Pathfinders understand their role as community advocators for MAT services and Harm Reduction.
Often encountering stigma in both public and professional setting Pathfinders must be prepared to
explain the need and evidence-based effect of providing these services to the opioid dependent
population. Pathfinders frequently engage in community events geared towards education,
intervention, and the promotion of treatment services. Pathfinders work diligently in creating public
awareness about the increased accessibility of MAT services to uninsured and indigent individuals
struggling with opioid disorders. Pathfinders also connect with family and friends of dependent
people in hopes of offering needed resources.

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• Pathfinders assume a “hands-on” approach in working with clients making themselves available 24/7. The reality is that a lot goes on with clients in between treatment sessions and the accessibility of Pathfinders ensures clients have significant recovery support outside and in between their traditional treatment activities.

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• Pathfinders understand the importance of rapport and are in touch with the necessity of building a trusting relationship. Pathfinders often begin this with potential clients who are engaged in the community before these potential clients are ready to accept help. Pathfinders utilize motivational interviewing techniques to begin change talk between professional and potential client. By showing empathy, compassion, & care/concern pre-treatment significant accomplishments are achieved along the lines of genuine connection and instilling real hope for a different life.

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• Pathfinders employ a “no fail” approach and accept the obligation of moving clients thru the collaborative system until a program that caters to the specific needs is found. Client struggles are not automatically viewed as non-compliance or a lack of willingness to change. The question is always “what is the behavior telling us that the client may not be able to verbalize?”.

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Pathfinders understand that each of our partners have a unique identity and perhaps approach the

therapeutic process with philosophies that differ from each other. The Pathfinder focus should never
be rooted in program comparison nor assessing what they think is wrong with an agency. The
Pathfinder philosophy is that which views each of our partners as entities of unique strengths and
capabilities. Each partner is merely a piece of the puzzle in trying to decrease the impact of the opioid
epidemic. Pathfinders are challenged to ask themselves daily how they can positively impact both
client population and the partnering agency they are assigned to.

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 Pathfinders remain in ongoing communication with each other to ensure appropriate referrals are
made, the exhibited needs of clients are met, and help each other with various tasks related to
enhancing the treatment outcomes of opioid dependent people. This often involves providing specific
assistance related to client needs or goals. Due to ongoing efforts which have resulted in meaningful
relationships with SOR partners, as well as other community agencies in Shelby County, Pathfinders
are often able to secure services in an expedited fashion that simply was not possible in traditional
models of treatment. What is required for the necessary immediacy to be established and maintained
is an awareness among all stakeholders that the opioid dependent population truly exist in a “ticking
time clock” scenario like no other sub-group of drug users ever have.