A memorial honoring Joe "Michael" Wise II hangs in the lobby of UAB Beacon Recovery.A new memorial in the lobby of UAB Beacon Recovery serves to not only honor the memory of one of the clinic’s own, but to serve as a reminder of hope for those navigating their own journeys toward recovery.
Joe “Michael” Wise II, a former staff member in the UAB Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology, passed away in January 2024. Wise spent time at Beacon Recovery in two capacities – first as a patient, and second as a staff member and mentor, supporting and uplifting the very people in the treatment group he was once a part of. Now, his impactful story is permanently shared in the form of both the memorial and a scholarship in his name: the Michael Wise Memorial Fund.
On April 30, Beacon Recovery hosted a reception to unveil the memorial in Wise’s honor. Family, friends, and former coworkers of Wise, in addition to faculty and staff in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology, gathered to share in his memory.
“Michael was a titan in the Birmingham recovery community, and the reach of his influence spreads across the state,” said Lauren Griffin, LPC, NCC, Clinical Director at Beacon Recovery.
Griffin met Wise nine years ago when she started working at Beacon Recovery as a substance abuse counselor.
John Dantzler, Ph.D., director of the Substance Abuse Division in the UAB Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology, and Lauren Griffin, LPC, NCC, Clinical Director at Beacon Recovery, speak at the Dedication of the Michael Wise Memorial on April 30.“I’ve never forgotten the first time I saw him,” Griffin recalled. “I was walking out of the front office in our old building at the same time as he was walking in from the parking lot. He took off his sunglasses and smiled at me, and I knew instantly that there was something special about him.”
Griffin soon found out that Wise was a client in the treatment group she was assigned to.
“Michael made my introduction to leading this particular group so much easier,” she said. “He was always quick to contribute to the discussion of the day, never shying away from discussing his own struggles with opioid use and his hopes for a healthier life. He quickly became an example to other group members who were in the early days of their pursuits of recovery.”
With support from Beacon Recovery and as one of the clinic’s first patients to receive medication-assisted treatment for substance use, Wise was eventually able to complete his undergraduate and graduate degrees and began giving back to the same recovery community that supported him. Wise helped found Beacon’s first fellowship group, a support group for clients at Beacon who are like-minded in their pursuit of recovery. At first, he volunteered his time weekly to co-facilitate the group. This led him to complete the certification process for becoming a certified recovery support specialist and become a staff member at Beacon in 2018.
Wise first worked as the initial care coordinator in Beacon’s Assessment Center and was then promoted to substance abuse counselor, taking over a caseload of his own involving clients with opioid use disorder—the same client group he was once a part of.
Michael Wise's mother speaks alongside family members at the Dedication of the Michael Wise Memorial at UAB Beacon Recovery on April 30.According to Griffin, Wise’s affable personality helped him easily connect to both clients and stakeholders.
“He had the particular skill when talking to you of making you feel like you were the only person in the world,” she said. “He could meet our clients where they were in the depths of their addiction as easily as he could speak with physicians, attorneys, commissioners, and the like. I know without reservation that many people have been able to taste the fruit of recovery or have been spurred on to act on behalf of those struggling with addiction because of Michael’s influence.”
After completing his master’s degree, Wise became a grants and development manager, championing as many resources as possible for the UAB Substance Abuse Division and Beacon Recovery’s clients.
“I know I speak on behalf of everyone at Beacon who worked with Michael when I say, we loved working with him,” Griffin said. “He was a hard worker, teachable, and approachable by both coworkers and the clients we serve.”
The Michael Wise Memorial Fund, named not only for Michael Wise but also for his late father, with whom he shared a name, exists as an extension of Wise’s dedication to helping the recovery community transform hopelessness into a tangible path forward.
“His legacy lives on through this scholarship and in all the lives he touched,” Griffin said. “He will not be forgotten.”