COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Georgia is seeing a rise in overdoses, and there's a new group working to calm the tide.
Standing on the bank of the Chattahoochee River is an exercise in serenity and in patience. Several amateur athletes turn to the scenery to reel in their sobriety.
"It's so stress relieving, it's like yoga on the river," said Jennifer Gilbert. Gilbert is the cofounder of Reeling in Serenity, a group that casts fly fishing as a way to streamline one's addiction recovery. "I think that's one of the biggest things fly fishing has taught me is patience, and forgiveness. You know, to forgive myself."
Nearly 50 million people have battled a substance abuse disorder, according to the United States National Survey on Drug Use and Health's 2023 report, with thousands of people navigating sobriety in Georgia.
On the Chattahoochee, the current washes away what has been and floats the idea of a different future.
"My marriage was on the rocks," Gilbert explained. "I was flunking out of college. It just felt like I was drowning."
Gilbert felt like she was underwater, watching the world go by without her.
"You're seeing everything foggy and every day I felt like I couldn't not drink," she said, "I couldn't get out of it."
Until she reeled in sobriety with fly fishing.
"You can do it as a hobby; you can do it as a life passion, like I do. I really feel like fly fishing saves peoples lives," she said.
It may have saved her own.
The anglers who founded Reeling in Serenity say the sport is saving them from a life of addiction. Executive Director Sue Collins says the founder's vision was clear.
"Rebecca Sue Klein is a force of nature and for nature. Her relentless work to help others, strengthen the fly fishing community and connect people is unrivaled," Collins said.
Klein worked with other nonprofits for decades. Groups like iFishiBelong, Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, Georgia Women Fly Fishers and her group All Kids Fish, she had a strong foundation for the success of Reeling in Serenity, Collins explained.
"Becca believes in the healing power of fly fishing and has brought hundreds of people to the river to learn how to fly fish and find fellowship, friendship and peace," Collins said.
The nonprofit provides support to break the cycle on the bank of the river, giving people a chance to change course.
"It's very difficult to say to someone, I've lost my home, I've lost my job, I can't function. I need help," said Gilbert.
Each cast of a line is a call to a community that understands.
"Fly fishing is for anyone. I had this idea that it's an old, stuffy, white man kind of thing," Sylvia Huron, Reeling in Serenity executive director said with a chuckle.
But like fly fishing, addiction doesn't discriminate.
The rates of alcohol and drug addiction have risen sharply in Georgia since 2010, according to the state department of health. Data shows that the disease touches every demographic in the state.
"The hardest thing is just acceptance and to ask for help," said Huron. She says like sobriety, fly fishing requires patience, and determination. "It can be incredibly challenging, frustrating, some days you don't catch anything," she said.
But the community they have built on the water gets them through it one day, one cast at a time.
"Life is so much better and so much more manageable. And I am just grateful every day," she said.
Reeling in Serenity hosts retreats for people in every corner of the state and across the country. They are free of charge for anyone who wants to learn the sport and commit to their sobriety. To learn more about their retreats, visit Reeling in Serenity's website. To contribute to their cause, consider donating here.