Center for Public Health Workforce Development
PARTNER PROFILE: NEIL TUCKER
An Advocate for Recovery It is hard to imagine a more passionate advocate for substance use disorder recovery than Neil Tucker. He hasn’t just helped others find recovery; he’s experienced that difficult journey firsthand and helping others helps fuels his continued determination to remain sober. Neil experienced a very difficult childhood, struggling to manage simultaneously high energy and high anxiety levels. A substance use disorder began at an early age, and continued until he hit rock bottom after a family tragedy in 2005. “My story is part of what makes me the poster child for the the [Five Minutes to Help] program both as an advocate and a provider-practitioner, but also as a patient and participant in some of these programs to help me along my path to sobriety.” Finding a Path to Wellness and Recovery, and Helping Others Do the Same
Turning to Healing and Wellness Thankfully, Neil was able to find sobriety and change the trajectory of his life. His difficult childhood and health struggles instilled in him a passion for finding healing and wellness through integrative health, trauma informed care, and stress management. He decided to become an EMT. In 2013, Neil noticed his AA meetings doubling in size. Oxycontin and the opioid crisis had arrived at his doorstep, as rehab centers opened throughout the Berkshires and the numbers and demographics of people in recovery seemingly shifted overnight. So too did the 911 calls he responded to. Neil says he could relate to the substance use struggles of the people around him. As an EMT, it was difficult to feel caught in an endless cycle of reversing overdoses with Narcan, only to return and do the same thing to the same patient a few days later. Expanding the First Responder Toolbox A few years later, Neil was living in New Jersey and working as an EMT, when he learned about a program for EMS providers and other first responders called 5 Minutes to Help. For Neil, learning about 5 Minutes to Help was “like coming home.” The philosophy and approach resonate deeply with his own experiences and desire to save lives, and he eagerly took the course and jumped at the chance to teach it to other first responders. “5 Minutes to Help was a way to anchor and work with the people I love and to be around providers and practitioners, and it was a way for me to continue volunteer work, continue to be an advocate for recovery, especially around first responders.” Neil sees 5 Minutes to Help impacting people beyond those with substance use disorders. The training has the power to also benefit the wellness of fellow first responders, many of whom struggle with the physical and psychological demands of the job. Therapeutic communication, kindness, and concepts surrounding wellness and self-care become a part of their treatment toolbox, not only with patients, but with themselves, too. And nobody knows better than Neil how healing others can give you the power to help heal yourself, and he has no plans to slow down anytime soon.
Neil Tucker (pictured below) has trained over 400 first responders in the Five Minutes to Help program.
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