Through her work with the Turning Point Center in Rutland, executive director Tracie Hauck hopes to support those in recovery from substance abuse and de-stigmatize addiction.

By Lily Doton

Rutland’s Turning Point Center is a nonprofit recovery center that supports all paths of recovery. Executive Director Tracie Hauck has a long history with the center, and since she stepped into that role in 2015, has been determined to make the center a safe space for people in recovery. To Hauck, the connections people make at Turning Point are what motivates them to do better.

Q. For those who don’t know, what is the goal of the Turning Point Center?

Hauck: The goal of the Turning Point Center is to provide a safe, nonjudgmental place for individuals struggling with substance-use issues. Family members with loved ones who are struggling with substance-use issues (are also) able to come in and talk and find resources. We typically just meet people where they’re at, with what they’re willing to do, and then try to help them attain those goals.

Can you tell me about some of your programs?

We’re doing wellness activities here … with arts and crafts, different things like that. We have a short-term Writers for Recovery, that is meeting on Thursdays. … We’re going to be starting up our Thursday café on (March 28) and possibly do that every other week.

We do Narcan trainings at several different places. We have a law enforcement program, so when the local police department and Vermont State Police encounter someone with a nonfatal overdose, they send us a referral, and we try to reach out to those individuals. We have recovery coaches in the emergency room on call 24/7, so if somebody presents to the emergency room, and they have a substance use issue, they will page our coaches to come up and talk with them and try to engage them in services. We have a correctional program … where we offer one-to-one recovery coaching at the correctional facility. … We also are getting ready to launch a telephone recovery support program.

When did you decide to start volunteering at the Turning Point Center? How did that turn into the executive director job you hold now?

Well, I was early in recovery. I was a registered nurse that had an addiction to prescription opiates. I got caught forging prescriptions, and I needed to figure out what I needed to do in recovery. The counselor that I went to — the licensed alcohol and drug counselor — suggested I go to a 12-Step meeting. The first place I went to a meeting was down here at Turning Point — I didn’t know anything about the place. After I got 90 days in recovery, I started volunteering, just to have something to do. … And then I got a stipend position here. When the previous director left, I got approached by the board to step in as interim director. That was not my plan, but I just knew in that moment. We had very low staffing at that point, we had very low funding, and I felt like if I didn’t step into that role that the center would close. I know what it provided to me, it helped me get well, and I just couldn’t take that away from the people that were using the center.

What would you say is the importance of having a center like this in the community?

I think people need to feel connected. They need to feel supported, and they need to be accepted where they’re at. Over the years of doing this, it has opened my eyes to all the trauma that people go through. Not just with their substance use, but things that might have happened prior in their lives. I think about people, stories that I’ve heard, what they experienced in their family life … it just struck me (that) these people didn’t have any kind of role model, and when you grow up in that situation, you think every family is like that, right?

I think they need to learn to love themselves and know that there are some positive qualities they have. … People can put down drugs and alcohol, but there’s so much healing that has to happen after that. … They need to feel safe to do that.

Can you speak to any misconceptions about the center and the work that you do there?

I know that in the past when I first got started here, I was a little naive as to what the reputation of the center was — it was kind of like a drop-in center. There weren’t a lot of activities going on and it was kind of loose. What I started hearing was that everybody referred to this place as a place to go get drugs. So, I had to make up my mind. It couldn’t just be open to anybody that came in. … With the people that come here, it needs to be safe ….

How can people get involved with the Turning Point Center, either to help or to seek help?

They can just come into the center, we’re open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. They can talk to any of my staff. We have a volunteer program that we’re working on, if anybody wants to volunteer a minimum of 10 hours a week. … We have a website if they want to (donate), we are nonprofit. … I encourage people to come in person, just to really see what it’s like.

Everybody is affected by the substance-use issue and the opioid epidemic, and I think we need to stop blaming people and just get involved and really get to know the people. When people are working a recovery program … they’re really working hard every day to change how they are present in the world and how they perceive things and how they handle things. That’s not easy, and that continues for years after you put down drugs and alcohol. I think of it as a chronic health issue. It is something you’ve got to maintain, and people need support as they go through that process.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

We’ve got to stop hiding the fact that we may have people in our lives, or we ourselves may be struggling with addiction. We need to have the humility to be able to talk about it, because people can help each other get through this. … It’s heartbreaking, and we need to stop stigmatizing people with addiction.

Lily Doton reported this story on assignment from the Rutland Herald. The Community News Service is a program in which students work with professional editors to provide content for local news outlets at no cost. This is the latest installment in an ongoing series of articles that introduce readers to local Rutland individuals who are making a difference in their community.