Ivi McDaniel spoke to the Pell City Rotary Club about her work with We Win Recovery, Fresh Start Recovery Ministries and city council.

McDaniel, a Pell City council member, is a full-time counselor with Fresh Start Recovery Ministries where she helps people struggling with drug addiction. Tee Jay Wilson, owner, has been running the recovery center since it opened in October of 2016 with McDaniel.

Originally in her life, McDaniel wanted to be an FBI agent and work in criminology, but ended up moving to California and became a program director for a domestic violence shelter. She was asked to design a program for drug addiction, which was something she had never dealt with before. However, she felt like she could and so she did.

“I took on that job and I knew that’s what I will be for the rest of my life. I knew working with recovering addicts and alcoholics was what I was called to do, even if it wasn’t what I planned to do,” said McDaniel. 

She believes God put her in a position to work with people through their recovery.

“God says ‘hey, this is where I place you and you’re going to change lives,’ and that is my platform,” said McDaniel. “I use it to touch as many lives as possible so that people can live exceptional lives.”

She practiced holistic recovery treatment then that she still uses today at Fresh Start, a long-term male facility. It is a faith-based, 12-step program involving Alcoholics Anonymous and traditional relapse prevention. 

“When an individual comes to Fresh Start, they can expect that every part of themselves, physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally are healed and we’re going to make sure that they have everything that they need to go out and be successful in recovery,” said McDaniel. 

McDaniel described working with recovering addicts as her “mission field,” and to her it never feels like going into work. 

“They said if you find something you love, you’ll never work a day in your life,” said McDaniel. “I’m one of those lucky people who have found something that they love, and I don’t ever have to go into work. I go into the mission field to help change somebody else’s life.”

While working five days a week with Fresh Start, Ivi also visits schools with Wilson, where they teach students about the dangers of drug use. She said it’s shocking how young children are understanding and accepting drug use because of their environment or social media.

She also runs another recovery program called We Win with Wilson.

McDaniel said the successes, particularly seeing her business partner Wilson recover from addiction, is what makes her roles in life so fulfilling. She describes each success as making her want to have another one. 

“They do recover, Tee Jay, my best friend in the whole wide world, recovered after a 16-year crack addiction. He’s doing amazing things for this community, so they do recover and they do get better,” said McDaniel. 

McDaniel is also the first Black female city council member to be elected in Pell City.

Jay Jenkins, Pell City council member, spoke at the end of the meeting to address how much he appreciates the work McDaniel has been doing. 

“It’s a pleasure to have a newly elected council member like Ivi come on, and everything since her election has been about helping the city and us be a better place,” said Jenkins. “We need more people like her in this world and I think we’d have a better place.”