In this episode, we sit down with Aaron Perry, the newest board member of The APT Foundation. Aaron opens up about his deeply personal journey—from hitting rock bottom to recovery—and how carrying a message of hope now fuels his work. His passion for helping others has led him to this new role on APT’s Board of Directors.

The APT Foundation has been committed to the promotion of health and recovery since 1970.

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Welcome to the latest episode of Open Access Open Mic, the podcast with the Apt Foundation. The Apt Foundation is here to help employers, communities and families care for people who may be living with opioid or other substance use disorders, serving the greater New Haven community through an evidence-based open access model. Get in touch with us to find out more at aptfoundation.org.

I was personally affected by addiction and it's something goes back almost seven years ago, the day I got sober and struggled for a lot of years leading up to that of control and trying to self help and try to figure things out. People trying to help me, my work being impacted, my relationships, almost losing everything in my life. That was near and dear to me and hitting that rock bottom that was mine, getting help.

going through a road to recovery and then ultimately finding out that I myself was saved through the help I got. I couldn't have done it alone. And I was really passionate about that, about passing it on and saying, you know, I was helped. How can I reciprocate that and help others too?

Welcome along on this episode of Open Access Open Mic. I am joined by one of the newest members of the board at the Apt Foundation, Aaron Perry. Now, Aaron works for a global connectivity company called Megaport and is also a huge advocate for the life-changing work of the Apt Foundation. So without further ado, Aaron, welcome to Open Access Open Mic, the podcast.

Thanks so much for having me on this morning. Appreciate it.

It's great to have you. So let's dive in then. Tell me a little bit about yourself and your journey to becoming one of the newest members of the board at the App Foundation.

a very personal story to me and how I came to be a board member here with App Foundation. Today, I live in Stratford, Connecticut. I'm married. I have two children, 15 and 18. Family is kind of one of my biggest values and why I do what I do and why my story I think is so personal as far as wanting to be a provider and wanting to provide the best version of myself.

that I can, you know, as it relates to the family. So, you know, I think what's so personal to me about why I became a board member at Foundation is I was personally affected by addiction. And it's something that goes back almost seven years ago, the day I got sober and struggled for a lot of years leading up to that of control and trying to self-help and trying to figure things out, people trying to help me, my work being impacted, my relationships.

almost losing everything in my life that was near and dear to me and hitting that rock bottom that was mine, getting help, going through a road to recovery, and then ultimately finding out that I myself was saved through the help I got. I couldn't have done it alone. And I was really passionate about that, about passing it on and saying, you I was helped. How can I reciprocate that and help others too? So within about a year, ⁓

⁓ going through meetings. I ended up leading a meeting myself. It was during the peak of COVID and I work in tech. So of course, to me, I found myself in this position where I saying, going to meetings is non-negotiable for me. Getting help is non-negotiable for me. And right now we can't meet, but I work in tech. so, you know, while to most people getting on a Zoom meeting or a virtual meetings was very common to my group, it was not.

I was led by some older men that were not familiar with Zoom or the technology. And I was, and I actually sold to the platform. So for me, was like, this is a no brainer. Let's get the group online. That's kind of how that happened. That was my entry level into leadership as it relates to recovery. And that just blossomed and led to the fueling of passion, you know, where I began helping and sponsoring dozens of men. ⁓

in people in my life and volunteering and other causes. And we, maybe we can get into that a little bit more later, but, uh, you know, noticing just this gaping hole in the access that people have to adequate care as it relates to getting, getting help, whether it's access to meetings, getting to meetings, medical intervention when necessary.

I've met men and I say men because, my groups were specifically for men only, you know, as it relates to the program I was a part of, they segmented separately. But that I, you know, dealt with people in my group that some were like me, where they were addicted to drugs and alcohol. Some were just alcohol, some were opiates. So, so kind of coming from all different walks of life. so I did that for four years. I was leading this meeting.

I eventually I was leading it alone for many years going kind of down that I began leading a meeting at the Bridgeport Rescue Mission. began volunteering there and doing other programs through that cause. then an opportunity presented itself last year with the Aft Foundation. Surprisingly, I'd actually never heard of the Aft Foundation. Here I was fully immersed in this field of recovery and helping dozens and dozens.

probably hundreds of men giving my testimony to hundreds of men and women, you know, in different platforms that I was given the opportunity to share my story. And, and so that was surprising to me because once I looked into the app foundation and the open access model, what it stood for and what it meant for our community, the people in our community that could be served by app foundation and helped, I knew it was something I wanted to learn more about.

and I wanted to get involved with, whether as a board member or whether as a program that I evangelize and tell other people about. So ultimately I did become a board member and I'm still learning about all the opportunities where I can make a difference with apps. And I'm really excited about where this journey is going to take me next.

I I bet. Thank you for sharing your story. For listeners who may be unfamiliar, mean, how would you describe the open access model? We talk about it quite a lot, of course, but it's like spreading the word. The example you've just given is that you've worked with hundreds of people suffering and struggling with substance use. We need to make sure people know that the App Foundation is there. And we also need to know why it's so very special with its open access model. What makes it different from traditional treatment methods?

So first off, the open access model to me and to the community, it means is it means immediate access to care. When a person wakes up one morning and says, I'm ready to go get help. They can walk into an app foundation clinic at that moment and receive immediate treatment and care. And that's one of the most important things in addiction recovery. And I personally.

experienced that, you know, people I was trying to help and, you know, I would make phone, I'd get on a phone with people and call detox facilities and in treatment centers and they'd say call back in a few days, there's no beds available or there's no one available to meet with this person that you care about that you're trying to help today. So I'd call that person a few days later and they may or may not be in that same state of mind or position to actually follow through on what they had talked about with me days before. So for me,

This means making a true difference for people when they're making one of the hardest, most challenging decisions of their life, which is, I'm ready to get help. They can go to an app foundation facility and receive that care.

Absolutely. It's just such a short window of opportunity for many people. So to be able to access that care immediately whilst they're in that frame of mind is so powerful. And of course, upon entering the App Foundation, they are met with a medical practitioner who's going to give them a health rundown from top to toe. Potentially, if it's suitable, they could leave with medication that same day to help them on their journey, which is quite incredible.

It's available to people irrelevant of insurance status and immigration status. I think that's really important to highlight. How has working with an open access program influenced, I guess, your passion or perspective around how we treat addiction and how we get people access to care?

You first off, you kind of touched on something I think I'm going to go back to for a second. that's around a person's, maybe their, their societal status or financial status. A lot of the people that I encounter in my experiences with, addiction, they hit rock bottoms much lower than me. And that was, that's one of the reasons I think I'm so passionate about helping others. gained perspective.

And I could have fallen a lot further than I You meet people that they are years past having lost their family, lost their jobs. Maybe they're just out of prison or living on the streets. So they don't have healthcare. I still had healthcare, and that was a blessing to me. So I had access to...

you know, professional care and treatment, however I might've needed it. And I think the perspective is a lot of people don't. And I experienced that because I didn't personally have opioid addiction, wasn't early on very familiar with how to help the people that were coming into my meeting. I'd say like I'm addicted to, you know, something very serious and debating what to do about it, you know, going into withdrawal, whatever it might be.

And I had no idea myself what to do and they had no insurance. you know, it was like, where do I bring them? And the best thing I could think of was an ER. And I did drive people to an ER many a time. Typically the response of an ER was to get that person moved out of the ER as quickly as possible. And my goal was to make sure this person was medically okay and they felt cared for, that they had access to care.

At no point did that doing that actually get a person into treatment. They were left usually ⁓ outside the hospital with maybe a call to a cab that could take them somewhere if they wanted, but it never really led to anything. So to me, at least, I think back to some of these specific individuals I helped and I'm like, gosh, I wish I knew about App Foundation back then. Because that could have led to a much different outcome.

Absolutely.

like you said, regardless of their status, regardless of their insurance capability. So I hope I didn't go off on a tangent on you there, but it's just, it's so important. I think that's just such a critical foundation of what Optin stands for.

It truly is. It truly is, you know, and it's factual. know, the sooner we can get people into some kind of treatment, you know, the better outcomes. ⁓ And I mean, I'm a huge fan of the open access model. think it empowers the individual to be able to seek help when they're ready. And like we said about that willingness, that window of willingness, how fantastic that this array of services, which is not just medical and it's not just medicine, is there are groups, there are support.

for all aspects of an individual's lives to get them back on their feet and, you know, to become a productive member of society. You know, that's what it's about. And ultimately, above all else, it's about stopping people dying. And I think sometimes I don't forget, but I think sometimes there are some decision makers in very high places who perhaps forget that we have a lot of people dying every single year in Connecticut and certainly in the United States and across the world. And many of these cases could be.

could be avoided. Now, from your perspective as a board member, what can communities and leaders, we just touched on that kind of, organizations, what can they be doing or how can they support us, I guess, in our work to remove the stigma, to make treatment feel more accessible and welcoming? You just talked about taking people to the ER. They don't want no part of that. They want them moved on and out quickly.

You know, what can we do to break down those stigmas? You know, we've done a number of campaigns and we've worked really, really hard to reduce stigma over the years. know, Everybody Knows Somebody was a fantastic campaign because by and large, everybody does know somebody who's been touched by the opioid crisis or a substance use issue. What are your top tips there as the newest board member? What's the solution?

Yeah.

Well, mean, stigma, I mean, it's, there's kind of two sides to that coin. On one hand, there's a stigma of people themselves that are affected by addiction and ashamed of the way they're living and not wanting to admit that they can't get help or they can't, they can't get better on their own. So many people always on this side of recovery, I'm always so shocked by it, but I was that guy. ⁓

We tried to beat it alone. It was just like, why won't you just give in and surrender to getting the help that's available to you? it's pride, it's control, it's various things. ⁓ And not wanting to admit that they're being owned by addiction. And as I mentioned in my story, I was personally affected by that. The other side of it is...

You and you asked about the people, you know, a position in the community as leaders or as parents, as brothers, as, you know, sisters, children, know, whoever in our life might be affected by it. I think the hardest part is watching somebody self-destruct and knowing exactly what the problem is and screaming it at that person or, you know, very emphatically telling that person, you know,

And then feeling the frustration of them not accepting it. And, ⁓ I can tell you that, you know, your efforts are not in vain. It takes time. That person knowing that you still care that you still love on them. And while it's never good for you to enable that person, it's good for them to know that when they're ready to say, yes, I will listen to you. will grab your hand that's reached out to me and I'll do what you asked me to do. I'll go to the program or.

the help that I need because they will only actually follow through on that when they're ready. And I think that's, that's the biggest lesson for me. So many people tried to pull me aside or sit me down and tell me that there was something going on. They were seeing that was a problem and I wasn't going to actually try until I made that decision for myself. So, you know, I think that's, that's a big part of it. I think the stigma is that

You know, in helping people that there could be a false sense of enablement. There's ways to help people without enablement. Just loving on them and caring enough to say, I'm here for you when you're ready.

Yeah. And that you matter. think for many people they can feel a little bit left behind and like they don't matter anymore. Yeah. There's a lot of work to be done for sure. So now that you're on the board of the App Foundation, what has been your insight, I guess, from being on the board of the obstacles in the way for the App Foundation to be able to help as many people as possible?

You got real specific there obstacles. mean, the biggest thing I guess I kind of knew this going into it, you know, I, myself coming into it had my own stigmas, right? You know, one of the main things that Methodist Foundation serves the community on is with Methodist Clinics. And, you know, I think what I learned a lot about being firsthand as a board member is there's this sort of catch 22, if you will, ⁓ at one hand,

communities, you know, lot of communities don't want methadone clinics in their community ⁓ because there's this stigma, this feeling that, you know, we're attracting, you know, types of people into an area that we don't want to do. But on the other, we have these people in our community that need access to care and methadone is one of the only real ways medically to treat.

opiate addiction, they need a methadone clinic. so it's, you you really, you have to kind of really think about that. You know, we, foundation wants to put these methadone clinics in communities that need it most and communities that are most impacted by addiction. And so that's, that's literally what we're trying to do as an organization is, is make it accessible and convenient for addicts to have the ability to go there.

And from what I've learned about so far, there's been a lot of resistance and there's, whether it's, you know, local, you know, governmental resistance and there's real estate challenges, financial challenges and some, and some aspects. That's been something that, you know, was kind of eyeopening for me. I didn't really realize how many different fronts that the organization has to explore to make something like that possible.

Yeah, you're absolutely right. mean, the biggest thing about open access is it has to be accessible, right? I mean, there are people struggling with opioid use in all walks of life. You know, as I said, we were talking earlier about, know, the Everybody Knows Somebody campaign. It's absolutely a case of pretty much everybody knows somebody in all communities. So trying to meet people where they're at so that they can...

get the medication that they need. You mentioned, obviously, methadone, which is the gold standard. It is cheap, effective. It's been tested over many, many years. It's just one way of assisting people who are really struggling, but we need to be able to get the medication that they need to them in their communities. And it's a challenge, you know, it's a challenge, you're right. And the stigma is quite deep within communities and within officials who make a lot of rules. I've seen

how methadone needs to be stored, for example, it blew my mind. The safe that is required in order to house this medication is off the scale. I've never seen anything like it. It's like a full-on bank vault. And there are so many challenges. However, I guess what we can continue to do with The Good Fight is to make sure people are aware that the app is here. It's open for business. You can walk in any time in the mornings.

Obviously check out the website for the opening times. You can walk in there and be seen by a medical professional immediately and get the help that you need when you're ready. And for me, I'm very passionate about the open access model. There is no point making an appointment in 30 days time for an addict to go and see somebody who might be able to help them. That's never going to work. I mean, it's a very difficult, it's very difficult to manage one's calendar when you're really struggling.

you know, with addiction of any kind and to expect people to be promptly able to schedule appointments like that is sometimes unrealistic. We'd probably lose, you know, quite a few people to that.

even

getting to the appointments.

Right. Yeah, absolutely.

about

various levels of rock bottom, you know, I personally witnessed and it's like, you know, it's one thing to say like there's a clinic available or there's, you know, a care center available. It's like, okay, it might be 10 miles away from that person. How are they getting, are you driving them? Or is there public transportation available? Is there some other type of service? Having that local access is paramount. That's something that's.

really exciting to me that the App Foundation is doing where we're talking about the mobile clinics. Yes. That's something I've been trying to get involved in. So I mentioned earlier, I've done some volunteering at the Bridgeport Rescue Mission, which helps not only, you know, they have an addiction recovery program, but the community itself with food and shelter and single mothers. And there is not currently an App Foundation clinic.

available in that community and in Bridgeport. And we talked about the mobile clinic as an option there and something we're exploring. And there's other places I know we're exploring around Connecticut that, you know, there's places that might otherwise be too challenging to stand up physical brick and mortar. But the mobile clinic is going to allow us to address that very issue we were just talking about. Getting closer to the communities most impacted with addiction, getting treatment.

Yeah, fantastic. I'm very excited about the mobile clinic myself. I think that could really save so many lives, you know, because that's ultimately what this is about. It's about stopping people from dying. You know, our president, Lynne, you know, emphatically, you know, reminds me often we're in the business of saving lives. That's it. The rest is all background noise. We need to, you know, to focus on the key objective, which is to get as many people to help they need as possible and to remove the barriers to care that are stopping them.

from getting well. So it's a pleasure always to be involved in any small way with the App Foundation and the incredible work they're doing. So looking ahead, as you're going to enter your, it would be your second full year as a board member, how do you think your role is going to evolve? How do you envisage the organization and you personally, what steps forward are you going to be making to, I guess, break down some of that systemic barriers and help with this stigma free approach to care?

You know, I think it was, you know, we, we as a board got together in person. We, um, you know, a number of us were able to meet for our last board meeting in person at our headquarters in Haven. And we, we toured a couple of facilities and it was my second time, uh, you know, going through one of our clinics and, you know, meeting some of our, clients, um, you know, on site and, seeing our staff in action. I think that was really.

for me, really exciting to see, encouraging, inspiring. And I think that that's the world I come from, right? I've personally led recovery meetings for a number of years and I've counseled and coached and mentored a number of individuals that are bad on addiction. So like on the front lines, that's my sweet spot of where I want to be. And I think, as a board member, I'm a lot behind the scene.

But being able to, and there's a lot I can do and that I can bring from my experiences on those front lines back to the board. And that's what I'm trying to do of really, first off, as a board member, I'm very open about my own personal journey and my own challenges. And so that means, in a board meeting even, being vulnerable, being transparent about my own story of breaking that stigma to say, it's okay to talk about this.

⁓ This is why we're all here, right? We're all here because we're talking about helping others and we all have our stories and so if I can do that and from my position as a board member I'm really trying to speak to the other board members and and those that they know and their own lives and the people that we all are here to serve But this is you know, this is so critical to

continents and I think about things in global scale when I sell my platform. And that's something that's really cool about App2. App2 also thinks on global scale. And so what we're doing here in this community has become a cornerstone of program that other communities in other parts of the world can also replicate. And I know that that's something really important to Lin and to App2 that, you know, what we're doing here, because it works. ⁓

that we're sharing that knowledge, we're sharing that experience and potentially saving millions of lives throughout the world.

It's incredibly powerful. Aaron, thank you so much for your time today. Thank you for being a board member, you know, for stepping up and fighting the good fight and being that voice, I guess, of personal experience and bringing that into the conversation. Cause I always think that's so, so important. And we will slowly, but surely start to dismantle as much stigma and barriers to care as we possibly can. this open access model.

really gives people an opportunity to not die. It's as simple as that. It's a very powerful thing and I'm really proud to be a part of it myself. Me too.

Thank you so much. ⁓

Thank you for taking the time to listen to this episode of Open Access Open Mic with the Apt Foundation. If you have enjoyed this episode, search Open Access Open Mic wherever you get your podcasts from. A special mention to Hancock Pharmacy, who have been serving the Connecticut public since 1959. The Apt Foundation values their help in serving our New Haven area clients.

Their Long Wharf location provides medications for treatment of substance use disorders by prescription from our primary care doctors who are also trained in addiction medicine. Visit HancockLongWarf.com