- Pack up kits is what we call them.

So inside each kit we've got our card with our logo.

There's two doses of four milligram Narcan inside each box.

Three Xylazine test strip and then two Fentanyl test strips, but they're usually three and three.

And then I also have a client's letter that I keep, just a copy of it just to, you know, remind me of why we're doing this.

Basically the letter just lets us know how much he was struggling.

It was hurting inside because of the things that he did due to his addiction.

And because we came in and we were able to just be real, be person centered and show them, Hey, we've made it through our addiction, and we've come out the other side and we want to be able to help others do the same thing.

(car dinging) - What's up, man?

- What's up buddy?

Our goal is to save your life.

And then by saving your life, then we can have that conversation with treatment, because we can't have that conversation about treatment if you're dead.

So that's our goal, get as much harm reduction supplies in your hands, right at the area it's needed.

- We go into the community and we hand out preventative supplies that prevent someone from dying.

And I've had clients that have come back and told us that if it wasn't for us, that they probably wouldn't be here.

If I can help one individual and save that one individual's life, I've saved that person's world.

(softly chuckles) (soft music) So yeah.

(soft music) - I was prescribed into addiction.

I got into a fight and I ended up breaking my hand.

I was prescribed Loratabs, hydrocodone for a period of time that was just way too long than it was supposed to be.

Once that prescription went away, I purchased them on the street.

- I grew up in a situation, alcoholic mom, some real trauma.

And I didn't know how to deal with that trauma, so I tried to find an escape and to deal with that.

And the escape was drug dealing and getting high and distracting myself, making money, doing things that I shouldn't have done, hurting people that I shouldn't have hurt, and just destroying my life.

- Went from that to utilizing crime to supplement my income for my addiction.

Ended up doing some prison time, about five years in prison.

And we're supposed to be getting treatment, where the staff, they didn't, they couldn't relate to us, they couldn't understand who the people were that were in front of them and I really felt like that hindered the treatment process.

When I was released from prison, I made that conscious choice before then to do everything I needed to change my life.

- I feel that that was a training for me.

That was a training because that was what has propelled me into this field.

Chris and I work together.

And we had the privilege of meeting at a company that we work for.

And we started talking about our passions and the things that we love to do and it was helping people recover.

Yeah.

So we got this idea one day and we haven't stopped.

(soft music) - Hey.

You know, you save a life, you're saving someone's, you know- - [Speaker] Yeah.

I'd say I don't want here because I don't want people to be attracted to here, to get it from here.

- Gotcha.

- [Speaker] I don't want them to be coming here and- - [Miguel] Well, no, no, they're not going to come and ask for it.

You have it in case there are emergencies.

If someone drops in your business and they're ODed- - You either show up and you make a difference in your life.

- [Miguel] Yeah.

- [Speaker] Or you're going to be stuffing Narcan up your nose your whole life and you're eventually going to die.

Crutches don't give people the cure to heal themselves.

- [Miguel] This is not a crutch though, this is the lifesaver.

Like if you're having a heart attack, right?

- [Speaker] I understand.

- That's the defibrillator.

- No, I understand.

But it's also the risk that you take knowing you're putting the drugs up your nose.

- [Chris] Whoa.

- [Miguel] That's what we're fighting for.

That's why we're out here.

- [Chris] That was tough.

So when you say, "Hey, man, like I'm living proof that it worked".

- Fentanyl is disgustingly destroying our community.

It's destroying good people.

These people are not criminals.

These people are people that are suffering from a disease.

And a lot of times in our society, we treat people with an ailment as a criminal.

If you've gone through addiction, you've gone through trauma, because that lifestyle itself is traumatic.

(soft music) - [Chris] We'd like to know if you would- - I would frequent here- - Yeah.

I'd like to know if you would allow us to put a portable box up, so that- - Right here.

- Like right- - Can we put a box up with some information for addicts?

- Yes.

- And we'll help do all that for you.

- [Miguel] Okay?

- [Chris] All right buddy.

Thank you.

- Thank you.

- All right, so that's one.

- Yeah.

- That's one to put up.

- Hey.

We're from Creative Restoration, we help people, right, recover from drugs and alcohol, right?

Is it okay if we leave you with free Narcan, just in case somebody, ODs, you have it and you can give it to them?

- I'll take some.

- Is it okay?

Let me get some.

There you go.

- [Chris] There's some recovery support info in there too.

Okay, brother.

- That's what's up, man.

(indistinct) We appreciate it, man.

- Yeah man, it's tough bro.

- [Miguel] Thank you so much, man.

We're trying to help, man.

- Yeah, be careful.

- Thank you, bro.

You know?

That's right, bro.

- Absolutely.

You guys have a great day.

Thank you.

- Appreciate you guys.

Thanks.

- [Chris] We need to really embrace the peer approach and understand that individuals want to feel empathy, they want to feel accepted, they want to feel understood.

And the only way sometimes that that's going to be allowed to happen is if they know you've been there.

- [Miguel] We talk to them and we take our time with them.

We show compassion, we show empathy.

And I think that's what makes the difference.

The compassion and the empathy and the genuine love.

I can love someone today that can't love themselves and I'll love them until they can love themselves.

- So if an individual is struggling with their basic needs, in our mind, our response to that is you can't work on change until you have those basic needs met.

So we're going to help you get those basic needs and then if you want us there for support, it doesn't matter where you are, we're going to be there for you.

- I've always thought that I was going to die that way, and that was a complete lie.

I had to come to a point in my life that I had to understand that what I did was an event and not an identity.

That I'm not garbage, I'm not worthless, that I am someone.

There are things that I've experienced that are going to help you in your recovery, because I've experienced jail, I've experienced hurt and I've experienced pain.

And going through those things is not an easy thing.

We want to help people where they are because that's where they're willing to listen.

I can't force someone to have a paradigm shift, I have to assist them to have that and it's going to be on their time.

But I'm not going to give up on those that, you know, give up on themselves.

I'm just going to continue fighting for them.

(soft music) - Another thing we get too, typically, and these are harder to come by, are Clean Works kits, right?

So one dose of Narcan, then you have fentanyl testing strip, the caps, Bandaids to bandage the injection sites, clean cotton, new water.

(soft music)