Dr. Peter Hayden steps aside but carries on with the 12th Step
Dr. Peter Hayden. Photo by David Pierini
By David Pierini, Editor
After finding a path to recovery, the last of the 12 Steps asks the person to turn to those still gripped by addiction. The 12th step is a lifelong call to carry the message of sobriety to those unable to see a life without drugs or alcohol.
Fresh out of the military, Peter Hayden was working on his sobriety 51 years ago when he looked around the room in his treatment program and understood how he was going to walk that 12th Step. He and one other man were the only African- Americans in the room.
Three years later, he co-founded Turning Point, an Afrocentric treatment program on the Northside. You could say Dr. Hayden, 80, retired when he stepped aside as its CEO and president at the beginning of the year.
But true to that last tenet of the 12 Steps to Recovery from Addiction, Hayden assumes a new title as a Turning Point consultant ambassador. He will remain active, helping the program grow and teaching other treatment organizations nationwide how to develop culturally specific practices.
“Peter saw something in his treatment. He realized the resources he was receiving missed the mark on several things, like a lot of systems in America that miss the mark on cultural understanding and awareness,” said Turning Point Board Chair Alex Tittle. “He thought to create a model that can meet the needs of Black communities; literally, just meet us where we are.
“It’s telling that a lot of clients come from states where you would think they’d have African American treatment centers. We have clients from Houston, Texas, Orlando, Florida and Washington D.C. The reality is their communities don’t have those treatment centers that cater to their cultural needs, and they realize here in Minneapolis, there’s this secret sauce that could actually help.”
Over 26,000 people received treatment at Turning Point in the 47 years since Hayden started it with $30,000 from four different foundations.
Hayden doesn’t keep the model a secret. Turning Point, located on Golden Valley Road, takes a holistic approach to residential and after-care programs, including mothers' and children's programs. There are services for mental health, transitional housing and just about anything to support a person as they find sober footing.
While developed for African Americans, no one is turned away. The organization’s motto is “Turning Point is the place for you to change your mind.” When other programs booted recovering addicts for slips, Turning Point kept its doors open to those who leave and come back.
Before many others, Hayden saw addiction as a health crisis that could not be treated with shame or threats.
Hayden challenged the narrative that criminalized people with addiction. He understood that chemical dependency in the African American community was often borne out of the trauma and indignities of racism and poverty.
“I didn’t have the skills to start an organization. I had the heart,” Hayden said. “I started this because I didn’t see anyone who looked like me, and I wanted the people who looked like me to have a better treatment system than I did. There are a lot of programs serving people of different cultures, and they don’t know what they’re doing.
“I had one young lady come to Turning Point who requested a certain type of food. She got that food and she’s had no problem staying sober for 35 years.”
Much of the staff, especially counselors, are Black. Many are themselves in recovery, can relate to a client’s struggle, and earn their trust and accountability.
Hayden’s hand-picked successor, Lori Wilson, is a lifelong Northsider and longtime member of Turning Point’s leadership team.
Turning Point is mentioned in the same conversations as the Hazelton Betty Ford Clinic, and in his new role, Hayden hopes to bring the idea of satellite Turning Point clinics, or at least the model, to other cities.
Friend and board member Don Shelby said Turning Point's growth and the success in the number of people it has served is essentially because Hayden is so effective when he shares the story of his struggles, his found sobriety, and the importance of culturally competent programs.
“When he speaks of his own life, it’s the kind of encouragement people are looking for because they are unable to conceive a life without alcohol or drugs,” Shelby said. “You have this example, this wonderful man of great friendliness, of clarity of thought and purpose who can say, ‘I was there, I know exactly where you are, and it’s possible.’”