Macon recovery center proving sobriety is sustainable

Outside a one-story white brick building on Wimbish Road, Pamela Fernandez quietly greeted people coming up the sidewalk. The Macon native made sure to welcome everyone, offering the same kindness shown to her three years earlier when she first started visiting this recovery support center. 

Back then, Fernandez, who struggled with alcohol and drug addiction for two decades, “felt like life couldn’t happen without some kind of substance.”

But at Macon Recovers, the local nonprofit focused on sustained addiction recovery, others facing the same challenges taught Fernandez how to channel her time into positive activities, such as journaling, drawing and crafts.  

“I was focused on what I couldn’t do, and then they helped me to focus on what I could do,” she said. “They taught me how to just chill.”

Founded in 2019, Macon Recovers is a Recovery Community Organization, or RCO, a peer-run community hub for anyone with addiction or mental health challenges. Associated with River Edge Behavioral Health, Macon Recovers is the only local RCO. 

There are more than two dozen in the state. RCOs don’t offer clinical or inpatient programs; they often bridge the gap between more structured rehabilitation facilities and independent living

The need for such support is clear: In September 2025, Bibb County was in the top five Georgia counties to have 15 or more drug overdose emergency department visits, according to data from the Georgia Department of Public Health.

“It’s a safe place for people,” recovery coach Kristen Camarota said, noting that some people don’t have a stable space at home.  “People can just come and hang out all day.”

Folks like Fernandez can visit Macon Recovers Tuesday through Saturday to be with others who are trying to mend their lives, play pool, do arts and crafts, watch TV, read or access computers for school or job applications. 

The organization hosts several support meetings, including an all recovery meeting that is open to those struggling with mental health or any form of addiction. Macon Recovers offers rides or bus tickets for people who don’t have transportation to ensure they can still receive support. There’s also a hygiene pantry for those in need of deodorant or body wash. 

“When you’re in early recovery, you’re kind of restarting over,” Camarota, who has been sober for 3 1/2 years, said. “If you take a shower, feel better about yourself — maybe it’ll make your day a little bit better.”

Camarota discovered Macon Recovers by attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and participating in art events. She had finished clinical treatment in Statesboro, but needed to find more support, including an outlet for her anxiety. 

As a recovery coach who has experienced addiction firsthand, Camarota is keenly aware of the reality of recovery: You don’t wake up one day completely cured.

 “You have to work at your recovery every day,” she said.

 Overcoming addiction is a process, and Camarota wanted to help others like her. 

“I found that it was kind of my purpose to share my experience with other people, especially women,” she said.

‘What’s right with you?’

Fernandez started experimenting with drugs at 17. She’d often go to parties to drink and do drugs, something she wasn’t interested in stopping anytime soon.

At one point, her addiction led her to become homeless for nine months. She slept in a parking lot for some of that time. 

“I wasn’t used to asking for help,” said Fernandez, who has been sober for 2 1/2 years. “I would just sit in the corner and be quiet.”

A friend recommended Macon Recovers to Fernandez while she was participating in an outpatient rehabilitation program, or sober house. 

In the beginning, she would visit the community center every day that she could. She recalled not knowing what to do with herself outside of a structured program. 

“I didn’t see any positive things in recovery until I came here and saw that people were recovering, and they knew how to chill, and they were living a good, comfortable life without the use of drugs and alcohol,” Fernandez said. 

She learned to approach recovery and life as a whole from a different perspective, embracing the Macon Recovers slogan, “What’s right with you?” — instead of what recovering addicts often hear — “What’s wrong with you?”

Fernandez still visits Macon Recovers two to three days a week. When she sees people in the streets, she tells them to come to Macon Recovers and receive the same support she was given. 

“Sometimes, it’s OK to just come to a meeting,  an all recovery meeting, and just get it out there — say it out loud, speak about it,” she said. 

Macon Recovers is located at 595 Wimbish Road.