When Michelle Charbonnier first walked through the doors of MoNetwork nearly a decade ago, she was a volunteer at the nonprofit that assists drug people who use drugs, trying to give back.
Today, Charbonnier leads the organization as its executive director, carrying the same empathy and lived experience that drew her to the work.
As someone in long-term recovery, Charbonnier has spent the past eight years helping people reclaim their lives. She was the staff peer support specialist, then served as Deputy Director before taking the helm of an organization dedicated to changing how society talks about and treats people who use drugs.
St. Louis-based MoNetwork is part of a growing movement reframing the way people who use drugs as a public health issue rather than a moral failing. The center offers life-saving services, recovery support, education and advocacy, all without judgment.
In Missouri, overdose deaths have dropped more than 25% in the past year, according to the University of Missouri-St. Louis Addiction Science Team. Charbonnier recognizes that decline as evidence that a shift in language and compassion positively affects outcomes.
“Language matters,” Charbonnier says. “The words we use have impact. Saying ‘drug use’ instead of ‘drug abuse’ changes how people see themselves and how the community sees them. When you say someone is ‘clean’ or ‘dirty,’ you’re not describing a whole person — you’re labeling them.”
At MoNetwork’s Dutchtown recovery center, the philosophy of dignity is lived out every day. Visitors can receive fentanyl test strips, Narcan, wound care, meals, hygiene kits and safe-sex supplies. There are computers, cots and referrals for mental health and housing resources. The organization even hosts free shower and haircut days.
“We meet people where they are with love and compassion,” Charbonnier says. “Everyone has value here.”
MoNetwork’s work extends beyond its building. Teams travel through downtown and north St. Louis to reach people who often fall through the cracks of traditional care systems. The focus is safety, connection and dignity over punishment or abstinence alone.
Last year, the center served more than 4,000 people across the region, many facing substance use, homelessness, mental health challenges and social stigma. Staff includes peers in recovery who share lived experience to offer proof that healing is possible.
“When I was a peer support specialist, I could see myself in the people I mentored,” Charbonnier says. “Now, even as an executive director, I still can.”
The work is paying off. Missouri recorded two consecutive years of declining overdose deaths, reaching the lowest level since 2017. St. Louis City reported a 41% drop in drug-involved deaths from 2023 to 2024, while St. Louis County saw a 16% decline.
Experts credit increased access to naloxone, the overdose-reversing medication better known as Narcan, and the efforts of community organizations like MoNetwork that distribute it widely and train others to use it.
Still, the need remains. Fentanyl drives most fatal overdoses, and many Missourians struggle with finding stable housing or mental health care. Charbonnier says that’s why her team keeps showing up, whether through outreach in downtown St. Louis or wound care in the center.
“As a community, we are only as healthy as our sickest members,” she says. “Those are the people we have to lift and empower.”
For Charbonnier, the mission is personal.
“This work is my why,” she says. Every person who walks through the organization’s doors, she adds, deserves to be seen, heard and loved.
Recovery isn’t about being perfect, she says, it’s about being human.