Reaching Out to Our Community

I received an email today from our Community Engagement Manager, Leslie Silver. She joined our Enhanced Care Management team at a community event recently in Vacaville. She sent me the following email to express her appreciation for our ECM team. Our ECM team is at work in the community helping those living with a substance use disorder and/or co-occurring mental health diagnoses to get the help they need. Here is Leslie's email: I wanted to take a moment to share how impressed I am with our ECM team, particularly Vanessa and Eric.

Yesterday I joined the unhoused outreach event at The Refuge Church in Vacaville. There I had the opportunity to introduce them to several key people in the outreach community, as well as others who regularly support individuals experiencing homelessness. As someone who is still relatively new to the recovery space, I’ve been incredibly grateful for the support Eric and Vanessa have given me by sharing their experience and perspective.

The day actually began the day before with a phone call from a woman named Jane. I had met Jane several months ago at an unhoused outreach event where she shared the story of her son, who had been living on the streets for years after being trafficked since he was 18. She carried photos of him and spoke openly about her hope that one day he might come home.

That day finally arrived. Her son had come home, but she didn’t know what to do next.

While I may not yet have the depth of experience in recovery that many at Archway have, I do know what it means to be a mother worried about her child. I recognized immediately that Jane felt both relief and fear — the joy of having her son home paired with uncertainty about how to help him move forward. I connected her with Eric, and she later followed up with me to share how helpful he had been in providing guidance and resources.

Yesterday, Jane came to the outreach event. Eric and Vanessa were able to spend time with her and offer additional support and information about how best to help her son navigate the next steps. It was a powerful reminder that sometimes a single conversation months earlier can lead to a meaningful moment of support when it’s needed most.

Throughout the event, many other individuals experiencing homelessness connected with Eric and Vanessa. Watching them engage with people was inspiring. They bring both compassion and credibility to the conversation, using their lived experience to build trust in ways that are truly impactful.

One moment in particular stood out to me. Skip introduced me to a homeless man, a carpenter he had met months ago at the Vacaville Warming Center. This man had just spent several hours in jail and had all of his belongings stolen. Skip reminded him about Archway and introduced us.

During our conversation, the man showed me the belt he was wearing. He said, “This is Skip’s belt. I haven’t taken it off since he gave it to me.” He became emotional and shared that he was ready to make a change.  

I explained Archway’s programs — detox, residential, outpatient, and sober living — and then introduced him to Vanessa so they could continue the conversation about what support might look like for him.  He is scheduled to speak with Brett at ARS intake this morning.

I realize moments like this happen every day at Archway, but experiencing it firsthand was incredibly powerful.

Eric and Vanessa are doing extraordinary work. They are transforming what once may have been a curse in their own lives into a gift for others — helping people find their way back to hope and helping families who have been searching for answers. I couldn’t be prouder to be part of this team.

Thank you for the opportunity to be part of this work.

Leslie