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With addiction, she lost all hope. Now she’s saving others





Andrea Hancock is a regional overdose prevention specialist at STARS Nashville.Ashley Perham / Main Street Nashville

Andrea Hancock is a regional overdose prevention specialist at STARS Nashville.Ashley Perham / Main Street Nashville

Andrea Hancock remembers what her life used to be like.

A childhood of trauma and loss led to unhealthy relationships and a severe substance abuse disorder where she tried everything.

Often living on the streets, Hancock went in and out of rehab, but the change never seemed to stick.

However, on March 2, 2006, Hancock found hope. Her cousin introduced her to Harold Frelix Sr., a pastor at Priest Lake Community Baptist Church.

“He treated me as an individual. He spoke with me and dealt with me as if I’m who I am today,” she said.

Hancock stepped into recovery, and her life turned around.

She got her Certified Peer Recovery Specialist certification, a bachelor’s degree in social work from Tennessee State University and is finishing training to be a licensed alcohol and drug abuse counselor.

She was given back custody of her children, something most people think is unheard of, she said.

“That’s what hope can do for an individual. That’s what change can do for an individual,” she said.

 

 

She is a devoted grandmother, a children’s church director and a regional overdose prevention specialist, giving out the same hope she once needed.

The ROPS program in Tennessee started in 2017 to train the public on opioid overdoses and help prevent overdoses through distribution of naloxone, an overdose-reversing drug.

From October 2017 through June 2021, the ROPS distributed more than 206,000 units of naloxone to those unable to afford it or access it through insurance at their local pharmacy.

“You’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it” is Hancock’s motto.

Hancock works as a ROPS at STARS Nashville, where she also works with the Youth Overcoming Drug Abuse program, an intensive outpatient treatment program for youth with substance abuse and co-occurring disorders.

STARS provides school- and community-based services to help provide mental health care for youth.

“I actually thrive in the community where I was supposed to die,” she said, noting that every place she used is within 5 miles of her office.

Much of Hancock’s job involves educating the public on preventing opioid overdoses, the vast majority of which are now caused by fentanyl, she said.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid pain reliever that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Through September of this year, there were 540 fatal drug overdoses in Nashville. Over 75% of these involved fentanyl. For comparison, there were 648 deaths from COVID-19, according to the Metro Public Health Department.

Hancock said she loves the outreach part of her job because she enjoys being an example of how life can change for individuals with substance abuse disorders.

“It gives me an opportunity to mimic that love that was shared with me and to inspire hope as well,” she said.

Hancock has seen firsthand how her work saves lives.

Last year her son overdosed due to fentanyl. However, because she had trained him and his girlfriend on how to use naloxone, his life was saved.

Hancock said that dealing with these struggles in her own family after she’s experienced such change can be discouraging, but she’s grateful her son’s life was saved.

“That isn’t everybody’s story that their loved one makes it through an opioid overdose,” she said.

Those in Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous programs are encouraged to find a higher power. For Hancock, her foundation is in Christ.

“That is the only thing that has made a difference between me remaining sane and insane, me being clean and me being in active addiction, me going on and me quitting, me staying around another day compared to me getting into a place of hopelessness,” she shared.

Outside her work as a ROPS, Hancock serves at her church as an elder, a children’s church director and prison ministry worker. She also helped the church start a shelter.

She also gets together with friends every other week and hands out hot meals with the homeless community, several of whom she knows from her days being on the streets.

“It’s all about remembering where I was,” Hancock said. “This is my reasonable service. It’s the least I can do.”

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