Supporting a path out of addiction

Employee Spotlight: Elizabeth Hansard

Open Door's mission is to improve quality of life in the communities we serve. Each day, our team members bring that mission to life. Through the Employee Spotlight program, we're proud to share stories of their commitment to patients, clients, coworkers, and the community.

Warm paper comes out of the printer and directly into the hands of Elizabeth Hansard. It's a certificate ready to be awarded to another patient for completing the Open Door Vivitrol Program. Vivitrol is a once-monthly injection to help prevent relapse into opioid or alcohol dependence. Individuals must be a minimum of 7-10 days opioid-free to participate in the program.

Elizabeth has coordinated the Vivitrol Program for Open Door for the last 2 years, tracking patients' progress and helping keep them on their path toward overcoming addiction. She knows Open Door's program is one part of the big picture of tackling addiction in our communities. "Everything I do is focused on helping to be part of the solution,” she shares.

Prior to her work at Open Door, Elizabeth spent 17 years working in child protection. It was her time there that she discovered the positive ripple effect that helping one person can make. “If you can help one person, you can impact 20,” she said. It’s that philosophy that helps her in her work now. When her patients are successful, they get to reunite with family, friends, and loved ones.

Getting people in the door to the program is one step toward a much bigger goal of physical, mental, and social health. Because program participants are typically already Open Door patients, they benefit from an entire network of services and resources that serve that goal.

At the end of the day, Elizabeth’s favorite thing is to see patients be successful in the program and to be able to hand them that completion certificate that helps demonstrate that success. She is able to share that certificate with them and help give them confidence in their recovery, and in return the participants in return give her something she truly values: their thanks. Both for the program, and for her support in their lives. "Having someone say thank you... that’s what is awesome.”