Michael Ortoll lost his daughter Christine to a fentanyl overdose after years of addiction and mental illness, and rather than let that grief consume him, the Florida State University alumnus built something meant to catch other families before they suffer the same loss. Christine died in 2020, and in the years since, her father has poured his energy into a charity bearing her name, a series of documentaries, and a Tallahassee-based collegiate recovery program that has now engaged more than 1,000 students.
A Decade-Long Battle That Ended in 2020
Christine fought a 10-year battle with mental illness and substance use disorder before she died of a fentanyl overdose on Nov. 2, 2020, at age 26, according to FSU News and The Express. After her death, the family discovered more than 50 journals in which Christine had chronicled her years-long struggle, and Ortoll ultimately built a documentary around those pages to honor what the newspaper described as her wish that her story help others. As Tampa Bay 28 reports, Ortoll has said forgiveness helped him move forward and turn toward helping people rather than staying trapped in his loss.
Ortoll established a charity in Christine's name aimed at exposing the dangers of mental illness, substance use disorder and the lethality of fentanyl, per the FSU News account. He is the executive producer of two documentaries that grew out of that mission: “Safety Net: Helping Students in Recovery Thrive” and “One Second at a Time: Battling the Monster of Addiction,” the latter built from Christine's own journals. Per Tampa Bay 28, Ortoll also shares his daughter's journals publicly and has created a YouTube page offering free addiction and mental-health support resources alongside the charity itself.
Building LIFT at Florida State
The centerpiece of that effort is LIFT, Florida State's collegiate recovery program, whose name stands for Living Intentionally, Finding Togetherness, according to the Christine Ortoll Charity. The program was established in 2018 and occupies a dedicated space on the fourth floor of FSU's Thagard Building, the station's report notes, describing it as an accountable recovery community where students in recovery build coping skills and friendships with like-minded peers rather than receive clinical treatment. LIFT is explicitly not a treatment program, per the same account, but a place for students who are already recovering or have completed treatment elsewhere.
Growth has been dramatic. The Christine Ortoll Charity says LIFT engaged more than 1,000 students in its first year, while a separate account from The Express, tied to Ortoll's $100,000 donation to his alma mater, put the number at more than 1,100 student engagements over an 18-month stretch. Tampa Bay 28 reports that Ortoll speaks with FSU's College of Social Work, conducts question-and-answer sessions with students, shows “One Second at a Time” on campus, and visits the university at least twice a year to support the program he helped build.
Why Colleges Are Racing to Catch Up
The need is large by national measure. The 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health estimated that 8.6 million people ages 18 to 25 met the criteria for a substance use disorder that year, according to FSU News. Substance use disorder rates on college campuses can reach 24% in the United States, the same source reports, while fewer than 5% of U.S. higher-education institutions have any recovery program in place at all.
FSU's College of Social Work is looking to incorporate “The Safety Net” into its regular curriculum, according to a report from the Tallahassee Democrat, which also notes the short documentary is slated to expand to eight other colleges, including the University of Tampa and the University of South Florida. That outlet reported LIFT grew from a handful of participants in 2021 to more than 1,000 engaged individuals in 2022, backed by 40 staff members. The documentary “One Second at a Time” has picked up recognition on the festival circuit, though the tally varies by account: the Tallahassee Democrat reported 56 film festival awards, while Ortoll told Medium's Authority Magazine the film had earned 59 awards to date.
A Charity Built on Research and Loss
The Christine Ortoll Charity points to research associating participation in college recovery programs with higher graduation rates, higher GPAs, a lower likelihood of relapse, and a greater chance of continuing to thrive after college. The charity's site also cites a fourfold increase in mental illness and rising substance misuse among students as reasons it argues funding collegiate recovery programs should be a top priority for higher education. The Association of Recovery in Higher Education, referenced on the charity's page, describes its own mission as serving as a national resource supporting the broader vision of collegiate recovery programs across the country.
For Ortoll, the numbers translate into something more personal: a program built in his daughter's memory that has already reached more than a thousand students who might otherwise have faced addiction and mental illness without the kind of peer support Christine never had.
