Graduate students in the School of Social Work are giving back the community by helping people overcome addictions.

In honor of September’s National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month, seven graduate students launched www.RecoveryAtlanta.org this month, a Web site “meant to be a one-stop shop for addiction recovery resources,” said Bethany Beatty, a graduate student from Nashville, Tenn., who helped with the site.

“The goal of the students was to provide a localized resource for the Atlanta community.”

The site was created as part of a Clinical Disorders class taught by Donna Bliss, assistant professor in the School of Social Work. Bliss has more than 20 years of clinical and administrative practice experience in the addictions and mental health field. Teamed with her research interest in addictions and multimedia teaching specialty, she helps the class produce.

The site was inspired by a similar project last year which resulted in the site RecoveryAthens.org.

The Atlanta project is the second in what will become a series of sites targeted at helping specific communities in Georgia. The Atlanta site appears to attract attention similar to its predecessor, with more than 2,000 hits since its launch about two weeks ago.

Renee Skipper, a graduate student from Greenville, Ala., helped build the site and works for the Walton County Division of Family and Children Services.

“We use it very often at our office,” she said. “I think it’s a wonderful resource.”

Skipper and others who work in her field use the site as a tool to educate people who come to their offices for help with addictions.

“Most clients are at the poverty level or below, so that’s where we come in to guide them on how to look up things up,” she said “We’re really teaching clients how to be self-sufficient.”

Adam Barnette, a graduate student from Calhoun, Ga., said he is enthusiastic about the site.

“It is driven by the individual. There are several self-screening tools to help people determine if they have an addiction,” Barnette said.. “I think the site will be very successful.”