Is someone you care about struggling with drug addiction?

Have you ever felt like nothing you do is right and no matter what you do it doesn’t work?

Does it feel like you’re second-guessing yourself all the time and coming to grips that there is nothing you can personally do?

Maybe you’ve even felt guilty for the times you enabled the situation, because you didn’t understand it?

This is why Bridges To Hope exists.

My name is Greg Stinson, Executive Director of Bridges To Hope.

I have never used or have been addicted to drugs and, yet, addiction has impacted my entire life. It caused me to lose my relationship, and my daughter lost her mother. 

I got robbed all the time by her and her friends all the time, because of the addiction and drugs.

It consumed my whole life. I felt helpless, powerless, not sure what to do.

I didn’t understand addiction and it was challenging trying to figure out how to cope with it and deal with it, especially while raising my daughter on my own.

I kept trying figure out how this happened, puzzled at how someone can get so caught up in a destructive lifestyle that they lose their child, and why!

I was shocked to find out that, even though it felt like a unique and crazy scenario, it turns out that it’s extremely common.

It was an imprisoning situation, and there was nothing I could do, so I had to cut it off.

I hoped that my daughter’s mother would go through the rehab process and then be in a place to stay around other sober people to learn how to get back into function into normal life. But she chose not to.

Seeing the heartbreaking effect it has on my daughter to not see her mommy and wonder why she isn’t around, strengthened my resolve to make my property a place to create a different path to help other people.

I had a rental home that I converted into a home for her to live with other people who had those same issues but were overcoming them. 

I decided to go to AA meetings and I started to get a better understanding of what was going on. My eyes got really open. In that process, I realized there were things I did do wrong, but that there was nothing I could do to put a stop to the situation.

I discovered that addiction is a big pervasive problem for men and women, and that women’s addiction is much more tied to trauma and relationships, so there is a lot more to deal with.

It has been very healing to learn more about addiction, and how hard it is for people, and to be able to provide a space for people to get better.

There is nothing more that I can do except provide the resources, support, and the space to allow them to help themselves. 

I am grateful that I have much more acceptance about what a horrible disease this is and how many people can’t overcome it.

Even after 6 or 9 month treatments, some come to the house and relapse, and go back to those same behaviors. 

Success rates are low, unfortunately, and at the same time, I’m learning to focus on the successful stories.

Life isn’t better now, it’s actually more stressful, but I feel a greater sense of purpose. I’m energized by the vision of building a community.

There is a hopefulness to it, while feeling greater acceptance that it’s up to them what happens, as you focus on the process and the systems to be the best they can possibly be to bridge the gap between addiction and recovery.

I am thankful you are thinking about embarking on this journey of understanding, acceptance, and hope. I am here to cross those bridges with you.