April 19, 2024
Episode 29 - Rachel Biddle, Emily Grese and Holli Young of Step-Up, Providing hope and healing in HIV services
This week we have 3 incredible guests from Step-Up, a comprehensive HIV care and resource organization: Rachel Biddle, Emily Grese and Holli Young, who share the impactful ways they're changing lives. From innovative HIV case management to providing a sturdy bridge for those exiting incarceration, their stories are a testament to human resilience and the power of compassionate service.
As we navigate the hurdles of life together, understanding how to holistically support those with HIV becomes imperative. Our guests unravel the intricacies of providing credit improvement, housing assistance, and job preparation, while also confronting the stigma and trauma surrounding an HIV diagnosis. Their dedication is clear as they explain the critical role of comprehensive case management in enhancing the quality of life for the Indianapolis community.
Finally, we delve into the importance of sustainable funding and community partnerships that underpin Step Up's mission. The episode closes with personal journeys shaped by service and the influence of AmeriCorps, illustrating how hands-on experience in social work can ignite a lifelong passion for helping others. Join us to gain a deeper appreciation for the tireless efforts of Rachel, Holli, and Emily, and the transformative work they're doing every day.
Website: https://stepupin.org/
Chapters
00:04 - Step Up's Services for HIV Re-Entry
12:36 - Supporting HIV-positive Individuals Holistically
25:12 - Step Up Funding and Partnerships
37:22 - AmeriCorps Experience and Impact
44:03 - Supporting Sustainability in Social Work
Transcript
WEBVTT
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One of the things that makes us really unique when it does come to our HIV case management services, is our housing program.
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I'm always looking for different organizations to partner with for other supportive services that we don't offer, so that we have a connection for our clients.
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And then you have some people that come in devastated and they don't know which way to look.
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You know they're stunned by this information.
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A lot of times there's a lot of trauma and stigma still with HIV.
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I had a client once describe Step Up as unconditional love, which I loved conditional love, which I loved.
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Welcome to Homeward Indie, a bi-weekly conversation where we meet the people working to end homelessness in Indianapolis and hear their stories.
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I'm Elliott Zanz.
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And I'm Steve Barnhart.
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Hello listeners, I'm in the facilities of Step Up and what I thought might be good to do, since we have actually three guests here with us today, is give them an opportunity to introduce themselves.
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So you know who's talking, etc.
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So we can go whatever order you'd like.
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Hi, my name is Rachel Biddle.
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I have been with Step Up almost three years and I'm the Connections Plus Program Manager.
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I am Emily Gracie.
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I am the Housing Team Lead here at Step Up and I've been here for about seven years.
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My name is Holly Young.
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I am a Non-Medical Case Manager here at Step Up.
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I've been here about two years and actually started in the field about 10 years ago.
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Okay, very good.
00:02:02.750 --> 00:02:17.889
Well, we'll want to get to hear each of your personal stories with this as time goes along here, but let's just start with telling our listeners what Step Up is, what you do, what you're all about.
00:02:17.889 --> 00:02:21.241
So any one of you can go and others can jump in.
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So Step Up was founded about a little over 20 years ago by two people who were deeply impacted by HIV personally, and from that they saw a need in the community for more HIV services to prevent others from going through what they had experienced and their family had experienced from the trauma, the stigma relating to HIV.
00:02:45.469 --> 00:03:09.304
And from then Step Up started with providing testing and HIV services and has since then expanded in the last 20 years to go much beyond that, including reentry services, hiv case management, housing, also working with people to prevent HIV and really making sure that we're doing that from a holistic point of meeting needs.
00:03:09.304 --> 00:03:18.983
One of the things I really like about Step Up is that you know we see a need and we work to meet it, regardless of you know if somebody is receiving services from us.
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If somebody's, you know we just see a need in the population and how can we help meet it.
00:03:24.103 --> 00:03:32.975
Sounds like that's exactly what's happened when you said from where you started 20 years ago to what you are today.
00:03:32.975 --> 00:03:40.114
In general, though, your clients would be who?
00:03:42.762 --> 00:03:46.840
Well, that kind of ranges now, I mean because we've implemented so many different programs.
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Um, we typically used to just work with people living with hiv and now we've kind of expanded into working with the entire community.
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You know, we have people from re-entry, we do prevention services, so we kind of hit the whole community and, of course, if there was anybody that just needed help, we would do what we had to do, whether it was here or with our community partners, to make sure they got what they needed when you say re-entry, you're talking about from being incarcerated is that correct?
00:04:15.412 --> 00:04:19.086
yes, people who are coming back into the community from incarceration.
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Okay, yeah, and one of our biggest programs with re-entry has recently been going into the facilities and providing health education, training peers within the facilities to then provide health education across the different facilities in the state.
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And so from then taking then people when they get released and using that same model of having the peers then go to our community partners and provide that same health education to some of our partnerships that we have within the community as well.
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So you're bigger than just Indianapolis, it sounds like.
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In that programming?
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Yes, we're in.
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I think is it nine or ten, I think ten facilities.
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All across the state of Indiana.
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Yes, they're trying to get into as many facilities as they can.
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Do you limit yourself to Indiana, or do you see yourself someday being even broader than that?
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I mean, right now we're just in Indiana.
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I'm not sure what it would look like to expand that, but right now, I think you know, so far the goal has just been to expand.
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We have a smaller, you know, geographical grant area per se and we've been just trying to expand on that to reach the full spectrum of Indiana instead of just central Indiana and its surroundings and it just depends on the programs and the program guidelines within.
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Like some of our HIV services, it's very located within Indianapolis and the surrounding counties, but within the re-entry, and particularly with the in-pep program, which is our peers within the facilities and stuff like that, that's more statewide.
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We've been talking about that particular element of your service.
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Is that kind of what you've been emphasizing lately, or not?
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I think it's just really groundbreaking, and so that's where it's always just fun to discuss, because it's something that you know nobody's doing or seeing or things like that, especially with you know, how do we really provide services in a holistic way where people are getting their needs met?
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What does that service look like You've mentioned?
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You actually go into the facilities.
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What does it look like in terms of what your clients are receiving?
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When they go into the facilities they usually do like a 40-hour workshop.
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So the PEP team will go in and they'll have different discussions, different topics for the day, but it's all public health information, community health information, from hand washing to safe sex to harm reduction.
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The PEP team covers all of those topics and educates the peers.
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For them to take that information and educate their peers.
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I see.
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So it's kind of like a train, the trainer type model.
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Okay, and how do those trainers get identified?
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Are they volunteer, are they selected somehow?
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so here, theep team.
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I think we're really lucky to have the PEP team that we have, because the individuals have experience with incarceration and they have been peer educators in the PEP program before the in-PEP program.
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So Step Up has hired them to do the education when they go into facilities, um, so I think having them had gone through that process before gives them a good idea and it allows them to connect with the peers even even more, um, when they're doing the programs okay well, in those class, I'm sorry to interrupt you.
00:08:06.360 --> 00:08:12.540
Those classes aren't necessarily going to leave anyone out, like everyone is going to be welcome to attend those classes.
00:08:12.540 --> 00:08:31.653
But then within those classes and workshops they have people that I think interview maybe, or they just work with people to determine who's going to basically take the baton and keep it going and they work with them to make who's going to basically take the baton and keep it going, and they work with them to make sure that that education continues while they can't be in the facility.
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So those peer educators are just selected, I think.
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They have an interview process.
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I believe, similar to an employment setting where they would interview peers within the facility to hire them to do the 40-hour workshop and then to be trained to provide the 40 or the workshops.
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I don't think it's 40 hours that they do, but the I don't know how long the workshops are that they as they're spreading the word yes, yeah, and then at the yeah.
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At the end of the workshops, they have a graduation for the peers who have gone through the program, which is one of the coolest things I've ever been to.
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I think, like the energy that those teams and those people and those peers that they bring to the graduation is.
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It's incredible, it is.
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Tell me a little more about that.
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What's been your experience with that?
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Well.
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It leads I Well.
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It gives them confidence.
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It gives them something to not only educate each other within the facility, but then it gives them a chance to see that there are things that they can do outside of the facility.
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It's a piece of encouragement as well as education.
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It gives them opportunities to possibly get certifications and things when they're you know, once they're released and ready to work in the community.
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It gives them resources to connect with people in the community so they're not coming out alone.
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Yeah, and I think it's done a lot for our program development across the board, outside of just this program, where it's like we've been able to build up so many different community partnerships through having this program.
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Where it's like we're finding landlords to work with, we're finding employers, we're finding certifications that you know, some of our clients, who maybe have a history of incarceration but we're not in this program, still would be eligible to complete, to move on towards some sort of future employment goal or things like that as well where it's really pushing a lot of our programs forward I love it.
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What caught my ear there was that it's it's not just about knowledge by any means.
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It's about providing worth, about providing purpose.
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Motivation, hope, maybe, would be a term that I would throw in there yeah what other services are you providing that we need to tell our listeners a little more about I mean we do case management services for people who are living with HIV and then in that is also part of our housing program, which basically I mean Emily can discuss that in depth a little bit more, but she, you know we work together to make sure that our clients, whether you know, hiv positive or re-entry or regardless of what their status is, you know, make sure that they have resources and access to housing just like everybody else.
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Yeah.
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So I think one of the things that makes us really unique when it does come to our HIV case management services is our housing program, because each of our clients who, if they are identified living with HIV and are accessing case management services, not only are they working with a case manager, but they're also then assigned a housing case manager to work alongside with their case manager, and so at that point then they have both people that they can kind of rely on, because their case manager can help with things like the insurance, navigation, the medications, all of that type of stuff, and the housing case manager can really help with, like housing sustainability plans, goals working towards, you know, whatever a housing goal that that individual may have in order to meet their self-sustainability.
00:12:09.525 --> 00:12:18.948
When you say housing case management, am I correct that it's not that you have actual facility?
00:12:19.389 --> 00:12:19.629
No.
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Right.
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You're helping them find the facility that's right for them.
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Yeah, and make it sustainable, you know because we have a variety of people.
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You know HIV impacts a variety of individuals in a variety of situations and so you know, sometimes it's helping somebody figure out that homeownership is a great opportunity for them.
00:12:36.712 --> 00:12:39.649
How can they, you know, really work on their credit to get to that point?
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Sometimes it might be something as simple as somebody has a Section 8 voucher but just can't find a landlord.
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Who do I know, who I can call, who you can talk to get you in with.
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Sometimes it's something where somebody has stable housing but they really aren't happy in their employment.
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How can I help you with that?
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How can we look at your resume, practice a job interview, things like that that really help you feel confident going up to the next level these individuals?
00:13:08.971 --> 00:13:12.754
how do they end up finding you or you finding them?
00:13:13.936 --> 00:13:15.986
so it'd be a combination, I think, of things.
00:13:15.986 --> 00:13:18.960
A word of mouth is a big way that we get a lot of new referrals.
00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:26.495
We also get referrals for we have our testing here and so they're out in the community with community partners.
00:13:26.495 --> 00:13:47.826
They have in-office testing as well, as we have like people can schedule online or come in for like walk-ins, and then you know, if somebody were to test reactive for HIV at that time, we would link them into services, whether with us or if they wanted to go somewhere else, wherever they would like to be into services, whether with us, or if they wanted to go somewhere else, wherever they would like to be.
00:13:47.846 --> 00:13:50.030
When you say reactive with hiv, what does that mean?
00:13:51.572 --> 00:13:53.636
that's um, it means when.
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So when we test people we have an insti test and if it comes back, reactive it it means that there were HIV antibodies that were found in the blood.
00:14:05.875 --> 00:14:09.307
So it would be like a positive test.
00:14:09.307 --> 00:14:33.157
And if we do have that positive test we do a confirmatory test as well and then if that is also reactive or positive that's when we referred to HIV client services and they kind of help they do help the client go from there with finding a provider medical care insurance.
00:14:34.220 --> 00:14:39.143
All those things that you just talked about, which sounds pretty holistic.
00:14:39.143 --> 00:15:08.899
Alluded to the fact that you find that you have clients that are in all different types of social economic situations employment, you name it but can you give us a little more, any of you guys description of kind of the demographics of your clients Is that?
00:15:09.982 --> 00:15:11.024
even possible.
00:15:11.024 --> 00:15:15.315
I mean, we have clients ranging from you know 18 to I mean.
00:15:15.575 --> 00:15:16.898
I don't know, 70s.
00:15:16.918 --> 00:15:20.787
Okay, so all ages but adults, all adults.
00:15:20.787 --> 00:15:22.009
Is that correct For now?
00:15:22.029 --> 00:15:23.974
yes, Okay, for now.
00:15:24.159 --> 00:15:28.272
Well, I mean I could see us eventually maybe branching into that.
00:15:28.272 --> 00:15:31.089
But yeah, I mean we do stick to adults right now.
00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:44.115
So, all ages, someone who is seeking testing or has already somehow tested positive reactive someplace else, I assume.
00:15:44.115 --> 00:15:50.283
Positive reactive someplace else, I assume.
00:15:50.283 --> 00:15:54.572
What are other ways that you would describe your and maybe not demographics as much as what are they thinking?
00:15:54.572 --> 00:15:57.902
What kind of state of mind are they as they come to you?
00:15:57.923 --> 00:16:03.328
anything, every single one is different, every single, you know we have some people who are very aware of hiv very knowledgeable about hiv coming in.
00:16:03.328 --> 00:16:05.741
And then we have some people who are very aware of HIV, very knowledgeable about HIV coming in.
00:16:05.741 --> 00:16:14.385
And then we have some people who maybe, you know, have no information and, you know, never thought that HIV was something that could impact them.
00:16:14.385 --> 00:16:16.509
Or, you know, maybe it's.
00:16:16.509 --> 00:16:18.522
You know, a variety of different situations.
00:16:18.522 --> 00:16:25.270
A lot of times there's a lot of trauma and stigma still with HIV that we're having to address just on a daily basis.
00:16:25.860 --> 00:16:35.551
Is that a pretty large percentage of those clients you serve that in some form or fashion they feel a stigma still related to that.
00:16:36.620 --> 00:16:41.251
I think this year we've started to see our clients reporting that that's gone down.
00:16:41.251 --> 00:16:46.868
But in prior years that's been a really high reported reporting that that's gone down, but in prior years that's been a really high reported.
00:16:46.888 --> 00:16:53.341
I assume that your case management then helps people work through that Is that correct?
00:16:53.361 --> 00:17:11.000
Yeah, regardless of what the situation is, you might have somebody come in that's accepting of the fact that they've just tested positive for HIV, maybe expected it coming, and kind of know what that looks like, just from maybe their you know social group or just having that knowledge.
00:17:11.000 --> 00:17:14.390
And then you have some people that come in devastated and they don't know which way to look.
00:17:14.390 --> 00:17:16.500
You know they're stunned by this information.
00:17:16.500 --> 00:17:19.549
It wasn't necessarily something that they planned for.
00:17:19.549 --> 00:17:24.807
So you know they're not always aware of what.
00:17:24.807 --> 00:17:29.375
You know what a quality of life would look like once diagnosed with HIV.
00:17:29.759 --> 00:17:32.465
So a lot of people still do stigmatize that.
00:17:32.465 --> 00:17:35.573
It's still that death sentence or that hard life.
00:17:35.573 --> 00:18:07.925
And you know we try to make an impact where you know they feel that that doesn't have to be how it is, you know they feel that that doesn't have to be how it is, you know, and if that comes with education, if it comes with just support or just seeing them and being with them through different trials of life and a lot of that is homelessness or loss of employment or you know big things that they're not always so confident in handling, you know, and you just have to, um, to work with them in those situations and support them in whatever it is.
00:18:07.925 --> 00:18:09.790
Everybody is different, you know okay.
00:18:10.251 --> 00:18:21.469
Did I understand that correctly that what you're saying is that obviously life in general is challenging, no matter what for everybody, for some much more than others.
00:18:21.469 --> 00:18:31.352
But when you add on the layer of hiv positive, that kind of magnifies.
00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:33.665
I would say it can.
00:18:33.665 --> 00:18:34.607
I think it depends.
00:18:34.607 --> 00:18:35.751
Yeah, it depends.
00:18:36.460 --> 00:18:39.871
You know, I think that sometimes it's actually very easy.
00:18:39.871 --> 00:18:46.680
You know somebody, can you know, get enrolled with their provider, go see them and just live their life as normal.
00:18:46.680 --> 00:18:51.586
And then other people have you know barriers that they have to get through to even get to that provider.
00:18:51.586 --> 00:18:59.209
You know problems with transportation, or we're homeless so we can't even take a shower before we go, or you know just different things.
00:18:59.209 --> 00:19:02.229
And so every one of those scenarios is different.
00:19:03.280 --> 00:19:10.779
And we just want to make sure, like, regardless of what somebody is going through, that we're able to support them, be there for them and be that connection, that person that they can contact.
00:19:10.779 --> 00:19:15.053
And, you know, no judgment, We'll listen, we'll hear and we'll support Correct.
00:19:15.895 --> 00:19:34.333
For the sake of our listeners and me, if I were to show up at your offices and I tested positive for HIV I was just assigned a case manager what would be the theme of the messages that you would be giving me?
00:19:34.333 --> 00:19:37.108
What would that conversation look like?
00:19:38.460 --> 00:19:40.906
That's such a tough conversation to have sometimes.
00:19:40.906 --> 00:19:51.587
You know, sometimes, sometimes people are prepared for it in their minds when they come in, so they're ready to jump into case management, and sometimes they're not even ready to speak to anyone.
00:19:51.587 --> 00:19:57.260
They, you know they get that result and we can be there to assure them that.
00:19:57.260 --> 00:20:00.909
You know, this is not necessarily the worst thing, you know.
00:20:00.909 --> 00:20:10.806
It, of course, is going to change your life to a degree, but it doesn't have to mean that the quality of your life changes, and we're here to support you.
00:20:10.846 --> 00:20:19.588
You're not alone in this, you know, and anything that we can do to educate them, support them, make them feel just a little bit more comfortable, even little by little.
00:20:19.588 --> 00:20:26.029
You know, sometimes it's a long process to get there, but some people are ready to accept it immediately and some people just aren't.
00:20:26.029 --> 00:20:45.671
You know, some people won't allow you to immediately jump into case management, so we follow up with them later and check in, you know, and see how we can help and just wait for them to be ready as a client.
00:20:45.671 --> 00:20:47.680
My question to you is what does this mean about my health?
00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:57.234
I mean, specifically, of course you're going to want to talk to, you know, your infectious disease doctor and make sure that you're engaging in care and any way to take care of yourself.
00:20:57.234 --> 00:20:59.868
I mean, you know that's something that we're going to encourage.
00:20:59.868 --> 00:21:02.409
You want to make sure that nutritionally you're covered.
00:21:02.409 --> 00:21:07.873
You know we want to make sure that you have transportation to get to those doctor's appointments and those sort of things.
00:21:08.840 --> 00:21:12.551
Well, and we know things like, for example, like stable housing is crucial, those sort of things Well, and we?
00:21:12.571 --> 00:21:14.858
know things like, for example, like stable housing is crucial.
00:21:14.858 --> 00:21:18.086
So we're looking at you know, do you have stable housing, do you have a roof over your head?
00:21:18.086 --> 00:21:23.646
Because we know that there's research out there that shows that you know, one of the best ways for medication adherence is stable, supportive housing.
00:21:23.646 --> 00:21:28.144
And so how do we help you know, ensure that that's something that's not a barrier?
00:21:28.144 --> 00:21:30.028
How do we make it where you?
00:21:30.028 --> 00:21:42.192
You know, we know that we're able to meet whatever the needs are for you to be able to meet whatever your medical needs are sometimes just people, just knowing that they have someone in their corner makes a big difference
00:21:42.273 --> 00:21:53.672
you know, you kind of have to just get to know those, the individuals, as they come and you know if they do have barriers that they need help with to make sure that they can maintain that life, then we'll help with those things.
00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:57.971
I had a client once describe Step Up as unconditional love, which I love.
00:21:57.971 --> 00:22:04.965
I love that Because it's just kind of how we are, where it's like, whatever's going on, we're here for you, we'll support you, we'll listen, you know.
00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:26.834
Really catching that from you guys, that as you described your services and how you go about providing those services and who your clients are that it's really not so much about the services.
00:22:26.834 --> 00:22:28.420
It's about your support for the individuals that are your clients, absolutely.
00:22:28.900 --> 00:22:33.794
That sounds like that's your culture, if that's the right it is, and we have a great culture here your clients, absolutely, that sounds like that's your culture, if that's the right it is, and we have a great culture here.
00:22:33.794 --> 00:22:42.309
You know we try to support anything and everything that comes through our door where did that culture come from and how does it keep sustained?
00:22:43.752 --> 00:22:48.226
I think you know one of that big pieces was our founder, paula French.
00:22:48.226 --> 00:23:08.972
She was the person that you know anybody and everybody could go to and she just was so passionate and so caring and so willing to put in the work and that just has really driven, I think, all of us that are here to continue that work.
00:23:10.901 --> 00:23:14.230
And when you say she was here, she's not here any longer.
00:23:16.701 --> 00:23:26.369
She recently passed away and we actually just yeah, and yeah, her funeral was yesterday.
00:23:27.441 --> 00:23:28.566
Oh, I'm so sorry.
00:23:29.902 --> 00:23:32.329
We fully intend to keep her legacy moving forward.
00:23:32.329 --> 00:23:34.126
We have a great solid staff here.
00:23:34.126 --> 00:23:51.672
We're like a family, and I think that helps us in our work too, because it helps us communicate with each other, it helps us stay on the same page, it helps us work with our partners the way that we need to, and it's a really positive culture that we have in this office.
00:23:52.020 --> 00:23:55.770
How many people are in the office, or whether in the office.
00:23:55.770 --> 00:23:58.047
I don't know if you have some that aren't.
00:23:58.749 --> 00:23:59.211
A couple.
00:23:59.211 --> 00:24:04.368
I might say we're probably about 30, 32 maybe, oh, maybe I don't know.
00:24:04.387 --> 00:24:06.932
Okay, we're really bad at growing, Okay yeah.
00:24:08.220 --> 00:24:11.931
Like, like, like, let me test you.
00:24:11.931 --> 00:24:16.467
I know where you guys haven't been here a long time, but just in general, I'm curious what?
00:24:16.467 --> 00:24:19.498
What was has that growth been in terms of number of people?
00:24:19.597 --> 00:24:22.767
well, it started with two, so yeah, and that was 20 years ago.
00:24:22.866 --> 00:24:27.021
Basement even, right, yeah they they, you know, and then they built um.
00:24:27.123 --> 00:24:37.615
It really is something that was birthed and now lives on its own with its own energy and culture, but obviously with those roots.
00:24:38.056 --> 00:24:45.279
Yes, when I started in 2013, I think we had maybe seven people in office, including the founders.
00:24:45.801 --> 00:25:10.412
They were both in the office still at that time, and I think there were maybe, I don't know, maybe 10 max still at that time and I think there were maybe, I don't know, maybe 10 max, you know, and now to see that this has grown to you know, I don't know close to in florida, 40 employees at least and with you know, all of the different programs we have and even, like within each of our umbrellas, having different programs under those big programs just keeps growing, so you haven't been afraid of growth.
00:25:10.612 --> 00:25:11.554
No, not at all.
00:25:12.074 --> 00:25:14.766
Okay, how are you funded?
00:25:14.766 --> 00:25:17.990
Are you charging any of your clients any fees?
00:25:18.559 --> 00:25:21.169
Clients are never charged a fee for any services here.
00:25:22.539 --> 00:25:24.507
And each program is funded by different sources.
00:25:25.799 --> 00:25:27.185
Different sources, different grants.
00:25:27.185 --> 00:25:44.932
We've been really lucky to have really strong managers who are going out there and just finding grants and applying and putting our name out there and pushing to get the funding to support the different programs that we see a need for and I assume also some donations.
00:25:45.031 --> 00:25:46.134
Is that correct or not?
00:25:46.134 --> 00:25:50.729
What other things do you want to tell our listeners about?
00:25:50.729 --> 00:25:51.369
Step Up?
00:25:55.883 --> 00:25:57.471
What have we missed so far?
00:25:57.471 --> 00:26:02.383
So, like I said, I am the Connections Plus Program Manager.
00:26:02.383 --> 00:26:06.769
Connections was created probably about two years ago, right when I first started.
00:26:06.769 --> 00:26:20.393
I was getting out of AmeriCorps, I was here, this was my service site and I loved it and I was doing outreach and testing, as well as working with Emily.
00:26:21.319 --> 00:26:25.912
I will say Rachel was the sweetest, bubbliest AmeriCorps.
00:26:25.912 --> 00:26:28.913
But she came in and she was like I don't want to do housing.
00:26:29.857 --> 00:26:30.240
Oh right.
00:26:30.381 --> 00:26:34.544
And I always laugh when she gets to this part because it's like look at where you are now.
00:26:34.884 --> 00:27:01.691
Yeah, yeah, I can see this coming um so I was doing outreach and working with Emily and like some case managers, so I got to kind of see things from when people first walk into testing to if they are reactive, like referring them to a case manager and then having them start like here as a client with case management.
00:27:02.372 --> 00:27:21.771
But when I was in americorps I was like, well, what about the, the other people like, who aren't testing positive or they aren't reactive for HIV or hepatitis C, but they're telling us they're experiencing homelessness, they're telling us they're having food insecurities, they don't have transportation, they don't have health insurance.
00:27:21.771 --> 00:27:30.713
We're just telling them you know like, oh, like, we tested you, you're negative, you're good to go.
00:27:30.713 --> 00:27:35.281
So that's kind of how Connections started.
00:27:35.281 --> 00:27:37.686
It was really looking at the social determinants of health and having an understanding of those.
00:27:37.686 --> 00:28:03.280
Like emily was saying, if you don't have income, how are you going to support yourself with housing, if you aren't housed, how are you going to keep taking medication if you don't have access to hygiene, showers, washing your clothes, like how you know, and all those social determinants of health really determine someone's outcome of their health.
00:28:03.280 --> 00:28:08.284
And with connections, um, we started.
00:28:09.023 --> 00:28:11.224
I started as a community navigator.
00:28:11.224 --> 00:28:49.126
So any clients we had who were negative but still had risk factors like homelessness, injection, drug use, sex work, any of those like the transportation, food insecurity they could be referred to me and I could start working with them to get them connected to resources in the community, so places like Horizon House, if they haven't heard or been to Horizon House before, or helping them get enrolled on insurance and finding food pantries in their area that they can walk to if they don't have access to transportation.
00:28:49.126 --> 00:29:05.080
So that's kind of how that got started and through that we really focus on nine zip codes around within Indianapolis and they're zip codes that have a high incidence of HIV.
00:29:05.080 --> 00:29:22.634
So we try to make community partners within those zip codes and build a relationship with them to be able to offer our services to them or just to tell them about who we are and what we offer and encourage them.
00:29:22.634 --> 00:29:29.920
If they have anybody who's interested in getting tested, have them come to Step Up, so it moves both directions.
00:29:30.161 --> 00:29:37.086
You might be referring someone to them, but they might be referring someone absolutely yeah, so that's where its connection.
00:29:37.086 --> 00:29:39.653
It's not a one-way street.
00:29:40.401 --> 00:29:48.208
So that's, and then I kind of started getting more into housing With a lot of Emily support.
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