Greg

Greg

When Greg arrived at Community Service Alliance fresh from inpatient alcohol and drug treatment in May 2015, he recalls that he didn’t know whether he was coming or going. “I had no ambition, structure or routine. My attitude was immature and pessimistic, but I did know that I wanted to stay sober.” Greg had never seriously attempted recovery before. Despite getting clean in detox several times, he would go right back to the lifestyle he knew was killing him. But finally, he knew that he could no longer live that way.

When he arrived at Procop House with six months of sobriety under his belt, he found it to be quite different from what he was used to. It was quiet and clean, and he found James Johnson, CSA’s Program Manager, to be supportive and helpful. He had his own room with his own bed, something very new to him, and he had a window to look out from. Greg recalls that “it was all I needed at the time.”

He had been working for somebody he’d met in treatment, but his employer relapsed, leaving Greg scrambling for some kind of employment. He worked with the agency’s employment development coordinator, Tom Cullinan, who connected him with CSA’s work experience program. Greg soon started working regularly again. He could walk to his new job, put in a solid day’s work, earn a paycheck, and become a productive member of society again. “It showed me that I was capable of learning and excelling at something new, something I never did before.”

Greg stayed at Procop for two years, during which time he was also selected as the resident House Manager, assisting staff with the daily workings of the house. He says that the experience taught him patience, tolerance, the ability to work with a variety of personalities, and how to communicate effectively with those individuals. He learned how to budget money, so that now he’s able to pay for things that he could never afford before becoming sober. Most of all, he says that he learned to help people not like himself, “because I learned that we’re all from different walks of life and have different struggles. Some are not as blessed as I am.”

After leaving Procop House, Greg stayed at the same job for another year before moving on to new employment. He’s employed full-time, has his own place, and is planning to be married in June of this year, and enjoys a son and two step-children who he cares for deeply. He says that living at CSA “was a blessing that gave me the time to mature and become responsible. I wake up every day sober, with a beautiful fiancé and three children I can be a good example for.”

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