I’m a Kentucky-based writer and educator, and I became an advocate for drug offenders after seeing my family and my community devastated by the opioid crisis. I work with inmates at the Bullitt County Detention Center, offering a therapeutic writing program that teaches students how to express negative emotions, heal from trauma, and empathize with others. Instead of punishment, control, and oppression, my Write to Recover Program emphasizes forgiveness, acceptance, self-awareness, and self-care to foster healing and change in the recovering substance abuser.
Accepting the Champion for the Community Award at the 2015 Stand Up for Recovery Conference in Louisville, with Erin Fitzgerald, left. The award from Seven Counties recognized the writing workshop I developed for inmates, as well as the group effort of my colleagues, Erin Fitzgerald and Austin Whitely, in running an open-mic series and art contest to foster healing among those in recovery and to prevent substance abuse.
By following my Write to Recover Program, as outlined in my forthcoming book and training materials, anyone with a passion for helping others can learn the ropes of working with inmates in a correctional facility or with patients in recovery at treatment facilities. My program will appeal to teachers, writers, artists, community leaders, activists, and others who want to play a part in the most important work of our generation.