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BY NIC MILLER
STAR STAFF
nic.miller@elizabethton.com

On Thursday afternoon, a local business in Carter County was recognized as the first business of many to be certified as a “Caring Workplace” by a division of the First Tennessee Development District known as Caring Workplaces.

RiteScreen, a company in Elizabethton that specializes in window and door screens, is the first of many to jump on board with this new initiative that allows those previously incarcerated and recovering from drug use to work with businesses that are recovery friendly and willing to give second chances.

Carter County Mayor Patty Woodby made a point to visit RiteScreen on Thursday to personally recognize the business and plant manager B.J. Gott for the work that they are doing to improve the community.

Mayor Woodby made sure to highlight the good that RiteScreen is doing in her recognition speech, saying, “By taking proactive steps to assist those seeking recovery, we can help our community. By helping each other, we can make a difference in our community and help end the cycle of addiction that affects many of our community members.”

She continued by saying,  “By becoming a certified caring workplace, RiteScreen has demonstrated its commitment to helping their employees and family members with the challenges associated with substance abuse disorder, while also demonstrating a willingness to hire employees who are in recovery or justice-involved and giving them a chance to change their lives.”

Kristina Peters, the Workforce Employer Coordinator with Caring Workplaces, was also in attendance on Thursday and explained a little more about what this initiative is and how it works, saying, “The mission of caring workplaces is to recruit employers to become recovery friendly, which is done by policy review, education, and training. We also subgrant with the Ballad Peer Recovery program and their Peer Recovery Navigators who have lived addiction experiences, become clean, and finally become certified and licensed as Peer Recovery Specialists.”

“These specialists go into local jails and probation offices and get referrals from there, so our clients come from the recovery as well as the justice-involved community. If caring workplaces, such as RiteScreen are in need to fill positions and be recovery friendly, we have the pipeline that the clients are navigated to for employment opportunities.”

Gott, who was the one receiving the recognition on Thursday, spoke about how honored he and his team is to receive this certification, saying, “We thank you for allowing us this recognition, and I am glad to be able to help out in any way I can in the community.”

Caring Workplaces now has eight businesses on board with this new initiative and are still seeking as many as possible to help those in the recovery or justice-involved community.