Jason came through the doors of Guiding Light five months ago after deciding he had enough of living a life in active addiction to drugs and alcohol. He spent his first four months at Guiding Light in the Foundations phase of the Recovery program, where he dedicated his time solely to developing his physical, mental, and spiritual sobriety. After this he went on to his next step, the Achieve program.
Achieve is a job-training program run by our partners at Goodwill and is designed to “transform lives by preparing individuals for securing and maintaining future employment.” Jason worked individually with career coaches and attended small group workshops to discuss and develop resumes and job search tools, as well as interview techniques. He also worked with large group workshops focused on team building, communication skills, goal setting, raising self-confidence, handling stress, and more. “I thought I knew a lot about getting a job in my field, but there is a lot of things I learned at Achieve that I wouldn’t have thought about,” Jason said. “They helped me get a resume together that stands out and the skills I needed to find the best possible job so I could move forward.”
“I see the light at the end of that tunnel now,” Jason said. “And it’s good to be out of the dark end of it…being in and out of the hospital numerous times, being told I’m going to die if I keep drinking.” After graduating Achieve, Jason began searching for a job, which, with a background in HVAC didn’t take him long to find. He recently started at $23/hour at the Amway Grand Plaza as an in-house HVAC technician and maintenance specialist. Today, Jason has a renewed relationship with his son, a passion to be a better father, and a life worth staying sober for. He believes that without Guiding Light, the life he has today wouldn’t be possible. “I don’t think I could have done this without this place,” he said. “I would always tell myself in the morning ‘I can’t drink today because if I keep this up I’m gonna lose my job again and things will get worse’…but I would still always drink that night.” Jason is a firm believer that he had to hit or be ready for what many in recovery call the “gift of desperation.” This is the belief that one has to be sufficiently beaten down by his/her addiction to get to a point where they are willing to truly surrender and ask for help. “I think I had to burn it all to the ground, because that was the only way my stubborn self would come and ask for help.”
Jason currently lives at Iron House, Guiding Light’s sober-living apartments in Kentwood. As a full-time employed resident of Iron House, Jason has a 76% chance of staying sober over a year. He is but one example of the miraculous turnaround we can see in clients that are given the proper resources, guidance, and time to realize their God-given potential. It costs roughly $1400 a day to house, feed, and teach clients of the Guiding Light Recovery program. Thanks to you, the only cost required of them is their honesty, open-mindedness, and willingness to change. To all of our donors, volunteers, and advocates, thank you so much for all of your support. Thank you for helping men like Jason see that there is a life worth living in sobriety.
