One of the things that make Fora Health an amazing community is people can work here in recovery and help others heal! Around 25 percent of the staff at Fora Health share they are in recovery. One of those people is Steven Milanese.
When Steven joined the Fora Health team, he had a record and was just looking for an opportunity to get his foot in the door. Today – he is the Program Supervisor for our Hillsboro outpatient facility! Steven has been the heart of Hillsboro, led significant innovations, and helped support and mold some of Fora’s leadership, like our Outpatient Supervisor, Megan Brown.
As a man in recovery, he wanted to serve the recovery community. Still, he was initially anxious about joining De Paul since he hadn’t held a traditional full-time job in a while. Steven quickly acclimated to working at Hillsboro and realized he didn’t need to be an expert or perfect in his role.
As Steven gained knowledge and experience, he soon became an important support base for new managers. When the opportunity presented itself, Steven was an obvious choice to become the Program Manager.
“As someone with no managerial experience in this industry, De Paul gave me a chance.”
Steven was vital in helping De Paul expand care. He saw a critical gap in De Paul’s services and worked to open up more opportunities to serve the Hispanic population. He worked to ensure documentation and marketing materials were translated and to hire culturally specific staff.
“Today, more than half my staff are Spanish speakers, and our Hispanic patients are getting culturally appropriate services. And it’s just amazing.”
Steven also shares what has allowed him to resist burnout and maintain his passion:
“I make small changes in my community, and I can see the difference I create, which is good enough. And consistency, showing up, sticking with your morals and values, and staying on course are so critical.”
We can all learn from this as we enter the new year. Thank you, Steven, for all you’ve done at the Hillsboro location for patients, staff, and the recovery community!