Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc. (ABLE) is a non-profit regional law firm that provides high quality legal assistance in civil matters to help eligible low-income individuals and groups in western Ohio achieve self reliance, and equal justice and economic opportunity.
‘Somebody on My Side’: How Legal Help is Strengthening Recovery in Rural Ohio
When Alex lost his disability benefits, he did not just lose a check. He lost his rent money, his medication access, and what little stability he had managed to build in early recovery.
Had it not been for a new Medical-Legal Partnership (MLP) between Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc. (ABLE) and Ohio Guidestone, Alex admits, “I probably wouldn’t have made it through the process. I probably would have given up.”
Alex lives in a small town in northwest Ohio. He is a 28-year-old father of two currently in long-term recovery from substance use disorder and living with a serious heart condition that requires a pacemaker. For months, he went without income, juggling overdue bills and an empty refrigerator while trying to stay sober.
With funding through the OneOhio Recovery Foundation, ABLE and OhioGuidestone are showing how legal help can directly support health and recovery in rural communities for people like Alex.
When the Benefits Stopped
For a time, Alex’s disability benefits helped cover basic needs. Then rising costs and a divorce pushed him back into the workforce, even though he was neither physically nor mentally capable of sustaining full-time employment. After a few months of employment, his benefits were terminated. However, when Social Security proposed to terminate his benefits, Alex had already stopped working for two months because his health had declined significantly. Despite his best efforts, he was unable to sustain the work. Alex’s severe mental health issues created an additional barrier, making it difficult to understand the Social Security paperwork. He missed the deadline to appeal and continue receiving his payments during the pendency of the hearing.
“Even the package they sent me, I was lost,” Alex says. “[Everyone] told me it was a lot to go through.”
Without benefits, the numbers stopped adding up. He went nine months unable to pay rent, medical bills, or childcare. At times, he had no food in the house and only $25 a month in SNAP benefits to feed himself and his two children.
“It’s impossible,” he says. “You can’t support a family on that.”
Recovery with Serious Health Limits
Alex began using drugs at around nine years old. He moved through the court system and drug court as an adult. That structure, he says, often made recovery harder by overwhelming him with work, classes, and meetings all at once.
What finally helped him commit to sobriety was fatherhood and the threat of losing his children.
“CPS was talking about taking my kids,” he says. “That got my mind right.”
Even in recovery, his heart condition limits his ability to work safely. He experiences frequent palpitations, dizziness, and dangerous heart rhythm episodes. The factory and construction jobs he once relied on are no longer safe. His mental health issues also make working difficult, impacting his ability to concentrate and complete a normal workday without psychologically based symptoms.
Legal Problems are Health Problems
By the time Alex was referred to ABLE through OhioGuidestone, he was sober but in crisis.
“I had no food in my house for months,” he recalls. “I was fully prepared to give up.”
That’s when the MLP stepped in.
“We know legal problems are often health problems,” explains Rebecca Steinhauser, Managing Attorney for the Healthcare and Public Benefits practice group at ABLE. “If you don’t have income, housing, or health insurance, your health will suffer. For people in recovery, those same barriers can pull them back into crisis.”
Legal challenges tied to income, housing, and access to benefits create constant stress and instability in people’s lives. The uncertainty of not knowing where you will sleep, how you will pay for prescriptions, or whether you can continue medical treatment takes a direct toll on both mental and physical health. Over time, unmanaged legal issues can lead to worsening chronic conditions, anxiety and depression, interrupted recovery, and increased use of emergency care instead of preventive services. ABLE has seen this directly with clients like Alex.
Fortunately, through the MLP, ABLE helped Alex reestablish his Social Security disability benefits, restore his SNAP and Medicaid, and regain access to his critical medications.
“It was extremely relieving,” he says. “At least now I know my rent is getting paid and I’m not going to be on the streets next month.”
Why Rural Legal Help Matters
For years, most legal aid grant funding was concentrated in Ohio’s urban centers, even as rural need grew. When OneOhio funding became available by region, Steinhauser proposed a rural MLP focused specifically on people in substance use recovery, the first of its kind in the state.
The project was launched in November 2024 and runs through November 2026. In its first year, it has already served 75 people who otherwise might have been turned away.
That legal work is deeply connected to behavioral health services at OhioGuidestone.
“We have strong treatment programs, but legal issues were always a major barrier,” says Pat Hardy, Regional Director of Operations. “Benefit denials, child support, custody, housing, licenses. We could not fix those alone.”
Now, ABLE advocates address client needs through monthly clinics, phone intakes, and in-person visits. Referrals come directly from OhioGuidestone and other treatment partners.
“If someone has healthcare, stable income, and legal support, they finally have a real shot at rebuilding,” Hardy says.
Changing the Narrative
As community partners, ABLE and OhioGuidestone agree that the work is also about awareness and protection.
In early 2026, the MLP partners will host a screening of the documentary “SHUFFLE” in Defiance. The film exposes how some for-profit treatment centers exploit people in recovery.
“We want people to understand the difference between help and harm,” Steinhauser says. “And we want rural communities to have that conversation openly.”
The event will also serve as an awareness and fundraising initiative to reach people in the community whose needs do not always fit neatly into grant guidelines.
“An Everyday Struggle”
Alex is honest about where he stands.
“It’s still an everyday struggle,” he shares. “But I’m not alone in it now.”
He has stable housing for now. He has health coverage. He has people to call when another confusing letter arrives in the mail. And he has two children who continue to motivate him.
For the advocates working beside him, that stability is exactly the point.
This internal interview was conducted simultaneously along an interview with the Ohio Newsroom. NPR stations in Toledo, Dayton, and Cincinnati will run a version of this story on Tuesday, December 16 where you can hear directly from Alex, Rebecca Steinhauser, and Pat Hardy.