it’s been about a year or so now that we’ve been working on this, to incorporate holistic modalities into all programs across all levels of care, in addition to ensuring that our staff are subjected to this as well, right? So we want to make sure that everybody, no matter what stage of the journey of recovery they’re in, no matter what stage of their career they’re at, that they are being given

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the opportunity to improve their own wellness in whatever way is best for them.

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Use all the tools.

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Exactly. I can’t wait to see where all of this leads and I’m really grateful to be a part of it. Kelly Scherker is supervisor of supported employment and integrative therapies at McCall Behavioral Health Network. Pleasure having you on the show. It’s a pleasure. Thank you, Dale. And I hope you

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Pleasure having you on the show. It’s a pleasure. Thank you, Dale.

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And I hope you continue to find your bliss. I sure will.

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Time for a monthly visit with the folks from McCall Behavioral Health Network. We welcome back Director of Family Services, Leanne Mitchell from McCall.

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Welcome back.

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Hi, Dale. Thanks for having me.

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Glad to have you on the show. And we’re talking about repairing relationships. And you and I had a chance to chat before the interview. And it seems like if there’s going to be a rift or something that seems to be insurmountable with relationship differences, it’s going to happen within families.

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Yes, yes. And a lot of the work that I do with McCall is really centered around families and, you know, more specifically the caregiver-child relationship. But when I talk about some of these concepts, I really want people to think about it as translating into every part of their life. So think about it if you don’t have a child or you’re not currently a caregiver, this really can translate into intimate partner relationships, friendships, coworkers.

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It’s any relationship you can really think of.

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Now you said this also begins at a very early age for us.

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Yes, so what we know about the inherent human need from the moment we’re born is we seek a connection with someone, someone we know who will be there. So as an infant, that’s really, you know, basic needs such as someone to feed us and make sure that we’re held and cradled when we’re having a hard time. And then that continues to happen throughout life.

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So it begins at that early age, and if those bonds aren’t formed and aren’t strong then that can be in trouble down the line.

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Yes, what it can do is set us up for establishing some unhealthy patterns in how we operate within relationships. So, really, if I kind of take it back to some of the basic concepts, when we think about a relationship, I think about this wonderful curriculum. It’s an evidence-based model that we use in a lot of our work with families. It’s called Circle of Security Parenting. And really what it is, is it’s talking about attachment-based work with people.

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Where we’re helping people understand that when you’re in a caregiving role, for example, you are the hands, you are the safe, secure base that a child is always seeking to return to. So when a child feels safe and secure, then they have this want and wonder to go out and explore the world and accomplish things and discover new things. But they also need to know that they can return home, essentially back to the person, the safe secure hand, who’s going to be there not only to celebrate their moments of joy and accomplishments, but also be there when maybe they’re struggling or they need someone to help them kinda sort out an emotional need or a current stressor.

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It sounds like this person is absolutely key to your sense of self-worth.

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Absolutely.

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To your valuation.

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Absolutely.

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And your validation. Yes. And when that’s fractured, when that’s busted, this is when things can go bad and folks can turn to areas that are not so healthy for them.

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Absolutely. So when there’s some inconsistency with the person who’s the hands, and that’s really when we kind of talk about a lot of the work we’re doing at McCall, which is just overall wellness, addressing substance use, any sort of mental health struggles, that impacts the person’s ability to maintain consistency and be a safe, secure base. So the other person, so let’s say the child, trying to operate within that relationship starts to experiencing all these ruptures in the relationship.

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They struggle with how to maybe manage those emotions, or sometimes they’re left with not really sure of who they can return to or how that person’s going to interact with them. And so over time, these ruptures impact our ability of how to operate in a healthy way with not only maybe our caregiver, but with other people in our lives.

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What is it about family relationships, though, when you get a rupture in it, that trying to bridge that divide just seems inordinately difficult than maybe it is with a friend, somebody you’ve, you know, palled around with for years and you get a rift and you find a way through it? What is it about the family connection that you would think, counterintuitively, that repair would be easier because it’s what we all want deeply, isn’t it?

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Yes. Yes. I think a lot of the struggles with repairing ruptured relationships, especially within families, is that it feels like there’s a lot of shame and blame that come around to admitting mistakes, holding ourselves accountable, and also not giving ourselves the time and the space and grace to heal.

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So, for example, in a lot of my work, I do work with situations where maybe the caregiver is struggling with substance use. They need to seek some treatment to get themselves on a better path for their overall wellness and recovery. In, you know, in that situation, maybe the child needs to go and spend some time with another person in the family or out placed into foster care.

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Once their parent or caregiver is ready to kind of come back and what we would say is put their hands back on the circle, sometimes there’s this lack of understanding about some time and patience that needs to happen in order for that repair to happen. We, I kind of hear about it a lot where there’s children who are removed and then they get put back into homes and it’s just this expectation well that’s your mom or that’s your dad or that’s grandma and you should do all these things such as just accept that they’re now you know they’re back home and and you should just move on.

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And really what I try to do and what we try to do with Family Services at McCall is we try to help people understand that this takes time. If you really want to think about it, rupture is often a lack of trust with someone. And once trust is broken, it does take some time to get us back on the circle, so to speak.

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If you’re just joining us, our guest is Director of Family Services at McCall Behavioral Health. Leanne Mitchell, we’re talking about repairing relationships, centering a lot on families here. And believe it or not, we’re down to about the last 90 seconds of our interview.

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I could have you in here for an hour.

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Yes.

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Because as you’re talking about these scenarios, within my own family, different branches of it, I’m like, yep, check. OK, X the box. Yep, there’s that one. That tracks.

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Tangible takeaway. You started, I think, going down that road with, again, time, but let’s sum that up.

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Yes. So, some tangible takeaways are I talk a lot about taking time out for yourself so you can have time in with your child or whoever that is. Really, that means that we take a little time, and this is not the time to place more shame or blame on maybe mistakes we’ve made. This is really time of self-reflection, really trying to take a moment to step into the other person’s shoes.

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It’s also about practicing healthy communication and really being able to express our own needs and boundaries. So when a child misbehaves, it’s not to say that that behavior is okay, but that’s really to say, how can I maybe help you on the circle get back and we can take some accountability, self-reflect, and move on and not continue to make the same mistakes.

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And really just progress, not perfection. These are all just, we’re all on a journey and we’re all working through it. And nobody’s expected caregivers, parents, spouses, partners, coworkers, none of us are expected to be perfect in life. It’s all about really taking the moment, self-reflection, and continuing to progress forward in a positive way.

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Reminds me of a sign that is sitting in the yard on Route 4 as I make my way home every day. It says, try to remember everyone is in a hard struggle. Absolutely, absolutely. Leanne Mitchell, our guest this time. Thanks so much. Love to have you back on this topic.

0:08:47
Oh, thank you. I can talk for hours, so sure, anytime.

0:08:52
I think we all could when it comes to family relationships. Thank you.

0:00:00
Take 22, soft rock 97.3 WZBG. This is kind of an odd month because the third Wednesday of the month we talked with the folks from the McCall Behavioral Health Network. But the third Wednesday was the 15th, so we thought that was kind of a little bit early in the month So we pushed off the interview till today the 22nd and I want to welcome to the broadcast Melissa Clark Melissa is a specialist with McCall BHN. Welcome to the show.

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Thank you. Thank you for joining us appreciation coming in Um, so you’re an employment specialist and also you lead the wellness and fitness groups at McCall, correct? Correct. I got that part right? This is kind of apropos because it’s brand new year, right? We got 2025. It’s a bit of a mental reset, but that can be a little bit tough, you know a lot of uncertainty and that all gets into our head doesn’t it.

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It does it does, and with the coming of the year we have so many changes happening. Not only it’s a new year where people usually create New Year’s resolutions, which also adds a lot of pressure, but there’s a lot of changes going on with the world around us. Domestically, there’s a lot of shifts happening around the world, across seas, there’s a lot of things that are changing. And naturally, some people may adjust well to the change, but there are some who may struggle with some of those changes.

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Or they realize they feel a little uneasy or unsettled, or maybe some anxiety might spike at times, and with the uncertainty of what the future may hold. I know for myself, I usually will feel some form of uneasy, unsettling feeling when there’s a change or there’s a lot of tasks where I feel overwhelmed. What normally works for me is really just realizing how I’m feeling for one, and also focusing on the things that I have control over, right? Life always happens.

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We can’t stop life from going. There will always be situations going on around us. But it helps ground me by focusing, okay, I can control myself. Why am I feeling this way? Let me focus on the duties that I can control. My reaction to situations is what I have 100% control over.

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And that’s also the message I try to share with some of the individuals I serve, whether it’s with employment and their goals for success with the career goals or with their fitness goals or just their overall well-being. I try to, you know, shed light or change their perspective. Like, these are, what are some things you can do to improve yourself?

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It doesn’t control a lot of it, and that’s what really hits us with that uncertainty, kind of stops you in your tracks, because it’s a new emerging situation. You don’t have experience, maybe, in this situation. It’s new to you, so you’re like, I don’t control this. How am I going to handle it? And it can stop you right in your tracks.

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I would imagine fitness, wellness, those groups, that’s got to improve that, doesn’t it? Because even if you maybe don’t have control yet, you feel like you’re doing something, you know? And it gives you some, you know, physical activity is a good release. It’s a good way to get rid of all of that anxiety that builds up in us.

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It is, it is. And I do like to also highlight the fact that I want to have people acknowledge the small successes that they make throughout their journey, whether it’s employment goals, again, or also fitness or wellness.

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And just get used to celebrating the progress and the journey itself becomes very rewarding. And again, progress is not pretty. And I say that. Yeah, it’s not, because most people mostly look at the end result, like, oh, this person had a, it was easy for them.

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Because look at where they are now, but you don’t realize the journey that they had to go through to get to that end result. And you know, it also helps to break down those goals, you know, and even break it down to more tangible, step-by-step, actionable items so it can be more feasible, it can feel more manageable.

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Give yourself some step goals. You know, don’t look at, you know, the highest lofty peak first. Look at those steps along the way so that progress is rewarding.

0:04:33
Correct. And that’s what we do at McCall. And everyone that I work with, I think it helps them to see their progress with those step-by-step goals. Because there will be some setbacks. Setbacks are normal.

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I think we all, whatever we’re working towards, everyone experiences some form of hardship or setbacks or maybe things don’t pan out the way that they planned it originally to be, and that’s okay. Everyone is going through the same similar emotions when it comes to challenges. What’s really important is how you tackle those challenges and asking for help. Sometimes oftentimes people don’t feel comfortable asking for help or don’t know what to ask for or how to ask for help.

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And I think what McCall offers that community of belonging, you know, there’s times where if you don’t know what you need help in, you can just say something. Like, just speak up. Like, hey, I’m struggling this. I don’t know how to help myself. I don’t even know what to ask for, but this is what I’m struggling with.

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This is what I need help in. And I think we do a good job at sharing resources and connecting individuals, regardless of where you are in your journey.

0:05:46
There’s a great quote that I read, and it kind of goes along with this, that speaks a lot to empathy and compassion. It’s that try to remember that everyone is going through a hard struggle. And, you know, everybody’s got stuff. Everybody’s got challenges. And that whole thing about walking mile in somebody’s shoes,

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And you’ll be like, okay now I understand where they’re coming from because I’m in the same place so there is that I think we’re all kind of at that place with this reset here in 2025 Melissa Clark is our guest this morning she’s an employment specialist and does the wellness fitness groups for McCall BHN joining us this morning talking about that new start about resolutions about reaching out for help.

0:06:29
We’ve got about a minute left on the program, just to kind of sum up for people who find themselves in that sit and go situation, first thing here in 2025, about reaching out and setting those small goals.

0:06:40
Exactly.

0:06:42
So folks can reach out to McCall. You guys are easy to get a hold of, mccallbhn.org. Is there a general phone number or a way in which people can kind of get into the person at McCall who can give them the answer they might be seeking in this brand new year? Yes, you can go on our website or you can just call our main office. It’s 860-496-2100.

0:06:59
And just speak, our staff is always there willing to help you, anyone. Full disclosure, I want to say that Melissa became our guest kind of at the last minute. You’ve done a stand-up job.

0:07:11
We so appreciate you coming in this morning. Thank you, and hopefully we’ll have you back again Yeah, but again reach out to McCall BHN a lot of us facing a lot of the same things in this brand new year Yeah, but again reach out to McCall BHN a lot of us facing a lot of the same things in this brand new year We’ll get back to the newsroom with Jeff coming up just half a minute.

0:00:00
We want to welcome to the program this morning, Marisa Mittelstaedt and Josh Licursi from McCall. Good morning to you both. Good morning. Thanks for joining us on the show.

0:00:40
Marissa here is Director of Development and Marketing and Josh as Prevention Facilitator and Digital Marketing Specialist. Again, welcome you both to the program, a week out from Christmas. Yes.

0:00:51
You know, even if you do this holiday well, And like the weather that we’ve been experiencing, it can be a real emotional roller coaster this time of year. Josh, you want to speak to that?

0:01:02
Yeah, great way to describe it. I think, you know, I felt it this morning. We are feeling all the feelings right now. We’re one week away. Some people are already having their holiday celebrations. And this time of year brings on immense feelings of joy,

0:01:16
happiness, togetherness, but for some, it could be strong feelings of grief and loneliness and challenges with family and friends, mental health challenges, physical challenges, financial, it could be a lot. And some people listening right now might be thinking,

0:01:32
I’m feeling all these things. And for some, the holidays come and go and you sit on your couch and you think, man, I am exhausted right now. And then life moves on. But for some, it could be really tough. And some people need extra support. And that’s where we come in at the Paul Vavreau Health Network.

0:01:47
I mean, for every Christmas movie you watch, and of course there’s 1,500 of them right now, there is always some dramatic interplay between characters. And that really is reflective of real life, isn’t it? That’s really

0:02:04
where we are at Christmas time. Yes. Yeah. So it’s a lot. It is a lot. And with those two, it’s like the movie ends and some random person is Santa Claus. That’s how every Hallmark movie ends, pretty much. But with, you know, I think you said it earlier when you played Blue Christmas. Yeah. And, you know, there’s a lot of times we don’t talk about some of the struggles that people experience this time of year.

0:02:28
We don’t talk about the challenges that people have with other people in their family and their own personal challenges with mental health or substance use disorder. And it can just be overwhelming this time of year. And so we’re here to try to help people get through this time of year, but also success and healing beyond.

0:02:49
I think it goes without saying, Marissa, that the holidays amplify our emotions. I think you can speak a little bit to that as we contemplate this time of year, so to

0:03:00
speak. Yeah, absolutely. I think everything that Josh just pointed out is something that I’ve been kind of feeling personally. I came on the radio a few years ago and talked about one of my brothers who has some mental health and substance use challenges in the past two years have been, you know, just

0:03:17
increasingly difficult with, you know, some of the choices that he’s made, but also his mental health. And, you know, recently, you know, things kind of came to a head the day before Thanksgiving where he was kind of involuntarily placed into, you know, a state hospital. And I love this time of year. I love being with my family. I love the traditions of it all. But when you have someone that you care about and you love so much going through one of

0:03:45
the worst moments of their life, it’s really hard. It’s hard to watch. It’s hard to be joyful. I have two little kids at home. Well, they’re not so little. They’re tweens and a teen.

0:03:58
But you want to be that parent and not upset their holiday experience. So it’s hard, right? It’s been very hard. And I noticed myself reaching for more food to eat, or drinking more wine, or doing these things that I know just aren’t healthy

0:04:14
to somehow give me this relief that doesn’t come with those choices, right? So I was talking to our lovely CEO, Maria, who’s been on many times and You know It’s funny because we work in behavioral health care, but like I need to reach out for help

0:04:31
Yeah, you know I’ve come to this point. We’re like I can’t manage this on my own anymore I feel guilty for my decisions and choices that I’ve made and how I handle the situation with him And there’s just so much there’s just so many so many feelings, and so I just ask everyone who’s listening, you know, take this as a sign, right? If you’ve been thinking about reaching out for help, do it. I’m going to. Today I’m going to call at McCall.

0:04:58
We have an EAP assistance program where I can have six free counseling sessions, which is wonderful. And I’m going to call. And I’m going to come back, Dale, maybe six months from now.

0:05:11
I wish you would because this story is heartbreaking and I feel so bad for your family because that’s a, like you said, especially at the holidays because it’s a time of family. And when one of your family is suffering like that and you all have to deal with it, plus you have to do the holiday for your own family, you know, it’s a very conflicting thing and it must be immensely difficult.

0:05:35
Yeah, it’s really hard and especially, you know, with the stress of not knowing what was going to happen to him the day before Thanksgiving, and now knowing that he’s probably going to be in the hospital for Christmas. It’s just heartbreaking. He’s in a different state than my parents and myself, so it’s not like we can easily go see him in all the visiting hours that he has.

0:05:57
I know there’s so many listeners out there that are dealing with similar situations and missing loved ones, whether they’re in a hospital or at home or whatever it is you’re dealing with. But yeah, just reach out. Reach out. McCall’s a great place.

0:06:13
Families are a lot and can be a lot at the holidays. Because the holidays are a lot. And like you said, Josh, it tends to just pile on. So the services at McCall, you guys are all about communication and about compassion and we need both in abundance into this year, don’t we?

0:06:31
Yeah, and at the end of the day, it really comes down to connection and how we are connecting with others and those that are lacking it, how can we provide that connection to them. And so, you know, at McCall, it’s this time of year is our annual appeal, which runs until December 31st, and it’s an opportunity for folks to donate to our services and our promise is that anyone that comes through our door will receive the help they need regardless of their ability to pay

0:06:58
and this year more than ever is, you know, more urgent for people to help support that mission and it goes beyond just the counselor that is connecting with the client or our team in a department. McCall as a whole, it really takes a village to come together because these are our friends, our family members, our neighbors, our colleagues that need our support.

0:07:22
And I think there’s many people out there that have been touched by substance use disorder or mental health challenges.

0:07:29
Marisa Mittelstaedt, Director of Development and Marketing, Josh Licursi is Prevention Facilitator and Digital Marketing Specialist with McCall Behavioral Health Network. Marisa, thank you for sharing that story. You’re welcome. Unfortunately, I think there’s a lot of people out there who can identify with what your family is going through. Yeah. So that’s a, that I I hope you’ve touched on them and they’ll reach out to McCall for the

0:07:52
help and Josh for sharing what McCall can can do to help people and what can be a joyous but ever-challenging time of year. Absolutely. Thank you both and the best of the holiday season and thank you to McCall for all the great work you guys do throughout the year. Thanks, Al. to McCall for all the great work you guys do throughout the year. Thanks, Al.

0:08:08
Thank you.

0:00:00
8:22, third Wednesday of the month, we get to visit with the folks from the McCall Center for Behavioral Health, and our topic remains the same, but pinch-hitting this morning. We’d like to welcome back Maria Coutant-Skinner, who’s of course Executive Director at McCall.

0:00:23
Good morning. Good morning, Dale.

0:00:25
How are you?

0:00:26
I’m well. Welcome to the broadcast.

0:00:28
Thanks for joining us. Great to be here. Our topic remains the same. We are talking about obsessive compulsive disorder. And you know, this is a little bit of an unexpected topic for me in the pantheon of things that we discussed with McCall. I wouldn’t think this would be really, you know, within the sphere. So that’s kind of important to discuss because OCD You think of somebody’s personality as maybe it’s just some quirk.

0:00:51
Right.

0:00:52
But it goes really beyond that. So let’s kind of define it for what it is.

0:00:55
It does. And I appreciate that we’re having this conversation. I think a lot of people associate McCall with addiction recovery and treatment. And what we really want folks to know is that we are a comprehensive health care organization. We take care of folks with all kinds of behavioral health, mental health needs, and we do have expertise in addiction, we really have a lot of expertise

0:01:17
in treating mental health, trauma, really the whole person. And this is an opportunity for us to talk a little more deeply about one aspect, obsessive compulsive disorder, which, you know, I think people oftentimes will say kind of like, oh, that’s my OCD, if they find themselves organizing something or even triple checking that their alarm is set. But really, OCD is a specific disorder that falls under the category of anxiety disorders.

0:01:53
It affects about 1% of the population. It impacts people’s lives to the point where it’s challenging to function. People can and do, but it’s a serious set of issues that really intrude on a person’s life and well-being.

0:02:13
For folks who may remember, it’s probably made most famous by Tony Shalhoub for the show Monk, of which he was this brilliant investigator, but he was constantly in this battle with his obsessive compulsive disorder. And a lot of that was manifested in a light-hearted way, but for

0:02:29
somebody who deals with this, it can be no fun. Exactly. And it’s really characterized by a lot of intrusive thoughts that get caught in a loop. So it could be about, I think a lot of people associate it with germs and contamination and health and hand washing and things like that. And that is a very common way that it manifests. It can be other things too, but it’s really characterized by doubt and intrusive thoughts that are so hard to turn off. So it could be about religion, it

0:02:58
could be about sexual orientation, it could be about, you know, when I was driving home, did I hit an animal or a person? Did I do somebody harm? You know, am I going to harm myself? Am I going to harm others? And it’s so hard to turn off those intrusive thoughts. It’s really suffering. It’s torturous for folks.

0:03:18
Now, the way you just described it, I look a little bit beyond that to possibly esteem issues or possibly anxiety, as you mentioned before, because there are some close correlations there. So is that something when we get into treatment then, you know, we get back to trauma, we get back to pain,

0:03:35
we get back to sores. Exactly. Can it be sores the same way or is it just something in the way some people are wired?

0:03:41
Well, I think one of the things that’s kind of interesting is it’s most likely all of the above, but we don’t have really conclusive science about the root causes of this. We know how to treat it and to kind of take one step back so those obsessive thoughts then lead to, because it is so torturous, then there’s compulsive behaviors that folks use to be able to cope. So it could be going back and re-driving, re-tracing your steps, driving that route, turning the light switch off as you left the house.

0:04:15
Did I turn that oven off? And these are compulsive behaviors, the hand washing, all those things that hopefully the person is seeking to find some relief. But really, essentially what it does is it creates a cage in which people live. And in the beginning, those compulsive behaviors are adaptive. And again, it’s seeking relief and a way to cope.

0:04:39
So if somebody’s on a plane, it’s this very, you know, the young, young subconscious part of our brains that say to us, if you don’t fly anymore and you stay home, you’ll be safe. So ultimately, that’s what our brains and that root anxiety is trying to get us to do, is to stay safe.

0:05:02
How do we break that loop? So how do you get, like you said, that has been the way of seeking belief from this, or it’s a coping mechanism. Do we find another mechanism? Yes.

0:05:15
So there are ways to interrupt those thought loops and there’s really effective therapy models that folks have found relief with and there’s also medications that are incredibly helpful. And I think that’s the overarching message of every single time we come in and talk with you Dale is that a lot of times people are stuck in their suffering and they don’t have to be.

0:05:37
That help is available and it’s effective and that’s really the message. There’s things that we can talk about in the immediate. You catch that thought loop. You can change it. And the other thing is to know that you are not your thoughts. Okay. So you don’t always have to believe your thoughts. We often have, like all of us, have had something that we relate to in this conversation. You can have a thought that’s outrageous or scary, but you don’t have to believe it.

0:06:10
You don’t have to act on it. And that’s what treatment gets people to do, is find some freedom to know how to do that.

0:06:17
So people who suffer from OCD, and we’ve talked about a lot of different illnesses like this as well, that they have a hard time getting people to take it seriously for the seriousness that it is.

0:06:30
And people will try to talk them out of it using logic and reason, which is of course, that seems human and you don’t want to see your loved ones suffer. And so you’re countering that thought loop with…

0:06:43
Let me solve this for you.

0:06:45
Yes, exactly. But that’s unfortunately, that’s not all that effective. So there’s some really good resources if you look at NOCD, International OCD Foundation, NAMI.org or come and see one of us at McCall and especially for loved ones and the person impacted there are ways that

0:07:09
we can help. Maria Cotan-Skinner is executive director at the McCall Behavioral Health Network. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is our topic for this morning. Have we covered it or is there a last word we can leave for somebody who would really like to get some help with this issue?

0:07:25
Well, just one other kind of related piece and that is that we never turn anybody away because of an inability to pay. So if this resonates with you or you know that you’re worried about somebody, call us, talk to us, we can help you. And our annual appeal, which is out right now, make sure that we’re always able to keep that promise for anybody that comes through our door.

0:07:46
McCallBHN.org on the web, or just type in McCall Behavioral Health Network in your search engine and it will come up. Maria, a pleasure having you on the show.

0:07:56
Always a pleasure to be here.

0:07:57
Thank you. Best of the holidays for you, your family, and everyone at McCallBHN. Best of the holidays for you, your family, and everyone at McCallBHN.

0:08:01
Thank you.

0:00:00
822-973-WZBG. Beautiful autumn day. I want to welcome back a guest we’ve had in before. Every third Wednesday of the month, we speak with professionals from the McCall Behavioral Health Network. We want to welcome back John Fecteau. He’s director of mental health there. John, welcome back to the show. Thanks for having me.

0:00:19
Appreciate having you on the show. So our theme for October is embracing change. And you know, it’s emblematic of course for the changing of the seasons that we’ve going on and recognizing that whether we like it or not, things don’t necessarily remain the same.

0:00:35
And we need to embrace that. So again, using the beauty of the fall season and transitions, let’s talk about how we approach that from McCall Behavioral Health Network and the challenges that it presents.

0:00:47
Sure. I mean, this time of year, people definitely, you can’t help but notice change in the air, and it does make us think of that a little bit more. And, you know, the idea is that change is inevitable. You know, we oftentimes like to get kind of stuck in our old ways of dealing with problems and, you know, have quite a bit of fear over embracing any kind of change because of the uncertainty that’s out there.

0:01:09
You know, am I going to be able to do this, whatever it is. And you know, the idea is to try to break out of some of those old patterns and to embrace change. And in order to do that, the idea is to have more of a growth mindset where when you focus on growth and learning instead of kind of clinging to those, you know, the old ways of dealing with problems, you know, it opens up a whole new world for you where you start to see challenges as opportunities and mistakes as learning opportunities and not failure.

0:01:40
And that really just changes your whole idea on how you can embrace change that happens in your life and it’s inevitable.

0:02:00
Another pattern people get stuck in is sort of comparing themselves to other people. So after you adopt a growth mindset, the idea is to set some goals for yourself around your change, small, measurable goals, not these huge goals that you have to wait months and years to accomplish, but these small, measurable goals. And if you monitor your goals, comparing yourself to other people, you’ll sense that change is happening and that you’re actually accomplishing what you set out to accomplish. 

0:02:28
And in all that, a huge thing is making sure that you have supports or whether you need more professional help with that. And that’s where we can come in.

0:02:34
Well, you call it, you know, doing small measurable goals. They call them baby steps for a reason, you know. And setting those goals and allowing it to reward yourself, you know, because change is hard and there is comfort in what you know. And going outside of that into the unknown, that’s where that self-doubt just amplifies, doesn’t it?

0:02:54
It does. It does. And that’s where we get stuck, you know, and setting those small measurable goals. And a huge change in mindset for people is looking at that growth mindset, like I said, is mistakes are not failures. Mistakes are opportunities to learn and grow. And that’s a big intentional mindset shift that is important to make.

0:03:22
And in that, where a lot of supports come in handy, actually it’s the goal of a lot of therapy, is to help people to change that internal monologue. That’s what gives you that sense of, oh, I made a mistake, I’m a failure, versus I made a mistake, what can I learn from that? And that change is where a lot of professional supports come into place.

0:03:36
And you can see what services that we have to offer on our website at mccallbhn.org or if you don’t want to surf on our website, you can just call us at 860-496-2100 and we can guide you through what services might be helpful to support you in that change journey that you’re in right now.

0:03:56
Right, and as people deal with the doubts of trying to make the changes that they know can and will improve for them. One of the things that tends to make us more hesitant to do that is if you’re preparing those goals or comparing those goals to others. Yes. Because your journey really is an independent one, isn’t it? It is. It is.

0:04:15
I mean, you know, you see this a lot in, you know, athletes and a lot of other areas where they really have to, you know, am I shaving seconds off my time? Do I feel better, you know, in my body? Things like that. And that’s really the only person you have to compare yourself to is yourself. So, in order to do that functionally, because it’s easy to say, it’s a little bit harder to do, but in order to do that functionally, that’s why setting those small attainable, measurable goals so you can say, I’m gonna quit smoking.

0:04:41
Not, am I gonna quit smoking for the rest of my life? Am I gonna quit smoking for this week? Sometimes this day, sometimes this half day or hour. However small, you have to break those goals down. That way you get to see your individual accomplishment and in doing so you build your self-esteem which helps you view mistakes as learning opportunities and not failures again.

0:05:03
So it kind of all comes together.

0:05:08
If you’re just joining us this morning, John Fecteau is Director of Mental Health with McCall Behavioral Health Network. The theme this month is letting go and welcoming change. So whether you’ve got a serious challenge to your mental health that you’re dealing with right now or just for all of us who are just looking at uncertain times,

0:05:29
I think this is a helpful exercise in just recognizing that change is going to happen and just roll with it.

0:05:33
That’s it. John, appreciate having you on the show. Thank you for having me. Enjoy That’s it. John, appreciate having you on the show. Thank you for having me.

0:05:37
Enjoy the season and we will talk with you folks from McCall BHN once again coming.

0:00:00
Every third Wednesday of the month we get to visit with the folks from McCall Behavioral Health Network. This is a really, really important month because September is Suicide Prevention Month. Our guest this time is Donna Bielefeld and she’s with the Prevention Department at McCall coordinating the mental health awareness trainings. Good morning Donna.

0:00:27
Good morning Dale. Welcome to the program.

0:00:29
Glad to have you. Thank you for having me.

0:00:30
So you’ve been with McCall for a couple of years now. Couple of years now doing this, yeah. And you do the trainings, and it’s something called QPR. What is that?

0:00:41
QPR is Question, Persuade, and Refer. So we’re teaching people how to ask the question, persuading someone to keep themselves alive, and referring them for services.

0:00:51
So you train people how to do this. We’ve had a lot of interviews with the folks from McCall and when folks are in mental strife, I guess that’s the first thing. You’ve got to find the place where they’re coming from.

0:01:04
Yes, exactly. We go out into the community actually and do these trainings for free so that we can get people to recognize when someone is having a mental health issue and it could relate to something like taking their life by suicide. That hopefully people will recognize all the signs and symptoms or some.

0:01:26
It doesn’t get headline news a lot, but when it does, some of the statistics are pretty sobering right now with this problem.

0:01:34
It’s definitely a problem. Each year, we have statistics that come up on our slides, actually. And the recent statistics for 2023 is that there were 50,000 people that took their lives by suicide in the country. Wow. Yeah.

0:01:51
It’s a high number, and it’s a number we’d like to see decrease.

0:01:54
How do you even begin that conversation? You know, I’m reminded, speaking of just headlines, John Bon Jovi, who a lot of people know is a good humanitarian anyway. They were, I’m sure you know the story, they were filming a video on a Tennessee bridge and he and a staffer were walking and they noticed a woman on the other side of the safety fencing looking like she was contemplating suicide.

0:02:16
And they talked her back. They did. And that headline this month is really well placed.

0:02:23
Yeah, that was quite impactful. The conversation is not one that’s easy to start and we recommend just asking the question. Right. And if you feel like you can’t ask that question by yourself, try to find some support that will help you ask that question. But it’s not an easy thing to go to someone and say, are you considering taking your life by suicide? Or are you very unhappy? That’s another way that people will ask that question.

0:02:51
Why does this matter so deeply to you? It’s obviously something you’re invested in.

0:02:55
So I did not expect to come into this line of work, but my first EMS call was someone close to our family who took their life by suicide. And that was quite a difficult call for, you know, first getting done with an EMR and going out to a call and having that happen. So yeah, I’m passionate about it and that’s got a big part of it.

0:03:22
You know, it seems the most natural question that comes from that revelation that you just shared with us is, why didn’t I see this coming? Yeah. Why didn’t I see the signs?

0:03:32
Yeah. I mean, how do we work from that to a place to where we can be effective in prevention?

0:03:39
Well, and back in that time, we didn’t do these kinds of trainings. You know, we don’t, suicide is not something that a lot of people have wanted to talk about. And Suicide Awareness Month is definitely bringing it

0:03:50
more and more into the limelight. I believe they just had a Suicide Awareness Walks, and you know, those things are really impactful. And if I can get this training out to more and more people, so that they can recognize those signs, that’s a bonus.

0:04:06
So is the training for lay people?

0:04:09
Training is for everyone.

0:04:10
Okay, because I want to differentiate between your fellow colleagues at McCall BHN and the folks in the general public who have an interest in this.

0:04:17
Yes, everyone in our agency takes this training. And so we can go out to, we go out and do it for our agency, we will go anywhere in the northwest corner and do this training. It is a SAMHSA based training so it’s free. I will come out and discuss what we would do ahead of time with people and we pretty much go anywhere. We’re actually going to Cornwall next Thursday. The Cornwall Library has us coming in to do a training.

0:04:47
So we’re out there, we’re posting them on our website, and we’re just really trying to get more and more people to pull us in, call us. You know, if you need help, call McCall, and they’ll get you to me, and I will set you up for the training.

0:05:02
I’ll train three people.

0:05:04
You’ve been doing this for a lot of years, right?

0:05:06
Couple of years.

0:05:07
Do you find when people do take the training that they have a backstory like yours?

0:05:12
Yes, yes, we have a couple of people. That is your motivation? Yes, that is definitely the motivation. I did a training in Harwinton a couple years ago right at the beginning of this and we had a couple people who were concerned about a family member and they came in and took the training. Is it done, you schedule it with the individuals, it is regular intervals, how do we get this training out there?

0:05:32
we try to offer a group training and we can schedule that pretty much anywhere. We have people register through a pre-survey that we offer, and we have a QR code that goes out there, or people can contact me and I’ll get them signed up for it. But we’ve gone out to many different agencies and done this. We’ve done Washington Ambulance, we’ve done a variety of different places.

0:05:56
I’ve done it for Harwinton Ambulance where I’m a member, and we’ll just offer a community training, you know, in Harwinton or at different agencies in Torrington. The chambers let us use their building on several occasions to offer a community training.

0:06:12
Our guest this time, Donna Bielefield, she’s with the Prevention Department of McCall Behavioral Health Network, and she coordinates the mental health awareness trainings including QPR, which is question, persuade, refer. So that is a process that that wisdom is imparted during the training. How long does the training take? Is it a one-day session or several days?

0:06:32
QPR is an hour-long session. Okay. And it can go a little bit longer, especially if it gets personal for some folks. Yeah. We do recommend that folks not take that training if they have recently lost someone by suicide. We want to get the information to you, but if it’s something new, we want to give you a chance to heal and have some calmness in your life, hopefully, before you come to take that.

0:07:00
Be emotionally in the right place.

0:07:03
Yes, exactly.

0:07:04
Final message, if there’s someone out there who’s worried about a loved one or somebody who’s worried about or someone who is maybe in this difficult place where they’re contemplating suicide, just a message for them in this very important month.

0:07:15
Message would be if you’re really that worried call 988. 988 is the key number for people who are considering taking their lives. Are you worried about someone? It deals with vets. It will help you find support for LGBTQ, for youth. So I always recommend go right to 988.

0:07:40
And finally, a number for McCall Behavioral Health Network. Of course, the website is mccallbhn.org, but all that information is there, too.

0:07:48
It is. Absolutely. We have our own little section on the McCall website, so definitely let us know and we will come out and give you a hand.

0:07:55
Donna, thanks for being our guest, and we hope that if there’s folks out there that need to hear this, that they hear and they act on it.

0:08:02
Thank you.

0:08:03
I appreciate it. With that, coming up on 8:30, we’ll go ahead and head straight to the newsroom, get your bottom hour update. bottom hour update. Good morning, Jeff.

0:00:00
All right, L-E-T-S-G-O. All right, it’s always fun to have a newbie in the studio. And usually this would be a thing that Dale would do, doing this lovely interview, our 8:20 interview. Once a month we get a visit from our friends over at McCall, the behavioral health group, and Kyle joins us this morning. Hi, Kyle!

0:00:40
Howdy.

0:00:40
So Kyle has not done this radio thing before, so he was a little bit nervous, and I did mention that we might sing and dance on the radio. You’re for it. But really, nothing to worry about. All right, I’m kidding.

0:00:51
Kyle Fitzmaurice is here and he is with McCall. He’s the Community Engagement Specialist over at McCall, which is a big long name. It is quite a long name. And what is it exactly does the Community Engagement Specialist do, Kyle?

0:01:10
So we work under CLEAR, which is Community Law Enforcement Addiction Recovery. So basically I work in collaboration with our police partners. My team and I respond to overdoses or other medical events similar to that. And we work with folks who are at risk for similar events to that. So a lot of it is outreach, connecting with folks.

0:01:27
So do you get called by the police to come or are you with them or how does that work?

0:01:33
So 12 to 24 hours after some sort of medical event or after the police meet somebody who’s at risk, they’ll kind of bring me in.

0:01:39
Got it.

0:01:40
Yeah. So fascinating. And such an important part of law enforcement and addiction services, right? To get folks that are struggling with addiction, not only, I mean, obviously, they have their troubles with the law, but really to get with somebody that can help them with their addiction.

0:01:59
Absolutely. I think for so long, we’ve kind of only looked and treated addiction with penalizing it. Right. I think for right now we’re trying to take this new step in another direction about support and connection. And it’s been really, really wonderful.

0:02:11
We’ve seen some awesome results from it.

0:02:13
And Kyle’s a local guy. You grew up in Torrington. I did. And how nice that you’re still here in our community making a difference. You know, it’s hard for us parents to keep our kids here. So thank you for that.

0:02:29
All right, so you have a big event coming up with McCall. So let’s talk about that. It’s Overdose Awareness Day. Is that like a national thing?

0:02:38
It is. It’s a national holiday. The actual holiday is on the 31st, but the Litchfield County Opiate Task Force, so it’s not just McCall, is hosting this big event on the 28th this year at Coe Park, 530 to 8. In its overdose awareness, it’s a vigil and it’s a resource fair. So we’re gonna start around 530 with the resource fair and then around seven when it gets dark out, we do a candlelight vigil.

0:03:04
So I think, you know, starting in this work, I don’t have lived experience. I’m not in recovery myself. And I remember thinking when I first started, like, is this an event that I should be going to? You know?

0:03:14
And this event, like, after going to it, it is all about connection and support, and it’s honoring people that we’ve lost from overdose. And also offering a space where people can connect who are still here.

0:03:29
You know, addiction, substance use, overdose, it’s all stuff that’s so taboo and it’s talked about only behind closed doors. And we need to normalize the conversation if we’re going to have any positive change. And that starts with family members, it starts with friends, and that goes a long way.

0:03:43
I think, too, you know, give me a, raise your hand if you have not been in contact or connected with somebody. We all know somebody. Right? We all know somebody. Absolutely.

0:03:57
And whether or not they have had the unfortunate problem of an overdose or just have an addiction issue. Everybody has had some sort of a connection with that. So important. Absolutely. So the other thing about this, so we have a vigil, so we can honor those that we’ve lost, but also the resource fair, I think is such a great idea as well.

0:04:21
You know, I for one, I don’t know how to use Narcan.

0:04:23
I’d love to teach you before we go.

0:04:25
There you go, right? I mean, again, I know that so many places now, it’s available. Yeah, totally.

0:04:31
And it’s available, it’s legal. If you go through McCall or Litchfield County Opiate Task Force, it’s free, or you can buy it over the counter at most pharmacies. And, you know, I think there’s this common misconception that it’s either not legal or it’s unsafe, and it’s super, super safe to use. Everybody should carry it in their first aid kit, in their cars or wherever else. I think the more access we have to it, the less people we’re going to see, we lose from it.

0:04:55
Right. Can you be hurt by it? Like in other words? No, not at all. If I don’t know that you’ve OD’d, but I maybe think that maybe you have, but I don’t know.

0:05:03
I could Narcan myself right now. Yes. It’s not going to do anything.

0:05:07
Okay. Yep.

0:05:09
But that is the lifesaver.

0:05:10
It is. Right? Absolutely. Narcan is like the company name. It’s actually Naloxone. That’s like the pharmaceutical name so sometimes people get confused you know to hear the different names so those are the two.

0:05:18
And it’s not just a it’s a I think back in the day used to be just a shot but not anymore right?

0:05:22
It’s a nasal spray now yeah yeah we’re super easy it’s just like a Afrin or anything else you put it up their nose and you hit the button. So you do suggest that we keep it hand yeah absolutely never know. Right and I think we you know we all have this image of what a person who might be using substances looks like and it’s never correct. It’s so often that we have this person, you know, because I respond to these overdoses and I’m meeting people who, some of them are businessmen, some of them are in these beautiful homes and some of them are not. And addiction touches everybody. So we have to be prepared for that when it happens.

0:05:54
So it’s such a good point too, right? Because we can be fooled. Actually we’re fooled all the time.

0:06:00
It’s a human thing, a human condition to have biases and I think we have to talk about them if we’re going to handle them appropriately.

0:06:08
Such a great point. Now, why are people overdosing? I mean, if you open the newspaper, listen to the radio, I mean, Matthew Perry was another good example. It’s horrible and it’s so heartbreaking. It really is. So what is happening? Is it the strength of the substances that they’re using? Is it just despair and all of the above?

0:06:32
It’s such a nuanced question. I think a lot of it can be person-dependent.

0:06:35
Look at me with a nuanced question for Kyle.

0:06:38
But I think there are very common threads. And those common threads are, one, our drug supply right now on the street is unregulated and it’s unsafe. And two, people are using alone because of the stigma around substance use. People don’t want to talk about the fact that they use drugs. They don’t feel comfortable to admit to the fact that they use drugs and because of that they use behind closed doors and they’re more likely to pass away because of it.

0:06:58
But there’s so much that we can do to combat that. You know, as people who maybe don’t use drugs but care, one is carrying a naloxone, but two is like be open-minded and non-judgmental. When we lead with empathy, like so much can happen. You know, it’s hard to know what to do or what to say. Not everybody’s a therapist, right? But when we can lead and show that we care, I think that’s a step in the right direction for sure.

0:07:23
Absolutely. Anytime you can be supportive and be there for somebody, life is a lot easier when you’re going through it with somebody next to you.

0:07:31
That’s right.

0:07:32
On whatever level.

0:07:33
Absolutely. Right? And we don’t have to understand to be empathetic. I’ve never been in those shoes, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t care.

0:07:41
Exactly. Good point. All right, so the time goes so quickly, friend. So, okay, this event, the vigil, everyone is welcome to join. You don’t have to necessarily have the direct connection, but if you do for sure, I think you’ll find that this is a supportive thing. Yes.

0:07:57
Just give us the quick details on the event again.

0:07:59
It’s going to be August 29th, 5:30 to 8:00. We’re going to have the resource fair and then the candlelight vigil. We should have about 17 or 18 folks who are going to be there as providers. And it’s not just for people who use substances, you know, it’s family members, it’s loved ones, like we’re not, you’re not alone in this. And I think it’s important to get care for yourself too.

0:08:16
We are so lucky to have the McCall Behavioral Health Group in our midst. Folks like Kyle and Maria and everybody that comes in through these doors. You make a huge difference in our community. We thank you and we encourage you to join in the vigil or the resource fair on the 29th.

0:08:38
Oh, one more plug. If people are looking for Naloxone, you can call McCall at 860-496-2100. Ask for clear. I can train you in two minutes and it’s free.

0:08:47
Boom, good job. All right, you guys, Kyle’s first on-air experience. I think he did okay, don’t you? I think so. I hope so. Thanks, Kyle.

0:08:57
Come back again. It’s already 8.30 and time to go back to the newsroom.

2

0:00 Checking the calendar, it’s the third Wednesday of the month. And that’s when we catch up with the folks from the McCall Behavioral Health Network. We want to welcome back to the program someone who’s been part of our guest group before, Alicia Peterson, who is a Family Recovery coach at McCall. Welcome back to the show, Alicia.

1

0:31Thank you.

2

0:32 Thanks for joining us. A couple of things we wanted to talk about. Wanted to talk about your work as a Family Recovery Coach, and also an event coming up next week called the second annual Trails to Wellness. Yes.

2

0:46 You’ve been with McCall now for a couple of years, right?

1

0:49 I have. A little over two years in June. Okay, and you were a client before that? Oh yes, I have eight years of continuous sobriety, which July 13th, and before that I was with McCall’s for probably four years.

2

1:08 Well congratulations. Thank you. And great work on that, and so glad McCall could be part of that solution for you. Tell us about your work as a Family Recovery Coach. What do you

1

1:21 do here in working with families? I meet with family members who are struggling with navigating a relationship with someone who is either currently using substances or has stopped using substances or isn’t ready for change. And I teach them a little bit about the psychoeducation behind substance use disorder and mental health conditions, the stages of change and what those look like.

1

1:52 Right. I teach them about effective communication, which could help their loved one gain some motivation towards wanting to make a change. And I also help them create self-care and wellness plans for their own recovery, because as we all know, substance use disorder is a family condition.

1

2:14 It affects everyone in its wake. So, I think it’s important for families to know that it’s just as important for them to get well as it is for their loved one. And it’s not a straight line, is it?

2

2:27 Absolutely not.

1

2:28 No, it’s different for everyone. Recovery in itself is very individual.

2

2:35 So one of the things I imagine that you have to be on your A game all the time when you’ve got a family member who is battling this is making sure that you’ve got the strength to be at your best.

1

2:50 Absolutely. You can’t pour from an empty cup.

2

2:53 So self-care.

1

2:54 Yes, yes. Which is what our event, Trails to Wellness, is all about. We think it’s so important to introduce people in the community to the different wellness techniques and organizations that are within our community. And that’s what the event is all about and people have a chance to try things out hands-on and if they decide that is something they want to incorporate in their usual routine then they can

1

3:23 And they can also work with me to create to help look into different options now

2

3:30 This is going to be going on Thursday afternoon into the evening right in downtown, Torrington

1

3:36 Yes, Franklin Square this year.

2

3:39 Okay, well used space down there.

1

3:42 I love it.

2

3:43 So what are people going to find if they go down there? What kinds of activities, what kinds of options might be open for them?

1

3:50 Okay, so Trails to Wellness is self-care and the many pathways to recovery. So, it’s not just for people who have substance use or mental health conditions. It is for anyone in the community who would like, even children, who would like to, you know, just come down and do some fun

1

4:09 things. We have a community canvas painting. We have mandala paintings. We have aromatherapy. We have gardening. A nutrition person. We have tarot card readings, crystals, a life coach, yoga, you name it, it’s there.

2

4:32So you can talk to these folks, find out if maybe some of these things might help you in your own self-care. Absolutely.

1

4:38 Yeah.

2

4:39 Yeah. And that’s going to be going on Thursday, July 25th, going on from 4 to 7 down at Franklin Square. In your own situation, being at your best, important for your work and in your personal life as you’ve been through a little something in your family just shortly ago and still are

1

4:58 really but have turned something of a corner. Yes, back in March of March 5th my daughter turned 12 years old, and she told me her neck hurt and I looked at it and being a cancer survivor myself, I knew that something just wasn’t okay. So, we began with the going to doctors and I was advocating for her and pushing for them, no, we’re not going to just watch this,

1

5:27 she needs care right now. And we found out that she had stage two Hodgkin’s lymphoma and she’s been going through chemotherapy ever since. We found out last week that she will be in remission at the end of the month.

2

5:47 Wonderful.

1

5:48 Yes. Wonderful. But taking care of myself throughout this whole thing has been so important.

3

5:55 And your advocacy for her health. Oh, yes.

2

5:59 Which transfers to your work. Absolutely. If you’re a family member of someone who is

1

6:04 battling substance, your advocacy. Yes, it’s so important. Without that, we probably would have been in a worse situation. So, it is so important to learn to advocate for yourself and taking care of yourself allows you to do that.

2

6:22 Our guest this morning, if you’re just joining us. Alicia Peterson is a family recovery coach with the McCall Behavioral Health Network. Her event, Trails to Wellness, is going on just over a week from now, Thursday, July 25th in downtown Torrington. We’ve got about a minute to sum up. Let’s talk about your work and if there’s someone who’s got a family member that is dealing with substance and they’re trying to stay in the fight with them.

1

6:51 Some final words of encouragement for them. Take care of yourself. If there is any ever a time that you feel overwhelmed, I’d be more than happy to walk alongside you and help connect you to different resources in the area and just walk with you through the journey. I can be reached at 860-496-2100 anytime if we could help.

2

7:21 Thanks for being our guest and for sharing the story about your daughter. We are glad that she has turned a happier corner health-wise. We hope for full and complete recovery and no more of this cancer stuff for her so she can enjoy her life.

1

7:36 Thank you very much.

2

7:37 Alicia, thanks for being our guest.

1

7:39 Thank you for having me.

2

7:40 With that, we’ll head back to the newsroom.

2

0:00

At 97.3 WZBG, third Wednesday of the month. A regular visit with the folks from the McCall Behavioral Health Network. This time, Executive Director Maria Coutant Skinner is our guest. Maria, good morning. Good morning. Welcome to the show.

2

0:21

Great to be here. Thanks for joining us. Looking at the calendar, this is Pride Month. Looking at the calendar, this is also Juneteenth. So at the intersection of those two big events, it’s kind of going to be our topic here this morning.

2

0:36

So our topic really, because McCall helps folks meet challenges, and there are unique challenges to the groups that are in our focus today between Juneteenth and also Pride Month. So let’s talk about, of course, the luck of having you in here on a day when we have both Juneteenth and Pride Month, and really the intersection of those two important events.

1

0:59

Right. Thank you. It is a really special day, and I think we look at the intersectionality between Pride, which celebrates all of the progress that the LGBTQ community has made in terms of asserting human rights and celebrating what it means to be part of that community. And certainly, Juneteenth is a really important day and moment in our history to commemorate where finally the Emancipation Proclamation made it to Texas and the freedom finally for slaves was celebrated and recognized.

1

1:41

And there is a lot of intersectionality there, and there’s also, we have to look at what it means in communities where particular folks are marginalized and oppressed, and that all has to be part of the story. It has to be what we look at in our history, and how that all connects to a sense of community and belonging today.

2

2:05

So when we talk about Pride Month, it sounds as much like an aspiration as a celebration, and that is the challenge for these folks. And that gets into the whole thing of belonging, being part of this fabric of America.

1

2:18

I love the way you said that, because I think it is both inspirational and aspirational. I think as far as we’ve come, there’s certainly a lot of work to do. I also recognize I am a white, straight woman here talking about Juneteenth and pride. I want to make sure that I have a very humble posture in what I’m saying.

2

2:44

That world of privilege we live in.

1

2:45

Absolutely. And also, I think, you know, there is privilege, there is power, and we have to recognize that and know that there is work to be done in an ally role. And recognizing that. And that doesn’t mean, like, nobody’s stepping in front of me in line to get any kind of benefit or, you know, kind of a month or a day.

1

3:13

That’s not taking anything away from me. And so it’s important for me to recognize that and also look for ways that I can move that conversation forward.

2

3:23

And so I’m so glad you and I are talking about it today. When we talk about moving the conversation forward, that lack of knowledge of these communities I think holds us back. Because on the one hand, if you’re trying to bridge the gap and trying to understand, you’re afraid of coming off, at least in my own personal case,

2

3:43

you’re afraid of coming off as being insulting or insensitive because of the lack of knowledge. And we also, we’re living in a time of cultural and social polarization. It started off political, it’s dribbled down to our social fabric as well.

1

3:58

And I think that makes the challenge even more daunting. I think it is, and it also is an opening for us to have conversations and I think especially if we belong to a group where historically there has been privilege and power that we have work to do. That that is incumbent upon us to do that research to understand where that privilege is and what we can do.

1

4:20

Because if we really want to build a community that is inclusive and that is promoting health and wellness and belonging for all, then people who have traditionally been in positions of power and privilege really have to do that work and communicate that sense of belonging and community to one another, and especially to populations that have traditionally been oppressed. For that latter population, what do they need to bring to the table? For our population, those of us who are in those positions of power and privilege,

2

4:52

what’s our leading role in bridging this gap?

1

4:55

Yeah, so I think it is like, it’s really kind of basic. I think not only kind of making sure we’re doing our homework and getting informed, but there’s also ways that we can communicate belonging in a million little ways. So I think it’s invitations to sit down, to have conversations. And I think we also have to recognize that is a basic human right and a human need to feel connected.

1

5:23

And when we don’t, when we feel lonely, when we feel isolated, there are major consequences to that. I think we’ve talked a lot about the consequences to our mental health, where there’s anxiety and depression, and there’s a straight line from feeling lonely to having all of those other mental health consequences.

1

5:43

There’s also physical health consequences. And I would encourage folks to look at the Surgeon General’s report on the impact of loneliness because we’re also talking about heart disease. We’re talking about dementia. We’re talking about premature death. So this is really serious.

1

5:58

And it is incumbent upon all of us to do that work, to communicate belonging to one another.

2

6:05

There have been some studies, and I’ll keep this part of it brief, but there have been some studies that show over 60% of us are suffering from some degree of loneliness, that we don’t have enough human connection. And ultimately, as we talk about the groups that we’re highlighting today for Juneteenth and for Pride Month, it is that connectedness, that feeling of belonging that we have to try to restore.

1

6:26

Absolutely. I think it is part of the human condition. You can be in a crowd or even with one other person and still feel lonely. Or you can be alone and not. So what is it? Where do we find that connectedness?

1

6:42

I think when there is representation, I will give a quick example. I will give two quick examples. One was a work function. It was a bunch of colleagues from a bunch of other organizations. I was at, it was a business lunch, and people were kind of milling about, and I was a really shy kid. I didn’t know where I belonged, and so I’m now 55, and those kinds of feelings can come back up for me really bad. So everybody sat down.

1

7:17

It felt like everybody else knew where they belonged, and they sat next to somebody, and they were talking. I didn’t know anybody, and I looked around, and it was that lunchroom feeling that I had, like, in middle school, like, oh, my God, where do I go? Who do I sit with?

1

7:28

And there was this woman named Sam Quinlan who said, Maria, you can sit right next to me, and I can, to this moment, recall that feeling in my body where do I go, where do I belong to, now I’ve got an invitation and I feel like I can belong and that is relief.

1

7:46

That was a tiny example. There’s much bigger, much more profound examples of both feeling a part of and then feeling part of. And we all can make that kind of an invitation to say, come, I see you, sit next to me.

2

8:04

Our guest this morning, Maria Coutant Skinner, executive director at McCall Behavioral Health Network, great example of something that’s a fleeting moment, but for these groups we’re talking about today, it’s a day-to-day reality in many ways.

1

8:16

That’s right.

2

8:17

So really powerful stuff.

1

8:18

So a rainbow flag is that same kind of invitation, I see you, you belong here. Representation, so at McCall, we have clinicians, we have therapists, we have staff, we have peers that are representative of everybody in our community. So when you walk into a space and you feel like there’s somebody who can, who looks like you or can relate to your life

1

8:41

experiences, or who is being intentional, even if I don’t have the same exact experience, but I’m going to be intentional about communicating that I see you and you belong here, that matters. That same sense of relief, like I feel seen, I can feel comfortable, I can feel safe, that is a great foundation for healing and positive mental health experiences.

2

9:05

Maria, great to have you as our guest this morning as always.

1

9:08

Delightful, thank you.

2

9:09

Once a month we get to chat with the folks from the McCall Behavioral Health Network health network right here on 97.3 WZBG and you can find them of course online health network right here on 97.3 WZBG and you can find them of course online

1

9:18

mccallbhn.org. Have a wonderful rest of the day. Thank you, Maria. Thank you.

If you want to learn more check out an interview with Dr. Kat Moskowitz on being an ally to the LGBTQ+ community.

2
0:00:00
The third Wednesday in May came a little bit early this year because May 1st was a Wednesday. So the third Wednesday we get a visit with the folks from the McCall Behavioral Health Network and today we want to welcome back John Fecteau. He is Director of Mental Health. John, welcome back.

1
0:00:24
Thanks for having me.

2
0:00:25
Thanks for joining us on the program. May is Mental Health Awareness Month and the theme this year is “Take the Moment” to try to destigmatize mental health by normalizing the practice. You know I feel like every time we think about mental health we’re looking through the lens of the experience of the recent pandemic because in so many ways that put mental

1
0:00:48
health into stark relief, don’t you think? It did, it did. It definitely brought it to the forefront and I think it got a lot more people talking about it as just a regular conversation during the day, which is very different than it was prior to the pandemic.

2
0:01:02
Well, I think all of us had some kind of mental health challenge during that time. So maybe that helps us realize the folks for whom it’s a chronic or more severe problem gives us a little inkling of what they’re dealing with. It does, it does. It gives you a little bit a little bit more empathy for folks that have been struggling with this for a

2
0:01:23
long time. The statistics show we’re looking at one in five U.S. adults experiencing a mental health issue nationally.

1
0:01:34
It’s a big number. It’s about you know 20 percent, give or take, maybe a little more, that experiences some degree of amental health challenge. And among that group, only about half actually get help. And for that half that gets help, you know, there’s another sort of striking statistic it usually takes 10 or 11 years for someone who first starts to experience symptoms to the point where they actually get treatment, which is a long time. And it explains a lot of addictions,

1
0:02:12
and it explains so much, but it just goes to show you that if you’re standing in a large room and you look at 20% of those people and only half of that is getting the help that they need. It’s pretty scary.

2
0:02:26
You get a lot of it, seems like it’s sporadic, but with government, be it state government, be it federal government, every now and then, mental health issues will crop up and it becomes a priority or there’s proposed new funding or something like that. And then it goes away again,

2
0:02:43
and we just don’t see as much of it. And as we know from mental health and the struggle with it, this is not something that is done in a short burst of time. This is something that requires a long-term investment of resources and patience.

1
0:03:00
It does. Some of the reasons why people don’t actually get help is a stigma, but also the cost of it, the access to it, and just misunderstanding about what’s available for treatment out there. And plenty of people struggle with a loved one that has a mental illness and they don’t

1
0:03:21
know what to do. Because still, even though we’ve come a long way, there’s still quite a bit of stigma around it. And you have to look at getting treatment and getting help for mental health conditions is definitely a marathon, not a sprint.

2
0:03:35
It’s funny how the common culture sometimes can raise awareness, like Elmo saying, how’s everybody doing? And suddenly the whole nation’s listening. You know, I mean, it’s a good thing. You know, you get a simple, fuzzy character, popular character like Elmo asking

2
0:03:49
about how everybody’s mental health is doing. So when we talk about a loved one that we know is battling, how can we help?

3
0:03:57
What can we do?

1
0:03:59
Well, I think the first two things that you always have to take into consideration is that it’s a process. You have to both be patient, which is sometimes really hard to do when you’re watching somebody struggle, but also be mindful of your own mental health needs and support during that period. Change is a process. No matter what you’re trying to change if you’re trying to quit smoking or lose weight, it’s a

1
0:04:27
process to get you there. And, you know, generally speaking, the system, our mental health system, has made such advances over the years in how we approach change. We see it as a process now. There’s these things called stages of change, right, where, you know, they go from a pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance. And each one of those is a distinct part of somebody’s change process. And so it goes from not recognizing that I have an issue at all to maybe there’s something

1
0:05:00
going on to there is something going on but I don’t know what to do about it to now I’m getting help and then in maintenance you’re maintaining those gains. But helping somebody through that process can be really sticky. And so you always have to make sure that you A, keep up hope because at the end of that, there is recovery as possible. And also that there’s other resources out there to help support you through that as

1
0:05:23
a family member and as an individual suffering with mental health conditions.

2
0:05:27
And don’t you have to meet them where they are? Like you said, those components along the way, whatever stage they’re in, they might be in that stage of realizing, I have a problem, but I don’t know what to do about it. That could go on for months, depending upon the person.

1
0:05:40
Oh, it could go on for years.

2
0:05:41
And you’ve got to hang in there with them.

1
0:05:42
You do. And as treatment providers, that’s one of the things we do, is if I try to treat somebody as if they’re in an action stage of change, but they’re in a pre-contemplative stage of change, I’m just going to push them away,

1
0:05:53
because they’re not ready to hear that. So I have to meet them where they’re at. And when you look at Motivational Interviewing, which is, again, a staple of our treatment process now, is it’s about not pushing from behind or pulling from the front.

1
0:06:05
It’s about sort of walking side by side with the person at their pace at that time.

2
0:06:09
If you’re just joining us, John Fecteau is our guest this morning. We’re talking about May Mental Health Awareness Month. John, the Director of Mental Health for the McCall Behavioral Health Network. So let’s talk about some of the tools, resources

2
0:06:21
that McCall’s got that can bring to bear because you guys have a lot of tools in the box that can meet people where they are. Yes, we do. And we have embedded, as our whole service system has gone from more of an illness-based model to more of a recovery-based model, our services have embedded APRNs that work with folks around medication management, to our outpatient, intensive outpatient, our outreach programs, and our mental health group homes.

2
0:06:59
We have one in Torrington and two in Waterbury that really focus on independent skill building

1
0:07:05
to move people from, say, a hospital setting back to a more independent setting.

2
0:07:10
So we shine a light on mental health this month of May, but this of course is an annual problem. It goes on year after year every month of the year and we thank you folks at McCall for what you bring to bear to help people deal with it and to get to the best part of their

1
0:07:25
lives. Thank you and if you’re looking for services you can you know reach out to McCall at 860-496-2100 even to ask some questions about what to do and you can also find us on the website at our website at McCall Behavioral Health Network and NAMI-CT is a great resource too for family support and education around this this issue.

2
0:07:50
John Fecteau is director of mental health for McCall Behavioral Health Network. John, thank you for your time and for all the great work you guys do down at McCall.

1
0:07:56
Thank you for having us. We’ll see you next time. Bye. Thank you for having us. We’ll see you next time. Bye.

0:00:00
8:22 FM 97.3 WZBG. Springtime brings a lot of annual events. In this case, it’s a semi-annual event, and we’re taking a different approach with our friends from the McCall Behavioral Health Network. We want to welcome to the microphone this morning from McCall, Chelsea Kapitancek and Joshua Licursi. They’re both prevention facilitators and today’s topic, Drug Take Back Day. Good morning to you both. Good morning. Thanks for having us.

0:00:35
Thank you both for joining us. So as prevention facilitators, you guys are out there spreading the word, so let’s talk about drug take back. We’ve been talking about it here at the radio station, but we really can’t remind people about this enough.

0:00:46
Let’s set it up. What’s it all about? Sure, so National Drug Take-Back Day is for prescription medications and it happens twice a year usually the last Saturday of April and the last Saturday of October and it really serves as a big reminder for people to clean out your medicine cabinets, find any unused, expired, or unwanted medications and visit your local collection site. You could drop them off, it’s completely anonymous and then we’ll dispose of them.

0:01:10
So this Chelsea just to add to it, this kind of goes hand in hand, really, with part of the mission of what McCall’s all about.

0:01:19
Absolutely. So, you know, the saying, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. So that’s a big thing with Drug Take Back Day. It’s a great way to start that spring cleaning and really do something great for your community. It’s a really great community-driven initiative with participation from a bunch of different organizations and community members, which is really key for sustainability, which is what we’re all about.

0:01:42
So Josh, you’re part of the Torrington Awareness Prevention Partnership, while Chelsea, I’ve got on your titilization, Northwest Corner Prevention Network. Let’s talk about that collaboration and how we get the word out, Josh.

0:01:54
Yeah, so McCall houses a couple coalitions. So yeah, I work in Torrington and then Chelsea in the Northwest Corner. And so my coalition we’re serving strictly Torrington residents and but both of our missions are the same of reducing substance use primarily focusing on youth and we help coordinate this event with a lot of other local organizations so the Torrington Health District we also have the local police department and this is usually across the board throughout the state this community collaboration for this event. And really, prevention is the focus, and so we’re preventing having medications get in the hands of children or people that shouldn’t be using those medications. Really, the prescriptions that are assigned to you are just for you, and so by able to clear out your cabinet and safely disposing of them, you can keep other people out of harm’s way and ultimately accidental ingestion or accidental overdose.

0:02:47
And Chelsea, for your part, it seems like you’ve got more geography to cover.

0:02:50
A lot more geography to cover, but that’s okay. So the Northwest Corner Prevention Network covers the six towns that make up the Region 1 school district. So we’ve got Canaan, North Canaan Falls Village. We have Sharon, Kent, Cornwall, and Salisbury. So a lot of geographic area. But the coalition work is great because it really offers us the opportunity to offer those targeted prevention services within different geographic areas so we’re able to be more intentional and really bring our best to each area.

0:03:20
Part of the problem with medications is they tend to be relatively small. We tend to put them in a cabinet and close the door and then it’s an out of sight out of mind thing. And it’s a little bit like when you find old food in your refrigerator you’re like oh my gosh this has been outdated for a long time. So let’s talk about why it’s important to safely dispose of these medications. And we already talked about risk with children and everything, but it really goes a little wider than that, doesn’t it?

0:03:44
It really does. So the goal is to reduce access, which is a huge part in prevention, because by reducing that access, we’re reducing all sorts of things, including, like Josh said, those accidental overdoses, accidental ingestion. But also properly disposing of medication is really great for the environment. Just flushing medication down a toilet or throwing it in the trash is really not great for the waterways or soil. So part of this initiative is also looking out for our environment and our community at large.

0:04:14
It’s always amazing to me how drugs show up in a water supply or show up in septic waste and the like because really the amount of volume of it is amazing. So for people who have not taken part in a drug take-back day, let’s talk about what they can expect at collection points.

0:04:31
Sure. So what you’ll do is you’ll clean out your medicine cabinets, you’ll box up your items, you’ll bring them to a location near you. You can actually go on DEA.gov slash take-back day to find your local collection site. And with McCall, our affiliated locations, we’re going to be in Torrington, Waterbury, Danbury. I’ll be at Troop B Barracks in Canaan for the Northwest Corner Prevention Network. We’ll also be in Harwinton, but there’s more than just those locations if you just look online on that website. And we’ll also offer some additional prevention resources and other goodies at select sites, so definitely check it out. And our nation is definitely just a wash in pharmaceuticals.

0:05:07
Let’s talk about kinds of things that are accepted, Josh.

0:05:15
Yeah, great question. So you can bring any kind of prescription pills, patches, and liquids as long as they’re tightly sealed in the original containers. You can also bring any vet prescriptions as well that are not being used. Some things you can’t bring though, no aerosol containers, no syringes, illicit drugs, or equipment with lithium batteries.

0:05:34
One of the things I remember about this too is this is a no questions asked event. Yes. We’re not interested in how you got whatever medication or what you’re using it for. We just want to get it safely disposed of. Yeah. So that’s that is key to all of this. And when we talk about two safe storage options and ways to get rid of things, I’d never heard of Deterra. Yeah. Yeah, that’s a new one to me so explain what that’s about.

0:06:05
Yeah, Deterra is wonderful. We’re big fans of it here at the McCall Prevention Department. So what it is, it’s like a little bag that’s filled with this activated charcoal and what you do is you just open the bag, you fill it with warm water on the back of the bag it has clear instructions of how many pills or how many patches or how much liquid can go in there. You put the medication in the open bag, you fill it with warm water, you seal it, you shake it up and you throw it away.

0:06:29
So that way any medication that’s in there is going to be deactivated first of all, so no one’s able to access it after it goes in the deterra. And it’s sealed, so any medication that’s in there isn’t going to get into the trash and therefore the waterways and soil. So we get rid of that medication, no one can access it that’s not meant to access it, and our environment is a little bit better off.

0:06:48
All right, yeah, that’s a great method. And while Drug Take Back Day only occurs twice per year, we do know that several locations, like Torrington Police Department, they have a drop box for outdated medications 24-7-365.

0:07:04
Yeah, same deal. You can go any time, in Torrington specifically, and you can drop off your medications completely anonymous. You can just walk in, walk out. And we know this is an initiative that a lot of towns across the state and across the country are trying to enact. So you can also just look up to see where your local collection site is for that year-round drop-off.

0:07:20
Our guests this morning, if you’re joining us, Josh Licursi, Chelsea Kapitancek, joining us are prevention facilitators from McCall Behavioral and Health Network.

0:07:32
You had something you wanted to add? Yeah, I just wanted to add that people can look up their specific location for those drop boxes. It’s on ct.gov under the Department of Consumer Protection’s page. It has a little map so it’s really user-friendly and an easy way to just see on any other day other than this the last Saturday of April and October if you wanted to bring your medication to a drop box you can find that out.

0:07:53
Well I know there’s a lot of health and law enforcement organizations and this is a huge collaboration and a national effort so you know thanks McCall BHN for everything that you guys are doing to help get this done.

0:08:04
Absolutely, thank you. Thanks for having us and letting us share the word.

0:08:07
We appreciate your time this morning. You guys have a great day and great success for Drug Take Back Day coming up real soon. Thank you both. and great success for Drug Take Back Day coming up real soon. Thank you both. Thanks, Dale. All right, with that we’ll head back to the newsroom. Hey there, Jeff.