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Recovery language gap bridged
YOUNGSTOWN
Fourteen bilingual people have graduated from a training program designed to help bridge the language barrier for Hispanics who are on the road to recovery from alcohol or drug addiction.
The graduates of Mahoning County’s first class of bilingual chemical dependency counselor assistants were introduced at a Friday news conference at the Organizacion Civica y Cultural Hispana Americana, which provides social-service opportunities and programs for the Latino community.
The program was a joint effort of OCCHA, the county mental health and recovery board, and Flying High Inc., a nonprofit organization that assists people recovering from chemical dependency.
The six-week training program was funded by a $4,800 grant from the county board derived from local mental health and recovery tax-levy funds.
“We don’t think people should have to struggle with a language barrier in addition to dealing with recovery,” explained Duane Piccirilli, the board’s executive director.
“Language should not be a barrier to treatment because, in that mix, a life or two could be lost,” said county Commissioner Anthony Traficanti, who has a master’s degree in counseling from Youngstown State University.
“Your job here today will be saving lives,” he told the graduates.
“Keep giving hope to people. Empower people. That’s what we are here to do,” Traficanti exhorted the graduates.
“We know that this is an epidemic,” one of the graduates, Ruth Rojas, said of drug addiction. “We’re just filling in that gap,” Rojas said of the language barrier.
Rojas is a bilingual educational assistant for the Youngstown City Schools, co-pastor of the Spanish Evangelical Church on the city’s East Side, and a former member of the county Children Services Board.
Besides Rojas, the graduates are Elydia Molina-Rivera, Valeria Johnson, Ariel Figueroa, Miquel Martinez, Cindy O. Conde, Stephanie Oquendo, Samuel and Denise DeJesus, Sherya Vasquez, Anita Gomez, Isabel Rivera, Christian Figueroa and Betty Rivera.