Brad, 27, has been struggling with his addiction for a decade. A quiet and very bright guy, he started with alcohol and when that got out of control, he switched to marijuana. When he developed psychotic symptoms from that he went to pills. In the end, it was methadone maintenance and smoking spice. By this time he had lost everything and found himself living on the street.
Life has hardly been easy for Brad. He grew up without a father and in 2010 he lost 3 family members – his grandfather, brother, mother. The only way he knew to address his emotional pain was to numb it with his chemicals.
Brad came to Helping Up Mission with no other real options. He sat still a while and then decided to listen and really learn. He found some hope, then some answers. Brad says reading the Bible has become emotionally empowering to him. Today, after 9 months at HUM, he has developed a new family from the guys here.
Brad earned his GED while here, scoring extremely high in his favorite subjects – math and science. Now he has a job and, armed with his HS diploma, is planning to go to college and study engineering.
This is why we do what we do – one day at a time,
Pastor Gary Byers
Deputy Director