This National Recovery Month, Huntington, WV, Once Called Ground Zero of the Opioid Epidemic, Tells a Different Story: Recovery Infrastructure That Works

As SAMHSA's National Recovery Month begins, a Huntington-based treatment center founded by people in recovery reflects on a city that turned crisis into a working model of community recovery, while cautioning that the work is far from finished.

HUNTINGTON, W.Va., September 15, 2026.

For nearly a decade, Huntington has carried a reputation it never asked for. National news coverage and the 2017 Netflix documentary "Heroin(e)" introduced much of the country to a city overwhelmed by overdoses, and for years, "ground zero of the opioid epidemic" was the label that stuck. This September, as the country marks National Recovery Month, Huntington Addiction Wellness Center (HAWC Recovery) is highlighting a less-told part of that story: the recovery infrastructure Huntington has built in the years since, and the people it has helped bring home.

National Recovery Month, observed every September since 1989, was created to reinforce a message the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has repeated for decades: that behavioral health is essential to overall health, prevention works, treatment is effective, and people can and do recover. It is also a moment to recognize the service providers and communities that make that recovery possible, not just the individuals living it.

Huntington's response to its own crisis has become a reference point for that second part of the mission. The city's Quick Response Team, launched in December 2017 as a partnership between Cabell County EMS, the Huntington Police Department, Marshall University, local behavioral health agencies, and faith leaders, follows up with overdose survivors within 24 to 72 hours to connect them with treatment rather than leaving that outreach to chance. A peer-reviewed evaluation published in 2025 found the program was associated with a measurable reduction in overdoses in the years following its launch, one of several data points suggesting that coordinated, community-based response can change outcomes in a city that spent years defined by the opposite story.

HAWC Recovery has operated inside that same shift since 2020. The organization was founded by Craig Hettlinger, who built HAWC after going through the recovery process himself and concluding that short-term programs weren't enough to produce lasting change.

Before HAWC opened as a treatment program, its founding team spent the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic housing 31 people who were unhoused in Huntington. When the organization transitioned into a formal recovery center, 28 of those 31 individuals chose to stay, engaging in classes and treatment rather than returning to the street.

That early decision shaped how HAWC operates today: an approach that moves clients from inpatient treatment into outpatient treatment, whether that means recovery housing through affiliate partners and community sober living programs or continuing care at home, an approach designed around the idea that recovery has to include somewhere to live and continued support, not just a completed program.

"When people hear 'Huntington,' they think about the worst day this city ever had," said Craig Hettlinger, founder of HAWC Recovery. "I lived through my own worst days before I found recovery, and what I know now is that a city can go through the same thing a person does. Huntington isn't finished. Nobody in recovery ever really is. But this city decided to build something instead of just surviving what happened to it, and I get to watch people rebuild their lives inside of that every day."

HAWC and city partners emphasize that Huntington's progress is not a finished story. Overdose deaths in the region remain a serious public health concern, and the systems built since 2017 continue to require funding, staffing, and community participation to function. Recovery Month organizers describe the observance as a call to action as much as a celebration.

Community members, employers, and families interested in supporting Recovery Month locally can contact HAWC Recovery to learn about volunteer opportunities and community education events throughout September. Anyone struggling with substance use, or supporting a loved one who is, can begin with a single confidential call.

About HAWC Recovery: Huntington Addiction Wellness Center is an addiction and dual-diagnosis treatment center in Huntington, West Virginia, founded in 2020 by people with lived recovery experience. HAWC's three-phase continuum guides clients from inpatient treatment through recovery housing with job placement support and into graduate housing with outpatient care.

Media Contact

HAWC Recovery

Phone: (681) 204-5400

Email: hawcrecovery@gmail.com

Address: 1236 5th Avenue, Huntington, WV 25701

Website: https://hawcrecovery.com

Contact Information:

Huntington Addiction Wellness Center

1236 5th Avenue
Huntington, West Virginia 25701
United States

Craig Hettlinger
+1-681-204-5400
https://hawcrecovery.com