The CLIMB-Health program aims to help people in recovery on their way to a career path

A national program in Kentucky aims to provide people recovering from substance use disorder with degrees and pathways to a career in social work. Advocates say the Career Ladders in Mental and Behavioral Health, or CLIMB-Health, program is critical for the state to boost the mental health and social services workforce.

Carl Wilson, senior fellow for health care development and initiatives at the Kentucky Council on Secondary Education, said it also provides opportunities for people in recovery to earn a living and expand their career horizons.

“Within this program you can acquire professional references and/or work up to and including a professional level. So the program offers individuals with lived experience a tailor-made pathway,” he said.

Community colleges across the state serving more than 100,000 residents are now working with people who are state-certified peer support specialists to transfer their education to a Bachelor of Social Work degree. The CLIMB-Health program began on Kentucky Community & Technical College System campuses in counties with the highest overdose deaths.

Wilson said residents of drug court programs in all 120 counties face employment barriers.

“If they come to that employer interview, and that employer has that background, and they see the addiction problem, they see the involvement of the justice system in most cases, then they are excluded from opportunities,” he added.

The goal is to fill urgent gaps in the state’s health care system and increase long-term economic stability for people in recovery.

“We have approximately 50,000 untapped employees for our workforce in Kentucky who have not been given the opportunity to have a specialized program focused on them,” Wilson said.

While overdose rates are declining in other states, Kentucky is among the top 10 states in the nation for drug overdose deaths, according to the American newspaper Kentucky. CDC.