Peter Hayden: Breaking Barriers in Addiction Care
Peter Hayden, PhD, is the co-founder of one of the most influential substance use disorder treatment programs in the country. In 2015, his Minneapolis-based Turning Point facility was identified by the University of Minnesota for its approach to culturally specific treatment for Black patients as an industry-best practice, and in 2021 it received the inaugural National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP) Diversity, Inclusivity and Racial Equity Award. Hayden himself has been celebrated with the Community Legends award from General Mills and the America Honors Recovery award from Johnson Institute. Oh, and that honor Turning Point received from the NAATP last year? After its issuance, the award was promptly named after Hayden. He is, without a doubt, a seminal figure in the addiction and treatment space. But Hayden also isn’t so different from many of the patients who have walked through the doors of Turning Point. As a young Black man who returned to Minneapolis after serving in Vietnam, Hayden soon realized that he had no home, little direction and a drinking problem that increasingly defined his circumstances. A car accident in front of the police station and the alcohol detected on Hayden’s breath made for a short walk to lockup. “This is how God works in my life,” Hayden recalls. After pre-sentencing, Hayden was directed to treatment, and because he was ready to change, he says, the program worked. He embraced the 12 steps, but it wasn’t lost on him that he was always the only person of color in the room. Hayden filed that away, soon learned that the GI Bill would pay for his education, and went on to earn his undergraduate degree from Minnesota, his master’s in public administration (Capella University) and his doctorate in psychology (Richardson University). He has been in recovery ever since. That Hayden is a distinguished example of representation in his field—a sector that only recently has begun to address its awful track record regarding diversity—should go without saying. And yet it deserves special attention. In a space with life-and-death stakes,...