Each name on the list represented a life extinguished by substance use disorder.
When members of the nonprofit Recover Out Loud asked the central Indiana community to submit the names of friends, family and loved ones who had died from overdose, they expected to get dozens of replies.
Still, the nearly 100 names was more than they had anticipated, and most certainly undercounts the true number of deaths caused by the substance use epidemic.
“That’s not even all of them. There are probably so many more that didn’t get submitted,” said Meagan Cothron, a member of Recover Out Loud active in community relations. “It’s a significant amount.”
Those names will be represented on t-shirts of friends and families today, as the Edinburgh community comes together to remember those who have died from overdoses, and to recognize those who are in recovery from substance use disorder themselves. Turn the Town Purple is a walk of remembrance, raising awareness while helping family and friends grieve for those who have been lost to substance use disorder.
The event will also feature live entertainment, a community cookout, kids activities and testimonies by those in recovery.
Organizers hope it brings honor to those who have been lost, offers healing and hope to their families, and erodes the stigma surrounding substance use disorder.
“It’s meant to bring hope. We’re going to recognize those who are in recovery who are from Edinburgh to show there is a different side to this,” said John Cunningham, founder of Recover Out Loud.
For Cunningham, Turn the Town Purple is a chance to draw attention to recovery in his hometown. He was living in Edinburgh as a 15-year-old teen when his father died of a heart attack. Witnessing his death severely impacted Cunningham, and he started using drugs — first marijuana and alcohol, then opioids, and eventually heroin.
To support his habit, he turned to burglary. He was arrested once but given a suspended sentence. In 2012, he was arrested again for burglary, and faced the prospect of 30 years in prison.
But while in jail, separated from his addiction, he was able to think without the influence of substances.
“I realized that one good thing that could come out of my incarceration was that I’d have the chance to die sober,” he said. “I shouldn’t be sitting here talking to you today — I should still be in prison. I deserved that time.”
Cunningham did not receive the 30-year sentence that he thought was coming. Instead, he was released in 2014, and realizing how fortunate he was, he dedicated himself to giving back to others dealing with substance use disorder. Recovery Out Loud grew from that desire.
The organization, formed in 2018, is an active recovery community, using fitness, sports, social events and other activities as an integral part of the recovery process. They are open about the trials that led them to this point, and share their own experiences in the community.
“We’re out loud. We break anonymity. We try to really own our stories,” Cunningham said. “One of our big slogans is, ‘Shame only drives the secrecy.’ The moment we speak out loud, it begins to lose its power.”
Recover Out Loud takes part in different types of exercise classes, such as HIIT, endurance training, CrossFit, POUND, yoga and dancing. The group has a softball team that plays against other organizations in the Columbus area. They have book clubs, music festivals and plan a big New Year’s Eve bash.
“Part of the stigma with addiction is that sobriety is boring. Recover Out Loud taught me to have fun while being sober. You can be just as busy and have the most fun ever,” Hogan said.
Since forming initially in Greensburg, they have expanded to include six different gatherings in Franklin, Columbus, Bloomington, Seymour and Nashville. Plans are in place to start an Edinburgh meeting.
“We’re a lifestyle of recovery community, so we try to promote the health and wellness on all aspects — a holistic approach. We want to get people to that long curve of recovery,” Cothron said.
Hogan became tangled in addiction after the father of her daughter overdosed on opioids and died. Though she had been dabbling in drugs before his death, by the year following the trauma, she was spiraling into depression and tried meth.
“From the moment I tried it, I was hooked,” she said.
For six years, she was in the grip of meth. In 2018, she was sent to prison for possession, and during her sentence, participated in Recovery While Incarcerated, a program of the Indiana Department of Correction. The program helped her turn her life around, and led to her release into Johnson County’s reentry court, which provides resources such as rehabilitation and treatment services, drug screenings, and housing and employment assistance to help people who have been in jail to stay out of jail.
Hogan completed the two-year program earlier this year, and had become a tireless advocate helping others escape addiction.
“I attribute my staying sober to reentry court and then to being with Recover Out Loud, because it’s taught me a lifestyle,” she said.
Cothron came to Recover Out Loud after seeing people around her devastated by substance use disorder. Her father died of an overdose, and her mother was absent from much of her life due to addiction. Substance use disorder had sabotaged a number of relationships she had been in. Those traumas left her broken and in need of healing. She found that in Recover Out Loud.
“It’s not just for those recovering from substances. For me, I was recovering from the impact of addiction on my family,” she said. “I never struggled all the way with the addiction, but I had co-dependency and enabling issues, self-neglect. So I came to heal my own worth and who I was as an individual.”
Adhering to a sober lifestyle and embarking on the recovery journey, Cothron found peace and purpose.
“Since then, I’ve been able to offer what we built here to my own family,” she said. “We truly believe it takes the family recovering together to get the support that the one in recovery really needs.”
The idea for Turn the Town Purple came about after a girl that Hogan was sponsoring in recovery died of an overdose. Her grieving family and friends reached out to Recover Out Loud, and discussions turned to creating a remembrance walk and awareness event.
Even with a small population of only about 4,600 residents, Edinburgh still is one of the county’s hotspots for the administration of naloxone for overdoses, according to the Indiana Department of Health.
“As small as Edinburgh is, there have been numerous overdoses there,” Cunningham said.
Turn the Town Purple is about bringing the community together as one for food and fellowship. Participants will take part in a walk through town wearing special shirts, to raise awareness about substance use disorder and overdose. Live music and a cookout are planned following the walk.
Town officials have planted purple flowers — the official color of International Overdose Awareness Day on Aug. 31 — and supporters can put purple bulbs in their outdoor light fixtures to show support.
Health care providers are scheduled to pass out information about treatment options, and individuals will be distributing naloxone, a drug used to counter overdoses and save lives.
“There is hope — hope that you can recover,” Hogan said.
A remembrance ceremony, featuring individuals from Edinburgh sharing their long-term recovery stories, will round out the event.
“We want to bring a space of healing for the families who are still grieving or have not been able to grieve,” Cothron said. “There’s so much stigma on the families, the shame of losing a loved one to overdose, not wanting to carry that burden of shame. We hope it releases some of that shame from families, and they can recover from it as well.”
