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Compassion: When Louie asked you how you were doing, he expected an honest answer. He looked you in the eye and he listened. He may have chided you or made a joke in his semi-awkward way, but you knew he wanted the best for you. His famous hugs were the perfect symbol of his caring persona and his passionate determination to help. Live for Lou has an educational component as well as various resources for helping young people in need. We will honor Louie’s legacy of no friend left behind.

• Scholars on the quest for an education that will bring them back to Cape Cod for a career in addiction counseling or therapy- $28,000 (six scholars)
• Individuals, Recovery and Addiction Programs: $30,000
  • Calmer Choice: Mindfulness Programs
  • Community Development Partnership: Client Placement at Canal House
  • Gosnold: Sober Living, Miller House, Recovery Coaches, Insurance Deductibles.
• Wellfleet Health Center at OuterCape Health Services: $25,000

Live for Lou supports individuals on their quest for sobriety, as well as the below organizations. One individual said, “Live for Lou was there for me when I was at my lowest point. My life had been ruled by the substances I was using. I had lost myself and all hope for getting better. With the assistance of the Live for Lou Fund, I was able to begin building better habits that help keep me in recovery on a daily basis. The program I was able to attend was a powerful experience, and my perspective was forever changed for the better. I can’t begin to explain how grateful I am for the help the Live for Lou Fund gave me.”

If you are in a similar situation, or know someone in a similar situation, please email Katrina Fryklund, Live for Lou Board Chair, at kfryklund@lathamcenters.org. Katrina will discuss with you your goals for sobriety, and work with local organizations in an effort to find you a placement that Live for Lou may help fund.

*OuterCape Health Services

Live for Lou feels strongly that it is important to serve individuals on the Lower and Outer Cape in their sobriety goals. OuterCape Health is the leading provider of these services. Thus far, Live for Lou has pledged $25,000 over five years for an out-patient Live for Lou Service room in their Wellfleet Office, and continues to work with OCHS on their Recovery Services.

The OCHS Recovery Website states, “At Outer Cape Health Services we believe that all those affected by substance use disorders deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Our Recovery Services provide integrated treatment that incorporates the best clinical and medical practices and evidence-based treatment strategies to ensure patients who have a substance use disorder (SUD) diagnosis receive the medication, tools/skills, education, and knowledge needed to achieve positive health, wellness and recovery outcomes. OCHS’ Recovery Services staff use a harm reduction approach that supports multiple pathways of recovery.“

Click on above Logo for More Information about OuterCape Health Services Recovery Services, and how they can help someone in your life through Recovery Coaches, a new Structured Outpatient Addiction Program (SOAP), and Office Based Addiction Treatment (OBAT). 

*Calmer Choice

Click on the Above Logo for More Information

*Community Development Partnership

The CDP’s Canal house, a residential facility in Orleans, MA houses eight residents. Partnering with Gosnold, Canal House residents participate in developing individualized service plans utilizing twelve step principles, family involvement and continuing care support. During this time they also work in local jobs, attend school, or perform community service.

Click on the above Logo for More Information

*Gosnold on Cape Cod

Gosnold on Cape Cod is an organization with you are all familiar. Beginning in April, 2016 Live for Lou began an alliance with this growing organization with a $6,000 pledge of support.

While Gosnold treats many different types of addictions with a myriad of therapies, Live for Lou has opted to support three very specific initiatives.

There are many different steps on the road to recovery. Many addicts start with in-patient care, and proceed to residential care. The Miller House of Gosnold, a residential homes for men in recovery, is located in Falmouth, MA. At the Miller House residents can opt for short– or long-term treatment. The Miller House specifically focuses on methadone detoxification, clients in opioid treatment program, mental health treatment, and substance abuse treatment.

After In-Patient and Residential care comes the enormous feat of community immersion. What is one to do when your social life generally consists of those who are still addicts– or when everyone in the community pegs you as an addict yourself? A recovery coach plays many roles, from teaching basic life skills such as financial management to providing counseling and support. Results are promising. In 2015, at Gosnold, as reported by K.C. Myers, “about 100 had been through the program, and 30 had been involved for nine months or more, Ray Tamasi said. Of that group of 30, only three have had short regressions, he said.” (5/17/2015)

Lastly, LFL is funding families and patients who lack the funding to pay insurance deductibles. Proper treatment is expensive and most who pursue treatment fear the cost associated. Live for Lou seeks to combat this fiscal grievance.

As an organization funding efforts to combat Cape Cod’s drug epidemic, Gosnold aligns perfectly with Live for Lou’s Mission.

*Drug Counseling Scholarship
In Live for Lou’s effort to find innovative and effective ways to fight the Opioid epidemic we have created a Drug Counseling Scholarship.

This $3,000-$5,000 scholarship is for a student who is pursuing new or continuing education the form of a certificate, license, undergraduate or advanced degree, or formal education to pursue a career as a substance abuse counselor. The scholarship was open to student from Massachusetts, with a preference for students from Cape Cod.

A volunteer committee of family, friends and professionals came together to select the top applicant.
Committee Members:
-Jennifer Franzen, Live for Lou Secretary
-Katrina Fryklund, Live for Lou Board Chair
-Holly LeBart, Mother of Louie, Board Vice Chair
-Todd LeBart, Father of Louie, Live for Lou Board Vice Chair
-Nick LeBart, Brother of Louie
-Patty Mitrokostas, Director of Prevention at Gosnold helped to round out the committee.
-Eric Porteus, Best Friend to Louie

Scholarships:

• 2016 Recipient: Laura Thorup (Boston University), who plans to utilize her Masters in Social Work by working with those facing drug addiction on Cape Cod.
• 2017 Recipient: Mackayla Davis (UMass Amherst), who will be an advocate for substance abuse prevention and treatment.
• 2018 Recipient: Gretchen Schwelm (Boston University), who understands the macro- and micro-level dynamics of addiction and plans on continuing to assist in and advocate for the need of Recovery Coaches in the recovery process.
  
• 2019 Recipient: Michelle Ferreira $3,000 to pursue her certificate in Substance Abuse Counseling at Cape Cod Community College. Ferreira enters this field due to her experience tackling addiction and finding sobriety, and states, “It’s my passion to help others fight the disease of addiction the way I did and give them hope that they can achieve sobriety.”
• 2020 Recipient: Kailey Bay, $5,000, wants to focus on outpatient work, a particularly difficult area in terms of recovery; many people state that the lack of support after getting out of inpatient can be the most difficult part. Most importantly, perhaps, is Kailey’s mention of the opioid crisis and her understanding of the link between the need for outpatient care, opioids, and sobriety, as well as on her emphasis on the importance of family work.
• 2021 Recipient: This year it was a tight race, and we are proud to give the $5,000 scholarship to Khala Renee Jusell. Khala is from Dennis Port and is attending graduate school full-time at Boston University to become a Substance Abuse Counselor. Khala explains, “I will be studying to receive my clinical license and specialization in trauma, violence, and substance use. The ultimate goal being to become a substance use clinician on Cape Cod.”
  
  In addition to going to graduate school and starting the Social Work Student Organization, she works full time as a caseworker at Preble Street for people experiencing homelessness and poly-substance use. “The mission of Preble Street is to provide accessible barrier-free services to empower people experiencing problems with homelessness, housing, hunger, and poverty, and to advocate for solutions to these problems.”
  
  The best way to describe Khala’s receipt of the scholarship is in her own words; this is why she won the 2021 LFL Addiction Counseling Scholarship:
  
  Creating connections and forming relationships can quite literally save lives, having conversations about how to use safely when in the thick of their disorders and having conversations about treatment and peer support when they’re ready to move in a different direction. Meeting people where they are at and walking alongside them in the river of suffering is how people move into recovery. Companionship through the thick and thin of addiction is crucial to healing, for it is extremely difficult and dangerous to move through substance use alone. […] I believe more harm reduction is needed on the cape. Access to Narcan, clean supplies, medically assisted treatment programs, peer support, fentanyl testing strips, and more. Harm reduction is evidence-based to save lives and people who use drugs deserve the chance to make mistakes and live to see the next day.”