Pike Countian Camila Stratton Begins New Job in Peer Support Thanks to Help from EKCEP’s IPS Program

Camila Stratton was three years sober and working in the restaurant industry when she decided it was time to make a change. She wanted to use her experience recovering from addiction to help others like her.

Stratton, who lives in Pike County, had already thought some about how she could be a benefit for her community after recovery. She earned a peer support certificate the year before, which would allow her to work in the recovery field and assist others who could be just starting out in their recovery journey or may need help as they’re first released from rehab or incarceration.

“I wanted to use my certificate, so I was like, ‘I gotta make the change,’” Stratton says.   

Stratton was already aware of career and employment services for individuals in recovery, such as the Strategic Initiative for Transformational Employment (SITE), an initiative of Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program (EKCEP) which helps bridge the gulf between recovery and productive participation in the workforce by providing eligible Kentuckians with valuable career services while actively cultivating second-chance job opportunities. She enrolled for services through SITE and in April 2021 worked with Justice System Coordinator Jimmie Wilson, who helped obtain funding to cover the cost for Stratton to obtain peer support certification. 

Stratton was also familiar with Tenia Johnson, who works as a support employment specialist through EKCEP’s Individual Placement and Support (IPS) program. Johnson, also a former SITE client, is currently working to help individuals in recovery land jobs and maintain their employment. She immediately began working to help Stratton connect with a peer support position with Appalachian Community Care, an organization that provides mental health services in Pikeville.  

EKCEP’s IPS program began in early 2022 in Eastern Kentucky and helps people in recovery or living with behavioral health conditions work at regular jobs of their choosing. Assistance can include education and technical training, and in Stratton’s case, direct connection with hiring employers in the area. Employment support specialists currently provide services in Carter, Clay, Leslie, Morgan, and Pike counties.

Stratton says it was important for her to take that step into a new job and begin working in peer support, because she not only believes in helping others overcome their addictions, but because she knows how important having that support is to ensure their journeys are successful. Stratton says she first started using when she was 14 years old, and was on a long journey herself to get clean several years later. 

“I’ve had peer support in the past, and if it wasn’t for some of those people I don’t really know that I would be clean today,” Stratton says. “I’m still learning, and I just have a little over three years clean, but I want to give others hope, you know. You can get out of that situation.” 

Today, Stratton is using her experience for the benefit of others and hopes to continue on that path and move up and obtain a license as a drug and alcohol abuse counselor. It’s something she’s taking seriously, and appreciative that she was able to have access to services that helped connect her with a new career. 

“I just want to help others like me because I know how miserable it is to be stuck in addiction,” she says.  

To learn more about SITE and employment services for Eastern Kentuckians in recovery, visit ekcep.org/site.

EKCEP, a nonprofit workforce development agency headquartered in Hazard, Ky., serves the citizens of 23 Appalachian coalfield counties. The agency provides an array of workforce development services and operates the Kentucky Career Center JobSight network of workforce centers, which provide access to more than a dozen state and federal programs that offer employment and training assistance for jobseekers and employers all under one roof. Learn more about us at http://www.ekcep.org, http://www.jobsight.org and http://www.facebook.com/ekcep.