RiteLife strives to be a lifeline to those in recovery

Posted 8/24/21

There is an old adage about teaching a man to fish rather than giving him a fish.

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RiteLife strives to be a lifeline to those in recovery

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OKEECHOBEE — There is an old adage about teaching a man to fish rather than just giving him a fish. If you give him a fish, he eats for a day. If you teach him to fish, he eats for the rest of his life. RiteLife strives to be a lifeline to those in recovery and to those who love them, in essence, to teach them to fish. Located at 202 N.E. Second Street, RiteLife is a Lifeline Recovery Community Organization.

After learning about services offered by Recovery Community Organizations in other areas, Barbara Moody Holbrook decided she wanted to try to bring those same benefits to our area. Holbrook has experience working for the government and for homeless agencies and said there are a lot of great people supporting them in their new endeavor.

The Southeast Florida Behavioral Health Network told Holbrook, who was contracted with them in a different capacity, that they wanted to give money to run a recovery program. They asked her to go ahead and get it up and running, beginning with a peer respite on the east side of the Treasure Coast. Soon after she got started, they told her they wanted to finance an operation in Okeechobee as well. A couple weeks later, they told her they wanted to give money to support another certified peer specialist to go into the mental health courts in Martin County.

In Okeechobee, they work with the drug court, veterans’ court and mental health court. Individuals who are required by the court to regularly attend counseling sessions can meet that requirement at RiteLife. “We have trainings. We have educational groups. We have support groups. We are working on getting employers who are willing to hire people in recovery,” said Holbrook. Although RiteLife is a resource for the court system, their clients do not all come from them. “Anyone who is interested is welcome to walk in and talk to us,” said Holbrook. “We want people to feel like they can come in and relax with people who are just like them.”

Every person working with RiteLife is recovering from something. “These organizations survive on peer services,” Holbrook said. They provide services pertaining to mental health, substance abuse and veterans. “A peer-run service would mean utilizing someone who has used drugs themselves or has a family member who did. Someone who has a mental health issue or a family member with a mental health issue would qualify or someone who is a veteran or family member of a veteran.”

Besides Holbrook, who plans to spend a couple days a week in Okeechobee while also managing the Stuart site, the RiteLife team consists of Casey Rogers, who manages the Okeechobee site, Rhoshanda Jones, who manages the Port Saint Lucie respite, Serrina Snyder, who helps with peer support in Okeechobee, Laura Buzzell, who works as peer support in Martin County and Brenda Schmerling, who does peer support in Port Saint Lucie.

Jones does a lot of work with veterans. Twelve years ago, Jones was a homeless veteran, a convicted felon and recovering addict. She thought she was worthless and had no hope for her future. She discovered HUD-VASH, a combined VA and HUD program supplying homeless veterans with housing vouchers. She was not only able to get housing, but she was also able to go back to college and get a bachelor's degree in human services. Jones is now running the peer respite in Port Saint Lucie and is in the process of becoming certified as a peer specialist. “They taught me about relapse prevention and just how to live life. I didn’t know how to do a resume. I didn’t know how to get a job. I didn’t know where to look. They helped with all those things. It made a big difference in my life. It takes a community to work together to help people, and that’s what we do here.”

Rogers, who is also a recovering addict, manages the Okeechobee office. “I have almost 21 years in recovery,” she said. “I’ve been working with this community for a long time but with very limited resources and no money.” With RiteLife, she now has more resources and more money to help more people. “It’s difficult when you are on the street and want help but have no insurance or money. Our job here is to be here when they walk in the door. We can relate to them and tell them we’ve been where they are at.” From there, they sit down and talk to each person, figuring out how they can best help them to move forward.

They opened at the end of July and are still getting completely set up. A grand opening and ribbon cutting will be held on October 1. They plan to have one room with computer access so clients can fill out job applications or even work on college classes if they do not have access to a computer at home. The main room is ready for visitors though, thanks in part to Sheriff Noel E. Stephen, who donated some tables and chairs from the sheriff’s office.

Rogers has talked to a couple local barbershops about getting the clients a haircut if they need it so they can make a better appearance in a job interview. Soon, they hope to have some clothing items available to help with this as well. “Our goal is to get them back on their feet,” said Rogers.

RiteLife has the ability to get the clients in to see a doctor if that is what they need. “We have a whole network of connections,” said Rogers. “Not just in this area but really all the way across the middle of the state now. Whatever they come in here and need, we will be able to access it for them.” These services range from helping someone get into treatment for a substance disorder to helping someone get to a doctor or get medication for a mental health disorder to helping someone get a high school diploma or enroll in college. “It’s not about the money. We don’t need them to have money. We just need them to come in and ask for help,” she said. “We can help with short term things like getting medicine they can’t afford, but what we really want is to help them get to a point where they don’t need help getting that medicine anymore.”

There are several events scheduled for the next few weeks. On Wednesday, August 25, a virtual “Walk for Overdose Awareness will be held in the morning.” Register or donate toward this on their Facebook page, Rite Life Services Inc. Donations received through this walk will be used to purchase billboards to raise awareness.

On Mondays from 6:30-7:30 p.m., They will be hosting a suicide awareness support group with Katrina Sheffield. The meeting is for anyone who wants to attend. This meeting will be held both in person and on Zoom. Meeting ID# is 881 0772 3914, and the passcode is 546530.

Three Narcan classes will be held on Sunday, August 29 from 3 until 6 p.m. Each class lasts one hour. You only need to attend one session. “Come, learn what drug Narcan treats, how it works and leave with Narcan in your pocket and possibly save a life,” said Rogers. Luis Garcia, a retired firefighter who has conducted more than 300 events and given away more than 6,000 Narcan sprays in the last four years, will be teaching the classes. The Narcan is funded through Garcia’s non-profit, USA Opioid Crisis Mortality Reduction with Narcan. A GoFundMe with that name helps raise the money to buy the life-saving drug. In addition to the classes he will be teaching for RiteLife, he will also be giving away Narcan at Walmart at 6:30, at the McDonald’s on State Road 70 at 7 p.m. and at RaceTrak at 7:30.

Because of the upswing in COVID-19 cases, all visitors are asked to wear a mask.

RiteLife is open seven days a week from 8:30 a.m. until 8 p.m.

addiction, recovery, RiteLife

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