Meet the Team
Here are the awesome people helping us Stay in Touch with addicts for a year.
This week I want to share a little bit more about a study we conducting at Resilient Recovery and introduce you to the awesome team of researchers that are helping make this possible. BIG Thanks to the Antioch Foundation for supporting this research with a grant.
First, a Story
Nancy and Jennifer, two Native American women in their 50s, went to our church, CrossWalk Lutheran. They were very open about the fact they lived in a sober living home. After church, they were invited to attend Resilient Recovery. They attended the program—and the next week they brought three friends with them.
We are thrilled when this happens.
The problem
But statistically speaking, there was only about a 40% chance that Nancy and Jennifer would return for one more session.
Research published over the last 24 years has revealed that all recovery programs struggle to engage and retain addicts and alcoholics.
Approximately 50% of individuals who reach out for help never attend their first appointment.
Of those who attend the first appointment, approximately 40% do not attend their second appointment.
And of those who start treatment, 30% leave or are removed within 30 days.
This results in only 6 individuals out of 100 staying in treatment for more than 30 days.
The one lost sheep.
As Christians, we are concerned about the Nancy and Jennifers who don’t become regular attendees. Jesus’ parable about the Lost Sheep, demonstrates that He cares for those who wander off. He is not content to let them drift into harm’s way.
Similarly, we care what happens to those who attend Resilient. If people stop attending our program, we cannot support them, invite them to church, offer them sober activities, or share the gospel with them.
Our inability to serve them may lead to continued substance use and distance from God.
A Potential Solution: The Stay in Touch Project
We will study 30 individuals who attend a Resilient Recovery Meeting. Through texts, surveys, and interviews, we will Stay in Touch with them for a full year—tracing their paths regardless of where they go. Along the way, we hope to find out what helps and hurts their recovery. This information will help us improve the Resilient Recovery Program.
Today I want to introduce you to the Stay in Touch Project research team who will help us conduct this study.
Thomas Solgaard Svendsen
Role: Thomas has published pioneering studies to how to keep addicts involved in research and treatment. He will be providing oversight and guidance and helping us analyze and publish the results of qualitative portions of the study.
Bio: Thomas Solgaard Svendsen is a Norwegian researcher for the Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research, Stavanger University Hospital, Stavanger, Norway. He is also a Research advisor for the Norwegian Salvation Army. He is a university lecturer and has numerous publications related to best practices for tracking the progress of addicts. [He also lives on a picturesque farm in Norway. I am super jealous.]
Jason Paltzer
Role: Jason Paltzer Ph.D. is the director of the Meros Center, “a research and training community for Christian health ministry.” He will be providing technical assistance and oversight. The Meros Center will also contract with and oversee our project coordinator. The Meros Center is sharing its resources, staff, and volunteers to help make this project possible.
Bio: Jason Paltzer Ph.D. Dr. Jason Paltzer is the Executive Director of The Meros Center and a visiting professor at Wisconsin Lutheran College. The Meros Center is a research and training community for Christian health ministry. He has 20 years of experience working alongside global faith-based health organizations and local churches to develop, implement, and study community strategies integrating spiritual and physical determinants of health.
His research focuses on substance use screening and intervention for use in community-based settings that leverage community and faith-based partnerships for recovery and prevention. His MPH is from the University of Minnesota and PhD in Population Health Sciences from the University of Wisconsin. He has worked in sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America.
Jessica Trimmer
Role: Jessica is a statistical wunderkind. She will be helping with setting up the surveys, cleaning the data, and analyzing the quantitative portions of the study.
Bio: Jessica Trimmer is a geriatric health services researcher with interests in dementia, long-term care, and variations in health care delivery and outcomes. Jessica received her doctoral training in health services research and policy at the University of Rochester. Her doctoral dissertation examined the quality of end-of-life care for nursing home residents with dementia and the impact of nursing home patient safety culture on end-of-life care outcomes. She also holds an MPH with a specialization in population health analytics, and an MS and BA in statistics.
As a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, Jessica worked with Dr. John Cagle to manage an NIH-funded study of an intervention program among long-stay nursing home residents with cognitive impairment. She is currently the principal investigator for an NIH/NIA K99 Award, “Promoting the ‘Good Life’ among Nursing Home Residents with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias: The Role of Special Care Units.” This study will ultimately lead to an embedded pragmatic clinical trial to further our understanding of quality dementia care among residents with dementia.
Dr. Joanna Kim
Role: Joanna Kim has studied how to keep people involved in programs and ensure they use the skills they learn. She is a wiz with mixed-methods studies—studies that use interviews and surveys in combination to better understand a topic. She will be a consultant and provide suggestions and advice as we build the interview portions of the study.
Bio: Dr. Joanna Kim is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology and faculty of the REACH Institute at Arizona State University. She completed her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles in 2019. She completed an APA-accredited predoctoral internship at the University of California, San Diego and T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship at Arizona State University. Broadly, Dr. Kim’s research aims to reduce disparities in behavioral health risk, identification, and service utilization for low-income, immigrant, and ethnoracial minority youth. She is particularly interested in strategies to increase client engagement in evidence-based interventions.
Alicia Cortright
Role: Alicia will help coordinate all the moving pieces of this study with her excellent people skills and attention to detail. She will also mentor interns involved in the project.
Bio: Alicia Cortright is the Research Manager at the Meros Center. Alicia has a Master's of Public Health degree in epidemiology and 20 years of work experience in global health, infectious disease prevention, and maternal and child health. Her research interests include exploring the social determinants of health that impact the disparities we see in community health outcomes. Alicia enjoys creating interdisciplinary research partnerships and mentoring students in their roles on research teams.
Vijaya Nandiwada-Hofer
Role: Vijaya “Jaya” Nandiwada-Hofer is our only paid employee. She will be conducting the interviews and overseeing graduate-level interns who will do the same. She will oversee the storage and use of the data and will likely present findings at scientific conferences. She comes highly recommended by Joanna Kim, which is pretty much all I needed to know before hiring her for this pivotal role.
Bio: Vijaya “Jaya” Nandiwada-Hofer is currently a project coordinator for the Engaging Families Lab at ASU. She graduated in spring 2023 from Arizona State University with a B.S. in Psychology. During her time at ASU, she gained research experience in two developmental psychology labs and wanted to continue growing her skills and research interests. She hopes to continue her education with a PhD in Clinical Psychology. Some of her current research interests are looking at how to engage minoritized families in evidence-based interventions to prevent child mental health problems.
Pastor Daniel Solofra
Pastor Dan Solofra has no background in research or statistics. But, he feels bad when he is left out of things. He looks all pathetic and downcast. It’s hard to look at, really. So, I thought I’d include him here. If you see him, please pretend he is an integral part of the project.
Taylor Swift.
Taylor Swift doesn’t know anything about research. And she knows even less about this project. But, from what I can gather she is extraordinarily popular. Having her name attached to this project—even if she has no knowledge and hasn’t given her permission —will generate a lot of buzz on social media. So welcome aboard, Ms. Swift!
This Dumb Cow
This dumb cow was walking around our ranch in northern Arizona. She really is dumb. And a cow. So there’s no reason for her to be part of the team. But, she keeps knocking stuff over on my property. So, I figured if I gave her a role in the study, she might be more careful in the future.
Conclusion.
So there you have it. Our illustrious team. I am super excited about this research project and what we will learn through it. If you are excited about faith/research collaborations like this and want to be involved through financial support, we would love to have you join our team.
You can support us by subscribing to this substack, or by DONATING HERE and choosing “Resilient” from the dropdown menu.