Elevate, Inc.: Tackling Substance Use and Mental Health w/Laura Roenitz

Fuzz Martin: 00:00:08

Welcome to another exciting edition of Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz.

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My name is Fuzz Martin and this is a

show about positive things happening in

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and around Washington County, Wisconsin.

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I hope all of you are

having a wonderful December.

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It's always kind of hard when

Thanksgiving's super late in the month and

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then you're thrust right into December.

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Makes it hard to want to put up

the Christmas decorations, knowing

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that you're going to have to

take them down in three weeks.

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Or for some of you, three months.

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I'm not judging.

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This week I'm pleased to be joined by

Laura Roenitz, the CEO of Elevate Inc.

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Elevate is an organization that helps

people and families address substance

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use and mental health challenges

right here in Washington County.

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Also in Waukesha, Sheboygan,

and Dodge counties.

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It's a wonderful resource and I

think everyone should know about it.

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15 Minutes on Elevate.

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With Laura Roenitz on

Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz.

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Alright, Laura, thank you for coming

into Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz today.

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So, to start, can you give us a

little bit of background on Elevate?

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What are some of the key programs that

Elevate provides for Washington County and

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for the surrounding communities, because

it's not just Washington County, right?

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Laura Roenitz: Oh, right, sure.

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So, Elevate provides comprehensive

prevention, education, counseling,

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and crisis stabilization services.

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In addition to support

of independent living for

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Washington, Sheboygan, Waukesha.

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and Dodge Counties.

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So these services address

substance use and mental health

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needs in our communities.

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Fuzz Martin: So you recently joined

Elevate, you took over as the role

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of CEO, Mary had been in for a

number of years, and um, what was

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it about Elevate's mission that

inspired you to join the organization?

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Laura Roenitz: So I've been in the

non profit sector the last 16 years

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and under, it's given me a really good

understanding of the critical need for

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services in these two areas, mental

health and substance use disorder.

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Each of the communities that Elevate

serves really, has a need, the mission

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to strengthen individuals and families

through a trauma informed, supportive,

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care model really resonated with me

and my passion for building communities

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and really connecting people in

those communities to create a safe

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and healthy community for everybody.

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Fuzz Martin: Great.

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You're joining now with

a fresh perspective.

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And can you tell us a bit about

your professional background?

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How, how has that prepared

you to CEO of Elevate?

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Laura Roenitz: Sure.

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So my last two non profit leadership

positions, my focus really was on

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strategic growth, community collaboration,

really bringing systems together to,

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present a coordinated care model, really.

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So I think those two things plus, My

communications and marketing background

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has really positioned me to really get out

in the community, talk about what we're

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doing, and really just move forward, and

then really, that has really equipped

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me to connect the organizations and the

communities we're in, not only within a

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community, but connect those communities.

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Border communities together.

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Fuzz Martin: Sure, certainly, certainly.

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What do you see as some of those

big strengths that Elevate brings

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to Washington County and these

communities that you serve?

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Laura Roenitz: Yeah, I think two things

jumped out right, right away for me

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in the process of evaluating this.

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Opportunity was the strong

community partnerships,

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specifically in Washington County.

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It's a longstanding relationship

between Elevate, which was really a

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merger in 2015 between the Council

for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse of

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Washington County and NOVA Services.

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We merged in 2015, and then the

evidence based programs that we run,

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are two reasons that I think really,

it was really Interesting for me.

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And then the third was really the

dedicated team at Elevate, the way they

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live their values and have a strong

culture and just a desire to continue to,

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provide these services really made it,

I, I just think really intriguing to me.

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Fuzz Martin: Yeah, we, we here at

Epic Creative, where we're recording

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this, uh, this podcast, we work

closely with, Washington County,

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and we're now working with Waukesha

County on the task force for heroin.

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And, we.

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Come across Elevate all the time because

you guys are so intertwined with helping

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people find resources for, substance

use and mental health resources as well,

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and those are so often interconnected.

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How does Elevate approach these issues

and help support the well being of

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individuals and families and kind of take

that holistic approach to helping them?

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Laura Roenitz: I think the best way

to describe it is, is, well, both of

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these things are, they're different.

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To present different challenges, I

think when we approach it with families

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and individuals, it's really about

harm prevention as talking about how

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do we prevent harm from anyone dealing

with these, in a way to lower stigma

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so that in lowering stigma, Everybody

can feel really confident and safe

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about talking about these things.

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So I think those, that's the connector

between the two issues, that families

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and individuals are dealing with.

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Fuzz Martin: Certainly.

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I think when you're able to talk about

it, you're more likely to get help, right?

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Absolutely.

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And go find help because

you're not hiding from it.

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Laura Roenitz: And I think the

lowering stigma, it lowers the shame

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associated with it for everyone.

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And harm prevention is a to talk about it.

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That is just, it's a really open,

easy way to talk about how do we

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How do we prevent harm no matter

where we are in the, in the process?

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Fuzz Martin: Yeah, absolutely.

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And that's how we grow and heal as

a community and get through some

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of these, some of these issues.

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Speaking of growing, how do you envision

Elevate growing and evolving in the

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coming years with your new leadership?

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Are there any new initiatives

or programming that you're

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planning to explore?

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Laura Roenitz: You know,

that's a great question.

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Nine weeks into my tenure, I think

for me, the evaluation of growth

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is really about Looking for gaps.

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If, if there's a gap, someone's,

a community that doesn't have a

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service that we can provide, we

certainly want to talk about that.

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We had a large, growth into Sheboygan

County, in the last 12 to 15 months.

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So, I think we all are taking a breath.

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Deepening our commitment to those

services we're currently providing,

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but we're always open for conversations

about where there might be a gap

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and where we can fill that gap.

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Fuzz Martin: I know you've only been on

the job for nine weeks, so, you may not

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have all of the anecdotes that, you

might have a year from now, but, you work

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with a diverse group of individuals who

have various challenges that they face.

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Can you share a story or example?

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Maybe that you've learned or have

seen so far of how Elevate has made a

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positive difference in someone's life.

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Laura Roenitz: Yeah, I think so.

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It's a big important part of I think

this idea of lowering stigma and

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normalizing a conversation of challenges

that people go through on every day.

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I think, one of my, I think one of the

most impactful stories we have is a client

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who is facing addiction and homelessness

through our services, through Calm

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Harbor in support of independent living.

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Now serves as a peer support

specialist to clients.

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So they understand the

challenges firsthand.

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They can relate and really close that

gap between service provision, I'll say,

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and really understanding the challenges

that you go through on the every day.

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Fuzz Martin: So, mental health and

substance use challenges have a broad

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impact on families and then on, you know,

that impacts the community as a whole.

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How does Elevate work to

support those family members

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or loved ones who are affected?

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Laura Roenitz: Yeah, I think we offer

several support groups for families,

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who are trying to, Be supportive.

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Again, it's a lot of conversation about

harm reduction and lowering stigma.

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The more we talk about it, the more

we, and normalize is a word we use, the

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conversation and then helping educate on

what the services are and how to access

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those services, whether they're elevate

services or extended community services.

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Fuzz Martin: So, what are some of the

ways that you plan to engage with the

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local community to raise awareness, to

reduce that stigma surrounding mental

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health and substance use issues?

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Laura Roenitz: Yeah,

that's a great question.

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So we use them multiple, multiple ways.

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Public events.

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There's awareness campaigns that we

will do in the media, um, partnerships

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with local leaders, partnerships with

the county, really encouraging people

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to just talk about what's going on.

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How Elevate serves this community and, how

we are ready to expand program if we can.

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Fuzz Martin: Are there any particular

partnerships within Washington County?

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or the surrounding areas that

are especially valuable to your

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work and to Elevate as a whole.

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Laura Roenitz: Oh, for sure.

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So we have a lot of different

partnerships in all the communities.

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I think our partnership with the

Washington County Administration

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in Health and Human Services is

critical to being able to serve.

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Our relationship with the schools and

doing prevention work, our healthcare

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providers really partner with us

in helping, increase awareness and

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through referral and law enforcement.

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Specifically I'll say in Sheboygan

County, we have a co responder

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program where we ride along with law

enforcement to mental health crisis.

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It's been really a great partnership.

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It's one that I think has, perhaps one

we can expand to other communities, right?

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Fuzz Martin: Sure, sure.

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I've heard it talked about here and

we'll see if that maybe takes hold

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someday in our community locally.

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Laura Roenitz: Yeah, I think what

those partnerships do is they

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allow the community as a whole

to have a comprehensive support,

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model for, people struggling.

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Fuzz Martin: Volunteers obviously

play a big role in any non profit.

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Are there any specific ways that

community members can get involved with

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Elevate and help your organization?

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Laura Roenitz: Yeah, you know, volunteers,

they bring invaluable perspective and

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energy to our mission and our effort.

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They help with community support

by talking about it, by attending,

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our events, certainly help us in

fundraising, so we do two appeals

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a year, to help raise money for the

things that, we need to do, we need.

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on the day to day to provide these

services, and then community outreach.

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If you're part of an organization,

you can bring our message and mission

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and our staff to your organization.

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It just helps everyone understand

what, our mission is and

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how we serve the community.

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Fuzz Martin: And then you

mentioned fundraising.

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Fundraising is the other

half of that, right?

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So there's always the, the people to

help and the funds to, to get it done.

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How does Elevate secure the

resources that it needs?

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Are there opportunities for the community

to support your work financially?

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Laura Roenitz: Oh, sure.

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So we secure funding

through various methods.

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So we write independent grants.

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We have contracts with, some of

the community partners that we work

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with in all of our communities.

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We take contributions from

individuals who may feel they have a

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specific connection to our mission.

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We love corporate sponsorships.

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So we have a big fundraiser in July 19th.

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This year is the Adrenaline Run.

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We've been doing that

for a number of years.

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So we're looking for

corporate sponsorships.

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We're looking for volunteers

to help with that.

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It's a big fundraiser for us.

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It's the largest one we do.

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So yeah, I think it's really exciting

to, really look at how to engage

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the community, with our mission.

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Fuzz Martin: So you had mentioned the

Adrenaline Run, which comes up in July.

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Where does that take place?

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Laura Roenitz: That's right in West Bend.

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Fuzz Martin: Okay.

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Laura Roenitz: It's an, I

believe it's an in and out route.

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Fuzz Martin: Okay.

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Laura Roenitz: But you can find more

details for all of our events and

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fundraisers on our website elevateyou.

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org.

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Fuzz Martin: All right, very good.

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And then in your view, what's one

of the most meaningful impacts that

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Elevate has had on the community so far?

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As the new CEO.

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How do you hope to build upon that?

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Laura Roenitz: Yeah, I think the most

impactful, and we say this, every

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day and when we come to work is we

offer life changing programming.

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So crisis stabilization and the prevention

messaging is the most important thing

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we can talk about, I think, for the

next phase of, you know, prevention.

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Elevate and what we're doing it's really

to really reinforce that messaging,

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really help the communities understand

what that programming means to youth,

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to adults, to families, and really

just dig in and, and get it done.

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Fuzz Martin: You obviously now, you know,

you, you know what you want to get done

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and how you want to lead as a leader.

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How will you define success for

Elevate looking into the future?

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Laura Roenitz: You know, when

you're talking about life changing,

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life saving, services is success

is a, is a scale of things.

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I think for an organization,

it means fostering resilient,

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healthier communities.

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And then expanding the care to the widest

reach we have, reducing stigma and then

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improving the outcomes for those we serve.

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Fuzz Martin: Yeah, there's always

going to be, people who need help with

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mental health and with substance use.

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And I think having the resources

that are there at a time like this.

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The fastest route possible and the

least amount of stigma, I think, is

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the, the best outcome in, in my opinion.

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What's one message that you'd like

listeners to take away about Elevate

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and the importance of supporting

mental health and substance

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use resources here in our area?

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Laura Roenitz: I think if I could leave

everybody with one thing, no matter

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how you do it, supporting the pursuit

of mental health and substance use.

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resources and recovery

strengthens the community.

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And by doing this, we can create

hope, healing, and opportunity

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for each community that we serve.

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Fuzz Martin: Where can people

learn more about Elevate or find

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resources if they need them?

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Laura Roenitz: You can go

to our website, elevateu.

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org.

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Or call us at 262 677 2216, and our

staff can give you access to resources

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and learn how to get more involved.

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Fuzz Martin: Wonderful.

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Laura, welcome to Elevate

and welcome to the community.

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And Thank you so much for coming in

and speaking with us today and I wish

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you the best of luck in your role

and look forward to working with you.

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Laura Roenitz: Thanks so much, Fuzz.

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I appreciate it.

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Fuzz Martin: Thank you again to

Laura Reinitz, CEO of Elevate, Inc.

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for joining me on this week's

episode of Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz.

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I'm always looking for

new guests for the show.

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If you know of a person or

organization, let us know.

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With whom I should speak?

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Give me a shout.

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You can email me fuzz at fuzzmartin.

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com.

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That is fuzz at fuzzmartin.

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com.

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Or you can use the form at fuzzmartin.

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com slash guest.

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That is fuzzmartin.

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com slash guest.

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New episodes drop on Tuesdays.

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Online at fuzzmartin.

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And thank you for listening.

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I'll talk to you again next time, right

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