“The GE Hackathon to Combat the Opioid Crises”. CAMTech Opioid Epidemic Challenge and Hack-a-thon: September 10 – 11, 2016 Sponsored by the GE Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital.
I took part in my first Hackathon.
I really did not know what a Hackathon was prior to attending it, but was intrigued by the concept. Hackathons historically were centered on technology innovations, but have now evolved into many subject matters where a large group of people are invited to get together for a determined amount of time, think creatively, and problem solve on a certain theme. Throughout the event, individuals organically break into small groups and work on their solutions for a particular problem.
This Hackathon had a slightly different feel than I imagine some more traditional ‘hacks’ may have because it was such a diverse group of people centered on a complex public health issue that didn’t involve a simple technology solution. The Consortium for Affordable Medical Technologies (CAMTech) has been hosting hackathons since 2012 on various global health issues. They hosted the Opioid Epidemic Challenge and Hackathon with sponsorship by the GE Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital, and brought together this diverse group; those in recovery, health care professionals, first responders, engineers, designers, those involved with formal treatment, and clinicians to try and find some solutions around the devastating issue of opioid addiction and overdose, which is now a national crisis.
It meant a lot to me to be part of this event in trying to find solutions to the destructive effects that opioids are having nationally. During the weekend-long session, it was exciting to share ideas on how to stem the tide of this deadly and destructive crisis. For me personally, it was meaningful to be part of this process because I found recovery in Boston. I wanted to try and give back to this great city and help people who are being lost to this disease. When I first got sober in 1997, the seeds of the opioid crises were just beginning. The use of prescription pain pills were increasing and pharmacies were being robbed for OxyContin. Massachusetts now exceeds the national average for drug-induced deaths as reported by the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
So with over 260 global health innovators and experts attending this Hackathon, we would address the challenges in prevention, treatment, and recovery of opioid addiction. Over the course of the weekend, innovators would pitch 70 challenges, form 18 teams, and present their innovations to a panel of expert judges. Five winning teams would receive awards of $1,000 each to continue developing their ideas after the event.
I wasn’t able to join the first day of the Hackathon to hear Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker; Michael Botticelli, Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy; Megan Smith, U.S. Chief Technology Officer and Chris Herren, former Boston Celtics player, give their presentations. I arrived on Day Two with a small team from Phoenix Multisport. This team included Jacki Hillios, Deputy National Executive Director; Sydney Durand, Development Coordinator; and myself.
The first part of our day was spent discovering how Hacks work. We needed to settle on our concept and how to deliver our pitch which would be one of 68 other pitches, each only 60 seconds long.
I was unusually nervous, this being my first Hackathon and because of that, my pitch fell flat. I proposed to have a place that would bring people together who are in recovery to find support and a new identity, as well as addressing the stigma and shame associated with addiction, but did not make my delivery as eloquently as I would have liked.
At the conclusion of the 68 pitches, we had about 12 hours to form a team. Each pitch received a number which the presenter wore as a sticker on their chest and the rest of the hack attendees broke out and found a group with a concept they believed in.
I wandered around trying to find a group to work with. No surprise, but no one picked my initial idea. Perhaps it was my presentation. I talked to a doctor who proposed an addiction screening prior to an opioid prescription being written by physicians, as well as a group of young people who proposed a pill bottle that would allow patients to know when they should dispose of old prescriptions.
I then joined Jacki and Sydney, who were in a group that was working on an app that would help connect individuals needing help with their substance use disorder to services, as well as be a resource to loved ones, care givers and first responders.
All of these things were good ideas and I’m sure would help save some lives, but I kept thinking about, “how do we heal?” How do we truly help folks heal from the pain, suffering, isolation and shame of addiction? I thought of the word cloud that one of the presenters displayed early on the second day. A word cloud is an image composed of words where the size of each word indicates its frequency used; the larger the font size the more often the word was used.
I kept thinking of what is the opposite of Isolation/Connection; the opposite of Stigma and Shame/feeling Accepted and Loved for who you are, no matter what. These are the things we need to go after. Jacki, Sydney and I started to brainstorm off to the side and go through some ideas on the dry erase board. We already had a clear vision of how to address the stigma of addiction and the shame that one feels, the isolation and loneliness experienced when you first get sober, because Phoenix Multisport has been doing this for 10 years. Phoenix Multisport is a sober community where people support each other in their recovery, are accepted for who they are and celebrate sobriety.
I continued to ponder the words that came from the word cloud…In many ways, Phoenix Multisport creates the opposite of these things; Stigma - we become proud of who we are in recovery and by being open about it, we are able to let go of some of the shame; Hopelessness - what individuals find in a nurturing community is a sense of hope of what’s possible in recovery and that recovery is possible; Isolation – the opposite is connection and Phoenix Multisport helps build new connections to others in recovery and greatly expands one’s recovery support network. I believe that by creating more recovery supports for individuals healing from substance use disorder, it becomes long term prevention. We can prevent and reduce the number of and duration of relapse. We can stem the tide of this crisis. We can help families heal by eliminating the generational transmission of trauma often caused by growing up in a home where there is active addiction.
The Phoenix team and I began to land on the idea that the city of Boston must lead New England in establishing a place of hope. Imagine if the message was, “Boston is one of the most supportive communities in the nation to be in recovery”.
This recovery hub must be in a prominent location. So often programs for those struggling are buried deep in the belly of a city and are run from a subpar space in an old institutional building or in a basement somewhere with old worn out carpet and water stained ceiling tiles. This perpetuates the shame and stigma and does not create a trauma informed environment. It also makes these places rarely visited by people with long term recovery who could be mentors to new people trying to find their way in recovery.
As Sydney, Jacki and I began to jot down ideas on one of the dry erase board walls that lined the inside of the District Hall in Boston, we began to realize that the bulk of the technology solutions were aimed at keeping people from dying, obviously a critical part of addressing the addiction crisis. But we began to think, how do we help people live? We began to think how simply handing out bandages would not solve the issue of mass shootings or building better ambulances will not solve the issue of car accidents. It can help save lives, but we need a place that teaches people how to live.
We began to imagine a space prominently located in a city center, creating a place for human connection. There would be opportunities for recovery coaching, access to trauma work and workshops. It would be a place to house other resources. There would be meaningful job training. It would provide enhanced bridging to connect those coming out of the criminal justice system or formal treatment to a broader recovery community. It would use the inherent transformative power of sport and exercise to change brain chemistry, help people establish positive coping mechanisms, and build friendships in a nurturing environment.
We started to land on the idea of a place where these things all come together; not the recovery centers of old, but a flagship hub of recovery and hope. A flagship statement that “enough is enough” and this City of Boston, its businesses and community members are getting behind this issue! Boston will no longer be a place where we just stand by and watch this issue from a distance until it is in our own home and then we try to face it alone, in a place of shame. No more. We will create a place of hope in locations all across the state.
We landed on our vision for our Hack concept and after making some small changes working with the wonderful mentors that the Hackathon provided, we began to pitch our idea, our flagship of hope and recovery. The concept was originally called the “Third Place”. We took this name from the space design concept of establishing a third place, a place that is not home or work, but would be the third place where people come together in community. Companies like Starbucks use this philosophy and others may know the third place as their church, or inner city barbershops. For us the third place meant a place that is not active addiction or treatment, but is building real support and structure to recovery where the healing happens.
We have renamed this project “Phoenix Unbroken” because we all are rising from the ashes of something, but yet we are unbroken by the adversity and challenges we all face. We decided that Jacki Hillios, PhD and fellow TEDx speaker, should be our presenter of the Third Place (Phoenix Unbroken) and she began to prep for her presentation. It was quickly time to present our concept. We listened to others take the stage and share their concept in front of the panel of 6 judges. The team took the stage and here is what Jacki presented:
Phoenix Multisport’s Winning Pitch - “The 3rd Place”
Having built and run a successful nonprofit that has helped over 19,000 people access recovery support, we bring diverse skills and experience to ensure project success.
Like so many of you, we believe isolation and shame perpetuated by stigma and discrimination are killing our loved ones and destroying our families. The vast majority of interventions available today rely on strategies to stop people from dying. Our concept is designed to help people learn how to live in recovery, thereby breaking the cycle of addiction. Currently the continuum of recovery support is fragmented and limited.
What’s needed is a new approach. We have active addiction and clinical treatment, but what comes after that? We believe we need to create this 3rd place where no one is judged for their past, but instead, a safe culture of mutual support that fosters a new reality where living life and living in recovery are one in the same. Our solution is to create this “3rd Place” that will become multiple hubs of recovery across the state. This will be a bright and vibrant space where individuals and groups come together in an inspirational environment to design new lives in recovery (support each other). Greeters at the front door trained as recovery coaches will warmly welcome those in recovery, their families and allies.
In this hub for recovery we will have a café, wellness center and meeting space. We will create an environment that is welcoming, non-judgmental and safe. In the café, you can meet with your sponsor, grab a cup of coffee or through the culinary program, build a resume and earn some income to get back on your feet. The wellness center will offer a full calendar of fitness programming like yoga and CrossFit and similar to the café, there will be opportunities to receive training and mentoring that prepares folks for employment in the health and wellness industry. The meeting space will be designed much like an impact hub or co-work space. So…..imagine….You may come in for yoga class to find that there is a “Healing from Trauma” workshop at 2:00 pm, there’s a Learn to Cope meeting for your mom at 3:00 pm and sober musicians are going to jam in the café at 4:00 pm. This place is full of life and hope.
The project will be piloted in Boston and scaled statewide. To implement this project, we will ask for capital support of $3 million (seeded with a $1.5 million match as mentioned during the hack-a-thon and still to be acquired) from corporations, foundations and private donors, while working with state and local governments to supply underutilized buildings located in city centers that can be transformed into this place of hope. Phoenix Multisport already has $500,000 set aside for young adult programming to be operated out of this space once completed. Sustainability will be ensured as the revenue generating models implemented in the space makes funding from public and private sources less necessary and ensures all the recovery support programs remain free to those that need them.
Our team is not new to this sort of endeavor and through our current operations of the health and wellness aspect of the proposal, we have had great success.
By utilizing a peer to peer approach that fosters an culture of giving back, Phoenix has become an industry leader with a proven track record for saving and transforming lives. Since program launch in Boulder, CO in 2007, Phoenix has expanded to operate five chapters in three states (CO, CA and MA). Nationwide Phoenix facilitates over 65 free community events each week and dozens of targeted programs for treatment centers, homeless programs, veteran’s organizations, drug courts, and soon, young adults and universities as well. According to a participant survey in 2013, three quarters of team members actively engaged in Phoenix programming stayed sober. In 2012, National Executive Director and Founder, Scott Strode, received the Top 10 CNN Heroes Award for his leadership in establishing Phoenix Multisport as an innovative and effective recovery support service in the state of Colorado. Additionally, in 2013, Scott was awarded the Advocates in Action Award from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. That same year, the organization was awarded a three-year federal grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to expand programming to families in CO. Together Families Recover (TFR) has helped families repair relationships and rebuild trust that had been shattered by addiction. SAMHSA has highlighted TFR as a highly successful program. Since launching programs in Boston in July 2015, Phoenix continues to build a strong network of recovery support throughout the state, while membership increases as well. With the Phoenix model at the heart of this project, we are confident that creating a hub of recovery can help curb the cyclical trends not only in the Opioid Epidemic, but for substance use disorders as a whole. Help us build hubs of recovery across Massachusetts that support thousands in recovery in living the lives they were meant to live. — END
I watched the crowd while they listened to Jacki’s presentation and this concept seemed to touch people’s hearts the same way that many of the other Hackathon presenters did. Many were heartfelt and born from personal pain, loss or experience with the darkness of addiction. The final presenters finished their pitch and the judges stepped out to deliberate the winners.
There were to be 5 winners of the Hack, one for each category: The Innovation Award went to Team RxReturn; The Anti-Stigma Award went to Team Ally; The Tech Solution Award went to Team Ready ACCESSvia SMS; The Treatment On-Demand Award went to Team MATMobile; and The Community Building Award went to Team The 3rd Place.
Phoenix Multisport and the 3rd Place Team continue to work on making this vision a reality. I will have more updates to come. Phoenix currently offers 16 programs a week in the city of Boston and to attend these events, all that someone needs is to be at least 48 hours clean and sober and to adhere to a code of conduct that supports and creates a nurturing environment. If you or a loved one is struggling, please reach out. You can find the Phoenix Multisport calendar on our website: Phoenix Multisport.
