YELLOW SPRINGS — Public Radio station WYSO is launching “Recovery Stories,” a series of first-person stories about opioid addiction and the epidemic’s ripple effects on the family members and loved ones of people struggling with addiction in Southwest Ohio.

Ohio’s opioid epidemic has killed more than 10,000 people over the last three years. The crisis has touched thousands of families across the Miami Valley, straining court and foster-care systems and leaving many addicts’ loved ones searching for answers. But numbers alone don’t begin to tell the story of the epidemic’s long-term impact.

“’Recovery Stories’ features Daytonians telling highly personal, often difficult stories about their own struggles with addiction. These stories are ultimately about resilience, hope and love. Many people told us they shared their stories in hopes of helping other people struggling with addiction, and to break the stigma that often shrouds drug addiction in silence,” says WYSO Managing Editor Jess Mador, who led the project along with Community Voices producer Jocelyn Robinson.

This summer, WYSO partnered with Montgomery County court programs, and Dayton organization Families of Addicts/FOA to identify 12 project participants, who recorded interviews in pairs. These peer-to-peer conversations were recorded in the WYSO studios. The resulting stories are intimate, emotional and sometimes harrowing.

WYSO General Manager Neenah Ellis says, “The aftershocks of the opioid crisis in our community will resonate for years within families. WYSO presents these stories to foster a deeper understanding of what they’re going through.”

“Recovery Stories” will air each Tuesday on All Things Considered and Wednesdays during Morning Edition on WYSO beginning September 25. The stories will also be archived at WYSO.org.

Celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2018, public radio station WYSO 91.3 is licensed to Antioch College with studios in Yellow Springs. It broadcasts on multiple platforms: 91.3 FM, live streaming at WYSO.org, on HD radio and on NPR One, a mobile application. WYSO is the Miami Valley’s only NPR News station with programming from NPR, Public Radio International, American Public Media, PRX and the BBC as well as the work of local and independent radio producers.