Joliet man’s ‘lived experiences’ fostering recovery in others

Marge Garay, clinical director of Stepping Stones Treatment Center in Joliet, had plenty of praise for Steve Veasey.

Veasey, 61, of Joliet is now a certified recovery support specialist through the CRRS program at the University of St. Francis in Joliet.

The program prepares students to use their lived experiences in recovery from mental health and/or substance and to help provide recovery services to others, USF said in a news release. A grant from the Illinois Department of Health Services Division of Mental Health funds the program, including full program tuition.

As part of that program, Veasey completed 300 hours of an internship at Stepping Stones Treatment Center in Joliet. Veasey currently works at Trinity Services. Veasey also leads the CRSS alumni program at USF.

Garay said seven people in the program came to Stepping Stones to intern and four completed their internship, and he said Veasey was thriving as one of the four.

“He’s got such a nice demeanor,” Garay said. “He’s just really passionate about doing this and giving back to the community that helped him.”

Some people have jobs where they go to work from 8 to 5 and then turn it off. But if you’re passionate about this field – working in mental health – it almost becomes a 24-hour job.”

—  Steve Veasey of Joliet, graduate of the University of St. Francis' certified recovery support specialist program

The power of lived experiences

Marcia Van Natta directs USF’s CRRS program. She is a retired clinical case manager of the problem solving courts at the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office. She also facilitated the problem solving courts’ family programming and alumni groups.

Van Natta helped with the management of Will County Sober Living Homes. She resented substance use disorders workshops for the Joliet Police Department, Illinois Department of Corrections, Joliet Junior College, Will County’s problem solving courts and the Illinois Certification Board, where she is past president and past recording secretary.

She was sitting on the ICB board and teaching as an adjunct at USF when she learned about the program and thought it was a great opportunity for USF, adding that the program is just what communities needed now to help with the increase with substance-use disorders, along with the increased need for mental health services. So USF applied for the grant.

“And it is a fantastic grant,” said Van Natta, who teaches two of the three courses in the CRSS program. “It covers tuition, books, computers, gas mileage for travel back and forth to school, food – it covers lunch. All you need is a high school diploma or above and lived experience. "

Van Natta said the first year of the CRSS program was a planning year. Last year, USF graduated 18 students from the program.

The one-semester course also supplies 14 college credits hours. The program can accept 17 to 20 students each grant period, which is the fall and also the spring, she said.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for someone who would like to get into a profession and get a college education,” Van Natta said.

Van Natta said many treatment programs now hire people with the CRSS certification provide peer support. This increase in hiring is only partly due to the staff shortages that occurred during the pandemic, she said. Pay can range from $15 to $20 an hour, depending on the facility, she said.

And now USF’s CRSS program has an alumni group because Veasey approached her about starting one.

“I’m very excited about that,” Van Natta said. “He’s a leader – I saw that in the classroom. This is going to be great.”

Lived experiences as recovery resources

Veasey was already considering going back to school – attending USF was his dream - when he saw an advertisement for the CRSS program on a bus. The word “free” stood out to him.

“So they got me,” Veasey said.

Veasey, who grew up in Chicago, obtained a certification in heating and then worked at a retirement community in Brookfield, he said. He came to Joliet in 2006 to work as a maintenance supervisor at Joliet Job Corps, which he did until 2013, he said.

Then Veasey worked at a sandwich shop near USF from 2014 to 2015.

“When I wasn’t busy, I’d walk around the university at that time,” Veasey said. “I never dreamed I’d be able to attend the university.”

Veasey also never dreamed his struggles with substance use and mental health might help someone else. He struggled with substance use disorder all through the 1990s and was in and out of treatment facilities.

However, he said he always returned to drinking. Learning about the mental health aspect helped him stay in recovery and learning about recovery from an academic viewpoint provided context and professional resources.

Veasey said thinks his struggles had roots in his childhood. His grandmother raised him until he was in second grade, he said. That break in his security was the start of his anxiety and affected his ability to cope with new situations. He started drinking at 16 or 17.

“It became a thing where I used alcohol to socialize,” Veasey said. “I felt if I drank I’d be able to talk to girls and be able to socialize more in my environment at the time. So looking back on it, I see alcohol as being that thing that allowed me to cope with the situations and be able to deal with my anxiety.”

Veasey said he now works at Trinity Services in its 590 program. The 590 is a grant program at Trinity that offers round-the-clock, in-person crisis de-escalation and stabilization for people who dial 988.

Oscar Yanes, a licensed professional counselor and director of the crisis care system for Trinity Services, said the grant program is partnered with the national Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and covers all of Will and Cook counties.

Mental health professionals and a recovery support specialist – a person with lived experience in mental health and substance abuse disorders – answer the calls. After callers are stabilized, they are connected with a counselor if they might benefit from more longterm support.

Veasey said he loves his job, adding that the role has taught him mental health is not an 8-to-5 job, and that’s fine with him.

“Once you get into recovery, you almost become a whole new person. You look at life differently,” Veasey said. “Some people have jobs where they go to work from 8 to 5 and then turn it off. But if you’re passionate about this field – working in mental health – it almost becomes a 24-hour job.”

Yanes said Veasey brings a great perspective to the team in terms of his background and lived experiences.

“This is something that has been quite beneficial to individuals in the community,” Yanes said.

Heading up the alumni program helps Veasey give back to USF.

“It gives us an opportunity to connect and support each other,” he said. “It allows us to network with each other and helping each other while doing our different jobs.”

In fact, Veasey now calls his substance use disorder “a blessed disease.”

“I still have the disease, the alcohol and drug addictions,” Veasey said. “The ‘blessed disease’ allows us to get to know ourselves, to become compassionate, empathetic people that want to help other people.”

For information, visit stfrancis.edu/crss.