What Disasters Do to SUD Recovery

Our client FIRST at Blue Ridge is featured in The Assembly’s recent reporting on how Hurricane Helene disrupted substance use disorder recovery across western North Carolina. The Black Mountain therapeutic community saw roughly 30 residents leave to deal with the storm’s aftermath, a snapshot of how disasters fracture the routines and relationships that sustain long-term recovery.

Katie Myers (reporting through a Grist / Blue Ridge Public Radio partnership) traces what happened when an already-stretched rural recovery system collided with a catastrophic storm, and what the next emergency might require.

Read the story, “From One Recovery to Another,” published on May 4, 2026, here.

In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Helene, washed out roads left many isolated. (Jesse Barber for The Assembly)