Healing Transitions International, Inc.

This facility takes the chronically unemployed homeless and addicted persons from the street and gives them an opportunity to rebuild their life. Everything is provided at no cost to the participants. This long term residential recovery facility has a dedicated staff led by the very best Executive Director with competent committed board members. There success rates in taking the worst cases and returning them to being happy, productive, employed members of society parallels no other

This place saved my life! It has the most caring staff you can imagine. I spent a year here, and I am happier today than I have ever been thanks to this awesome program. The methodical, gradual progression through this 12 step program gave me a chance to change a little for the better each day. All the small incremental changes over time added up to a great change in me! People hardly recognize me today from my photo taken in detox when I arrived. I changed physically, spiritually, and emotionally. Today I am a happy healthy contributing member of society serving others with the same love that was so freely offered to me at The Healing Place. They have a saying: " "You do a little and we will do a little, you do a lot and we will do a lot for you." It is true.... I will post a photo and video of "my story" soon.

I grew up in a fairly large city in the Piedmont region of NC; you might say I’m a city boy. We played our games in the streets, and the only gun I ever fired was a pellet rifle that I used to shoot mourning doves off the power lines. My parents were hard workers, both of them survivors of the Great Depression. My father worked three jobs at times because his role as provider was all he knew. And my Mom was Supermom as she juggled the roles of employee, mom, disciplinarian and coach. I never lacked anything and always knew I was loved. But I felt there were high expectations placed on me. My parents wanted me to have an easier, better life than they. So from an early age I equated my performance to be the measure by which I would be loved or have value. As a youngster I set out to blaze a trail of glory, excelling in school and athletics. I was enrolled in academically gifted classes, sang in the teen choir at church, played football in the Pop Warner league where we were World Champions in 1972. I was on the road to success and happiness.
Then life showed up. We moved across town in the summer I turned fifteen. All of a sudden I was in a new neighborhood where I knew no one. I would be going to a new school. I was going to have to meet new friends. My comfort zone had been stripped away from me and I was scared to death. The feelings of being inadequate and not measuring up engulfed me. What was I to do? Where would I turn? I latched on to the first group of peers that felt just like me. They were the ones that smoked pot and drank a bit. I longed for acceptance; I longed for the comfort I was used to. So I joined them.
Thus began a long journey of fear and anxiousness, beleaguered with feelings of inadequacy and self-absorption. Alcohol and drugs were all I had to help me cope with life. Alcohol and drugs worked for a while, but I eventually became enslaved, not knowing how to live without them. I rode the roller coaster of life that so many of us ride, occasionally having glimpses of happiness and peace. One of those glimpses of happiness was when I married the woman of my dreams. She embodied the covenant of marriage, and we had two wonderful boys together. One would think our union together and our children would have been enough to shake the grips of my disease, but it wasn't. I couldn't stop no matter how badly I wanted to. I wreaked destruction in their lives and I gravely affected everything and everyone around me. Eventually I ended up giving away the very things that made life worth living. I surrendered my home, my family and my livelihood. After a series of destructive events I ended up in jail; a shell of a man who was broken, defeated and homeless. I wanted to die for I believed that everyone who cared for me would be better off. The disease of alcoholism/addiction had almost fulfilled its mission. And then I heard of The Healing Place.
A called a dear friend of mine who I hadn't talked to in years. He dropped everything he was doing to pick me up off the streets of Raleigh and dropped me off at detox. I was admitted and the first few days were ones of uneasiness, fogginess and fear. I had no idea what was in store for me so I followed their instructions and watched the program. There were many times while in the shelter I wanted to leave but I stayed “one more day.” Little by little, slowly and surely the fog lifted and I became more at ease. I trudged hard and I began to feel better physically. I paid attention and learned about the disease of alcoholism. I watched others in the program farther along than me and I began to have hope. The Healing Place introduced me to a 12 Step program. I had attempted recovery before, albeit half-heartedly and nothing worked. For once in my life I made a decision to do something differently. And I participated in the program the Healing Place so graciously offered. I didn’t always understand it, but I grasped on to the fact that it worked for others. I could see the benefits in others that had come before me. And I wanted the joy and peace that was so visible in them.
Today I am blessed to be where I am spiritually and emotionally. I have a hope and a future that is beyond measure. I no longer have a desire to drink or use and I know what it means to be at peace. I will be forever grateful to the Healing Place. Their motivation is certainly true, for they helped this broken and defeated man “find his way back”.