In this impactful episode, Gene Bowen shares how Road Recovery uses music and mentorship to help teens overcome addiction and mental health challenges. Learn about their innovative peer-support model that pairs music industry professionals with vulnerable youth, the measurable outcomes they're achieving, and how healthcare leaders can support and replicate this evidence-based approach despite ongoing funding challenges.
Gene Bowen, Founder & President, Road Recovery
Jack Bookbinder, Co-Founder & Vice President, Road Recovery
Megan Antonelli, Chief Executive Officer, HealthIMPACT Live
Welcome 0:01 Welcome to Digital Health talks. Each week we meet with healthcare leaders making an immeasurable difference in equity, access and quality. Hear about what tech is worth investing in and what isn't as we focus on the innovations that deliver. Join Megan Antonelli, Janae sharp and Shaheed Shah for a weekly no BS, deep dive on what's really making an impact in healthcare.
Megan Antonelli 0:29 Hi everyone. Welcome to Digital Health talks. Changemakers focused on fixing healthcare. I'm your host. Megan Antonelli, and today I am so excited to have gene Bowen, founder and president and Jack bookbinder, co founder and vice president of road recovery. Road recovery is our charity partner in health impact. We had the pleasure of hosting them and meeting them at our January event, and they are a nonprofit that has been instrumental in creating life changing opportunities for at risk youth through their mentorship and music over the last two decades, their work has been, never been more vital. And I think what we've been exploring and talking about within healthcare is you know how to make healthcare more human, and you know that art and medicine and the intersections of Music and Medicine and music and healthcare. And so we are excited to welcome them to the show. Hi Jack. Hi Jean, how are you? Hi
Gene Bowen 1:24 Megan. Hi
Megan Antonelli 1:26 Megan, good to see you both. Jack, why don't you introduce yourself, and then we'll hand it over to Gene to talk, to tell us a little bit about the founding story behind road recovery. Sure.
Jack Bookbinder 1:38 Jack Bookbinder, co founder with Gene Bowen and we got together as early as 1990 after both attending NYU but not knowing each other there, and we were both in the music business. Gene was a tour manager, I was a personal manager, but then we decided to launch road recovery in 1998 nonprofit, 501, c3, and it's been chugging for 27 years, and extremely gratifying and helping 1000s and 1000s of young people. I do suffer. My diversity is diabetes, but through road recovery, I've been able to self care and manage it. Amazing.
Megan Antonelli 2:17 Gene how about you tell us a little bit about your background.
Gene Bowen 2:19 So I come from upset being a kid obsessed with live music, and that's what gave me peace and solace, and what drove me to want to be a part of this enigma, the energy that comes off a stage. So Jack and I, as he mentioned, through a professor at NYU, both of us weren't really going to school that much so, but he knew us both and connected us. Jack was in the management side of it. I was in the tour management. We started working together in 1990 by 1992 my lifestyle, I had just a general fear of life and change. So I found my solution for a long time, was drugs and alcohol and the lifestyle of the road, which eventually, thanks to help of people like Jack and other people in my circle, I realized I was in this box of addiction and I was going to die. So I got clean in 1992 and took myself out of the industry and really gave myself over to the medical world to kind of help me figure out how to come up with a new coping skill, as opposed to self destruction. Jack and I then started working together when I came back into the fold, when I was two years sober, and ended up Jack was managed a very high profile artist on Sony, and it was a world tour. And through that, I was very open about my lifestyle, and Jack was very open about what he was going through, as far as the diabetic and that resonated with people in our industry, who all started to come forward to talk about their situation, their adversity, from learning disabilities to eating disorders to various mental health issues, Addiction and other such were diabetes, in that case, cancer. And what we realized, what there was a voice within our industry that wanted to give back and given the attraction of young people to the entertainment industry. We thought, could there be possibly a way to bring two unlikely characters together, both of us, Jack and I attribute, you know, people like Coates, the medical world is giving us the solution and the help toward living a healthy life and having a career in the industry. So we thought, how could the entertainment industry in the healthcare world come together through a mentoring program? So where the basically, where the model is, wherever we go, there's healthcare, resources and support around us, so we stay in our lane as a mentoring program, we draw from people from our industry who are open about their adversity and the solution they're living which affords them the career that they have in the entertainment industry. And then. The action of the interaction, and the Action Program, or action behind our work, is through creating live concert events and recording projects, by elevating the voice of youth, so the mentoring of showing young people, this is what I've dealt with, and this is what I use as a solution in my life, and the people who helped me with that are people that are professionals in whatever discipline in the industry. And so we're not an arts program where we're really well, we are out. We teach healthy coping skills, communication, life skills, all through the process of collaborating with young people, validating their voice, validating what they want to say, in terms of change within themselves, but also change in their community, and using art, whatever that is, most of the young people, unfortunately that we deal with, most of them think they have no creativity in them, and we have to remind them that, hey, you're a human Being. It's in there. You just got to find it. So through the power of we, it's a collective where whatever they want to talk about, if it's whatever adversity is going on their life, or transition or frustration, or whatever it is, to bring that out, talk about talk about solutions, and then create something that can reach a wider audience, because we all know art transcends language, and so we give them the opportunity to express themselves, formulate it into something, and then present it on a state of the art stage to their community, so it has a ripple effect. So they're speaking to their their peers and their community about what this specific topic is, or this area, and the solution that they've found in that, and then present it through the power of art, of music, whether it's dance drama, whatever,
Megan Antonelli 6:50 it's amazing. And I think, you know, I mean, that's why it's, it's moved me and inspired me so much to help, you know, to help you guys get the word out and amplify what you guys are doing. Because you know, particularly right now, you know. And I'm a mom of teenage boys, so I know, you know, like the art programs and the art that they're exposed to just isn't what it used to be. And even when I was growing up in the 70s and 80s, it wasn't all that great either, you know. So, you know. But it's like the other day we went to Luna, Luna in the city, and all the artists listed there like I knew them. They were part of my culture. They were part of growing up. My kid couldn't name an artist right now, if he tried, other than, you know, a musician, but you know the from an art perspective that you know, and questionable whether or not who he would name would be a musician, you know, whether we would define him as one. But that being said, tell us a little bit. I mean, 27 years is a long time. So you have seen, you know that change. Are there particular, you know, things that have changed? Or is it some ways, you know, teenagers are teenagers, and the adversities that they face are similar, and the way to access them is similar. Or has it changed quite a bit.
Gene Bowen 8:02 It has changed. Technology has obviously come into play, which has created more problems and such for you, especially isolation. And then you throw COVID pandemic into the mix for three years, it just adds to it. And then just the way, the shift in economics and such, is a lot of pressure on young people today and trying to figure out how to make a living, how to survive. So parcel, all that together that, yeah, it's as far as delivery and such, we've had to adapt because of the means of communication with young people. But still, at the end of the day, it's the number one thing for us, is being present. That's it. You know, that's the most powerful thing. Is when you show up, for a young person, you're consistent, and your presence in the moment, not on your phone, you're in the moment, listening to them. That transcends, that's that's the that's the key to the possibility of change, which inevitably would happen, but it takes time, and that's the other thing we're in. We've we've created such instantaneous everything. And change in the human condition doesn't happen that way. Pill doesn't work. It only works to a certain point. It's really about building relationships, and relationships take time and trust, and we've dealt with every conceivable, possible situation of what young people are dealing with, and that's just, you know, the human connection is everything.
Megan Antonelli 9:30 So Jack, tell us a little bit about, you know, kind of specific outcomes or specific stories that that you've seen over the years, that you know have have given us that you know, have given you that that measure of success,
Jack Bookbinder 9:45 yeah, some major changes for road recovery, especially since our nonprofit was awarded to federal grants from the US Department of Justice, Office of OJJDP, Office of Juvenile. A delinquency is that part of getting the funding for youth programs was also getting access to the National Mentoring Resource Center. They provide program evaluators. So we had a program evaluator who has been helping us for almost four years from mentor in Virginia, and the NYU School of Nursing, Meyer School of Nursing, a research scientist, Dr Lloyd goldsam, and they have come together to advise us very closely on measuring outcomes, because we want to know how successful are we. Is our program model working or not right, and what changes we may have to make and in the programming, and they help develop surveys, pre and post surveys, over two dozen questions for young people to sample and respond to us. And through that, we're able to determine and measure outcomes, the specific outcomes that we've been measuring, or self esteem, self of sense, sense of team and belonging, social competence, attitudes about substance abuse and coping skills, which is central what we're doing right now. And through these pre and post surveys that the kids take, we're able to measure, you know where they're starting and if they're improving or not. Now it's really hard to get these kids to do paper survey questionnaires. So what we've developed is this tracks program app. It's very innovative. It took us six months to put it together with an app company called Team recovery technologies, and all the kids have an app either downloaded on their phone or gain assistance from their mentor staff member. And that's how they're able to come in. When we first come in, we check their mood. They can do a happy face. They could do a sad face. That alert would go out to Jean and others, you know. And then at the very beginning of the program, we would see where they're at, their headspace is at. And then after the workshop, they spend an hour or two with us. They do a check in after and we can measure if the mood has changed in any way. And then for more longitude stats, we have the pre survey, as I said, two dozen questions or more, and then the post survey, and that's really where we develop scale scores, so we could determine whether they're going up or down. I'm happy to say that most of the measuring outcomes have gone 5% increased 5% or more, so that's a big indicator for us that tracks programs. That's the name of our after school programs are working, but there's always work to do to improve that.
Megan Antonelli 12:49 Yeah, that's great, and that's great that. I mean, you know, having that kind of system of measuring outcomes and the success in there is great and sort of have that consistent feedback. I mean, I'm sure, you know, to some extent, just getting the kids engaged must be so rewarding and that, you know, that that's the impact you're looking for and keeping them engaged, you know, because that's what's hard. I mean, I think, besides the fact that it's just hard to get access to mental health in general in this country, particularly for teens, but getting them engaged so, you know, tell me a little bit about where you've seen. I mean, has that changed over the years in terms of access and the, you know, what? What the sort of barriers that teens face in getting that access to traditional mental health services? And tell us a little bit about how road recovery kind of helps with that.
Gene Bowen 13:36 Yeah, so with, you know, with the healthcare system, which I don't think any of us can explain, and the resources so more and more out of the box, means of reaching young people and such so as a mentoring program. I think the our success has been because we partner with road recovery. Never travels without some type of partnership with with healthcare folks. So so how do we do that? We stay in our lane. So we our program is inserted into institutions, whether it's inpatient or outpatient or with a lot in the case of these grants, we're in New York State Youth Recovery Centers. These are or clubhouses, as they're called, so they provide everything from after school programs to food to clothing to recreation and such. And our model is inserted in that and then embedded in that location are licensed social workers and because it's in the community, so we have a youth that hasn't eaten, you know, we have access to so we're never on an island with the young people. So in this it's, it's sort of a way that you're, you're, you're managing or dealing with these on a on a per situation basis, where, in some cases, where at some point along the line, a youth needs to find. Patient. Well, we have an army around them, and those because they're tapped into us, which means they're tapped into those resources to find those medical resources, or the treatment that the youth will need, or, like I said, basic stuff, like clothing or whatever. So it really is, becomes a one stop shop for for us, and I think a lot of it for us is the attraction. So we are, what we're able to do is we have credible messengers. So these are people that have life experiences, and they're not the authority, and we're not there to point a finger at them or anything, but we're actually opening up about our own adversity. So all of a sudden, it creates an intimate situation by you know, kids will respond to if you're vulnerable, and being willing to be vulnerable in a safe environment will cause them to open up. So and because we're not the police, teachers or medical professionals, a lot of times they'll by us opening up about what we've dealt with, they will then start to open up, and a lot of times they'll reveal stuff that they haven't revealed to their parents or to anyone in their circle. But what's most important is we're shedding a different light on those folks. So by me talking about recovery and the resources that I use, whether it's the clinical help and therapeutic or whatever, or Jack's talking about medical as an endocrinologist involved in him, that just all of a sudden it shifts the whole view of perception of what these people are, that they're not a threat, they're actually an asset, and to lean into them. So it's lead by example in all of this, and that has created access to interesting resources for
Megan Antonelli 16:41 them. Yeah, I mean, what I'm hearing a lot is, you know, it's about meeting them where they are, and really engaging with them. And I think we're seeing that around, you know, a lot of the discussion of digital, the digital and virtual mental health tools, you know, is that they are working, and they are, you know, sort of engaging teens and kids in a way that they, you know, haven't been able to that a traditional therapy and traditional mental health services haven't been able to do. Thank you guys were way ahead of the curve and got to that, you know, super, you know, a long time ago. And I know, you know, as you mentioned, the healthcare system and and you know, the current political climate, there's a lot going on that is impacting funding. So tell me a little bit about how these recent funding cuts are affecting the services and and you know what some of the creative solutions you guys are working on, but how? You know how our audience can really help
Jack Bookbinder 17:34 sure our primary source of funding had been through DOJ, as I said, these two massive grants that allowed us to forge these partnerships, from Buffalo to The Hamptons and cover all the youth clubhouses that gene cited for after school programming services. There was one point we're up to servicing a dozen youth club houses and their affiliates each cycle. So that's like Monday through Saturday programming. Now, unfortunately, with federal cuts, and given the atmosphere, what's going on, we're down to one single federal grant, and it's providing maybe two or three or four after school programs. So on a programmatic level, we've come, unfortunately, way down right, but I will get to what we're doing, right? But when it comes down, we have all these experienced, creative staff mentors, the credible messengers that Jean was talking about, and some are sitting on the sidelines waiting for the next Call of when they can get back in. You know, we pay all our mentors, all our staff members, and with the funding cuts, we can't pay them, we can't get them going right? So that's a major negative hit on us. However, once we learned that on March 29 that our federal funding had been cut, literally, I couldn't draw from US Treasury. On that day, we went into a an emergency meeting with our board, and we came up with an action plan, right? And the action plan since then had been to pursue a number of private funders, non federal funded authorities. So that would be foundations. Obviously, we do a number of fundraising, especially getting a lot of individual and corporate donations through our website, www road recovery.org, and we have a tremendous amount of our income is goes to direct programming. So it was 83.3% in last year. So that's how much we dedicated. We're still in the action plan and pivoting away from the federal funding, we have it maybe for another year, but you never know, we can wake up another executive order or another legal decision has been made, and all that funding goes out the window. So 27 years, we've learned to adapt to what's happening under all situations. Operations. But this, I'd say gene is probably one of the most dire that we've had, especially given the tremendous success that we've had. And DOJ has told us, you know, you're one of the leading cohorts in servicing young people with their adversities and addiction and opioid affected youth, yeah.
Megan Antonelli 20:18 And, I mean, especially right now, where we've got this, you know, kind of unbelievable amount of attention focused on, you know, adolescent mental health through, you know, the recent books on the anxious generation and the show adolescence that you know, it's in the discourse, it's in the dialog about how much, how important this, this crisis is, and yet to be in a situation where the funding is not being expanded, right? It should be a gross time, not a cutback time gene. What were you going to say? I'm sorry, no,
Gene Bowen 20:47 I was going to say. And also, with this robust research, folks that we have in our camp and helping us, and also the the app that we're also pivoting into more of and thanks to you, a lot of exposure into the tech world in terms of healthcare and exploring and looking at partners that would help help fund that. Because the the app, it's really interesting. You know, with young people, it's all perception, right? So the perception road recovery and stuff is, you know, it's from the entertainment industry, so it's a natural attraction. It's funny, when we started to circulate the app, young people were like, Oh, it's so cool. This is great road recovery as an app. You know, we also have gamified it, I guess this is called so the more they use it, because we get great donated items from people in the fashion world and the entertain the music business. So as the more they use it, they get gifts. They get, they get cool stuff. But now we're starting to talk to folks in the in the healthcare technology field, about getting involved with us and funding because of what we're the research side of it, and using technology really leaning heavily into how can we really develop further the technology side of of interacting and working with the kids and managing the program to them. So that's a new that's a new field for us, as far as seeking some trying to find funding and stuff in that area, those resources, yeah,
Megan Antonelli 22:14 I think there's a lot of potential there. And, you know, I think you know, with the app, and again, to your you know, to your point, that the you know, sort of going where the kids are and what they're interested and what they'll adopt, but also that there's just an interest in that. Because, frankly, the traditional side of things is just so inadequate. So there's so much, there's so much potential and interest, and then, you know, kind of figuring out where to kind of get those investors and partners, anything else in terms of kind of beyond those financial contributions that you've seen work that you would suggest to those specific companies, or whether it's the health, it digital health side or community based organizations that you wanted To share, I
Gene Bowen 22:59 think that there's great power in this and then, and the ability of what technology has allowed young people to do, you know, from even on a creative level, like you mentioned earlier, you know, an artist? Are they an artist? Are they not? The technology is so strong that I have no it's been scientifically proven. I have no musical talent. I was a nuts and bolts guy toilet and I've had more drumsticks taken out of my hand because Gene You have no rhythmic talent ability. So so I think that leaning heavily into it, you know, the upside is that is because it's, it's where we're finding is you can effectively reach a young person at any point, any time, but the downside is also how to engage in with them and not further drive home this isolation and the downside of what this technology is. So thanks to our research folks and us just very organically launching this app, we've started to learn other things in facets and on greater levels of of care and support for our young people. And one of the things that we've learned is so we at the beginning and the end of each session that we're actually physically with them, and we have a hybrid. There's also a virtual that that Cohen that connects to it's all happening simultaneously, but they're filling out, as Jack said, a little survey. How are you feeling coming into the program, and then how are you feeling when you leave? What's interesting is, we have some young people, and just happened this past weekend where they reported coming in, they weren't doing well, okay, and they talked about it, but when they left, they didn't say anything. But they went to the app and they said when they left they felt lousy. Well, we get an alert, immediate alert, so we're able to take action. How do we take action? We call the licensed healthcare providers at that facility and say, Hey, we just got an alert that so and so came in on the app and said they weren't doing good, and they went out not doing good. Could you please look at that? So that's a whole. Other reality, because in some cases, they this person didn't want to say it to anyone, but they felt comfortable to tell it to the app, the technology. So we've now figured out, like, wow, we've created another layer of support and domains of giving them a safe space to express where they're at, yeah,
Megan Antonelli 25:18 which I think, you know, and I've did a little bit of looking at, you know, YouTube has a program going now with the American Psychology Association around, you know, sort of the positive uses. How do we turn, you know, what we know is a dangerous, you know, element of social media and technology, you know. And I think, you know, the point of anxious generation is that we've, we've bottled our kids up so much that we've protected them, you know, and you know, so much in the real life, but we've allowed them so much access to to the internet and to what's what's available to them on social on the other side of things, you know, the the ability to make What that what is available to them, positive, you know? And that's where, you know, it's not the technology, it's what's out there that is dangerous, right? And so we wouldn't want to, you know, not let our kids go to the museum or go to a concert if that's where they wanted to go in real life. So how do we make that environment that they're going to online, a more protected, a more positive one. And what you guys are doing does that so well. And I, you know, I, I want to see it both succeed and grow. And just has so much potential of bringing all this together. So, you know, we have a minute left, and we always do like to focus on kind of what's good and what's good in healthcare right now. Whereas you know, when you look around at what's happening within road recovery and the and the teenagers that you guys help, tell us what's good, what's good that you're seeing
Gene Bowen 26:57 we're seeing them the best, the best is they're showing up, and they continue to show up. And in some of the cases where there's, there's been some, you know, some, some pushback and such on these kids and because they're, you know, being attacked because of whatever gender, whatever they're showing up, because they're finding support. And I think that tells the tale right there. Well, you know, it's, it's not about the talk, it's about the action behind it. And the more we learn of how to best serve our youth, the better we get, and the better the outcome is, which is, you know, helping our serve our greatest asset, which is our youth.
Jack Bookbinder 27:34 Yeah, these youth are showing up every week to their tracks program, of course, road recovery, showing up on a consistent basis for them, and they have a voice that they can share. We are featuring them on social media if they want to be featured, their music, their artwork, then after a three month cycle, they can get on the big stage with professional sound and lighting that we set up. And the show is filmed, and they can share it with their community, their parents, their best friends. And in some cases, they're doing recording projects. The latest recording project is with not only our mentors, but Darryl McDaniels from Run DMC, our board member who recorded with the kids. And the new song is called I Am Love. It's available on Spotify and Apple Music. So they have something they have for the rest of their life that they can always look towards during their road recovery time. So yeah, it's these positive, tangible outcomes that are really making a difference in their life.
Megan Antonelli 28:26 It is well, and that's it. I think, you know, one of the great things in healthcare is you guys so and the group that you have assembled together to do this, the board and the folks on the technology side, as well as the work that you guys are doing is amazing. So thanks for being with us. You know, I want to call to our audience to please go visit road recovery.org. Check out what they're doing. If you're so inclined. Do donate. Get involved. Reach out if you've got ideas for partnerships for support. You know, additional funding avenues there are, certainly there are private, private groups that would would fund this. So if you guys, if our listeners are there and know of things, let us know so that we can help support what gene and Jack are doing, and the whole team at road recovery that is just so impressive. So thank you both. It was a pleasure. And thank you to our listeners. Don't forget to subscribe to digital health talks, wherever you get your podcasts. And this is Megan Antonelli signing off.
Thank You 29:30 Thank you for joining us on digital health talks, where we explore the intersection of healthcare and technology with leaders who are transforming patient care. This episode was brought to you by our valued program partners, automation anywhere, revolutionizing healthcare workflows through Intelligent Automation, netera, advancing contactless vital signs, monitoring elite groups, delivering strategic healthcare IT solutions. Eight sell point, securing healthcare identity management and access governance. Your engagement helps drive the future of healthcare innovation. Subscribe to digital health talks on your preferred podcast platform. Share these insights with your network and follow us on LinkedIn for exclusive content and updates. Ready to connect with healthcare technology leaders in person. Join us at the next health impact event. Visit health impactforum.com. For dates and registration. Until next time, this is digital health talks, where changemakers come together to fix healthcare.