"Power of RCORP" Photo Showcase Finalists

Caption: A Light to Remember: A Luminary Celebration of Hope Following Loss; community members and agency partners gathered on International Overdose Awareness Day to remember and honor those lost to overdose, to raise awareness of opioid/substance use disorder, and to offer local prevention, treatment, and recovery resources.

Description: Utah State University, through its Extension program and associated community coalitions, grew its International Overdose Awareness Day events on August 31, 2022 to three of Utah's rural counties and one centralized location. The support from partner agencies and community members in these rural areas continuously grows, and between the four locations, nearly 600 community members attended the two-hour events. The events were supported by over 30 rural community partners including healthcare providers, human services agencies, prevention and treatment organizations, tribal agencies, and more. Through social media outreach alone, approximately 24,000 rural Utah residents were reached by the message of these events (additional reach was also gained through community partner efforts). In addition to the luminary ceremony, each location provided free naloxone training and kits, music and food, information about community resources, a memory wall, and community connection. A Light to Remember brings communities together to support those have lost a loved one to overdose, to acknowledge and celebrate the lives of those we have lost, and offers hope for those who experience substance use disorder now or in the future. We can make a difference when we work together. #recoveryispossible #endoverdose

Caption: Fifty-six pairs of shoes lined the road in Ellsworth, Maine to represent the lives lost in Hancock County to overdose over the last few years. This display was intended to show that these losses are not just numbers, but human beings.

Description: This photo was taken as part of a traveling installation for overdose awareness.  This display consisted of fifty-six empty pairs of shoes with a balloon attached to each pair to represent the lives lost to drug overdose from 2017-2021.  The display started at the INSPIRE Recovery Center as part of an Overdose Awareness Day vigil held on August 31st, 2022.  The installation then traveled to one area business and then to the local library.  The response in the community was incredible! People stopped to view the display and asked questions.  Words we heard from community members about the display included heartbreak, haunting, loss, but the most common word heard was hope.  This display has helped to destigmatize substance use disorder in a profound way.

Caption: If saving a life could be free and as easy as getting a bag of chips, would you do it?

Description: This photo captures the power of community collaboration, education, and support for residents in Southeast Missouri.  Making this life saving drug available at no cost and without stigma provides support and hope to those that need it.

Caption: Women in rural Alabama rejoice as they celebrate recovery month at a walk for recovery event.

Description: This photo captures the unity of women in recovery celebrating their continuous victory over addiction!

Caption: Hopewell Health Centers Recovery Photo Project, Washington County, Ohio

Description: This photo was part of our Recovery Normalization Project conducted in 5 SE Ohio Counties (approximately two dozen photos to date). We worked with the Athens Photographic Project to take pictures of individuals in recovery and capture what they want the public to know about recovery. These photos have been hung in public places to reduce stigma and to give the SUD population hope for recovery.

Caption: The power of young minds!

Description: The impact this photo is displaying; is the power of young minds. How the community came together to inspire and instill confidence in the creative and powerful minds of our youth. Coalfields Young Entrepreneurs - "Coal Tank" was a platform created to provide an alternative avenue for youth to showcase their talents and bring their ideas and thoughts to life!

Caption: The power of the collective! This image represents the trailblazers establishing peer initiatives at the 2nd Annual Advocates for Recovery - Colorado Rural Peer Recovery Conference (CRPRC) during August 2022.

Description: Values of RCORP are showcased at the Colorado Rural Peer Recovery Conference (CRPRC). Advocates for Recovery (AFR) knows the importance of peer support, person-centered recovery, education, and reliable community resource access. Even more so, discussions at CRPRC range in topics such as: wellbriety, recovery advocacy, harm reduction, financing for recovery community organizations (RCOs), rural area recovery residences, support for justice involved populations, justice equity, and peer workforce development. These discussions are unique, with keynote speakers Kateri Coyhis (White Bison), Tonya Wheeler (AFR), Donald McDonald (JBS International), and Haner Hernandez having lived experience. Their perspectives set the foundation for the informational breakout sessions at CRPRC. This amazing event highlights rural and frontier community strengths from Antonito to Dinosaur. With next year's event in mind, we can and we will continue to celebrate the work of these organizations and those with lived-experience that lead them. Photo Credit: Tyi Reddick.

Caption: We are all Elders-In-Training.

Description: Our Prevention Team believes that culture is prevention. As we spread and empower our Native youth with their culture, they build a strong foundation of community belonging, interdependence, and traditional knowledge. We thrive off the belief that all of us are Elders-In-Training, and can be patient with our Native youth (and each other!) as we relearn our Traditional Ways.

Caption: Our very first Narcan Distro event Sept 2022!

Description: RCORP has been crucial in empowering our clinic with more staff (specifically our Peer Recovery staff) who has been essential in planning harm reduction events! We could not have done these events without or Peer Recovery Staff who were hired with RCORP funding.

Caption: Career backpack delivery at the end of MCD's Recovery Jobs for Beginners Workshop helped jumpstart the recovery careers for Maine's burgeoning rural behavioral health workforce.

Description: The Recovery Jobs for Beginners Workshop, put on by MCD's HRSA-funded Rural Behavioral Health Workforce Center in Maine, tackled the obstacles, both physical and mental, that can impede entry into the behavioral health workforce. Beyond providing career resources to participants, the workshop showcased the resilience, passion, and innovation of Maine's recovery communities. With a small amount of support, there is immense power and innate skills harnessed by the people with lived experience who will devote their lives to improving their communities.