Georgia HB 584
Recovery in Georgia
Georgia HB 584
New legislation in the State of Georgia will transition oversight and authority over multiple recovery and mental health facilities to the DBHDD.
This legislation will go into Law on January 1, 2026.
Georgia HB 657
Recovery in Georgia
Georgia HB 584
Introduced February 2026, this bill aims to amend Georgia's mental health laws to establish comprehensive guidelines for recovery community organizations (RCO) and certified peer specialists in substance use and mental health recovery by defining quality care requirements and designating a statewide RCO to coordinate services.
Recovery in Georgia
Recovery in Georgia
Recovery in Georgia
Though these new House Bills are a victory towards progress in Georgia's recovery system,
they are a Pyrrhic Victory.
- One that came at too great a cost.
The severe damage is not only already done but also must be acknowledged with full accountability and courage rather than cowardice. These legislations came only after TOTAL systemic failure.
If nothing ever changed, there would be no butterflies.
The human impact of abuse & exploitation in recovery.
the problem
- In the state of Georgia, there are approximately 256 recovery residences and 57 RCO's that are unregulated and without oversight.
- Due to a lack of predatory behavior analysis, sexual and even basic misconduct in the ethics portion of the statewide peer support specialist certification training manuals, there are nearly 5,000 unvetted certified peer specialists in Georgia's work force.
- The Georgia CPS Project training manual has lacked "functional" mandated reporting links for nearly 100 Cohort Cycles. Authenticity of Recovery LLC. formally addressed this massive issue directly to the DBHDD Executive Director of Behavioral Health on Jan 1, 2026 when HB 584 went into law - and was ignored.
Peers and advocates in recovery communities are working together to resolve the critically unaddressed and under reported issue of repeated predatory behavior in recovery community organizations (RCO's) in the state of Georgia.
These programs are intended to support not, leave peers vulnerable to abuse. Predatory behavior or “13th-stepping” happens when experienced members, staff or leadership resort to tactics such as, but not limited to manipulation, gaslighting, love bombing, excessive admiration, coercion, blame shifting, sexual exploitation, brainwashing, mental, physical, abuse of labor, religious/spiritual or emotional abuse to maintain power or control of a peer.
Not only are many peers uneducated on what predatory behavior is or how to report it, but many do not due to fear, shame, guilt, invalidation, devaluation, embarrassment, cognitive dissonance, retaliation and more.
Individuals who are new to recovery are often in the most broken and vulnerable time of their lives. This is why individuals exhibiting predatory behavior should not have access to peers in recovery.
Even trained peer specialists can become perpetrators or fail to report misconduct. Too many survivors remain silent, unaware of their rights, uninformed on how to report misconduct and experience trauma in unsafe and unregulated recovery programs.
#nomoresilence
#nomoresilence
#nomoresilence
#nomoresilence
#nomoresilence
#nomoresilence
The solutions
- Create more safe, trauma-informed recovery spaces for women and youth.
- Provide peers in every recovery program with a sufficient onboarding process to gain knowledge of a state mandated code of ethics, peer rights and how to safely report misconduct
- Educate & empower peers with trainings on what should and should not be allowed in spaces of vulnerable individuals in recovery.
- Mandate easy access submission links and a hotline for safe reporting in every RCO in the state of Georgia and visibly displayed in entrances and high traffic areas.
- Immediately correct none functioning state mandated reporting links in all certified peer support specialists training manuals with "functional" state mandated reporting links - allowing peers and peer support specialists to report harm or misconduct in recovery programs.
- Mandate accountability from peer support specialists, program leaders, program affiliates, organizations and agencies on a local, state and federal level that exhibit or enable predatory behavior.
- Mandate that all recovery and behavioral health programs, organizations and agencies in the state of Georgia adhere to a quarterly survey of review by peers and staff to be submitted to SAMHSA, as well as establish public review submissions for every RCO in Georgia.
- Prohibit local and state mental health-recovery organizations from suppressing or deleting public reviews regarding predatory behavior, abuse and misconduct in recovery communities.
- Hold local and state mental health-recovery organizations accountable for failure to report or provide victims and survivors with the direct information necessary to report exploitation, abuse and misconduct in recovery.
- Establish an Independent Oversight Committee to neutralize conflicts of interest, negligence and complicity amongst state mental health - recovery organizations and state government behavioral health agencies that have failed to police themselves.
- Amend all recovery peer support certification programs to include predatory behavior analysis of a peer support specialist, facilitator, director or program associate in the ethics sessions of training manuals, trainings and annual mandated peer ethics trainings.
- Amend and seize predatory and victim blaming rhetoric in all certified peer support training manuals and trainings (i.e. where do your loyalties lie and let's talk about what you did).
- Amend and seize predatory topics of discussion in the "Ethics" section of all certified peer support trainings (i.e. Snitches Get Stitches & Upholding street codes). As of March 2026, these amendments do not exist in the statewide CPS Project or Extended Peer Support Certification training manuals, certification trainings or annual mandated peer ethics trainings.
- Prohibit sex offenders, sexual predators and pedophile participants (whom cannot be rehabilitated) into safe spaces for vulnerable people in recovery.
- Provide spaces of support and healing for peers that have experienced recovery program abuse and exploitation, as well as the children of survivors - inclusive of trauma informed therapy (Specifically CPTSD & EMDR) and alternative support and compensation for the psychological, emotional, physical and financial damage; paid for by the state of Georgia.
- Immediate revocation of certification(s) of any individual working in peer support or recovery community in any capacity, that exhibits predatory behavior of any kind and immediate removal from one's position, seizing access to vulnerable peers in recovery.
- Seize local, state, and federal funding (taxpayer dollars) to recovery programs exhibiting, enabling or making excuses for predatory behavior - causing harm to vulnerable peers in recovery.
- Push for policy and legislation that ensures recovery community organizations and recovery residences are held fully accountable for ethical violations, enforces thorough oversight and safeguards for peers in recovery to remain safe, and secure for generations to come.
Your voice matters.
Your voice matters.
Your voice matters.
Your voice matters.
Your voice matters.
Your voice matters.
Report Recovery Program Abuse
Click below to report abuse or misconduct in your area. You may submit anonymously for your comfort. This is a global issue. Anyone with a story is welcome to submit their experience.
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Recovery abuse Prevention training
Why This Matters
Recovery is not limited to substance use or mental health challenges. People from all walks of life seek healing. And every single one of them deserves safety.
Recovery spaces should be places of hope, not hunting grounds for predators. The damage of recovery program abuse is deep, lasting, complex and unacceptable.
Georgia proudly promotes the motto “Recovery Out Loud.” But when it comes to addressing misconduct, abuse and exploitation peers are pressured to suffer in silence. That contradiction must end.
We will no longer remain silent about abuse or the enabling of abuse. Peers deserve better. Predators do not deserve to prey in peace.
Don’t praise us for being brave enough to tell our recovery stories out loud, then expect us to be cowards and keep this part of our journey a secret.
We will speak out — about all of our recovery — because somebodies got to do it!
Your voice matters.
Your voice matters.
Your voice matters.
Your voice matters.
Your voice matters.
Your voice matters.
No one should have to recover from their recovery.
Resources on predatory behavior in the system of recovery.
13th Step Podcast - New HampshireThe 13th Step Film - United StatesRecovery Reform AbolitionistPsychology Today: Women & RecoverySexual Assault of Women in Recovery - AtlantaHuman Trafficking in Drug Resource Center - PhillyRehabs: A Cautionary TaleExploitation in Rehab Center - Los Angeles Labor Exploitation in Recovery - North CarolinaSexual Exploitation in Recovery - GeorgiaHuman Trafficking in Addiction Centers - FloridaRecovery Rebellion: Burn the Stigma'sAbuse in Addiction Recovery Industry - New JerseyThe Silent Crisis: Addiction & Sexual Assault Understanding 13th Stepping: UKDeprogram AA: Sobriety BestieAuthenticity of Recovery SMEverything you need to know
#nomoresilence
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