By: Kali Fields, Director, Grassroots Advocacy
Jordan Parker was first prescribed oxycontin to manage post-surgical pain at the age of 12. Suffering from a long-term health condition, Jordan’s childhood and teen years were often spent in the operating room. As a result, Jordan found himself falling into an opioid dependency and an addiction that lasted 16 years. Thankfully, by the age of 29, Jordan forged a life in recovery, and since then he has been paying it forward by helping others struggling with addiction.
Prompted by his wife in 2015, Jordan Parker founded Reckless Saints of Nowhere, a service that helps place those struggling with addiction in treatment programs. The organization identifies recovery centers across the country, arranges for individuals to be admitted to the treatment center, and covers the cost of treatment. Establishing Reckless Saints of Nowhere allowed Jordan to go from helping one or two people a month suffering from addiction to 200 people a month. I was honestly in disbelief when Jordan shared this with me; it sounded too good to be true.
Jordan shared that individuals placed in treatment centers by Reckless Saints of Nowhere have a success rate of over 85%, in part because the centers utilize a model developed by Jordan. The Reckless Saints model ensures residents are working to find employment and establishing savings while working toward recovery. Jordan and his team visit the treatment centers twice a month as a constant support system.
To receive help for yourself or a loved one, please call the Reckless Saints of Nowhere hotline at: 918-864-2719 or fill out a form here.
When I asked Jordan how COVID-19 has impacted their ability to help people, he responded that the 15 treatment centers they work with across 41 states were seemingly the only places still open at the height of the pandemic. The Reckless Saints of Nowhere hotline saw a 60% increase in calls at the start of the pandemic. Jordan noted that while many of the people reaching out were suffering from addiction, a significant portion of them were suffering from homelessness too. With shelters at limited capacity, they had nowhere to go.
Despite these challenges, Reckless Saints of Nowhere was able to place nearly everyone who called the hotline into a treatment center during COVID-19. The treatment centers continue to support and take a whole-person approach to help people get back on their feet.
Located in Oklahoma, Reckless Saints of Nowhere is now partnering with the state of Oklahoma on a prison relief effort that champions addiction treatment, rather than incarceration. In 2016, Oklahoma had the largest prison population in the United States, but is now slowly reducing imprisonment rates.1 Given that a third of people who are incarcerated in Oklahoma are in prison for non-violent drug charges2, Oklahoma is piloting a new program that sentences 50 people facing non-violent drug charges to one year of addiction treatment in lieu of incarceration. The Reckless Saints of Nowhere will work to place these individuals in treatment centers and continue to work with them throughout the program.
1https://www.politico.com/interactives/2020/justice-reform-decarceration-in oklahoma/#:~:text=If%20it%20were%20a%20country,by%20the%20Prison%20Policy%20Initiative
2https://okpolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Action-Items-Criminal-Justice.pdf?x31514
Jordan and the Reckless Saints of Nowhere have strongly advocated for the NOPAIN Act, simply because it makes sense. People deserve options. Take action to support the NOPAIN Act here.
To learn more about the Reckless Saints of Nowhere, please check out their website here: https://recklesssaintsofnowhere.com/
