Janet S. is the mother of Billy S., a current client in Phase III of the Turnbridge Men’s Program.

Janet recalled that, after being in and out of treatment for nearly all of his young adulthood, Billy finally became willing to go to long-term treatment. “Billy is 25 and had been in 18 or 19 rehab trips before Turnbridge,” said Janet. “He finally asked if we could possibly send him to long term treatment at Turnbridge. It was a suggestion from his best friend from High School who had completed Turnbridge and is three years clean. So we talked about it, and we talked to the people down at admissions, and decided that we would go ahead with it.”

Janet took full advantage of all the family support at Turnbridge. “I went down for the Family Healing Workshop with Diana Clark and Lauren Springer,” recalled Janet. “It was great. I met a group of parents. They ranged from a grandmother who had just checked her grandson in, to people whose kids had already graduated or were in Phase three and had a year clean, so it was all very reassuring. I then brought my husband down and my middle son down and we went to the Parent Support Group and the Sibling Support Group, and that was great. I went to the Family Education Weekend. It was great, exhausting, but great. I met some nice couples. I already go to Al-anon, but it was important for Billy to see that I was engaged with this process too.”

“Billy seems very happy,” said Janet. “Anytime there has been a period of restlessness he quickly addressed it with his therapist, and his team has been quick to act on it. I have been thrilled with the care he has received.”

“For me, education about addiction was important,” said Janet. “As a consumer, you need to be as vigilant as possible and understand what is an appropriate place.”

“Billy recently asked me to come down for a recovery conference they are having in February that he is speaking at,” said Janet. “I don’t know, is there anything finer in the world than to have your son ask you to come to a recovery conference for a weekend?”

Shane S. is a current client in Phase III of the Turnbridge Men’s Program.

Shane grew up in Annapolis, Maryland and came to Turnbridge at the age of 22 having struggled with anxiety and depression since he was young. Over the course of his youth and young adulthood Shane coped with his difficulties in a variety of maladaptive ways, including refusing to participate at school. “I eventually dropped out of school because I was leaving every day,” said Shane. “I was hanging out with the wrong people.”

Despite Shane’s struggles, he was able to obtain gainful employment, though this eventually became just another major source of stress in his life. “I was an assistant to an electrician so I never knew when I was going to go into work, which gave me a lot of anxiety,” recalled Shane.

Shane recalled that his issues with substance use began to develop around the time his parents separated. “My parents had recently gotten separated, so my house became the party house,” said Shane. “I was spending all my money on weed and liquor. My friends started doing coke so I got into that. I was hanging around in known-to-be rough areas.”

From casual use and partying, Shane graduated to more risky behaviors and that escalation was inevitably what landed him at Turnbridge. “I started selling weed,” said Shane. “I didn’t realize at the time how much anxiety it really caused for me. I'd be getting off work and there would just be people at my house, whether it was my brother’s friends or my friends constantly hitting me up. It got to the point where I was just never leaving my house.” Shane started to notice that his friends weren’t really his friends. “The only friends I had just wanted to do drugs and nothing else. Eventually I realized my friends were really just using me for a place to hang out and a drug connection. I had an idea that my friends weren’t the best for me, but I had been hanging out with them for so long that I didn’t really know how to get away from them.”

One day this hazardous lifestyle took a turn for the worst, and Shane was put in a very dangerous situation. He recounts the story, “Then one day I had a house party. All my friends were in another room, and I was robbed at gunpoint. That shook me up.” Having had a traumatic event happen he left his father's house and went to stay with his mother. “When I told my friends not one of them were the least bit concerned. At this point I realized these people just didn’t care about me.” This confluence of circumstances is what led Shane to ask for help.

“When I got to Turnbridge, I tried to do what was asked. I went to meetings. I tried to get out of my comfort zone and get a sponsor. I still have the same sponsor today,” said Shane. “In Phase II I started volunteering, and really started to make some good friends. People really wanted to be around me. It wasn’t just, ‘do you have this’ or ‘can we go get that.’”

“I also started going to the gym,” said Shane. “It really helped me mentally and I made a friend who was my gym buddy.” One of the things that really helped Shane was the ability to go out and do fun things in sobriety. He felt like he had missed out on so much. Recreation became a big part of his journey to wellness. “I did enjoy some cool recreation activities,” said Shane. “The Escape Room was a cool concept, paintballing was great, we saw some stand-up, saw Lil Baby (rapper) and Nas. I really liked the fishing trips too. I just haven’t been doing anything like that in a long time. I didn’t have the means and I didn’t have anyone who wanted to do that kind of stuff with me.”

“I learned how to manage my time better,” said Shane. “I got a job. In Phase III, I’m starting trade school to become an electrician. I have so many coping mechanisms today for my anxiety, like the gym, meditation, music, walks, even just minor distractions like playing Xbox and watching TV.” Shane reflected that he is still growing and working on his recovery, and cites the support he received from several Turnbridge staff members as key to getting him to where he is today, including that of Chris Nagle, Thayer Gregg, Mac Burns, Will Sisbarro, and Drew Kramer. It’s always a team effort at Turnbridge to help young men build a better life, and now Shane, at 10 months clean and sober, is well on his way.