Recovery To Work Program Seeking To End Addiction Stigma In Workforce

Business owners and employers from around the Upper Cumberland heard about the importance of grace at the Recovery to Work Regional Employment Seminar.

Mikel Miller is the Regional Employment Manager for the Recovery to Work program. He said the goal is to help employers understand recovering addicts have a story, and that their past doesn’t always reflect their ability to be hired.

“Unfortunately a lot of the stressors that come up, no place to live, no job, there are so many different things that will eventually take a person back out into active addiction,” Miller said. “So we are trying to help bridge that gap.”

Miller said he also plans to meet with Chambers of Commerce across the region to have similar conversations with local employers. He said his goal is to create a stigma-free environment to help people reenter the workforce post-recovery to reduce recidivism.

Miller said there is an untapped pool of individuals who, if they were able to overcome barriers like previous felonies, could become assets to the workforce.

“These folks just want a chance and they just want to start over,” Miller said. “And you get placed in a place temporarily let’s say, and the employer loves you and they think you’re great and at the end of the 90 days when your temp placement is done, and unfortunately when they do your background check by the actual employer there are disqualifiers. And so they can’t hire them and they don’t, and that’s really hard to someone new to recovery.”