Ohio University’s Health Promotion office is partnering with OU’s Student Appropriations Commission and R.I.S.E. to bring awareness of the impact of drug addiction.
This year, a committee of eight individuals, consisting of OU staff and students, worked together to create the program, which is called Recovery Revolution. The committee chose to make the change from the Recovery Showcase, which used art to show problems with drug addiction, to the Recovery Revolution because they realized that addiction is a community problem and not just a university problem.
“We have students in recovery here. We have a lot of community members in recovery,” Ann Addington, associate director for Health Promotion, said. “This year, we’ve reached out to community members and actually formed a committee to kind of revamp it.”
The purpose of Recovery Showcase in the past and this year’s Recovery Revolution is to bring awareness to students, staff and community members on the negative effects of addiction and that recovery is an option.
The event will include a reception, the showing of the film “Generation Found” and an open dialogue.
“This documentary (“Generation Found”) actually goes into a community in Houston and it's basically devastated by addiction,” Addington said.
During the reception and the open dialogue following the film, there will be tables set up by Counseling and Psychological Services, Hopewell Center, Health Recovery Services and others to assist individuals who may be dealing with addiction.
“The idea (of this event) is to bring the community together,” Addington said. “So many families have been affected by addiction.”
To promote the event, the committee has used social media, banners and fliers that they “strategically placed” in classrooms and put in local businesses in uptown Athens.
The event, which is free and open to the public, will take place Friday in Walter 135 at 7 p.m.
