Hope in the Mountains event highlights community resources

With its growth in recent years, Hope in the Mountains was set to return to Meeks Park but had to be relocated to the Union County Sports Center due to the risk of storms. Nevertheless, attendance was high when it came to organizational participation and community interest.

Helping to fund the event this year were the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, or DBHDD, and Georgia Recovers, though Positive Pathways Executive Director Shawna Harkins said most of the support necessary to hold Hope in the Mountains comes from community donations.

DBHDD was represented by Regional Coordinator Danté McKay, who revealed that help from his department takes a variety of forms. DBHDD provides resources for everything from behavioral issues to intellectual/physical limitations and manages Georgia’s 988 crisis hotline.

McKay was there as part of the Georgia Recovers bus tour, sponsored by DBHDD and run by the Georgia Council for Recovery. The project aims to highlight communities that take a stand in supporting individuals and their families in recovery.

“(Hope in the Mountains) is awesome,” McKay said, happy to be attending for the first time. “This is a community celebration. I’ve heard stories of resiliency and recovery, some great music.”

Laurisa Barthen is with the Georgia Council for Recovery, and while she has attended Hope in the Mountains before, she said this was the first year that the stop was part of the bus tour, which she hopes to bring again in 2027.

Among the tables set up around the gym were local organizations and programs offering information, membership or help, highlighting alongside the day’s speakers that community is invaluable when it comes to recovery.

Sarah, the first speaker that evening, shared her testimony and relayed how she began to process the pain of her past. She and her daughter tearfully acknowledged each other, both grateful for where Sarah found herself that day.

“Today, I’m a little over five years clean,” Sarah stated. “Needing help does not make you weak. Mental health is health, and there is no shame in asking for help. There is no shame in therapy, medication when it’s appropriate, and there is strength in saying, ‘I’m struggling.’”

Ashley Martin returned to the podium, sharing an update from her own life following a year that has been both “beautiful” and “painful.” In her words, recovery gave Martin her life back, and now, she is learning how to live it – and help others do the same.

“When you help somebody get through one more day, you have absolutely no idea what that day might eventually become,” Martin said. “You aren’t only helping somebody stop using, you’re giving them a future, somewhere to land.”

Outside, storm clouds began to roll in, but before the rain arrived, butterflies were released in honor of those who lost their lives to overdose and suicide.

Additionally, the Georgia Recovers team presented Positive Pathways with a donation of Narcan, a drug that can quickly reverse opioid overdoses. The lifesaving medication will be kept at the North Georgia Technical College in case of an emergency.

“We love people, we love our community,” Harkins said to everyone gathered. “And even after people tell you no, come see us, because there’s always hope, no matter what you might be going through.

“Hope in the Mountains is for our community. It’s to let people know that we can all coexist in the same area, without judgment, without fear that people are going to look at us differently, and mainly so that people have a place to feel like they belong.”