VALDOSTA – The road to recovery may be a long path for many people who are or have experienced trouble with addiction. A statewide bus tour stopped at the City of Valdosta’s Unity Park Amphitheater Tuesday evening with a convoy of behavioral health care groups to draw attention to resources for Georgians struggling with addiction.

The Mobilize Recovery Across Georgia bus tour was spearheaded by the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD) in partnership with the Georgia Council for Recovery and the Clinton Foundation.

DBHDD Community Outreach Manager Jeff Breedlove said the tour launched at the Georgia State Capitol on Friday, Sept. 1, and Valdosta is the sixth location to stop. The team plans to visit a total of 48 locations across the state within 23 days.

The project is state-funded due to Gov. Brian Kemp and Commissioner Kevin Tanner of DBHDD providing $600,000 from one of the recent opioid settlement fund awards, he said.

“It’s important that we understand that there’s 8,000 Georgians in recovery, but we’re also losing more Americans and Georgians to overdose than any other medical disease. This tour was designed to bring people together and to destroy the biased prejudice that surrounds this legitimate medical disease and send a message that recovery is real,” Breedlove said in an interview prior to the event’s kickoff.

According to the Georgia Department of Public Health, drug overdose deaths in the state increased by about 62% from 2019 to 2021. The increase is partly due to the rise of opioid overdose deaths.

The Unity Park Amphitheater had resource booths from local organizations such as Bridgeway Recovery Center which served as the local host for the Mobilize Recovery Across Georgia, Celebrate Recovery, Green Acres Wellness, Greenleaf Behavioral Health Hospital and Wiregrass Georgia Technical College.

Officials from the participating organizations drew a large crowd as attendees chanted, “Recovery is real” when the program began at 6 p.m. Valdosta City Mayor Scott Matheson and Lowndes County Board of Commissioners Chairman Bill Slaughter also spoke to the crowd.

“If you have an addiction, if you have a problem, there’s help out there for you. There are tremendous amounts of agencies and folks in the community that’s willing to help. All you have to do is ask for help. You can get help. You’re not on this journey by yourself,” Slaughter said.

Together, the officials proclaimed September as the National Recovery Month in Valdosta.

The Clinton Foundation presented three overdose aid kits (OAK) to Matheson, Slaughter and Cal Huxford, the operations director of Bridgeway Recovery Center. The goal of the program is to distribute overdose kits that include Naloxone, a medication that can reverse an opioid overdose.

Attendees also heard recovery testimonies from local individuals who are on the path to recovery throughout the program, and they received Narcan training.

Live entertainment was also provided along with catered food from Big Nick’s.