As he turns 30 this summer, Zachary Walker is right where he wants to beānot only settling into an Old Orchard Beach cottage with his girlfriend but spending his days helping others on the path to recovery.
As a Peer Connector for Goodwill Northern New England, his job is to help Mainers in recovery enroll in job training services paid for by the Department of Laborās Opioid National Emergency Grant (ONEG).
āI get to help others, while still recovering from my 10 years of use,ā Walker says. It has been seven years since he kicked alcohol and marijuana, other than a six-month relapse more than three years ago.
He received services from Goodwill himself and, in 2020, Goodwill hired him as a Peer Connector to help people find career counseling, job placement assistance, financial literacy, computer training, interview coaching and resume writing.
āOur job is to serve people affected by addiction and help them break down those barriers in their lives, achieve stability and find meaning,ā Walker says, adding that a lot of what he does is
āactive listening.ā
Social services is the work heās wanted to do since childhood. His mentors include his mother Catherine Duclos, a former Life Navigator with Goodwill, and his step-father Michael Rodriguez.
āIf it wasnāt for my step-father, I might not have stayed sober, gotten to recovery and gotten this job,ā Walker says. āI had a lot of opportunities that I could have taken a lot furtherāin social services, in the food industry or in the tradesāand I didnāt, because Iād wake up hungover and call out of work, or cancel plans or be late. It takes over your life. Now, I live recovery every single day of my life. I love this job.ā
Walkerās days are full, connecting with peersā30 and counting, as more referrals come in. Each peer is also supported by a Career Advisor and a Life Navigator focused on navigating support systems to eliminate barriers to employment.
āMost of the peers are in early recoveryātheyāre getting out of jail, or getting sober or getting into a sober house, starting a program and getting back on their feet,ā Walker says. āOther people have lost employment, sometimes because of the pandemic.ā
The U.S. Department of Labor awarded the two-year National Emergency Dislocated Worker Grant to Maine Department of Labor, in partnership with Maineās three local workforce boards.
Coastal Counties Workforce, Inc. (CCWI) is overseeing and managing the grant for the coastal counties region of Maine.
Their service provider, Workforce Solutions (operated by Goodwill Northern New England) performs the work, with Peer Connectors like Walker helping hundreds of Mainers who have been unemployed for 27 weeks out of the past year access job training.
āOnce theyāve enrolled, we can start working on their goalsāstarting with housing, food and clothes, then getting a laptop and into training and employment opportunities,ā Walker says. āGetting them back to work is
our focus.ā
āA lot of the time, theyāre not in a place to be career-oriented and just need a job,ā Walker says. āBut hopefully, down the line, they have the time to explore a career field or get into a training that can result in a certification or credential.ā
If you or anyone you know would like help finding work, contact Goodwill by filling this form: https://goodwillnne.org/support-services/get-help-finding-a-job-workforce-support/