Glasgow Recovery Event Breaks Stigma, Shares Hope

The room at Barren County High School filled with a truth many don't talk about: sobriety is just the beginning of recovery, not the end.

Friday's "Voices of Recovery" event brought together dozens of community members in Glasgow to hear from three women who've lived it. Each speaker carried years of sobriety and a mission to break the stigma that follows people trying to rebuild their lives.

Beverly Vance Aikins, marking a decade sober and now working as a director of nursing at a substance abuse facility, traveled to Glasgow with a simple goal. "I feel like if I touch one person and give one person hope then I've done my job," she said.

Aikins, also known as the mother of Vice President JD Vance, described how her life has transformed. She gets to travel, speak, work in recovery services, and most importantly, spend time with her kids again.

Bambi Adams, sober since 2018 after surviving an overdose, watches audiences physically shift when she shares her story. "I watch people start looking up," she said, crediting her grandmother's support and her faith for sustaining her recovery.

Starr Whitlow brought perhaps the event's most difficult testimony: addiction forced upon her at age 9 after being kidnapped by her father. Now five years sober, she wants people to understand that for some, substance use isn't a choice but a response to trauma.

Christie Wall, co-founder of Community Partners for Recovery, explained why events like this matter beyond the individuals in recovery. "These individuals that we see daily, they are repairing their lives," she said. "They're trying to get back into their community, trying to job hunt."

The stigma, Wall added, can be triggering and counterproductive. Being constantly reminded of past mistakes makes it harder for people doing the work to move forward.

Local leaders attended the free event, including Rep. Steve Riley and Barren County Judge-Executive Jamie Bewley-Byrd, signaling community support for changing the conversation around addiction.

Why This Inspires

Recovery doesn't happen in isolation. These speakers stood up not because their journeys were easy, but because they know someone in that cafeteria needed to hear that transformation is possible. By sharing their hardest moments publicly, they're creating space for others to believe in second chapters and giving their community a blueprint for support that extends beyond judgment.

Glasgow showed up, listened, and took a step toward understanding that recovery is ongoing work deserving of community support, not shame.