Keya makes music and writes in her journal to help process her emotions and experiences. It’s one tool that supports her recovery from substance use disorder (SUD). “Sometimes I journal about the things I’m going through at the time. But a lot of it is journaling of things that I saw in the streets. I want people to know that recovery is possible. So that’s the message.”

Recovery has had its challenges, too. Keya remembers when her co-workers invited her out for some drinks. She let them know she didn’t want to go, and at the time, they didn’t know that she was in recovery. “I was like, ‘No, no, I’m not going to go.’ And it was like, ‘Come on, let’s go and hang out.’ So I finally said, ‘Look, I’m in recovery. I can’t go out and hang out and drink. That’s a trigger. The next day I came into work. They asked me for the key to the building. I think that was the most hurtful thing.

Many Georgians with SUD and in recovery have experienced workplace discrimination like Keya. But we can change that by learning more about SUD and committing to making change in our own workplaces, and just one person can make the difference in someone's recovery journey.

“There were some church members who turned their nose up when I walked by. But there were some—it was one lady, and she just came up to me and said, ‘Can I pray for you?’ She grabbed my hands. And that felt like that was some genuine love. And she prayed for me.” Keya says these interactions got her where she is today. “To have that love, just to have people that understand where we been is amazing.”

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