1. A Story of Recovery Brandee Izquierdo, Director
Office of Consumer Affairs Behavioral Health Administration

2. My early days… Born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland.
My mother and father had me when they were 17 years old and from what I was told, I was a happy child who was energetic and full of life.

3. I found out later in life that my father was abusive and from my mother’s account, I witnessed that abuse until my father left us at the age of 3.
Both my mother and father used drugs and alcohol.
My father had many women in his life but at that time, I wasn’t one of them.

4. ABANDONED UNLOVED I felt abandoned and unloved.
I remember having birthday parties when I was young but never payed much attention to the girls.
I was obsessed with having one specific boy at my party. I’d say I was in 2nd or 3rd grade at this time.
UNLOVED

5. TRAUMA
SHAME
My mother remarried and had my sister. I felt like an outsider within my own family.
During this time, my sister was being watched by our next door neighbor.
I was molested by the next door neighbors husband and I remember a few of my friends in the neighborhood were too.
They told their parents but I kept quiet and my mother found out when a police officer came to the door.
I remember that officer sitting down on the couch, handed me a doll, and told me to show him where I was touched.
I was around 8 years old, I received no therapy and really just thought that I had pushed it to the back of my head.
ANXIETY

6. SHAMEFUL
GUILTY
Anxiety began to build up inside of me and panic attacks started to surface.
I went to a catholic school but my parents could no longer afford it and enrolled me in public school.
During the beginning of the new school year, a classmate forced himself on me and I lost my virginity, what I now know to be rape…I was 11.
The shame of everything was building up and the guilt sat heavy on me.
I remember being in 8th grade and saying to myself, I need to find a boyfriend and keep him so that no one will think I’m dirty.
DIRTY

7. FEELINGS…EMOTIONS…UNDIAGNOSED
ABANDONED
TRAUMA
GUILTY
DIRTY
SHAME
ALONE
I found that boyfriend and was pregnant at the age of 14. At this point my mother sent me to live with my grandmother and my grandmother made me get an abortion. TRAUMA
I wasn’t aware of this at the time but I was searching for love or what I though was love. At the age of 16, after breaking up with my first “real” boyfriend, I immediately found someone else.
I got pregnant by him and when I told him, his response was “If you get rid of this baby, I will not stay with you” and what I heard is “Oh he loves me”.
I went on to have that baby and three more children with him. Yet during our marriage there was domestic violence, disloyalty, and a lot of pain.
DIFFERENT
UNLOVED
ANXIETY
DEPRESSED

8. During this time, my disease of addiction was slowly progressing
During this time, my disease of addiction was slowly progressing. I started using when I was 11yrs old. At first it began with alcohol to the point of blackouts and marijuana. Later it progressed to illicit drugs and prescriptions.
Every time I would use it would take away the pain until I got to the point that I could not function without being high.
Jails and Institutions became a part of my story and by the end, I was facing 5 felonies, 11 years in Maryland’s prison system and 4 years in an upstate prison in Pennsylvania.
I new nothing about recovery….I didn’t know where to get help or that I even needed help. It wasn’t until I was offered treatment in a Pennsylvania prison that I was given knowledge about the disease of addiction…I was 33
This needs to change!!!!!

9. What is Recovery?
“A process of change through which individuals improve their health and wellness, live a self-directed life, and strive to reach their full potential.”
(SAMHSA, 2012)

10. PEER-SUPPORT SPECIALIST
AN INDIVIDUAL WHO…
Provides non-medical services
Uses his/her lived experience of recovery from mental illness or substance abuse
Uses skills learned in formal training to:
facilitate support groups,
work on a one-on-one basis
Has benefitted or is benefitting from mental health or substance use treatment services or supports
Performs services only within his or her area of training, expertise, competence, or scope of practice 
Peer Support is not just about our lived experience of addiction or mental health. We know what it’s like before we sought help. We have that experience too.

11. Key Values Trusted, Safe Relationships Person driven and Directed
Acceptance, Empathy and Example
Honesty and Shared Accountability
Hope, Respect and Dignity
Power, Choice and Freedom, Human rights
Peers hold key values
Read the key values

12. PREVENTION How do we expose individuals to recovery?
“We see signs, before they become symptoms” Brandee Izquierdo, CPRS, RPS
How do we expose individuals to recovery?
Child Protective Services
Guides within the systems
Act as a “Big Brother/Sister” to impacted children
School Systems
School Nurses Office
Prevention Presentations
Church Youth Groups
Prevention Groups
Sober social events
Family Services – Domestic Abuse Situations
Navigate systems
Act as an advocate for people seeking recovery
Recovery is not only within the realm of substance use and mental health but other areas including:
Trauma
Emotional
Physical
And these are just to name a few.
However, I’d like to focus on one particular area of prevention…
Chronic Pain Doctors / Pain Management / PCP Offices
Work with patients who have concerns about medications
Run Peer Led Pain Management groups

13. AUGUST 2015
FDA approves OxyContin for kids 11 to 16
The FDA does not regulate the practice of medicine, which means drugs such of OxyContin may be prescribed for off-label use to children once a caregiver has provided consent.
An FDA representative stressed that the drug’s approval is not intended to expand or change the way it is used for pediatric patients.
According to an article in News Week….
Emphasize that while the FDA does not intend harm, there is a need for preventive measures.

14. According to the National Institutes of Health, approximately 2
According to the National Institutes of Health, approximately 2.1 million Americans are struggling with an addiction to prescription painkillers. Abusing this class of drugs is often a precursor to heroin addiction.
In June of 2015, research presented at the American Headache Society’s annual meeting found that nearly 1 in 6 children who see a specialist for migraines are prescribed opioid medications as a first-line therapy 

15. How is Maryland addressing the issue?
SAMHSA Region III Opioid Overdose Prevention Collaborative
Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia
$15,000 award by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)
“Engaging Community Partners to Decrease Addiction.”

16. The purpose of this collaborative is to:
Build partnerships that will explore the challenges related to pain management in youth and the risk associated with addiction.
Engage communities and create an infrastructure for the improvement of:
Doctor-patient/parent communication
Care coordination
Management of children's pain
Methods for proper disposal of leftover medication

17. According to the Centers for Disease Control:
129 people per day die of drug overdoses
Admissions to treatment for prescription opiates has increased 500 percent 

18. What can we do? Find out who the peers are in your community
Utilize peer support when going out to schools
Introduce peers to people such as the school nurses, principles, etc.
Collaborate with peer support during community events
Educate and connect families to peer support services

19. And I want to leave you with this…let’s not wait for individuals to seek treatment…
Let’s build a door to create partnerships in preventing the addiction!
I hope you all join me tomorrow for the continuation of my story of recovery and how I’ve utilized my experience within the criminal justice system….

20. Brandee M. Izquierdo-Johnson, CPRS, RPS
QUESTIONS?
CONTACT INFORMATION
Brandee M. Izquierdo-Johnson, CPRS, RPS
Director, Office of Consumer Affairs Behavioral Health Administration
55 Wade Avenue-Dix Building
Catonsville, MD 21228
 Office
 Cell