Erica Boltz craved freedom.

Boltz spoke at Thursday's Hope For Healing event in Diamond Park. The event, held on National Opioid Overdose Prevention Day, was aimed to inspire hope for people struggling with opioid addiction and the community at large.

Boltz, a person in recovery, spoke at length about what addiction was like.

“I was dead,” she said. “I was a walking shell of a woman and I craved what (people in recovery) had so badly.”

Boltz launched herself into recovery, regularly attending recovery meetings and undergoing a 12-step program.

She has been in recovery for almost seven years.

She says she can look at her own experiences with addiction to help others battle their own addictions.

“Things that I thought I would never be able to forgive myself for, I use as assets today,” Boltz said.

About 80 people, including government officials and people in recovery, attended the event.

County Commissioners Kevin Boozel, Kim Geyer and Leslie Osche spoke, emphasizing positive changes they've seen in Butler.

Osche noted that awareness and community-service events by and for people in recovery have cropped up in the past year, and that churches are working to bridge the gap for people struggling with addiction.

“Those of you I know who have been on this incredible recovery walk, we're proud to walk alongside you,” Osche said. “And we're not going to walk away, ever.”

Boozel said it will take a community effort to face the opioid epidemic.

“The reality is we can't solve it 1-on-1, we can't solve it 20-on-1, but we can in (high) numbers,” he said.

Both Geyer and Boozel said a priority for them is keeping an open line of communication with state and federal lawmakers.

Boozel noted he wants potential laws that are being discussed — including a cap on the number of opiate pills people can be prescribed following surgery — to reflect the addiction problems plaguing Butler County.

Jason Snyder, a person in recovery who works in the state Department of Human Services, also spoke at Hope For Healing.

Snyder lost two brothers to opioid overdoses, and struggled with addiction before entering recovery a little more than 5½ years ago.

“We can get off the elevator at any point before it gets to the basement,” Snyder said. “And that's what I chose to do.”

Snyder oversees the implementation of Centers of Excellence, which offer treatment for addiction. There are 45 centers across the state.

“I know that people are watching (people in recovery) and expecting us to fail, but I also know that people are seeing us as a ray of light,” Snyder said.

Judge William Shaffer, who works in Butler County Drug Court, also spoke. He noted drug court as a positive for the community, and that people who go through drug court are less likely to criminally re-offend than those who go through the traditional court system.

Jamie Christy also shared her story. She will be celebrating 13 years in recovery Sunday. She said she has stayed out of active addiction by immersing herself in a 12-step program and the recovery meetings.

“I can't say what the answer is for everybody,” Christy said. “I don't know. All I know is my emotional core was broken.

“I surrounded myself with like-minded people. That's where I started to see hope.”