Description of the video:
[Video: fade from black: Caroline Hartman a guiding path to success coordinator sits in a courtyard a lower third fades in with her name credential and fades out]
[Music fades in]
Caroline speaks on camera: I am a student in the Master's of Social Work
Program here at IUPUI.
[Video: Caroline types on her laptop in IU School of Education hallway]
Caroline speaks in voiceover: I am the guiding path to success coordinator at Hope Academy.
[Video: front of Hope Academy appears]
Caroline speaks in voiceover: My role at hope
Caroline speaks on camera: is to run the after-school
program.
[Video: Caroline holds a clipboard and speaks in a classroom]
Caroline speaks in voiceover: We do recovery meetings,
Caroline speaks on camera: educational groups about recovery,
[Video: Caroline speaks to a coworker with Mathew nearby in a classroom]
Caroline speaks in voiceover: and then most importantly, the social events
Caroline speaks on camera: where the kids are able to hang
[Video: kids listen to Caroline speak in a classroom]
Caroline speaks in Voiceover: out and spend time
[Video: feet walk past row of lockers]
Caroline speaks in voiceover: without the pressures of using alcohol
or drugs.
[Music changes]
[Video: executive director of Hope Academy, Rachelle Gardner sits in a classroom, lower third of her name and credential fades in and out]
Rachelle speaks on camera: Hope Academy is a mayor's sponsor charter
school for ninth through 12th grade high-school students struggling
[Video: Caroline and Matthew walk down a hall]
Rachelle speaks in voiceover: with substance use disorder.
Matthew speaks in voiceover: I remember sitting in the meeting
[Student of Hope Academy, Matthew sits in a classroom, lower third with his name and credential fade in and out]
Matthew speaks on camera: and they're
like, "When do you want to start?" I was like,
I want to start today because I thought it was the perfect fit.
[Video: Matthew speaks to Caroline one on one in classroom]
Matthew speaks in voiceover: Going down the wrong path at the old high-school. Hanging out with some
[Video: Matthew sits in classroom]
Matthew speaks on camera: friends I didn't really need to be hanging out with
[Video: Hope Academy students sit around a tv in a classroom]
Matthew speaks in voiceover: and got in a little bit of trouble.
[Video: two Hope Academy kids sit in classroom]
I was ready for change, I mean.
[Music changes]
[Video: Matthew speaks to camera]
Matthew speaks on camera: The path I went down before it was just
[Video: a sign reading sobriety count 441 days mounted by a door]
Matthew speaks in voiceover: I was done with it.
Matthew speaks in voiceover: The kids here, they're like,
[Video: Classroom with students interacting with each other]
Matthew speaks in voiceover: motivated to stay sober.
Matthew speaks in voiceover: You're hanging around with kids
[Video: A girl walks across classroom with other students around]
Matthew speaks in voiceover: that like, stay sober and encourage you to stay sober.
Matthew speaks on camera: The academics here are really good.
[Video: a sign with The students & staff here are the GOAT! written in marker]
Matthew speaks in voiceover: All the teachers are so caring. They'll ask a question, but like, really like mean it.
[Video: poster of IU students and bulletin board with messaging appears]
Matthew speaks in voiceover: You won't find one teacher
here that doesn't really like,
[Video: Matthew speaks on camera] take a deep connection with the students.
[Video: a motivational poster appears "We are stronger together"]
Rachelle speaks in voiceover: I think that the perception is that young
people are just experimenting.
Rachelle speaks on camera: And I think what we don't do is give enough
[Hope Academy students interacting in a classroom]
Rachelle speaks in voiceover: credit to the amount of stress, social, emotional
Rachelle speaks on camera: issues that our young people are dealing with.
[Video: Caroline speaks to students in a classroom]
Rachelle speaks in voiceover: I would call my recovery coaches the special
Rachelle speaks on camera: sauce that happens here because they can
[Video: Caroline speaks to classroom with students]
Rachelle speaks in voiceover: make that connection. And they can take a young
Rachelle speaks on camera: person in a totally
different
[Video: Window with "What's stopping you?" marked on it appears]
Rachelle speaks in voiceover: direction than maybe an adult would. If Caroline,
Rachelle speaks on camera: for example, is 26 and getting
married and
[Video: Caroline speaks to classroom full of students]
Rachelle speaks in voiceover: getting her masters degree and
[Video: Caroline stands in classroom and smiles]
Rochelle speaks in voiceover: living this life of sobriety
Rachelle speaks on camera: and doing all these great things,
so I can have that too.
[Video: Caroline walks across IUPUI campus]
Caroline speaks in voiceover: I think we try to stress to them that it
[Video: Caroline enters the Education Social Work building]
Caroline speaks in voiceover: is absolutely possible that just because you go to college doesn't mean that you have to
Caroline speaks on camera: do the stereotypical things that people expect you to do when you go to college
[Video: Caroline types on a laptop at a work table]
Caroline speaks in voiceover: and it can still be fun. I hope the direction
Caroline speaks on camera: we're going to in the
future is to have more recovery
[Video: two people walk across IUPUI Wood fountain]
Caroline speaks in voiceover: high schools available. Colleges have really come a long way too
Caroline speaks on camera: with their recovery communities and building that up
[Video: Caroline sits at work table reading a planner]
Caroline speaks in voiceover: and responding to the need to have community
Caroline speaks on camera: events and groups
that don't have the
[Video: Caroline walks toward Wood Fountain]
Caroline speaks in voiceover: pressures of using alcohol. So I'm really proud to be a part of this.
[Video: fade to black, Indiana University, IU logo, and addictions.iu.edu url fade in and fade out]
[Music: fades out]
Growing up, Caroline Hartman always knew she wanted a career working with people and trying to solve "real-world" problems.
When she enrolled at IUPUI, Hartman pursued a degree in social work to help reach her goal of being a clinical licensed social worker. But it was her experiences engaging with people in recovery that led to her current role leading the after-school program at Hope Academy, the only high school in Indiana for students in recovery.
"The more I started interacting with the recovery community and getting involved, the more passionate I became because it's such an important issue," Hartman said. "Especially for younger people that struggle with mental health and addictions, it is important to validate their struggles and that what they are going through is a real thing, and there is a solution available."
Hope Academy is a mayor-sponsored charter school for ninth through 12th grade high-school students struggling with substance use disorder. The school provides both traditional academics as well as recovery support.
The after-school program provides a safe and supportive place for students to engage socially after school and during after-hour events such as spring break trips and weekend activities. On a recent day, around 10 students utilized the after-school program room where they played pool, turned on a video game, grabbed snacks and just hung out.
Hartman went over plans for the school’s upcoming spring break – including a trip to the zoo, among other activities – and took a poll on what the students wanted to eat.
"Teenagers are at such a vulnerable time in their lives where there is a lot of pressure on them, and I think they really benefit from that peer support aspect that we provide at Hope Academy," Hartman said. "By having young people like myself who work in the program or who are recovery coaches, it shows them it's possible to still have a life, and you can have fun while being sober."
Rachelle Gardner, executive director of Hope Academy, said there is a perception that when young people engage in substance use, they are just experimenting. Society, she said, doesn’t fully appreciate the stress, social and emotional issues young people face.
While some young people might "experiment" and make it to the other side, Gardner said some will not. She said that is why a school like Hope Academy is so important, and having young people like Hartman be a part of the program is crucial.
"I would call my recovery coaches the special sauce that happens here because they can make that connection," she said. "They can take a young person in a totally different direction than maybe an adult would. They've been there, they've done that, they've experienced it, and they may be able to pull a student back from the ledge a lot quicker than somebody that's just talking through a process with them."
For Hartman, she is excited to be part of a movement that encourages sobriety and supports those in recovery, both at the high school and college levels. Hartman said she has found her college experience to be easy in terms of feeling like a part of campus, without feeling the pressure to use alcohol or drugs.
She brings that experience to Hope Academy to help break the stereotype that students in college must use substances in order to have a good time.
"Our students at Hope are curious about the idea of going to college and maintaining sobriety," she said. "We can show them, through our own experiences, that it is absolutely possible to be a college student and to stay sober. And that they can still have fun and do all of the things college students do, just in a responsible way."
The Responding to the Addictions Crisis Grand Challenge initiative engages a broad array of IU's world-class faculty, as well as IU's business, nonprofit and government partners. Working together, the groups are contributing to an initiative to implement a comprehensive plan to reduce deaths from addiction, ease the burden of drug addiction on Hoosier communities and improve health and economic outcomes. This initiative is one of the nation's largest and most comprehensive state-based responses to the opioid addiction crisis -- and the largest led by a university.
