Mickayla Hanzlik, a peer support specialist from South Dakota, shares her powerful story of overcoming addiction and the life-changing impact of drug court. Hear how Mickayla turned her struggles with substance use, mental health, and personal loss into a mission to support others on their recovery journey. Discover her insights on the importance of peer support, breaking down stigma, and finding hope in the darkest times.
00:00 Introduction to Meet the Peer
01:04 Mikayla’s Journey and Drug Court
02:29 Becoming a Peer Specialist
03:07 Graduation Ceremony
03:34 Motivation to Help Others
04:20 The Impact of Peer Support
05:12 The Importance of Having a Peer Specialist
06:02 Navigating Early Recovery
07:38 The Complexity of Recovery
09:14 What is Peer Support?
10:01 Excitement as a Peer Specialist
10:45 Lived Experiences for Peer Support
12:41 Challenging Stigma
14:15 Message for Those Struggling
15:35 The Power of Peer Support
16:03 Closing Remarks
Whitney (01:08)
Hello and welcome to Meet the Peer, a special series where we shine the spotlight on peer specialists. Meet the Peer is brought to you by Straight Up Care. With a mission to empower peer recovery professionals, Straight Up Care provides a multi-use platform and resources for peer specialists to share their lived experiences and build a positive connection with those in the recovery community. I’m your host, Whitney Menarcheck, and on this episode of Meet the Peer, we have Michaela Hansik, a certified peer specialist in South Dakota. Welcome, Mikayla.
Mickayla Hanzlik (01:42)
Thank you for having me. Good to be here.
Whitney (01:46)
It’s great to have you here and I’m excited to learn more about you. Can we start off with just hearing about your lived experience and your journey to what brought you here today?
Mickayla Hanzlik (01:58)
My journey started about five years ago. I was at my lowest of my low and I took a plea into drug court and little did I know that it would change my life forever. It would lead me to the position I’m in to wanting to help people that were like me that nobody else understood.
Whitney (02:18)
And drug court is not something everyone’s familiar with. Can you describe a little bit what drug court is and what that was like for you?
Mickayla Hanzlik (02:26)
I can describe drug court as it’s very, very intense probation. It’s the step they give to minimum people before they send you off to prison. And for me, I had just gotten my first drug charge, you know, lost, confused, and here they come just swooping me off my feet. And they teach you routines, stability. It’s all about people, places and things and of course, at first, nobody believes it. But if it wasn’t for drug court, I wouldn’t be where I am.
Whitney (02:59)
Wow. So it sounds like a good resource that can really kind of help people to avoid that more serious charges, incarceration, etc.
Mickayla Hanzlik (03:06)
Oh yeah. Yep,
Whitney (03:13)
And so you have an exciting day coming up on November 1st. Can you share with us what that is?
Mickayla Hanzlik (03:19)
November 1st is when we’re graduating from our peer support specialist training. And it’s gonna be a big day. They’re doing a whole graduation ceremony. We’re able to invite people and people can come in and see and talk to us and learn more about us.
Whitney (03:34)
Very exciting and congratulations in advance.
Mickayla Hanzlik (03:38)
Thank you.
Whitney (03:39)
So what led you to become a peer specialist?
Mickayla Hanzlik (03:44)
Um, I, I just want to help people. I want to help people that are like me. I want, you know, the misunderstood, the stigmatized people, the people that have been told there’s no hope for you. I just want to be that person to them. The person I wish I had when I had began my journey to like sobriety and recovery, even with my mental health or physical health, even I didn’t have anybody there to push me and so that’s a big thing for me. That’s what I wanna do for somebody.
Whitney (04:17)
And you mentioned like having, being the person that you wish you had had, what do you think it would have been like for you if you had a peer specialist involved in your recovery journey early on?
Mickayla Hanzlik (04:29)
I don’t think I would have felt so lost or hopeless. I really felt like it was me against the world, basically. And there were so many times I wanted to give up because I didn’t have anybody that knew what I was going through that I could talk to about it. I had my other peers that were in drug court, but they were just as lost as I was. And no matter how many times your probation officer or your treatment counselor…tells you, oh, we understand, we understand. Nobody truly understands unless they’ve been there.
Whitney (04:59)
Right
Mickayla Hanzlik (05:00)
So I feel like it would have helped a lot.
Whitney (05:01)
So some, you know, feeling alone, like you said, and yes, you had those peers, but they were, you know, going through, they were figuring things out as well. And so someone who can say, hey, I’ve literally been in your shoes, I know exactly what you’re going through.
Mickayla Hanzlik (05:09)
Yeah. Yeah, somebody that can say, okay, so we need this step in order to get the rest of our steps. And that would have been so helpful to know on day one instead of just being thrown back out into the world sober. And okay, now I got to find a place to live, a job, you know, I have to get my ID, I have to get my social security card. Those are really tough things to figure out when you’ve never had to adult or figure those things out before. And so like, I didn’t.
Whitney (05:45)
Absolutely. That’s… Oh, I’m sorry. Go ahead.
Mickayla Hanzlik (05:47)
Yeah. No, you’re fine.
Whitney (05:49)
It’s very overwhelming too, like almost a, where do I even start?
Mickayla Hanzlik (05:54)
Oh yeah, it’s a mind game at first, I think. When you’re first trying to navigate where you turn next, it’s the hardest decision. Okay, so if I do this, then I could get in trouble for not having a job right now, but I don’t know how to get a job if I don’t have my ID, but I can’t get my ID because I don’t know where to start. So just a lot of it, I think people give up pretty easy because they don’t have that person to be like, no, this is, you know, not babying them, but like, hey, I’ve been there and this is the step I took first. And if you take this step, it can make this step easier.
Whitney (06:33)
Yeah. And I think, you know, we hear the term journey. I just used it, you know, in introducing you that it is a journey. There is a recovery path. But if you don’t have someone to guide you and to be who’s already kind of traversed it, overcome the obstacles, how are you supposed to know otherwise?
Mickayla Hanzlik (06:56)
I don’t think you do. I think you just wing it and you hope for the best. And a lot of people don’t make it past that first step. You know what I mean? A lot of people just are like, this is way too hard. I can’t do this. But they don’t have that support system. They don’t have the resources and they don’t know all of the resources available. And that’s a big thing as well.
Whitney (07:19)
Absolutely. It’s very complicated to figure out who can support you with what, what you’re eligible for, and when you’re coming out from, you know, whether it be substance use or a mental health crisis, you aren’t in a place to try to tackle all of that at one time on your own. Yeah, it’s a lot. And
Mickayla Hanzlik (07:38)
Oh no. Oh no. It gets to be a lot. It really does because you look at what’s piled in front of you and you think, oh well this is the most important thing, you know, whether it be like going back to school, getting your children back if they’ve been taken away or if they’re placed somewhere else or anything like that, but like what you don’t realize is those baby steps that are there that you have to hit first, like passing those UA’s or even going and filling your medications. But you don’t have money to fill your medication. So now what do you do? So it’s like those steps that you need to take to get there. And I think that’s where people need help.
Whitney (08:21)
Absolutely. And what insight you have right there about that early recovery experience. And I’m sure you’re going to be able to really help people navigate the difficult systems. So I’m excited to see you grow as a peer specialist. And you’ve touched on a lot of ways that a peer specialist can support someone. But how would you describe it if someone didn’t know what peer support was? What would you say?
Mickayla Hanzlik (08:49)
Um, I would tell them I’m no different than you. I’ve been there. I have taken the steps that you’re about to take. And I’m just here to help hold your hand to get to the next step. And then after that, we can talk about the next step and the next step. And then one day I hope that they’re in my position where they can help people as well and be that person in recovery that they needed in the beginning.
Whitney (09:17)
just like you’re being. Great. And you’re embarking on this new journey as a peer specialist. What excites you most? You’ve mentioned being there for people the way that you wish you would have had. Is there anything else that gets you really excited?
Mickayla Hanzlik (09:31)
My kids get to watch me become the version of me that I wanted to be for so many years. And I get to meet new people. I get to speak to people. I get to push how just because we’ve all had substance abuse or we all suffer from mental health issues, we’re not the label that they’ve put on us. We’re, you know, we’re doing this. We’re taking a stand. We’re helping people. We’re breaking down the walls of what people really think we’re addicts and what we’re like, because we’re not like that. We’re not some stereotype you can label us as.
Whitney (10:09)
And you mentioned having been part of the drug court program and having substance use in your background. What other lived experiences would you like to offer peer support for?
Mickayla Hanzlik (10:22)
I mean, I have the substance abuse disorder. I have mental health issues, anxiety, depression. I have…emotional support is a thing. I have lost both of my birth parents. I have lost multiple friends to overdoses or just health issues in general. In my eyes, I want to help everybody no matter what position you’re in life, whether you’re still trying to get sober, whether you’re sober, whether your mental health isn’t where you’d like it to be. I just, that whole spectrum, that’s where I’m at and that’s where I’ve been. I’ve taken the steps to get my medication, the steps to go through treatments, all of it. And that’s just very versatile, I guess you would say.
Whitney (11:07)
Yeah. And of course, my heart goes to you for your losses. Grief is very impactful and can really throw you off course.
Mickayla Hanzlik (11:21)
Oh yeah, yeah. Grief is a big one because we’re so used to masking emotions. And so I lost my mom and I went off the deep end. But then when I lost my dad, December, it’ll be two years ago, I was able to get through that sober. And I remember like, I felt so accomplished. And if I can just help someone get through the next day, if they’re going through something like that, that’s a huge, huge milestone for anybody.
Whitney (11:52)
Absolutely and I’m gonna go back a little bit. You talked about labels, stigma, because this is a world of labels and we know the importance of things like person first language and other ways to really focus on the human. But there is still a constant battle against stigma going on that we all in this field, in this world need to take on. What would you like to say to challenge stigma?
Mickayla Hanzlik (12:24)
Never judge a person. Just because I was that addict who was homeless, helpless, I couldn’t go five minutes without being high, doesn’t mean that five years down the road, I didn’t pull myself out of that. And I now have a home, I have a car, I have kids, I have a very nice job, and now look where I’m at. Just because someone was something doesn’t mean that that’s what that person was forever and I don’t feel like anyone’s in any position to look down on anyone else, because in reality, no one is better than anyone else. We’re all on just different levels.
Whitney (13:04)
Absolutely. And there will be someone who watches this interview or listens to it who is in a bad place. You know, they’re struggling with something. What would you like them to hear?
Mickayla Hanzlik (13:17)
It doesn’t last forever. It might feel like it’s going to, but where you’re at today doesn’t have to be where you’re at in the year or even two days from now. You just have to keep pushing. If you tell yourself every morning when you get up, it’s gonna be a great day, and you do that for, let’s say 30 days, your body is gonna start believing that every day is gonna be a great day.
Whitney (13:44)
Yes, the power of mindset, positive thinking. I know some people think, oh, that sounds very easy and it’s not, but if you try it, you can then. It does change your attitude. It does change your outlook.
Mickayla Hanzlik (13:57)
It’s kind of like that saying, fake it till you make it, but you’re telling yourself something and you’re gonna do it until you believe in it, until you believe in yourself.
Whitney (14:08)
Yeah, that believing in yourself, that is not easy. Especially early.
Mickayla Hanzlik (14:12)
Oh no. It’s one of the hardest things you’ll ever do.
Whitney (14:16)
Absolutely. And sometimes you need a peer who believes in you until you believe in yourself.
Well, thank you, Michaela. This was wonderful getting to learn about you. And I’m excited for you to be that support for people early in recovery and wherever they are in their lived or living experience. And if you are interested in receiving peer support services from Michaela, you can visit the link to her website in the show notes. And if you enjoyed this interview, please share it with friends and family to help more individuals hear the remarkable stories of peer specialists. And on behalf of Straight Up Care, thank you all for joining us.
