Peer Recovery Specialists Accept Award on Behalf of Sober Squad

By VALERIE HARRINGTON, DIBIKWE

The Minnesota Association of Resources for Recovery and Chemical Health (MARRCH) is a professional association of addiction treatment professionals and organizations striving to raise awareness about addiction and the power of recovery. They represent more than 75 agencies and more than 2,000 individuals (Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselors, students, other behavioral health professionals) with members in every region of Minnesota. As a collective body, MARRCH works to educate, support, and guide individuals and agencies while speaking with a unified voice in public policy venues. MARRCH hosted their Annual Conference & Expo October 25-27, 2021 at the St. Paul RiverCentre.

On Tuesday, October 26, 2021 during the MARRCH President's Awards Dinner, Mille Lacs Band member Colin Cash and Mille Lacs Band employee and member of the Red Lake Nation Gary Branchuad accepted an award on behalf of Sober Squad as Peer Support of the Year for their dedication to Sober Squad and all in recovery.

Colin and Gary continue to build their reputation as peer recovery specialists by using their skills to support understanding of recovery in our communities. They began their journey with a narrow focus, “How do we get the dying to stop?” The beginning story of their work was not all unicorns and rainbows. In fact it was filled with a lot of ridicule and stigma. They had no skills to go off of, no education, no knowledge of resources, no trainings, and no support.

But, the one thing they had in abundance was compassion for the people who shared their struggle.

Since the beginning, their focus has always been their brothers and sisters in active use and those beginning their recovery journey.

It is easy to discuss what needs to be done and theorize on best practices, however, they soon found out that they had seemingly insurmountable odds against them.

Native Americans have the lowest graduation rates, high instances of domestic assault, incarceration, diabetes, maternal death rate, infant death rate, rape outside of race, Missing and Murdered indigenous Women, out of home placement, obesity, and generational trauma that all contribute to substance use problems.

With this understanding, they walk alongside them, they understand what it feels like to have lost everything and know what it feels like to have the deck stacked against you. They do this with nothing more than compassion as their shield as well as their compass, they wade through these disparities that saturate our communities in order to bring about a campaign of recovery and hope.

They have always felt that people give them too much credit for what Sober Squad became when in fact all they did was offer resources, no judgement, and supported their journey no matter what that looked like.

Many organizations became the foundation that helped nurture Sober Squad into what it is today. One of these organizations that far surpassed what was demanded of them is Minnesota Recovery Connection, the mothership. This organization became the peer organization support specialist of their movement, offering support, trainings, resources and cheerleading. Without Minnesota Recovery Connection there is no Sober Squad.

The individuals they could not forget to mention when receiving the award were:

Crystal Weckert for being the brains of the operation and allowing them to take the credit.

Kris Kelly and Ryan (Lil brown) for giving them perspective and direction when they sat and stared at each other dragging their knuckles.

Wendy Jones for the belief in them when they couldn’t believe in themselves.

Candace Caddy Frink for believing they are rock stars when they both knew they were not.

Lisa Levig for being their day one friend throughout it all. And most importantly, every member of Sober Squad for grabbing hold and building this into what it is today. Getting behind the mission and giving it meaning.

Colin and Gary said thank you to all.

The humility of Colin and Gary is quite admirable. They are quite deserving of this award and their work they have done in the community is vital and difficult. They have made personal sacrifices in support of others. They both give a lot back to the community and show tremendous dedication. They are part of a grassroots organization that has made an impact in our community as well as other chapters throughout the nation. They have provided great effort of transportation to meetings and events. They have spoken and shared their hope for recovery at many events. They have created many recovery events such as wellbriety meetings and recovery walks. They have been a part of facilitating and training over 60 peer recovery specialists. They have a unique drive to offer resources and raise awareness about addiction and the power of recovery.

They continue their mission: “To empower and support individuals in recovery to build healthier communities.”

Gary and Colin are modest and stated they will accept the award on behalf of Sober Squad but they are not the leaders of Sober Squad.

Whether they are leaders of Sober Squad or not, they are commendable leaders in our community and have made a difference in many lives