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As the nonprofit Youth Recovery Connections completes renovations to open its new office doors at 721 Monterey Street, Executive Director Michael Salinas and his staff reflect on the progress they’ve made in their first year, their challenges with funding, and future goals.
Salinas added staff members Joshua Flores and Edgar Castellanos to the team as Peer Support Specialists. He also received support from the California Department of Health Care’s PATH CITED grant, the Substance Use Disorder Earn and Learn Grant Program, and the CARESTAR grant for continued funding.
Salinas is also talking with Indiana’s University of Notre Dame to bring in substance abuse counselor residents and interns to the facility after renovations are completed.
The organization—which focuses on education for those who are suffering from substance use problems and provides both a 24-hour crisis hotline and Substance Use Response Team—has expanded and is relying on members’ life experiences in reaching at-risk youth, Salinas said.
Salinas and the staff’s life experiences enable them to connect with young people and gain their trust.
“He met me where I was at,” a Youth Recovery member said about Salinas. “And it’s having people who provide those sources with lived experience. There are tons of people in town who are in active addiction and have lived experience. Not many people in Hollister that are in recovery work were addicts.”
Both Flores and Castellanos were treated for substance abuse disorders and are now focused on providing education and mentorship to their young clients.
“I remember when people would come and talk to us [and] for me it would be in one ear and out the other because I look at them and they don’t relate to me, because we live two different lifestyles,” Flores said. “But these kids when they see me they relate to me, they grew up the same way I grew up, and immediately there is a connection. I’ve definitely enjoyed it.”
Castellanos said one of the highlights of working with his current mentee is “being able to see that change in perspective, to see a kid as they turn their life around and be successful.”
In addition to his mentorship responsibilities, Flores has presented in front of local groups of 300-plus students about the dangers of substance abuse.
“Prevention work is necessary. Especially in elementary school and middle schools,” Flores said. “People think that is the age to start dropping red flags, but there are already kids who have access to narcotics, especially from sixth to eighth grade.”
So far, Flores has spoken at Hollister High School, Anzar High School, Rancho San Justo Middle School, Marguerite Maze Middle School, and Santa Ana Opportunity School. He hopes to eventually speak at all the schools in the county.
A major challenge for the nonprofit has been securing funding after receiving $80,000 from the city of Hollister.
“I went six months without getting paid,” Salinas said. “My wife and mother helped during that time financially so I could continue helping and working. I got another job and bounced around balancing it and this work.”
Nonetheless, Salinas is hopeful. He says his main goal is to continue to help as many youth in the county as possible so they don’t experience what he did.
Salinas was first incarcerated at age 11 and spent his time in and out of prison until he was 39. That is when he decided to change and entered a substance abuse treatment program in San Benito County. After treatment, Salinas worked in various fields and agencies that addressed recovery and substance abuse.
Salinas was eventually offered a position in the San Benito Behavioral Health Department as a substance abuse youth counselor. During this time he decided there was a larger need in the county for substance abuse prevention and mentoring of at-risk young adults in the county.
Then Salinas began Youth Recovery Connections.
“We are focused on prevention and mentorship,” he said. “We do a lot of outreach and presentations in schools and treatment facilities.”
Castellanos and Flores agreed that they would like to recruit the next generation of counselors and peer support specialists for the center from among Youth Recovery’s clients.
“Eventually when I’m an old man, these kids will not listen to me because I had that same mentality when old men would talk to me,” Flores said. “My biggest goal is to have the youth that I’m working with now become specialists and continue to prevent substance abuse.”
A 17 year-old in training at the facility spoke in support of the approach. Referring to Salinas, he said, “I’m working on getting my peer specialist license because I want to be someone’s Michael.”
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