Reflections On The Black Recovery Journey With Willie Pearl Evans

InterviewCommunity Voices Health AffairsVol. 44, No. 9: Insights About The Opioid Crisis Reflections On The Black Recovery Journey With Willie Pearl EvansJessica Bylander AffiliationsWillie Pearl Evans is the community prevention lead at the Minnesota Department of Health, in St. Paul, Minnesota. Jessica Bylander (email protected) is a deputy editor and correspondent at Health Affairs, in Washington, D. C. This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY-NC-ND 4. 0) license, which permits others to distribute this work provided the original work is properly cited, not altered, and not used for commercial purposes. See https: //creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4. 0/. PUBLISHED: September 2025Open Accesshttps: //doi. org/10. 1377/hlthaff. 2025. 00572AboutSectionsView PDFPermissions ShareShare onFacebookXLinked InRedditEmail ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissionsDownload Exhibits Abstract Willie Pearl Evans leverages her personal and professional expertise to improve outcomes for communities overburdened by the overdose crisis. TOPICSRecoveryMethadoneMedication for opioid use disorderSubstance usePrescription drugsPharmaceuticalsOpioid use disorderNeighborhoodHarm reduction Willie Pearl EvansPhotograph by Wilder/Thai Phan-Quang As the US tackles its opioid crisis, the expertise of people with lived experience of opioid use is increasingly being sought, particularly as states determine how to use opioid settlement funds. In Minnesota, Willie Pearl Evans has been instrumental in shaping Hennepin County's approach to opioid settlement funding, advocating for investment in Black-led overdose prevention initiatives. Evans works as the community prevention lead at the Minnesota Department of Health, where she is responsible for their Black-led overdose prevention work, culturally specific overdose prevention efforts, and efforts to prioritize justice-impacted people whose lives overlap with substance use and overdose. Evans is also on her own recovery journey, having overdosed multiple times, which she says brought her to the forefront of the opioid crisis. In 2019, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed the Opiate Epidemic Response bill, which raises funds from drug manufacturers and others to fight the opioid crisis, and created the Opioid Epidemic Response Advisory Council to oversee the funding. Evans serves as one of nineteen members of that council. Through relationship building, engagement with county leadership, and a commitment to equity-centered public health strategies, Evans has helped shift the conversation toward meaningful, community-driven solutions. Thanks to her advocacy and collaboration, Hennepin County anticipates allocating 2. 25 million of its 8 million in settlement funds to support Black-led prevention efforts. On April 30, 2025, Jessica Bylander, deputy editor and correspondent at Health Affairs, spoke with Evans about her work and what the Black recovery journey means to her. What follows is an edited transcript. JESSICA BYLANDER How did you end up in this line of work, and what drew you to it? WILLIE PEARL EVANS As a Black woman, I've lost many friends and loved ones to overdose. When I was in treatment, I was able to have a moment of clarity. I'd seen several elected officials on the news, and they were passing legislation and talking about their children who had overdosed from substance use. It touched me, as like, "My friend overdosed, and I don't see anything on the news about my friends who overdosed. " And so I was committed from that moment of clarity to elevate the Black recovery journey and to elevate that Black overdoses were happening in our state and that we needed resources. I had no idea how to do this. I just started showing up at our state Capitol and following people who I had seen on TV. And they were looking at me like, "Black lady, what do you want? " So they couldn't avoid me. We started building relationships, having conversations. It wasn't until 2018 or 2019 that I was invited to join a legislative coalition to work on some opioid policies in the state. And from that process, I decided to go back to school and get a master's degree in public policy. So I officially learned, in addition to my hands-on training, how to elevate and advocate for my community and to ensure that Black recovery voices—Black family members and community members—are acknowledged and that our story is part of the opioid narrative. I'm saying all this to say that we need to shift the narrative to be inclusive of the communities that are most impacted, based on the data that we have in the state of Minnesota. Funding For Black-Led Overdose PreventionBYLANDER Can you tell me about the funding that was recently awarded for Black-led overdose prevention efforts in Minnesota? EVANS It is through our division, the Minnesota Department of Health's Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Division. Annually, they put out an application that allows staff and teams to be able to engage in health equity projects outside of federal and state grants. Teams and staff, they can come together and apply for a project. Being in this space and being on this team, you know, I would say I am uniquely situated to learn about this opportunity. That's when I applied for these funds to start building that community engagement aspect so that our work not only is a campaign but my team gets to understand what community engagement is. That's funding the Black Lived Experience Advisory Committee. Advisory Committee GoalsBYLANDER What is the Black Lived Experience Advisory Committee, and what are its goals? EVANS Since I've been working here at the Minnesota Department of Health, I have had the opportunity to be involved in decision-making processes and to advocate for my community's voice. As part of this work, over the course of five years, I have learned how to make space for a pathway for other younger and other Black folks who have an experience with the overdose crisis or who have been impacted. Because my story is not unique, and we need to create a pathway. The Black Lived Experience Advisory Committee is tasked with advising my team, the overdose prevention team, on how to tailor our campaign messaging, our overdose prevention efforts, our strategy, so that it is in alignment and resonates with the Black community. Another part of their work is not just to inform folks to do a campaign and place it here, but to be strategic on where the touchpoints are to inform and move folks to action. The advisory committee is a pilot project right now. We were awarded 5, 000 to do this work, and it is allowing my team to understand what community engagement is, because it's not just passing out flyers, showing up at an event, but it is moving along the community engagement spectrum from informing to shared decision making. It's a continuum. So there's five stages: inform, consult, involve, collaborate, and empower. And so, over the years we've been in that "inform, consult, involve" stage, and I think now we're at that collaboration phase of the continuum. Meaning Of 'Black Recovery Journey'BYLANDER What does the phrase "Black recovery journey" mean to you, and why is it important to name it? EVANS Black recovery journey—the term means being present, being Black, and showing up to share a story that is not often heard. We often hear "recovery, " and recovery is real for everyone, but as a Black woman in recovery, that term means that my story is hopefully impacting and encouraging someone else to think about recovery or start their recovery process. Because, you know, substance use—heroin, opioids, that was the substance. But as a Black woman, I am healing and in a recovery journey from racism, prejudice, from everything. And so to use the term "Black recovery journey, " it kind of encompasses all of the journeys that I'm on. Healing ProcessBYLANDER What were some of the key features of your recovery journey? EVANS So the key features of my recovery journey have been, you know, having a person from Child Protective Services threaten me, and thinking that I was gonna do this just for her, just for the system, just for my kids. But once I got into it, it became a healing process. It became a self-care process. It became the realization that this life that I'm living today is better than the life that I used to have before I picked up substance. That is some of the initial parts of my journey, the first year: learning who I was, learning that I didn't need these substances. That I was not an angry Black woman, I was a Black woman with some baggage. I carried a lot of trauma in my body. And learning how to process and deal with my emotions and not let my emotions and my thoughts take over who I was as a human. Medication's RoleBYLANDER Did medications for opioid use disorder play a role for you? EVANS Yes. I was prescribed methadone to help with my substance use disorder. However, it was not until I got a counselor that looked like me. She was from a neighborhood in Chicago that was located very similar to my neighborhood. We had many of the same life experiences. We had lived in the same conditions—that environment that created the conditions that caused us pain—and we self-medicated. Once I went to the methadone clinic, I got a counselor that looked like me, and it was through her story and the conversations that I had with her that, coupled with the methadone, helped me recover. That was powerful because I had counselors that did not look like me before, and they would ask me crazy, weird questions about my clothing. And I just didn't care. So once I got someone that looked like me, that understood my challenge and my struggle, coupled with the medication for opioid use disorder, I was able to approach recovery with confidence. One thing that I will also say: As I navigated recovery, I wanted to stop methadone because once I stopped using the street drugs, I wanted to be substance-free. I didn't want any more drugs, you know, whether they were prescribed by the doctor or from the illegal drug supply. One of the things that was challenging for me was creating a plan, being an advocate for my own methadone taper. There was very little guidance on how to taper off of methadone, but I found some resources. I pulled together a multidisciplinary team who helped me advocate for tapering off of methadone. Because once I started recovery, I got connected to a self-help group, and practicing the principles of that self-help group, it enhanced my spirituality, and I realized that I didn't want anyone's drugs. I wanted to be in my natural state. So medication for opioid use disorder, methadone, it was helpful because it allowed me to be able to get up. It allowed me to be able to meet some of the requirements for Child Protective Services, and it also allowed me to know that I didn't need the street drugs. It gave me a hands-on understanding of harm reduction. Harm reduction is a set of principles. It's not just one thing. It allowed me to think about not using for this period of time. The most impactful thing, coupled with the medication for opioid use disorder, was the counselor that looked like me. Black Recovery Is A RealityBYLANDER What else would you like our readers to know? EVANS I would like the readers to know that Black recovery is a reality. It is real. It is a lifestyle. There is a space for everyone. There's a space for someone with two hours in recovery. It is a place where you can find hope and joy, and be celebrated. You know, celebrate yourself. So when the tenth comes, every month on the tenth, I kind of celebrate like that's part of my clean time, right? Which will lead up to December 10th, it'll be ten years. Being celebrated, and having joy. I remember, when I was a kid, you would have a birthday party—you would have cake and ice cream, and it was just a celebration for that day. And I was broken on the inside. I had experienced some sexual trauma as a kid. I had experienced a lot of traumatic experiences growing up in the Chicago neighborhood. So a birthday party was a celebration for that day. But in Black recovery, you get to celebrate yourself and other Black folks in recovery for the rest of your life. It's a lifelong journey, and it's real. It's a reality and it's obtainable. And it's easier to live in Black recovery than it is to live in addiction. Because there's so much joy. You get a chance to travel, you get a chance to be in spaces with your family members, and they don't have to worry about hiding their purses. And you get a chance to help other folks. You get a chance to share your experience, strength, and hope with others who are just starting this path. You're giving back to the community as you are recovering. You're building the capacity and the pathway for new folks to come along this journey. BYLANDER Thank you so much. This has been a great conversation. Loading Comments. . . Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. DetailsExhibitsReferencesRelated Article Metrics History Published online 2 September 2025 InformationThis open access article is distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY-NC-ND 4. 0) license. PDF downloadRelated articlesThe Opioid Crisis: Scaling Up Treatment And Harm Reduction Programs To Reach More People Who Would Benefit02 Sep 2025Health Affairs