Connecticut Turning To
Youth and Families (CTYF)
Working To Make Youth-Guided,
Family-Centered Recovery a
Reality!
CTYF INTRO VIDEO
The Country Has
Moved Towards a
Recovery Paradigm

Think Sustained Recovery

Think Natural Environment for Each Person
and Family Supports

Think About Linking Addiction Rx with
Existing Communities of Recovery

Think About Incorporating Strategies for
Building Relationships Between Local
Communities of Treatment and Local
Recovery Support Groups
Are You on Board?
Or still on the Platform?
Are You Closing The Gap By
Reconnecting the Treatment
Experience to Recovery?
What We Do:
1. Peer-Based Recovery Advocacy
2. Connecting With Communities
3. Peer-To-Peer Supports
Peer-Based Recovery Advocacy:
 Increasing awareness of the existence of the millions of youth and families in
sustained recovery and promoting the positive impact they can have on our
communities and healthcare delivery systems
o
Methods: Recovery Videos, Online Recovery Stories, Interactive Polling, etc. – “Putting
A Positive Face On Recovery”
 Promoting positive legislation at all levels to widen the door of entry to recovery with a
focus more on what happens before and after primary treatment
 Recovery support across the lifespan and the State (i.e. CTYF & CCAR Work
Together, and CTYF Works To Unify The Grassroot Family Voices)
Community Connections:
 “No single family, program or system has the capacity to solve the
growing and complex problem of adolescent substance abuse alone.
Collaboration at the home, schools, neighborhoods, towns, cities,
and state levels must occur to create true systems change for better
prevention, treatment and recovery access. We must nurture the
supports in areas where they don’t exist now!”
– Donna Aligata on Environmental Strategies

CTYF Methods: Recovery Film Festivals, Online Community Creation, Mapping Of
Existing Youth and Family Recovery Assets, Local Strategic Planning For Community
Coalitions, and School-Based Prevention and Recovery Support
Peer-to-Peer Supports
 Lived recovery experience connects
peers using the power of lived recovery
experience to drive open conversations
and messages of hope for recovery
 Positive peer support fosters culture
change and is contagious for tangible or
virtual communities
Community Example: Families, students and
teachers see the results of Central High Schools’
Leadership Group. Yale Consultation Center
also has concluded in an evaluation that the
peer-to-peer prevention and recovery support
program has demonstrated that this model is
effective in improving school performance,
attendance, and behavior.
 Sustained recovery is supported and
enhanced by peers through social
activities, work opportunities, and easier
recovery re-engagement should a relapse
occur
 Peers groups create the needed sense of
belonging that is even more imperative for
young people than adults
Peer-Based Recovery Support Models:
Harnessing The Power Of “Lived Experience”
Youth to
Youth
Families
to
Families
Sustained
Recovery:
Youth and
Families
Together
PEER-TO-PEER RESULTS VIDEO
Recovery Support Challenges
“As We Have Experienced It”
 Major Challenges We Have Experienced For Moving Peer Recovery
Support Forward:
o Under-Studied / Under-Funded / Under-Valued
o Fragmented Systems (Mental Health and Addictions) Between Children
and Adult (Health Care and Enforcement)
o Critical Dilema:
 How do we get the system to re-align itself so Recovery-Oriented
Practices are feasible?
 How to integrate technology efficiencies into the system?
Recovery Support Financing Questions:
 How can fees for service happen to support the growth of
peer-to-peer models and positive social media technology?
 What creative financing strategies can help support a very
basic level of infrastructure for growing and implementing
more recovery support services?
 How can we support family involvement when our system
bills and focuses on individuals?
System Change Is Not For The Timid
The Economic Crisis: A catalyst for integrating into your strategies
peer-to-peer recovery-oriented transformational practices that cost less
and last longer
 We must create disequilibrium, abandon old ways to remove barriers
and promote positive changes
 Look at technology and social media as an asset not a risk for
enhancing service deliveries
 Think about ways to “contaminate” your projects with peer-driven
recovery-oriented practices
 Communities have fostered recovery for years without system support,
the potential for what could happen if the system truly supported
recovery is incredible
An Interactive Online Recovery Support Experience!
www.ctyouthandfamilies.org
info@ctyouthandfamilies.org - 860-838-3553