Jeremy Byard is a peer support specialist in long-term recovery. As Executive Director of the Recovery Community Connection, he is involved with the HEALing Communities Study. In this video, Jeremy shares about his life in recovery.
Video length: 1:59
Transcript
Jeremy speaking:
So, a little bit about myself.
I’m a person who’s in long-term recovery and I’m the Executive Director of a recovery community organization in Louisville, Kentucky called The Louisville Recovery Community Connection.
I’ve been in recovery since probably 2001 and that’s been an off and on thing, kind of either on medication or abstinence-based with a few stints of return to use in-between there.
I’ve been kind of on an abstinence pathway for the last almost seven years. It’s a lot easier now than it was.
I think it was probably one of the most difficult things I ever dealt with was my addiction for years and years.
And, I contribute a lot of my happiness and just the way I live my life now to just addressing a lot of the trauma that took place in my life.
And, I’ve kind of through recovery and through recovery supports and having people in my life that I can be vulnerable with, have a sense of belonging to a group of people that I can trust and that trusted me.
And, that I knew they wanted the best for me, I think was a huge catalyst, to me changing my life and building a life.
I guess my goal every day is to kind of build a life that I don’t want to escape from.