“Memories saturate my heart and
the story of you spills from my eyes."

—Grace Andren

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✽ Integrity:
Acting with radical honesty and honor without compromising the truth.

✽ Passion:
Passion is what drives us every day. It’s more than just enthusiasm or excitement, passion is ambition that is materialized into action, to put as much heart, mind, body and soul into something as possible.

✽ Accountability:
Acknowledging and assuming responsibility for actions, services, decisions and policies. This can be applied to both individual accountability on the part of our staff and accountability of the organization.

✽ Commitment:
Committing to excellence and best practices, best service and other initiatives that impact people with Substance Abuse Disorder within and outside the organization.

✽ Innovation:
Pursuing new, creative ideas that have the potential to change our industry and the stigma of addiction.

✽ Mission Statement:
Picking Up the Pieces works to reduce or prevent the harms of alcohol and other drug use through education, intervention and advocacy.

✽ Core Values:
• Public Education about Addiction – As a central resource on science-based information, PICKING UP THE PIECES’s role is to educate the public about addiction, the effects of substance use disorder on the brain, and the social, health and economic consequences of alcohol and other drug use and misuse. As the general public learns the facts, it is our hope that stigma will be reduced, more people will seek treatment, and our society will benefit from an overall reduction in substance use and misuse.

• Helping People and Families Affected by Addiction – PICKING UP THE PIECES counselors are neutral and nonjudgmental. We do not have a non-drinking or prohibition philosophy. We believe that counselors can bring people factual information, help them evaluate their own situations and motivate individuals and families who need treatment to connect with resources that will provide ongoing help.
• Prevention Works – We believe that reducing a young person’s involvement with alcohol, tobacco and other drugs must begin early and continue throughout elementary, middle and high school. Programming based on best practices develops the skills youth need to make healthy choices and provides opportunities for positive community involvement.
• Advocacy – We believe it is important to advocate for treatment for addiction and also for legislative and social policy issues that support the mission and vision of the organization.
• Program Excellence – We believe that all programs we offer must be of the highest quality. Our youth programs are either best practices or based on best practices principles. All programs are evaluated with results guiding ongoing program adaptation and innovation.
• Involved and Empowered Employees – We believe that programs work when staff are skilled and passionate about their work. That requires training and supervising staff; involving them in decisions; giving them opportunities to create, grow and succeed; and facilitating work teams supportive of each other both personally and professionally.
• Respect for People – We treat our staff, our clients, the schools and students we serve, the general public, our vendors, suppliers, and the many groups with whom we collaborate with mutual respect and sensitivity, recognizing the importance of diversity.
• Financial Integrity – PICKING UP THE PIECES views sound financial stewardship as critical to the organization and to those who support us. Funding decisions are both transparent and inclusive.
• Collaboration – PICKING UP THE PIECES believes that the problems associated with the use and misuse of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs cannot be addressed in isolation. Schools, parents, religious groups, healthcare and law enforcement professionals, businesses, and other community organizations and agencies all have a role to play. Collaboration is key to addressing this problem. 
• Innovation – We believe that there are always new ways to solve problems and new ways to involve our constituents in programs and activities that address alcohol, tobacco and other drug use. We encourage staff to keep their pulse on community needs and bring their ideas to their peers and supervisors for program development or adaptation.
• Accountability – We believe that PICKING UP THE PIECES must be an Agency that demonstrates the highest degree of accountability to our staff, our clients, our funders and the community at large. We demonstrate this through detailed record keeping at all levels, the transparency of our programming, our Board involvement, and our sound financial stewardship.

Founder: Michelle Pepin

January 21, 2020

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