For people navigating the road to recovery, the most powerful guide can be the person who already has traveled that road. Certified peer support specialists use their own experiences to help others find support, hope and a path forward.
Florida saw a 20% decrease in drug overdose-related deaths in 2025 compared to 2024, according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“One (overdose) is too many in my book,” said Robert Cooper, CEO and co-founder of the Zero Hour Life Center in Ocala.
Zero Hour Life Center will host R.I.S.E. in Recovery 2026 to educate parents and caregivers about the signs of substance abuse that often go unnoticed. It will be held from 2 to 6 p.m. Oct. 10 at the Salvation Army of Lake and Sumter Counties, 2605 South St., Leesburg.
The event will feature an interactive experience, inspirational speakers who will share their recovery stories and vendors who offer recovery support resources. It also will include a dunk tank, food trucks and live music.
Zero Hour Life Center uses certified peer support specialists to bridge the gap between professional treatment and long-term recovery. Cooper said the nonprofit’s goal is to break stigmas associated with substance abuse by educating the public and providing resources to the community.
Cooper attributes the decrease in drug overdose-related deaths to the widespread use of Narcan, but also to the support provided by peer support specialists, professionally trained individuals who use their personal recovery journey to help guide others.
Tracy Fisk, a peer support specialist at Zero Hour Life Center whose ex-husband battled addiction, wants to make more people aware of the resources available so they have the tools to talk to their families.
“More people need to understand and educate children about drugs and the effects they can have on their brains,” Fisk said. “I want to lead by example for my kids and plant the seed for them that you can have a great life without needing substances.”
Shannon Harris remembers being at her lowest point years ago. Now a peer support specialist, she pays homage to those who helped her beat addiction by sharing her story with people in the position she was once in, helping them set and achieve recovery goals, and connecting them with community resources.
“There were four women in my life who helped me and if it weren’t for them, I would probably be dead,” she said. “I was that girl who thought she didn’t have a voice before. I learned addiction is a stigma. It’s important that someone shows people suffering from addiction that they do matter, they are loved and that someone cares.”
Zero Hour Life Center offers a variety of services including weekly peer support meetings for adults, a peer recovery teen program and a substance-exposed newborn prevention program.
Through its hospital bridge program, specialists provide immediate support to people during or after a hospital visit at hospitals in Sumter County and at UF Health Leesburg Hospital.
Harris said the goal of the 24/7 hospital program is to meet people where they are. In 2025, there were 531 non-fatal overdose hospitalizations in Lake County, 133 in Sumter County and 575 in Marion County, according to the Florida Department of Health.
“There has been an influx of people doing laced drugs with heroin or fentanyl,” she said. “From July 2025 to July 2026, I worked with 173 patients just out of the Leesburg hospital. I try to follow up with my patients for up to a year.”
There are more than 900 certified peer support specialists in Florida, according to the 2024 report from the International Consortium of Universities for Drug Demand Reduction. But before 2016, when Zero Hour Life Center was founded, recovery looked a lot different, Cooper said.
“Recovery looked like you went to a random basement to catch a meeting,” he said. “Now that we are certified on the front lines, I’m looking at how we sustain certified recovery peer specialists. I want make sure they are doing everything necessary for that individual’s personal recovery and in their personal life to be able to handle the responsibility of walking beside someone through their recovery journey.”
For more information about Zero Hour Life Center or to RSVP for the R.I.S.E. in Recovery 2026 event, visit zerohourlifecenter.org or call 352-765-4943.
Staff writer Brea Jones can be reached at 352-753-1119, ext. 5414, or brea.jones@thevillagesmedia.com.
