Episode 39: Hope Dealer - Ray Rath’s Journey from the Streets to Saving Lives

In this moving episode of Collaborative Solutions, host Barry Feaker and Director of Homeless Solutions Misty Bosch-Hastings sit down with Ray Rath — a certified peer support specialist with Mirror, Inc., and a man whose journey from heroin addiction and homelessness to national advocacy is nothing short of extraordinary.

 

Ray opens up about his past: from sleeping in a tent in Florida, battling opioid addiction, and losing everything, to being pulled back from the brink by another unhoused person — his “Cutthroat” friend who believed in him when no one else did. Ray’s story doesn’t end there. He shares how he stumbled into the field of recovery work, found purpose in service, and became a nationally recognized voice for harm reduction — featured by The New York Times and CNN for his leadership in training first responders to save lives using Narcan.

 

Misty and Barry dive deep into Lawrence’s evolving policy on serving out-of-area individuals experiencing homelessness, the city's groundbreaking multidisciplinary outreach team, and how peer-led, person-first engagement is saving lives — sometimes before someone even knows they’re ready to be helped.

Ray reminds us all of a truth too easily forgotten: those people are our people. Everyone matters.

 

Recovering heroin user reacts to Trump administration’s consideration of cuts to overdose prevention program | CNN