Terrilou Brewer, center, shares her experience with recovery during the Substance Use Solution Series on Thursday evening at the First United Methodist Church in Parkersburg. (Photo by Gwen Sour)

PARKERSBURG — With the final meeting in an eight-part community information series on substance use concluded, Parkersburg leaders are preparing to narrow nearly 400 ideas into a handful of workable projects aimed at improving local life.

Parkersburg City Councilwoman Wendy Tuck said the series generated close to 400 potential solutions and is now moving into a selection phase.

“We’ll be running them through a rubric where we’re judging like, how many times did this solution come up? Is there anybody else doing it? What would be the impact locally on our community?” Tuck said. “Then we’d probably come up with two, maybe three, pretty solid solutions that we could put into place.”

She said the chosen projects will then be developed in more detail, examining logistics such as setup and resources needed.

“That’s not much compared to big organizations and the state certainly giving away millions of dollars for big solutions, but this is meant to be a grassroots effort from the local community,” Tuck said. “We wanted to have something tangible that would improve our life in the community and make a difference.”

Lisa Doyle-Parsons welcomes attendees to the final Substance Use Solution Series meeting on Thursday evening. (Photo by Gwen Sour)

A total of $50,000 has been set aside for implementation. Tuck said the nine-member steering committee, co-anchored by herself and Lisa Doyle-Parsons, will oversee the process.

“It is a very local, driven, locally rooted group of people that are examining all these solutions and knowing that what comes out of it will be solidly Parkersburg,” she said.

The final session featured a lived-experience panel in recognition of National Recovery Month and Save a Life Day. The panelists included Steven Belisky, Terrilou Brewer, Jason Earl, Ellisha Seabolt and Calvin Kirby who spoke candidly about barriers to treatment, the stigma of addiction and what motivates them to stay in recovery.

Belisky said delays in treatment nearly derailed his path to recovery.

“Getting into a rehab immediately … it took me like three or four days to get in,” he said. “A lot went through my mind. I missed three or four days, and luckily, I still went, but it was probably my biggest challenge.”

Kirby said his own mindset was the biggest hurdle.

“My biggest challenge in getting into recovery was myself,” he said. “Even though I knew I was ready, I wasn’t ready.”

Seabolt pointed to child care and the risk of child-welfare involvement as obstacles for parents.

“If you go to treatment, you are at risk for CPS to take your children,” she said. “That was the very first barrier.”

She also said, “Yes, Parkersburg is known for big recovery, but there’s still not enough treatment options.”

Panelists agreed that compassion and education are critical.

“As a community, we would like to say we want those who are struggling integrated into our society,” Seabolt said. “But who wants to be a part of a society with those who treat them unfairly or use stigmatizing language?”

Several speakers said their motivation comes from rebuilding their lives and serving as examples to others.

“When I left rehab, they told me that only 2% of the people who leave are going to make it,” Earl said. “To me, that was a challenge. I wanted to be part of that 2%.”

Others urged the importance of speaking up about recovery.

“Recover loudly to keep others from dying quietly,” Seabolt said.

Gwen Sour can be reached at gsour@newsandsentinel.com.