This past month, several clients in Phase III of the Turnbridge Women’s Program took a day trip to iFLY Indoor Sky Diving in Westchester County, NY.

iFLY simulates the free fall experience of sky diving in a vertical wind tunnel with wind speeds up to 150MPH. While many clients were nervous going in to this event, it ended up being a huge hit. “The instructor was knowledgeable and very helpful, which put everyone at ease,” said Brittany Trotta, Director of Recreation at

“This was the best rec event we have ever been on,” said one Phase III client.

“We cannot wait to go back again, having fun like that makes this process of recovery not as hard,” said another.

Skylar K., a current Phase 3 client in the Turnbridge Women’s Program, was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee.

Skylar was blessed with many natural talents. In high school, Skylar was the captain of her soccer team, played on the lacrosse team, and performed well academically. “I used school as an escape,” confessed Skylar. “I put so much effort into doing well so I could make sure I could do no wrong in other’s eyes.”

Skylar had her first experience with alcohol during her sophomore year of high school. “It quickly took control of my life,” said Skylar. “During my junior year I went to treatment for the first time and was able to stay sober for a few months after leaving there. It just kept going on and on and my grades were suffering. One of the things in my life that I took pride in was falling by the wayside.”

As her drinking continued to escalate, her performance in other areas began to suffer as well. “I showed up to one of my soccer games drunk once and was benched as the captain for the whole game,” said Skylar. “This is when I realized there was a problem. Alcohol was clearly making some of my decisions for me.”

“Half way through my senior year I was sent to Turnbridge and honestly, at first, I was terrified,” said Skylar. “I was 17 years old and it just felt like so much. But, when I met the other girls at the Prospect House, which is beautiful, I felt I was going to be taken care of. Everyone was welcoming. The staff are cool and I felt a little better.”

“The connections and friendships I have made at Turnbridge are so different from the ones I made earlier in my lifetime,” said Skylar. “The bond is so real, deep, and filled with raw emotion. It is unlike anything else. My case managers walked me through very hard situations, you can tell they are there for me. They hold me accountable, care about how I am doing and what I am doing about it.”

“At first, when I put down the drink my life got worse,” said Skylar. “I struggled with certain things with my mental health. I had to ask for help and the staff and the girls all rallied around me. I developed new ways of coping and learned to deal with unhealthy thoughts, impulses, anything that gets put in front of me.”
“My relationship with my family coming into this program had no trust,” said Skylar. “They didn’t know what to do with me. They were full of fear and clearly hoped that Turnbridge could do something. For the first few months, nothing changed and I would get in fights with them. But after a while I realized that wasn’t the way to go about it and after one humbling experience after another, and help from therapists, who are all awesome, the relationship with my family has improved immensely.”

Skylar is now finishing high school while here at Turnbridge in addition to holding a volunteer position at Benchmark Senior living. “I go there a few hours a week and serve ice cream to the residents there and I love it,” said Skylar.

“For a long time I held fear in,” said Skylar.“Eventually I was honest about it, which made this whole process a lot easier. My family and everyone else has been so helpful during this journey and it’s all due to my time here working on myself.”

Turnbridge Alumni, Justin F. grew up in northern Virginia, right outside of Washington D.C.

Justin was adopted by two loving parents and grew up an only child in an idyllic neighborhood.

Justin’s difficulties with substance use began when he switched from a public high school to a private school.  “It was actually worse there,” said Justin. “The kids had more money and were into harder drugs and could obtain them more easily.”

Justin’s first experience with alcohol came at a social gathering with his baseball time. “I didn’t have white light moment the first time I used alcohol or marijuana like a hear many people say,” said Justin. “At first, I wasn’t really a huge fan of it and could stop easily.”

But eventually this would change for Justin. “It started to get bad during the summer of my senior year,” said Justin. “And then I turned 18 years old, headed off to college, and just started partying as much as I could. My drinking progressed from there. I would drink every night at college, which eventually caused me not to go to class or do homework. I started drinking before work too, sometimes at 9:00am in the morning.”

“July of that year I got caught driving drunk with a blood alcohol content of 4 times the legal limit,” said Justin. “I was sentenced to complete a rehab stay in Jacksonville, Florida. I completed treatment and moved up to a sober house outside of D.C. I stopped going to meetings, then drank again. It was every night again, and then every day. Before work, after work, it became very sloppy and I got kicked out of the sober house.”
“I moved home and a week after that I drank so much I went into a coma,” said Justin. “I woke up in the hospital and told my parents to take me to treatment.” Justin’s parents found Turnbridge and he was enrolled shortly thereafter.

“Turnbridge was not easy, but I got through it and graduated,” said Justin. “Now, over a year later, I’m a Support Staff member at Turnbridge, all my friends are in recovery, I go to the gym regularly, I’m a member of the local recovery community, and I’m taking classes.
“Turnbridge helped me learn how to be content,” Justin finished.