Prominent addiction counselor and pioneer Peter Hayden retires

A noted addiction treatment counselor in Minnesota is retiring.

Peter Hayden is the founder of Turning Point in Minneapolis. His own recovery began 50 years ago after his return from the Vietnam war. He went on to get a Ph.D. and became a pioneer in the field.

He will be stepping down as founder and CEO of Turning Point at the end of year to transition into an ambassador role.

He reflected on his career and shared what’s next with All Things Considered host Tom Crann.

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To hear the full interview, click on the audio player above. The following transcription has been edited for length and clarity.

Take us back to your own recovery story. I understand it was after your service in the Vietnam War. What was missing for you then in the treatment you received?

Turning Point is a culturally-specific service center and what that means is that we treat people in terms of their culture not their color.

And what was missing for me and what I had done is, when I went into treatment, I found out that there weren’t people who look like me or talk like me [or] spoke like me or even listened to the same music that I did. So, for me, it was important that I found a way to not only help myself but to help others.

Tell me more about that culturally specific piece of it.

I came out knowing that I didn’t have enough in treatment. The 12 steps of [Alcoholics Anonymous] is a great tool. However, when it comes to me and trying to understand who I am, what my life was going to be, I had to look at the cultural side.

The cultural side is that you and I have an opportunity to do some things if I can find out who you are. For example, if you listen to Motown music, that was a way that you and I can connect. Culture provides me and others the tools to connect where we can take the next step.

Have we gotten better over the years in providing treatment and recovery for people of color?

We’ve had a lifetime of service, which has been good. But now we’ve got to take this a step further because chemical health and addiction have changed over the years.

At one time, Ray Charles or many other people of color, they just took them down to Kentucky and let them dry out.

Today, we don’t take you to Kentucky. What we do is we provide an environment that makes you feel like you can do this and that others are there to help you do that.

I want to talk about the situation today with the opioid crisis and fentanyl. As you see this, is this different and does it require different methods or newer methods of treatment?

Fentanyl is nothing but heroin, but now it’s a new name and more people have been affected by that.

In my case, when I was going through my changes of life, I didn’t have the support system. Now, we do have this support system and dollars are starting to come out.

But I do think that with regards to those dollars coming out: who’s making the decisions, how they’re making decisions, and are we looking at the Turning Points, the Hazeldens who have been around long enough to say they’re doing a good job. Let’s use that protocol that they have so we can even do better.

After 50 years of doing this in your career, what do you wish that we did better today or that you hoped we would do better at this point?

I’d like to see more Turning Points. We are the largest provider of service to African American, people of color, women and children in the five-state area. That should not be.

I’m looking for more people who look like me. I’m looking for women. I’m looking for children to get on that path. So they understand that they can do it, too.

And so that’s what I’m trying to do. And that’s what I’m going to do as I move to my next step as the ambassador — of not only just Turning Point but all the treatment associations.

In an interview I read recently with Hazelden on the occasion of your 50 years of sobriety, you said, ‘Recovery is not just a piece of me. It's my life, my lifestyle.’ Tell me more about that.

It is my life. My spiritual being is tied up right there in my life. But because you have an opportunity to do something, there are some people who say, “I’m going to take it for myself, and I’m going to make it bigger for myself, etc.”

I choose to take my sobriety and share it. And that’s what I want to do. That’s why I feel comfortable in terms of leaving — not leaving Turning Point — but moving to a different position.

We finally found the right person that can take my office so I can continue to share. I’m very fortunate in that I have been selected by my higher power to lead this venture.

As you step down as the founder and CEO, what is next for you? What would you like to see?

I would love to see more people hear my voice. I’m African American and I think they don’t look at the positive side. They just look at the negative side. And so, I would love for people to feel more comfortable and give me and others who look like me the opportunity.

I can just tell you this: George Floyd was in Turning Point. He did well. When he left, he did well. He went out of town, came back and those things started happening.

But I think sometimes people who look like me — and other people — feel like a knee is on their neck. And if we could get that and not just do it for a year or two but make this a part of our life, my living will not be in vain.