After overcoming addiction and losing his home to a fire, Jamey Rucker found a path forward through meaningful employment, with support from the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program (EKCEP), Recovery and Reentry services.
Originally from Letcher County, Kentucky, Rucker described growing up in a small community where career opportunities seemed limited. Unsure of what direction to take, he decided to move out of state to explore other possibilities.
“It was just a lot of coal mining, and I just didn’t know what I really wanted to do,” Rucker said. “So I moved with a cousin down to Georgia.”
While in Georgia, Rucker explored several career paths, including textiles, welding, and meat processing. In 2008, he returned to Kentucky and pursued nursing in Somerset, eventually becoming a registered nurse.
Along the way, however, Rucker faced personal struggles with drugs and alcohol. Recognizing that he needed support to move forward, he entered recovery through Lake Cumberland Recovery’s Promises of Grace residential center in Mt. Vernon, where he found an environment focused on healing, personal growth, and building a healthier future.
“I just knew that I needed help,” Rucker said. “I went through Lake Cumberland Recovery. They were able to provide a program of recovery where I was surrounded by like minded people and a positive environment. They really banked on the ideology behind ‘You can’t heal in a broken environment’. They really helped me a lot.”
As Rucker worked toward recovery, he also began considering how to rebuild his professional life. Recognizing his determination to make a change, his case manager connected him with Jeremy Lewis, a career navigator at EKCEP.
During their initial meeting, Lewis enrolled Rucker for services in EKCEP’s Strategic Initiative for Transformational Employment (SITE), which helps people in recovery find employment and obtain the resources they need to start work. He guided Rucker through a career assessment designed to help identify his interests and potential career paths. The process helped Rucker rediscover his passion for nursing and consider how his personal experiences could inform the care he provided to others.
Although he initially felt hesitant about returning to the field, Rucker recognized an opportunity to use what he had learned through recovery to connect with patients experiencing similar struggles.
“I made it out, you know. The prejudice or the stigmatizing that comes behind people that do or are in active addiction and are suffering is unreal,” he said. “In the medical profession in particular, they just get judged.”
Lewis helped Rucker navigate the intake and assessment process and partnered with him in his search for employment. Rucker eventually secured a position with Select Medical at a long-term acute care facility, where he cares for critically ill patients who require specialized medical attention and rehabilitation.
His work also allows him to draw on his own experiences when caring for patients affected by addiction, approaching them with empathy rather than judgment.
Before Rucker could start his new nursing job, a house fire destroyed his belongings, including items he needed for work. Although he had secured employment, he faced the additional challenge of obtaining the resources needed to get started.
“I didn’t really have anything,” he said. “All I had was the gift of desperation.”
Through EKCEP’s SITE program, Rucker received essential work attire and equipment, including scrubs and a stethoscope, helping him prepare to begin his nursing position.
“I was looking for a hand up, not a hand out,” Rucker said. “And they helped me out.”
Today, Rucker is employed at Select Medical. He is grateful for the opportunity to move forward in his career and for the chance to use his experiences to make a difference in the lives of others.
“I’m able to share some of my experience, strength and hope with them as patients,” Rucker said. “And it’s it’s it’s a good life. I Revere Christ as Lord. Every time I get a chance to, I tell people Jesus is real.”
Looking ahead, Rucker plans to continue his education and pursue opportunities to advance in the nursing profession.
“I do want to try to further my education and get up to some of the levels of my colleagues that I work with,” Rucker said. “A lot of them that I work with have those Master Degrees, and that’s something that I’m definitely going to pursue. I guess what I’m saying is, I do plan on pressing forward.”
EKCEP’s Strategic Initiative for Transformational Employment (SITE) program helps people affected by substance use disorder obtain and maintain employment through career guidance, access to training, and support to overcome barriers to work. SITE is funded in part through the Kentucky Overdose Response Effort (KORE).
EKCEP is a nonprofit workforce development agency headquartered in Hazard, Kentucky, serving residents of 23 Appalachian coalfield counties. EKCEP is funded through the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, along with various federal and state grants and private donations, and is a proud partner in the American Job Center network. Learn more at ekcep.org.