The #RecoveryFirst Podcast With Mike Todd “Harm Reduction In The South”The #RecoveryFirst Podcast With Mike Todd “Harm Reduction In The South”
The Recovery First Addiction Recovery Podcast by Freedom Recovery Services of Greenville
Mike Todd shares harm reduction efforts in Greenville, South Carolina, focusing on dignity, naloxone distribution, and a recovery housing support line. He links these community initiatives to his own experience of how simple human kindness helped change his recovery path.
6:29•20 Jul 2021
Harm Reduction With Heart: Mike Todd on Dignity, Naloxone and Recovery in the South
Episode Overview
- Treating people who use drugs with dignity makes them significantly more likely to seek help and treatment.
- A harm reduction bus in Greenville provides naloxone and clean syringes, offering life-saving support without judgement.
- The South Carolina recovery housing support line offers help to those being exploited, abused, or left without housing after a recurrence.
- Callers to the support line are linked with peer support specialists, and where needed, social workers and law enforcement.
- Simple human contact, such as someone offering to walk into a meeting with you, can change the course of a person’s recovery.
“When we treat drug users with dignity, they’re five times more likely to seek help, to seek treatment.”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This episode of The Recovery First Addiction Recovery Podcast sticks close to home, shining a light on what’s happening on the streets of Greenville, South Carolina – one of the “most conservative places” in the US, as host Mike Todd puts it – and how harm reduction is saving lives there.
Mike shares what’s on his mind about local initiatives that meet people who use drugs with respect instead of judgement.
He talks about the harm reduction bus run by Challenges, Inc., which “goes around and gives out naloxone” and “clean syringes.” The heart of his message is simple: “When we treat drug users with dignity, they’re five times more likely to seek help, to seek treatment.” For anyone curious about how harm reduction actually looks in a deeply traditional area, this gives a grounded, real-life snapshot.
The episode also highlights the South Carolina recovery housing support line, a 1-800 number people can call if they’re being “exploited, abused, mistreated,” or if they’ve had a recurrence and been put out of housing with nowhere to go. Callers are connected with a peer support specialist who helps them sort through their situation, and, when needed, social workers and even law enforcement get involved.
Mike keeps things personal and honest, sharing how a simple act of kindness – a stranger asking “hey, can I walk in with you?” at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting – changed his life. That small moment ties back to the bigger theme: positive human contact can be the difference between life and death. Aimed at people in recovery, their families, and anyone working in community support, this episode is practical, heart-felt and grounded in real action.
It leaves a clear question hanging: what small step of dignity or care could you offer someone today?
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