ADRIENNE HOAR McGIBBON: Some unexpected news helped Serenity Kirby get sober.

SERENITY KIRBY: Well, I got incarcerated, and I found out I was pregnant.

And I knew that I could no longer get high or, you know, ruin another child's life.

It was no longer about me.

ADRIENNE HOAR McGIBBON: She's now a member of Henricos Mental Health and Developmental Services Board and a featured speaker at this first ever Regional Recovery Day event.

Leaders from Richmond, Henrico, Chesterfield and Hanover plan the event to provide resource for those grappling with addiction and their loved ones.

LESLIE STEPHEN: Most of us know someone who has struggled with substance use in their lives, and it's- we really want to try to dispel all the stigma around it.

ADRIENNE HOAR McGIBBON: About 50 vendors were here offering help for those in need.

JACQUELYN SMITH-WHITE: We give out lock boxes.

And these locked boxes can be used to lock up medications, and so we give them out free.

ADRIENNE HOAR McGIBBON: Also available for free: kits to help you dispose of extra prescription medicine.

And a less common technique to help overcome addiction called AcuWellness.

MEGHAN STRAUSS: This protocol was actually developed in the 1980s at the Lincoln Recovery Center up in New York at a methadone clinic.

And it is a five point protocol that's designed to detoxify the body.

ADRIENNE HOAR McGIBBON: It's a type of acupuncture.

Five small needles are stuck into each ear and then the patient relaxes.

MEGHAN STRAUSS: We have people that have been consistently coming in weekly and they report that it has helped them tremendously as a complement to their recovery.

ADRIENNE HOAR McGIBBON: One more tool in the kit to fight against addiction and overdose deaths.

LESLIE STEPHEN: It's really getting Narcan out.

Naloxone, which is the medication that can reverse an opiate overdose.

And we're providing lots of education.

So I think it's super important that we come together to do this.

ADRIENNE HOAR McGIBBON: Opioid overdose deaths are down in the commonwealth.

Stephen credits the efforts around education and providing the public with tools like these to combat the disease of addiction.

For VPM News, I'm Adrienne Hoar McGibbon.