Ricky arrived at Helping Up Mission 14 months ago. An alcoholic, he’d messed up his career, his health and his family relationships.
He wound up at Johns Hopkins Hospital for both his addiction and medical condition. When his health stabilized, he joined their Intensive Outpatient Substance Abuse Program.
While an outpatient program, many of the men are homeless with no place to stay. So 7 years ago, Hopkins made arrangements with us and they reside on our campus.
Not doing our 1-year Spiritual Recovery Program, they’re still part of our HUM family. That’s how we got to know Ricky.
After successfully completing his Hopkins treatment, Ricky still had no place to go. His health wasn’t good enough to work every day, so he transferred over into our year-long program.
That’s when I got to know Ricky. A quiet guy, he was in my class every day and slowly began to open up about his life.
His health also got better and Ricky got comfortable in his new situation. As a member of our Program, he had a daily work therapy responsibility and it gave him some self-esteem, again.
By the time Ricky finished our 1-year program, he was working here as an intern. Since things had not quite come together yet, he decided to stay a bit longer in our Graduate Transitional Housing.
The plan finally came together and Ricky left this week. An exciting time for him, he stopped by my classroom to say good-bye.
We shook hands, then hugged, and Ricky began to cry. HUM was now family, too, – a great big dysfunctional family! – and he was going to miss us.
We’ll miss Ricky, too! But that’s why we’re here – help a guy recovery his life so he can get back out there and make a contribution, himself. This week it was Ricky’s turn.