Miller County resident urges support for Georgia Recovers bus tour, recovery mural and new peer-led group

Crystal Roberts, a Miller County resident and a person in long-term recovery, told the commission during public comment that Miller County has been selected as a policy stop on the Georgia Recovers bus tour and that the county’s final stop is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 29 from 5 to 7 p.m., on what Roberts described in the packet as the historic downtown square at the cockpit state fair.

Roberts said the bus tour is a statewide initiative to raise awareness about addiction recovery and mental health and that Miller County will be a longer stop — about two hours — so state leaders, local advocates and people with lived experience can meet with residents. She said the event will include resource tables, refreshments and a panel discussion with local and state leaders.

Roberts also described a mural project funded by the Georgia Council on Alcohol and Drugs. She said the mural will be the county’s 16th and the first added in 10 years, and that it will include a “living” memorial in which families may sign names on a fishing lure hung on a tree. The mural, Roberts said, aims to reduce stigma, spark conversations about recovery and serve as a memorial and tourist draw.

Finally, Roberts said she and partners have written a grant to launch a peer-led recovery community organization (RCO) named Stronger Together that would provide nonclinical services including peer recovery groups, individualized coaching, job-readiness and wellness programming. She said RCOs complement, rather than replace, clinical services and asked the commission and community groups for assistance with space, partnerships and publicity for the Sept. 29 event.

Roberts cited local health data in the packet to underscore the need for services: she told commissioners that Miller County’s premature death rate rose between 2016 and 2020 and provided comparative figures she said were drawn from local sources; she attributed a high proportion of those deaths to drugs and alcohol based on conversations with a local law-enforcement officer. Roberts asked the commission and local partners — including Spring Creek Health Cooperative, Shape Up Miller, Hobbs, the Chamber and the Arts Council — to support the bus-tour event, the mural and the proposed RCO. She provided contact information and a flyer in the meeting packet.

Roberts concluded by inviting commissioners and residents to attend the Sept. 29 event and to participate in planning and partnerships she said are already underway.