Born and raised in The Pacific Northwest, Riley moved to Athens in 2011 with a guitar, a backpack, a history of felonies, a deep desire to change and a whole lot of hope. Riley’s experience with Substance Use Disorder and his recovery gave him a beautiful foundation for his latest and current career as the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Access Point of Georgia, Inc., an Athens-based nonprofit focused on Harm Reduction services and connections to local recovery resources. Access Point was born out of the back of Riley’s car in the parking lots of existing recovery organizations around town. Now, Access Point is a full-fledged brick-and-mortar operation with headquarters on Athens’ Northside, offering syringe access and exchange, HIV and Hepatitis C testing, Narcan/naloxone distribution and trainings, and limited peer support groups. After over a decade of cultivating his own recovery, Riley began to work as a Certified Peer Specialist for local Opioid Treatment Providers. The intention was to support patients recovering from active, chaotic opioid use with Medication Assisted Treatment. There, Riley saw the gaps between abstinence-based recovery framework, OTP clinics offering suboxone and methadone, and the total lack of any such support for those still in active drug use but wanting to do so more safely, or simply wanting a different avenue to recovery.
Riley’s other contributions to the Athens community include co-founding Athens Queer Collective (now merged with Athens Pride.) As a Transgender man himself who deeply understood the need for community and support, he founded the LGBTQ Youth Group, and the Athens Trans Support Group with the intention of filling previously unmet needs in the Athens Queer community. Riley lives on the North Side of Athens with his wife, Olive, and part-time with their two middle schoolers. Their home also hosts a high-maintenance dog, some feral cats, a wild garden, and many musical instruments.
What do you love most about the work you do?
Connection and truly believing and experiencing the life-saving work we do; I could tell at least a few dozen stories. A few months ago someone OD’d elsewhere and their boyfriend drove them to our parking lot, we administered Narcan and reversed the young woman’s opioid overdose. There is not a doubt in my mind that the work we are doing has kept and is keeping people alive.
When you’re not working, what do you like to do in and around Athens?
Music. Playing it, going to shows. Cultivating my relationship with my wife. Different artsy stuff and being in nature. I miss those connections when I get super busy and am stuck inside. I used to love doing nature connection work, and working outdoors, prior to working in this field. So, connection to nature locally, connection to important relationships in my life and the music that plays an important role in that.
If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
Right now, I would say Portugal because I want to see what a system that is the complete opposite of the drug war looks like in action. I would have answered that differently a handful of years ago. I’m fascinated by the countries that are like, screw the drug war, we’re not going to incarcerate them, we’re going to treat them.
If you could see any band/musician, anywhere, who would it be and where?
Due to 90’s Riot Grrl nostalgia in the PNW, likely Bikini Kill. It would be awesome to see them in our hometown, Olympia, Washington. My being a young, queer, girl in the 90s, in that part of the country, I didn’t understand until years later when I moved how magical and sweet that space was. I was into playing music and there were also Riot Grrrl Conventions, awesome Zines, amazing punk shows, so much culture that I haven’t really experienced since; I miss that culture and community a lot.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Don’t give up.
Do you have a favorite book?
Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts. I’ve read that book 6 times, he’s an amazing writer. It made me fall in love with India and a certain flavor of writing.
What is your favorite movie?
I would say, Short Bus. I just love that movie.
If you could put any message on a billboard, what would it be?
Truth to self, no matter what.
If you could have lunch with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and where?
Ani DiFranco. I would want to talk to her about how she found her voice in her writing, how she learned to write in ways that painted such good intimate pictures with her lyrics, with political and social content present also. That is what I love and admire so much. I guess I’d like the lunch date to be somewhere in the Northeast, like New England.
What three words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word home?
My wife. My Truth. And Hope.
