“What’s the most beneficial aspect of the Recovery program?” Mike asked. “Well, to me, it’s the relationships. The people that I live with, my life coaches, the therapists, the spiritual directors. The bonds that I have formed with the guys in here is something I’ve never had when I was out there.”
Mike is a client of the Guiding Light Recovery program, and recently moved out to Iron House, our sober-living apartment complex in Kentwood. What he is reporting, with regards to the importance of friendships and bonds with your brothers in the Recovery program at Guiding Light, is a common theme. Many of the men that come to our doors seeking refuge from homelessness, destitution, and addiction, are used to a certain type of lifestyle. A lifestyle marred by isolation, depression, and dis-connection. When it becomes too obvious that one’s life in addiction is unmanageable, he or she puts up walls and increasingly isolates themselves from anyone and anything that might remind them of how painful their life has become. This is why the concept of meaningful relationships and human connection in any way, shape, or form, becomes simply not an option. Coming to Guiding Light is a chance for a new life away from all the ties and influences of one’s old life. “I’m not so familiar with Grand Rapids, so coming here has been a fresh start for me,” Mike said. “I have some of the greatest relationships I’ve ever had now with people who are sober.”
Something is working here at Guiding Light. 76% of men who come through our doors, find employment, and move to Iron House, our sober-living community in Kentwood, are still sober over a year later. These statistics are, frankly, remarkable when contrasted with a 2007 study conducted by the social-research journal, Evaluation Review, showing that only 33% of men who attempt to get sober on their own are able to accomplish this.[1] The only cost for men to be accepted in the Guiding Light program is their willingness to change and commitment to living a different way. Our clients have access to professional and holistic treatment and care from therapists, spiritual directors, and life coaches. It costs roughly $1400 a day to house, feed, and teach our clients how a life in sobriety is possible, and we could not do it without you. You are the reason we see miracles happen here every day. It truly is a miracle that a man like Mike can come here and learn to live the life he does today, a life of freedom, joy, happiness, and sobriety. “Thank you for making this possible, just being here is a blessing. I didn’t have the financial means to get help, and…like it or not, the donors made this possible.” From all of us at Guiding Light, clients and staff alike, thank you so much for all that you do, God bless.
[1] Dennis, M. L., Foss, M. A., & Scott, C. K. (2007). An eight-year perspective on the relationship between the duration of abstinence and other aspects of recovery. Evaluation review, 31(6), 585–612. https://doi.org/10.1177/0193841X07307771
