On Saturday, a peer-run recovery center in Clinton will hold its first-ever candidate forum. The goal is to give Iowans who need treatment for mental illness or drug abuse the tools they need to vote.
Todd Noack, executive director of Life Connections Peer Recovery Services in Clinton, said, “The people who receive services and their families are really who we’re trying to reach.” “Because it is often hard to find your way around the recovery and support services for both mental and substance abuse.”
We already knew that. “And nine times out of ten, the people who are getting help—and maybe even their family members—don’t even vote.”
He said that people who go to the discussion will be able to hear from candidates in the area running for the Iowa House of Representatives and the Clinton County Board of Supervisors. Noack and someone from the office of the county auditor will also talk about how to vote and why it’s important to do so.
Noack said that he is trying to help the people he works with understand that the people running for office are job applicants, and the people who vote are the interviewees.
Noack said, “When we run for office, we don’t hear the whole story and don’t understand because we don’t talk to the people who get the services.” “In reality, the people who get services have less say in how things change than the people who make those changes.”
Noack said he often goes to the Iowa Capitol to talk to lawmakers about recovery services run by peers and to inform them. Someone in power talked to him “in a demeaning way,” he said, so he decided to do something different.
Noack said, “It’s not just getting people up there to push for changes.” “It’s teaching the people who get services why they should vote, how to listen, and what to listen for.”
He also said that he wants people who have been convicted of felonies to come to the candidate debate. This is because many Iowans who have been convicted of felonies and finished their sentences can now vote again. Noack said that a lot of people who have been convicted of felonies still don’t know they can vote.
He told them that by voting, they can try to make changes that will make it easier for people in Iowa to get help for mental health issues and drug abuse.
Noack said, “This is why it’s so important to ask these reps and county board of supervisors these questions: to find out who will really do the work for the people who get services.”
The Iowa Developmental Disabilities Council is giving the group money to help people get registered to vote. There will be a meeting on September 21 at 11 a.m. at the Life Connections Wellness Recovery Center in Clinton.