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Two men share road to recovery at Anderson County opioid forum

"Recovery does work but you have to put the footwork in, you have to work it," Morgan County Recovery resident Joey Belcher said.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — Week two of the Anderson County opioid forum looked a little different.

RELATED: Two Anderson County churches join the fight against the opioid crisis

If you ask Joey Belcher he'd tell you it felt different too.

"Yes it took a lot of courage," he said. 

He and another resident from the Morgan County Recovery Center got up, walked to the front of the room and opened up at one of three forums put on by First Presbyterian and Oak Valley Baptist Church. 

Each forum tackled a different angle of the opioid epidemic.

"I want people to know there is another way to live," Belcher said.

Belcher is in recovery and it he's been through a lot different stages in his life.

"It started from when I was 14 years old until now," he said. 

Credit: Gabrielle Hays

However today he says he is entering another chapter.

"iI I'm telling my story and I don't let those emotions come out, those raw feelings then I don't think people will believe I went through what I went through," he said. 

Belcher shared the podium with Michael DeMarini, who also felt called to unveil his path through recovery.

"If we don't go out and share our story then someone who needs it is gonna miss it," DeMarini said.

If he had to offer any bit of advice, he said he share one simple thing.

"The biggest thing I can tell somebody is you are not alone," he said.

On Wednesday he will officially graduate from the program. At the forum the entire room clapped when a counselor shared the news. 

"It was the first time I felt proud of myself since graduating high school," he said.

Telling these stories brings back the darkest of days but Belcher and DeMarini say it's the only way to get to the light.

"Recovery does work but you have to put the footwork in, you have to work it," Belcher said.

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