Topic
Recovery does not take heroes. It takes neighbors who know recovery is possible, who do not flinch when it comes up, who carry the message that help exists without making it their job to deliver it. A pastor who mentions recovery from the pulpit without stigma. An employer whose policies make openness possible. A photographer who shows recovery as ordinary. These are the neighbors making recovery more findable, one ordinary conversation at a time.
25 stories
Most people in recovery are working. Employers, HR leaders, coworkers, and the people building recovery-friendly workplaces shape whether staying well at work is possible. Articles profile the workplaces and the people inside them already doing this work. Policies, peer support, accommodations, and the day-to-day culture that makes openness possible.
Faith leaders, business owners, photographers, probation officers, civic neighbors. Profiles of the people whose roles put them close to recovery in everyday community life, and who chose to show up as humans first. Articles trace what that looks like in practice. The small decisions, the open doors, the moments that turned out to matter.
When December hits, your payroll shifts. Shifts get missed, focus scatters, performance dips. For employees in recovery, this season carries sharper risk. Employers notice it first as absenteeism and…
Lonny Martin spent his early recovery learning to survive one minute at a time. Then he realized something unexpected: his hardest-won knowledge could transform someone else's life. Now as a peer supp…
Marcus sits across from his sponsor, sharing something he couldn't tell anyone during his using years. This conversation wouldn't happen without the relationships he's rebuilt. The article explores ho…
A manager admits to her team that she's in therapy. A colleague mentions he's taking mental health days. These small moments shift something in the office culture. When leaders speak openly about thei…
Mackenzie Kelley spent years searching for work that mattered. Then she discovered recovery coaching, where her own experience with substance use disorder became her greatest strength. Now she spends…
A person in recovery walks into a community center for the first time. She's nervous about judgment, but finds others like her, a job board, and counselors who know her name. This is what recovery-fri…
Sarah finds peace washing dishes, mopping floors, sensing wonder in tasks most people rush through. Alison Webb's Recovery Allies explores how spiritual health shapes recovery differently for each per…
A pastor stands before her congregation on Sunday morning and names addiction aloud, speaking of it not as moral failure but as illness worthy of compassion. Her church becomes one of hundreds nationw…
Sarah sits in her doctor's office for the first time in five years. Her recovery journey is months old, but her body carries the weight of years of substance use. This article explores how health beco…
Marcus walked into his new job on Monday morning, clocking in for the first time in five years. By lunch, he realized something had shifted: he belonged somewhere again. Employment does more than pay…
A manager notices an employee's missed deadlines and withdrawn behavior. Before assuming performance problems, she connects him with the company's support program. The conversation changes everything.…
Someone scrolling through Coursera during their lunch break discovers a web design course that sparks something. Work isn't a luxury during recovery, it's a foundation. This piece explores three affor…
A manager notices an employee's performance slipping, attendance irregular. Before assuming the worst, she has tools to help. Workplaces are discovering that supporting employees through substance use…
Someone asks you what you can do to help. Maybe you know a person in recovery searching for housing, or you want your neighborhood to embrace recovery-friendly communities. "Safe housing is the founda…
An employee dreads Monday mornings, calls in sick twice a month, and quietly struggles with anxiety that nobody at work knows about. Employers are discovering that mental health support isn't just com…
A second-grader learns why medication belongs in a locked cabinet. A fourth-grader understands how drugs affect the brain. Prevention education starts early and builds year by year. This column explor…
Alicia Smith sits across from a person on probation and asks about their hobbies, their family, what matters to them. She's a probation officer, which most people assume means enforcing rules. But Smi…
Ron Springel sits across from someone newly in recovery and asks an open question: What is your recovery journey like? That conversation, that listening, is where allyship begins. This guide offers fi…
Joanne Arnold stands at dawn with men gathering around a fire circle at MaineWorks, camera in hand. She photographs people in early recovery, capturing moments of dignity and determination. Later, her…
Elise Boyson came to yoga and felt something unexpected: she was coming home to herself. Now, as Executive Director of Sea Change Yoga in Portland, she brings trauma-informed classes to people in jail…
Rev. Allen Ewing Merrill stands before his congregation and speaks plainly: every person has sacred worth, no exceptions. At HopeGateWay in Portland, faith communities are moving beyond hosting meetin…
At a brewery in Kennebunk, Police Chief Bob MacKenzie describes something radical: officers treating people in recovery with dignity. He's not alone. Across Maine, law enforcement are becoming recover…
Brian Townsend watched someone arrive at Amistad carrying years of disappointment from places where help meant hierarchy. Here, staff trained in peer support see visitors as experts on their own lives…
Lisa Hallee sat in a Portland Rotary Club meeting when she heard about the opioid epidemic ravaging Maine. The words landed hard: her nephew had died from an overdose months earlier. That moment spark…
A yoga teacher in Portland opens her studio doors free to people in recovery. A credit union helps someone rebuild their credit score. A gym owner reserves one night weekly for members seeking wellnes…
