Way Maker: Bridging the Cracks in Peer Recovery SupportWay Maker: Bridging the Cracks in Peer Recovery Support
Recovery Talks
In this podcast transcript, Jim Hajny interviews …
38:48•2 Sept 2026
Way Maker Outreach: Fixing the Cracks in Peer Recovery Support
Episode Overview
- Online courses and PS 101 training helped Jazelle gain confidence and knowledge to support others as a peer specialist.
- Way Maker Outreach focuses on catching people who fall through the cracks, especially around housing, homelessness and basic survival needs.
- Jazelle’s long-term goal is an all-in-one facility with detox, treatment, relapse prevention and transitional housing to keep people connected to recovery longer.
- She argues for a "care team" model for mental health similar to cancer care, instead of the current approach of brief stays and minimal follow-up.
- A key principle of her work is meeting people where they are, offering love and support even when someone is still using, because connection may be what sparks change.
“"We’re just people helping people, trying to catch the ones that are falling through the cracks of our society."”
Get ready to be moved by real-life accounts of what happens when people in recovery refuse to accept a broken system as "just the way it is." Recovery Talks brings together host Jim Haney and guest Jazelle, founder of Way Maker Outreach in Kalispell, Montana, for a candid chat about peer support, housing, and what it really takes to help people who are falling through the cracks.
You’ll hear how online learning and Montana’s Peer Network courses helped Jazelle feel confident stepping into peer support work, and why that PS 101 training became a springboard for her current projects. She talks about Way Maker as "just people helping people," focusing on low-barrier help, second chances, and what she calls "second-hand happiness"—the joy of seeing someone keep their housing or score a small win after thinking all hope was gone. The conversation leans into big systemic questions.
Why do people with cancer get a full care team while someone with a mental health diagnosis is handed a pill and a three-month follow-up? Why are people sent to detox only to be dropped straight back into the same unsafe environment? From elderly couples buying tents just to survive, to people stuck in pre-release with nowhere to move on to, the gaps are clear—and Jazelle is determined to build bridges over them.
Her long-term vision is huge: a one-stop facility offering detox, inpatient, outpatient, relapse prevention and transitional housing, all wrapped in community and care. But she keeps her feet on the ground, acting “as if” it already exists—advocating, networking, visiting treatment centres, and showing up for people whether they’re in recovery or still using.
If you’ve ever wondered what real peer-driven change looks like, this conversation asks a simple but powerful question: what kind of support would you have needed when you were at your lowest—and what would it take to offer that to someone else today?
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