VIDEO – SHE’S AMAZING –
Sept. 24, 2025 – Author Barbara Kingsolver opened the facility in January with royalties from her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “Demon Copperhead,” whose plot revolves around Appalachia’s opioid crisis. The home offers a supportive place for people to stay while learning to live without drugs. Kingsolver had asked the women now living there to join her on stage. Kingsolver, who grew up in Appalachia, suggested the women share with the audience what they were most proud of having gained from their first weeks at Higher Ground. But she learned they were more eager to brag on one another.
Supporters say Higher Ground provides stability and a reentry point after leaving jail, prison, or a treatment center. It offers a range of services and support in an area devastated by addiction to painkilling pills and other types of opioids. Most fundamentally, it’s a true home, with one- and two-person bedrooms, a communal kitchen, and a den. Residents say they have found affirmation from a cohort of women who understand how addiction can demoralize a person and estrange them from family and community.
