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The home for VPR's coverage of health and health industry issues affecting the state of Vermont.

'My Heart Still Beats': An Intimate Conversation On Addiction And Recovery

My Heart Still Beats logo. Text says VPR My Heart Still Beats, a project of Writers for Recovery and has illustrations of six people.
Janelle Sing

What role does storytelling play in addiction and recovery? 

Writers For Recovery is a storytelling project sharing the experiences of Vermonters who've been impacted by substance use disorder and the struggle for recovery. The program features original writings from the recovery community, sharing stories of each writer's past, how they've faced addiction either within themselves or within others and how they've rebuilt their lives.

Six Vermonters shared their stories with VPR as part of My Heart Still Beatsa podcast series featuring conversations about addiction and original writing from the recovery community around Vermont.

Producer Bess O'Brien, left, Sally Greeno, Abbie Holden, Mike Lucier, Liz McDougal, Mark Legrand and producer Gary Miller speak with a live audience at Turning Point Center in Burlington on March 11, 2019.
Credit Ty Robertson / VPR
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VPR
Producer Bess O'Brien, left, Sally Greeno, Abbie Holden, Mike Lucier, Liz McDougal, Mark Legrand and producer Gary Miller speak with a live audience at Turning Point Center in Burlington on March 11, 2019.

 

Many in that group then came together for a live event in March 2019 at Turning Point Center of Burlington, answering questions before an audience and discussing the power and importance of sharing their stories.

At the live event were Writers For Recovery creator and series producer Gary Miller and filmmaker and series producer Bess O'Brien. Among the storytellers were:

Explore all six episodes of My Heart Still Beats here.

My Heart Still Beats has support from the VPR Innovation Fund and SB Signs. The series was produced by Bess O'Brien and Gary Miller, with editing by Erica Heilman and music by Brian Clark. Angela Evancie is VPR's managing editor for podcasts. Special thanks to Turning Point's Sara Glasgow.

Broadcast on Monday, July 22, 2019 at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.

Jane Lindholm is the host, executive producer and creator of But Why: A Podcast For Curious Kids. In addition to her work on our international kids show, she produces special projects for Vermont Public. Until March 2021, she was host and editor of the award-winning Vermont Public program Vermont Edition.
Mary Williams Engisch is a local host on All Things Considered.
Matt Smith worked for Vermont Public from 2017 to 2023 as managing editor and senior producer of Vermont Edition.
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