(Screenshot/Recoveringproject.com)
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — A group of Boston college students partnered with recovering addicts for a project seeking to humanize them and tell their stories.
Emerson College Journalism Professor Aaron Goodman came up with the idea for "The Recovering Project," which describes itself as "A multimedia and participatory project seeking to change the narrative on the opioid crisis."
"What we're trying to show is that this crisis is affecting people from all sectors of society, and that people who are affected are really human beings," Goodman told WBZ NewsRadio's Carl Stevens.
Students like Albany Alexander followed a recovering addict for several weeks—then collaborated with the addict to tell the challenging and very human story of recovery.
"We started out by saying, how do you want to be represented? What story do you want to tell?" Alexander said.
Sophomore Jakob Menendez got to know recovering addict Dave DeCourcey, who has been clean for three years. The two worked together to tell Dave's story.
"I see so many people walk past people like this all the time," Menendez said. "They sort of disregard them as if they're just a newspaper on the ground."
DeCourcey spoke about what he hoped the project would accomplish.
"I would hope that it would just give people a different perspective, when they see that guy laying on the sidewalk, you realize that that could be your family member," he said.
The students' work can be viewed at recoveringproject.com.
WBZ NewsRadio's Carl Stevens (@carlwbz) reports