Voices Project

Inspired by nationally-known recovery advocate Ryan Hampton’s Voices Project, we produced 23 short video stories documenting those affected by addiction in our own community. 

Docuseries Combats Stigma Around Addiction

Southwest Ohio has been particularly hard-hit by the opioid epidemic, and media coverage of the devastating impact of the crisis has often reinforced the stigma around discussing addiction and silenced the voices of those in recovery.  

Inspired by nationally-known recovery advocate Ryan Hampton’s Voices Project, we produced a series of video stories documenting those affected by addiction in our own community. Our goal was to challenge the often one-dimensional portrayal of the crisis in our region and offer hope for recovery by sharing unique perspectives from those affected by the disease. 

Balancing the Narrative with Stories of Recovery and Hope

Because of the stigma around addiction, many people are hesitant to speak out about their experiences. Finding willing participants and developing trust would have been challenging without our partners. We were grateful to team up with recovery organizations who helped us find individuals who were willing to share their stories. 

To make sure participants were well prepared for their interview, we shared questions in advance and gave them clear expectations for the filming experience. 

Distribution Partners Extended the Reach

Since the goal of this campaign was to change hearts and minds throughout the region, it was important to make sure the videos were shared well beyond our personal networks. We reached out to contacts in local government, health care, nonprofits, and public television to share the videos far and wide. These distribution partners helped us reach nearly 3 million viewers without any paid promotion, with more than 1 million views coming from organic shares on Facebook. 

The series was featured by Forbes and Huffington Post, and Dayton’s local PBS affiliate ThinkTV also featured the series in an episode of The Art Show. Our distribution partners continue to share these videos with a wide variety of audiences to offer hope and share another side to the story of the opioid crisis.