The audience fell silent as Sarah Corley made her way to the microphone.  

Corley told the crowd she found meth when she was 12, heroin at 13, left home at 16, and by 18 she was pregnant with her first child. For several years she was suicidal, intentionally overdosing daily and putting herself in violent situations. She was arrested for the first time in 2010. When she got out in 2014, she met a woman who led her to recovery. 

“I was able to find recovery, but the traction to keep it was a challenge,” Corley, wearing ripped jeans and high-top black Converses, said to the crowd, who nodded their heads in agreement.

The venue’s walls were covered in art.

Corley, out of prison and eight years sober, now runs an art expression group and creative recovery class for Athens Recovery Warriors, a nonprofit organization with a mission to build community for recovering drug addicts.  

The organization focuses on art, music, boxing and fitness, providing a variety of free events and weekly classes for those in recovery. 

According to Lydia Aletraris, an associate research scientist at the University of Georgia who studies treatments on substance abuse disorders, relapse is a normal thing. She thinks society should get rid of the stigma that if someone relapses they will forever be addicted.

Aletraris said the most effective form of recovery is the combination of medication-assisted treatment along with psychotherapy or behavioral therapy. 

The art, music, boxing and fitness offered by Athens Recovery Warriors are all forms of behavioral therapy.

Brandon Dooley is the volunteer music leader for Athens Recovery Warriors. He hosts monthly open-mic nights. Co-founder Jeff West leads kickboxing and weight-training classes. Another co-founder, Wesley Martin, trains boxing. 

Martin used boxing to aid his own recovery. When he was in prison, he cut up prison flip flops to make mitt pads so he could secretly train with people. Martin has been recovered for over 14 years and spends his time training people how to fight against addiction — both physically and mentally. 

“We don’t like to talk face to face a lot of times. But we can get in there and box a little bit, hit mitts, and then after class that’s where a lot of the magic happens,” Martin said. 

The Athens Recovery Warriors began shortly after Martin and West met. Martin was coaching a boxing class at an addiction treatment center when West joined the class. West, a combat veteran addicted to opiates, heroin and alcohol for over 20 years, was admitted into the treatment center after attempting suicide. He weighed over 400 pounds.  

Boxing helped West lose weight and recover from his addictions. He’s been clean for over five years. 

“I had found a pathway to recovery around fitness and art,” West said. “I knew it gave me those benefits as well as that dopamine I was missing from drugs.”

West became a certified peer specialist dedicated to helping people recover from their addictions. A few years later, he teamed up with Martin to create Athens Recovery Warriors. 

Aletraris said everyone is different and that successful recovery will look different for everyone. She believes the best therapists are therapists who provide individualized treatment plans for everyone. 

“I’d like to acknowledge that there’s no cookie cutter fix,” Corley said. “Find your own pathway and love yourself in your unique journey. Explore all beautiful aspects of recovery and make it your own.” 

As Corley finished speaking and walked off the stage, everyone stood, clapping. Some people whistled and hollered, others cried.   

Listen to this audio story featuring Jeff West.

Christian Andrade is a journalism major at the University of Georgia.