In 2015, Dr. Amanda Fallin-Bennett, a UK nursing researcher focused on tobacco control, and Alex Elswick, a graduate student studying marriage and family therapy, co-founded Voices of Hope-Lexington, Inc., a non-profit organization aimed at “improving access to services and reducing stigma and overdose deaths” from substance abuse.

For Elswick, Voices of Hope is personal.

“In nine months, I went from studying for the LSAT in my room at Centre College to shooting heroin and sleeping under Highway 35 in Dayton, Ohio,” Elswick said.

Together with OpenLexington, LexLadiesCode, Code for Boston, UK addiction specialist David Maynard and Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government’s Substance Abuse and Violence Intervention Program, Voices of Hope created GetHelpLex.org. The website provides resources and locates treatment centers for substance abuse addicts and their loved ones searching for rehabilitation tools in Kentucky.

“Many people believe that a person walks out of a treatment center cured of their addiction,” Fallin-Bennett said. “Recovery is a lifelong process.”

The website is especially necessary in Kentucky, where the rising heroin epidemic took 233 lives in 2014, according to a Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy report, and has been claiming more lives in recent years.

Senate Bill 192, or the “heroin bill,” is aimed at curing the issue. It includes increased sentences for heroin dealers, a “Good Samaritan” law that would give immunity to drug overdose patients, and the option for jurisdictions to provide limited needle exchange programs.

Elswick, who testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in favor of the bill, said it just makes sense.

“Based on my own experiences with addiction, I can say with conviction that I support harm reduction measures,” he said.

Now in long-term recovery, Elswick is committed to making sure students don’t make the same mistakes.

“College is a difficult environment for young adults in recovery … There’s a great deal of stigma and UK has no formal support structure.”

Elswick and UK’s Wellness Initiatives for Student Empowerment are in the process of creating a Collegiate Recovery Community “with the goal of weekly support groups, sober campus housing and a safe space for students in recovery to socialize.”

Interested students can reach Elswick at [email protected].