The New Vision

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The SUGM office sent me to their residential drug and alcohol recovery program, The New Vision, housed in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. It is a 9-month long program with the goal of helping men get out of the cycle of addiction. The men are usually referred by family members and friends, and some are referred through the court system.

The program provides:

* 12-Step involvement
* One-to-One counseling
* Group Therapy
* Drug and Alcohol Education
* Special retreats and recreational activities
* Biblical instruction
* Relationship counseling
* Work therapy
* Aftercare programs
* Life-skills training
* Relapse Prevention classes

After graduating, men can choose to stay and continue pursuing schooling and employment. As I found out during my short visit, many people don’t make it. When you consider that the maximum number of people in the program is 30, and that 67 of them “dropped out” last year, you get the picture. This is not to say that the program doesn’t help many. Greg, who is the kitchen manager today, has been there for four years. He is just one example. As a matter of fact, most of the staff completed the program, meaning they were once in the same position. I was quite surprised to see how well some people were doing. John was on meth for 15 years, and has been clean for 97 days. In addition to meth, he used pretty much any drug he could find, as well as alcohol. Today, John is everything-free, including cigarettes. At one point he was so “messed up” that he didn’t know how old he was. He thought he was 35 until his mother sent him a birthday card for his 32nd birthday. Once he lost his job, his home, his girlfriend left him, and he found himself living in his Camaro, he decided to give it a try. Hopefully he will make it.

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