Armen Sylvester

Recovery Coach of the Year

I am honored to submit this nomination for Mr. Armen 'Baye' Sylvester for Recovery Coach of the Year. Armen has worked at Oaklawn Psychiatric Center for over three years and in that time he has shown himself to be a man who has truly dedicated his life to the service of others. He willingly goes to the jail, the ER, or wherever there is need, and meets clients at their most vulnerable to guide them through the next steps to recovery. He supports the client through the entire process; locating the appropriate treatment facility, securing the client's admission, and transporting clients at all hours and throughout the state, all to make the experience as comfortable and easy as possible, because he has a profound understanding that sometimes the client doesn't have the strength or resources to do it on their own. Armen is willing to be vulnerable and share his deeply personal, onerous and painful life experiences with openness and authenticity so that his clients know that they are not alone in what they are going through. All the while, providing hope by embodying the message that our addictions and our past do not define us. In addition, Armen is the representative Certified Recovery Coach for the St. Joseph County Drug Court system where he boldly asserts his perceptions of what is in the best interest of his client to the entire court staff and treatment team. He advocates for clients with a fervor that is unparalleled in order to instill the cruciality of treatment over sanctions in rehabilitation. In his 'spare time' Armen is a proponent of social justice at Imani Unidad. He facilitates a community peer to peer recovery group that has helped countless people in their healing by going deeper and looking at the trauma, attachment issues, and emotion regulation issues that lead to substance use. He embraces the harm reduction model and meets clients where they are with understanding, not judgment. Armen is especially deserving of the Recovery Coach of the Year Award because of his tireless dedication to service, advocacy, and social justice. He would represent Mental Health America of Indiana with the highest levels of integrity, and the award would be represented by an intelligent, respected, ambitious, experienced, and genuinely good man.