Recovery month film spotlights treatment accountability

Submitted by Lindsay C. Horseman

There is much to cel­e­brate in our com­mu­ni­ty as it relates to recov­ery from sub­stance use. This year, we were des­ig­nat­ed as a Recovery Ready Community, city and coun­ty gov­ern­ment award­ed Opioid Abatement set­tle­ment funds, the com­mu­ni­ty saw a sig­nif­i­cant decrease in over­dos­es, and the city passed an ordi­nance relat­ed to recov­ery housing. 

These recent accom­plish­ments are the result of more than twen­ty years of advo­ca­cy, pilot pro­grams, will­ing­ness, and hard work. While we have much to cel­e­brate, as we look toward National Recovery Month in September, there is more to be done.

I expe­ri­ence two things reg­u­lar­ly. First, peo­ple ask me for recov­ery and treat­ment resources for their friends and fam­i­ly. I am always hap­py to con­nect them. Second, I am asked what they can do to sup­port peo­ple in recov­ery. There are many things that are big and small, but at the top of the list is the will­ing­ness to under­stand the chal­lenges faced by those strug­gling and seek­ing help.

For decades there was a lack of access to treat­ment and recov­ery resources across the coun­try. In Kentucky, we were for­tu­nate to have the Recovery Kentucky Center (RKC) sys­tem of long-term res­i­den­tial treat­ment cen­ters that oper­at­ed through a part­ner­ship with the Kentucky Department of Corrections and Kentucky Housing Corp. RKC along with small­er res­i­den­tial facil­i­ties pro­vid­ed oppor­tu­ni­ties for those seek­ing help. 

Unfortunately, as the opi­oid epi­dem­ic grew, it was not enough meet the need. Waiting lists grew and the con­se­quences for those wait­ing could be severe. Some peo­ple lost their lives wait­ing on a bed in a treat­ment facility.

With expand­ed Medicaid in Kentucky and a require­ment in the Affordable Care Act that men­tal health and sub­stance use dis­or­der ser­vices must be cov­ered (as it should), new treat­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties emerged. Many people’s lives were saved and fam­i­lies restored as a result. While some were sin­cere in their desire to help oth­ers, there were some bad actors.

Treatment became prof­itable and a pop­u­la­tion of peo­ple des­per­ate­ly seek­ing help while fac­ing dire con­se­quences (includ­ing death) were exploit­ed for their insur­ance ben­e­fits. Our com­mu­ni­ty has seen some of them come and go, each time caus­ing harm to those who count­ed on them. This is not just hap­pen­ing in Kentucky or Clark County. There are ver­sions of this hap­pen­ing all over the United States.

In June 2025, I had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to attend a screen­ing of the doc­u­men­tary film, Shuffle by direc­tor Ben Flaherty at Eastern Kentucky University. This doc­u­men­tary tells the sto­ry of three indi­vid­u­als, includ­ing one from Kentucky, who attempt to find recov­ery by nav­i­gat­ing sys­tems of treat­ment that are ripe with fraud and preda­to­ry prac­tices. Their sto­ries tell the truth of what is hap­pen­ing in a more com­pelling way than I ever could.

Everyone should see this film. The impact of what is hap­pen­ing reach­es far beyond those who are seek­ing help. 

To kick off National Recovery Month, Shuffle will be show­ing for free in Winchester on Tuesday, September 1. Director Benjamin Flaherty, will be in atten­dance and host­ing a Q & A fol­low­ing the award-win­ning film. He has trav­eled from coast to coast and held these con­ver­sa­tions in big cities, small towns, and uni­ver­si­ties such as Harvard, Brown University, and Morehead State. 

Let’s start the con­ver­sa­tion about how we shift from focus­ing on access to a focus on qual­i­ty and accountability.