Episode 137 – Ashland’s Recovery Rally on September 1stEpisode 137 – Ashland’s Recovery Rally on September 1st
Keeping Ashland Healthy
(Record Date: August 21, 2026)Recovery is about more than overcoming substance use—it’s about hope, connection, purpose, and building a community where recovery can thrive, and people feel supported. On the next Keeping Ashland Healthy, Jenn and David...
35:24•25 Aug 2026
Hope in Motion: Building a Recovery-Friendly Ashland Together
Episode Overview
- Recovery is much broader than treatment and continues long after services end, driven by relationships, work, faith and daily choices.
- Public recovery events with testimonies can challenge stigma, reduce feelings of isolation and make recovery feel real and attainable.
- Family members and loved ones also need support, and local groups like Al-Anon and peer activities can help them reconnect and heal.
- A recovery-friendly community benefits everyone, encouraging people in recovery to give back and take active roles in local life.
- Small steps such as attending a free park event, sharing food or listening to stories can be the start of a meaningful recovery journey.
“Work is recovery. Having peer support is huge because you feel like you're working really hard, and what's the outcome? Well, I'm not using.”
What drives someone to seek a life without substances and build something new in its place? This conversation from *Keeping Ashland Healthy* centres on exactly that, as Ashland County gears up for the second annual Hope in Motion Recovery Rally. You'll hear Jeremy Smith, co-occurring programme coordinator at Appleseed Community Mental Health, chat with David Ross and Jennifer English about why recovery has to be bigger than treatment.
Jeremy explains that treatment is often "only a small piece of the process" and that real recovery is about relationships, purpose, work, faith, and having people "in your corner" long after formal services end. The episode lays out what you can expect at the 1 September rally at Brookside Park West: free food, games, face painting, Narcan training, and a wide mix of vendors, from treatment providers and peer supporters to health, social services and the library.
A big focus is on testimonies from people in recovery and from family members, which Jeremy describes as "the most impactful" part of last year’s event, giving people goosebumps and changing how both professionals and community members think about addiction. Recovery as a community issue runs through the whole discussion.
They talk about a recovery-friendly Ashland where people in recovery might sit on boards, serve on city council or help lead major projects, and how visible events like this can chip away at stigma and "normalise recovery". There’s special attention to families and loved ones, with Jeremy stressing that "for the loved ones of people in recovery, you are also not alone" and pointing to local peer support and Al-Anon as vital resources.
If you’re in recovery, supporting someone who is, or simply care about making your community kinder and more recovery-ready, this rally might be the small step that starts something bigger. Could showing up for a burger and a conversation be the beginning of a new chapter?
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