Schuyler Clayton battled a decade of opioid addiction. Now a recovery coach, he serves as a beacon of hope amid a nationwide epidemic.

Schuyler Clayton graduated high school in 2003. It was also the year he buried five friends, all of whom died as a result of substance use.

“Growing up in Appalachia, there was drug use everywhere,” said Clayton, a native of Johnson City, Tennessee. “From the kids who didn’t go to school to the athletes to everyone in between, no one really batted an eye at it. It was predominant in most of my friends’ families.”

 

Schuyler Clayton. Photo by Anne Rayner