Employment is often a crucial factor for people in addiction recovery—it serves as a stabilizing force that is proven to help many avoid relapse. Unfortunately, finding a job coming out of rehabilitation or incarceration is also notoriously difficult.
That not only makes life more precarious for individuals, but it hampers economic growth in many regions of the country. All told, some 2.7M adults are out of the labor force because of addiction—at a time when there aren’t enough workers to meet demand.
The Big Idea: But what if recovery from substance or opioid use disorders was an asset for a potential job rather than an obstacle?
In Kentucky, where the opioid epidemic is an ongoing public health crisis, government and education officials believe that, with training, these individuals could leverage their experiences to help others confronting addiction. And they’ve put together a program to make that a reality.
The Kentucky Community & Technical College System (KCTCS) and the state’s Healthcare Workforce Collaborative got together to create the Career Ladders in Mental and Behavioral Health (CLIMB-Health), which is now nearing the end of its first year. The program provides a pathway for people in recovery and reentry to quickly earn a certificate that qualifies them for jobs as entry-level peer support specialists serving others in recovery. And as they gain work experience, they can continue earning certificates and credit toward two- and four-year degrees in human services.
“The jewel of this program is that it takes a really hard time in someone’s life and it uses that entry point to allow people to gain higher education and make a good living,” says Leslie Sizemore, associate vice president of workforce and economic initiatives for the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education. “The research says that if you gain an educational credential, your possibility of recidivism is reduced by 30%.”
It could be a double win for Kentucky, where the demand for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors is projected to increase by 26 percent by 2030. Although the overdose fatality rate is decreasing (down 9.8 percent in 2023 from 2022), the state ranked seventh in the U.S. for drug overdose mortality in 2022 with a rate of 53.2 deaths per 100K population, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
The Details: In its first year, CLIMB-Health was offered at nine KCTCS campuses located in the counties with the highest overdose mortality rates, supported by a $1.5M grant from the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. The first noncredit certification class is 30 hours and costs $200, which is covered by the Kentucky Work Ready Scholarship fund, created by the state legislature to support residents who don’t have two-year degrees. As soon as students complete the course, they’re ready to apply for employment as peer support specialists at nearby treatment and recovery facilities.
Carl Wilson, senior fellow for healthcare workforce initiatives at Kentucky’s Council on Postsecondary Education, says that CLIMB-Health was born out of a failed attempt at an apprenticeship program in eastern Kentucky. Employers didn’t have the capacity to take on training new workers themselves, so educators decided to rethink the strategy.
“The vast majority of the employers only have three to seven employees, so it’s very difficult to deploy apprenticeship to that,” Wilson says. “The employer base loves CLIMB-Health because they see it as a developmental pathway for their adult peer support specialists working in treatment centers.”
The program also uses AI to help students improve their skills. CONVO is a tool, built on thet ChatGPT platform, that simulates client sessions for students and offers feedback on how they performed and what they can improve. Students can also forward the analysis to their instructor or work supervisor to talk about it further.
Students tell CONVO what kind of client they’d like to help—such as a veteran who has struggled with methamphetamine or an incarcerated person who is also going through divorce—and whatever the circumstances, the tool can simulate the conversation.
“One of the basic, fundamental pillars of peer support is communication and the other is your recovery story,” Wilson says. “CONVO has learned what it’s like to be in addiction and it engages peer supports in non-contact, non-clinical sessions.”
Building for Upward Mobility
The Impact: Since it started in 2023, KCTCS has certified 1,500 new peer support specialists, though officials are still waiting for other data to better understand if students are finding jobs and how many are matriculating from the noncredit courses to academic pathways.
In addition to recovery coach certification, other certificate programs include psychiatric mental health technician, client services coordinator, direct support work, and aging services.
“Each time they gain a success, they are able to go on to the next level until they eventually achieve a two-year degree in human services,” Sizemore says. “At that point, they are eligible to seamlessly transition to a four-year institution to gain a degree in social work.”
Most students will continue working as peer support specialists as they earn their associate degrees. Without that continued education, they won’t find career advancement, Wilson says, and many peer support specialists burn out in that position after two years, he adds.
“CLIMB-Health offers them upward mobility in mental and behavioral health, as well as pay increases and sustainable wages,” Wilson says.
On the Ground: De’Sarae Perry is the director of workforce solutions at Maysville Community and Technical College on the banks of the Ohio River in northeastern Kentucky. When she learned that her campus was chosen as one of the nine that would offer CLIMB-Health, she was grateful, she says.
Maysville is in Mason County, which has the third-highest overdose death rate in the state. Since the program started last year, Perry has heard how meaningful it is to the people enrolling.
“I don’t ask them to tell me their stories, but a lot of them are so open and willing to talk about their journey,” Perry says. “It touches you and you just see how much they’re really trying to help other people who are in their shoes.”
Human Services has now become one of the fastest growing programs at Maysville, proving the need is there. Although outcomes metrics aren’t in yet, based on student feedback, Perry says most are either finding jobs or moving on to a two-year degree program, or both. One concern, however, is that in such a small community, peer support positions will become competitive and harder to come by.
Looking ahead, Perry believes that emphasizing the value of getting a degree will become critical in the students’ long-term health and success. “We just had our first students to actually roll over to the two-year program,” Perry says. “It’s nice to see the impact and their excitement for getting an actual degree.”
Raising Awareness: On the broader scale, Wilson also believes the biggest challenge throughout Kentucky is spreading the word that CLIMB-Health is an option for anybody who has come through treatment for substance use disorder. It’s unique—so few programs focus on sustaining career success after exiting treatment.
To that end, KCTCS is reaching out to the state court system and working with social service organizations to reach potential students. A larger publicity campaign is in the works, too, Sizemore says.
“We have been plagued with low workforce participation and very high levels of addiction,” Sizemore says. “So many people can’t get a good job because of their past, but this program utilizes that past as a positive.”