Since the pandemic, overdose deaths are continuing to decline in Michigan. The number is dropping quickly in Metro Detroit. 

There are a lot of possible explanations for the decline. Narcan is more readily available, the state has turned toward a harm-reduction approach, and the pandemic, when people were cooped up inside, is further in the rearview mirror. 

Peer recovery coaches are also a big reason for the reduction. That work received significantly more money from the state in recent years.

What does it look like to create intimacy with someone struggling with addiction, and to help them recover?

Pepper Catt is a peer recovery coach with the Alliance of Coalitions for Healthy Communities. That’s a Troy nonprofit. She spoke about all this with The Metro’s Sam Corey. 

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