A CRISIS TO CAREER THANKSGIVING: JUSTIN HALL’S STORY

FROM CRISIS TO CARRER: JUSTIN HALL’S STORY

{This series is a collaboration between the Leviza Lazer and Addiction Recovery Care to report on men and women’s struggles as they went from active-addiction to abundant-recovery.  With half of its 400+ employees in recovery from substance use disorder, Addiction Recovery Care (ARC), Inc. is leading the way in Appalachia when it comes to combining drug treatment and vocational training that results in second chance employment. Roughly one-third of ARC’s approximately 450 employees are graduates of an ARC treatment program. ARC believes that the solution to the nation’s workforce issues is lying dormant in the lives of those who are struggling with addiction or alcoholism.}

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What are you thankful for?  Do you have a roof over your head?  Is your family healthy?  Do you have plans for the future?

It’s easy to take these kinds of things for granted. Not for Justin Hall: the 29 year old from Paintsville, KY spent 12 years in active-addiction and today, gratitude is the central theme in his life. While he was in addiction, he routinely felt depressed and hopeless.  “I felt lost with where I was supposed to go in life and I felt like a failure.”

Life itself was a burden for Justin. “In my lowest of lows, I didn’t want to live anymore. I thought things were never going to get better…that I was going to die soon, and that God had abandoned me.” Today, he’s thankful to God to be alive. 

Justin entered treatment on March 27th, 2017 at Sanibel House in Catlettsburg, Ky.  Today, he’s employed at the same center that he says saved his life, working at as a Peer Support Specialist, and helping others walk out their recovery. 

Justin is amazed by his blessings: “I never imagined I would be leading people out of addiction, studying once again in college, and ministering to people.”  

Today, he has a future that he looks forward to: “My future goals include completing my Bachelor’s Degree in Human Services/Counseling at Lindsey Wilson College, and then completing my Master’s Degree in Counseling. I also look forward to growing into other positions at ARC.”

Hall wants people to know that recovery is an option for anyone, no matter how fall they’ve fallen. He insists there’s always hope, provided that you keep faith: “I want people to know that the blessings I’m experiencing in my life and my recovery today, are all because of God’s grace, mercy, and love. He’s a good father!”

For Justin, his work at Addiction Recovery Care is more than work, it’s his passion. “What I do is not a job, but a calling God has placed on my life. I feel so blessed that he called me out to help others.”

Gratitude runs large in the conversation with Justin this season: “I am so grateful for my ARC family. They love without limits, and have loved me back to life. Today, I’m free from the chains of addiction, I’ve went from crisis to career, all because the people of ARC have answered God’s call. My family is so thankful that there was a program like ARC to help me grow into who God intended me to be as well as discover my purpose. They’re thankful to have their son back!”

Gratitude for the walk that defines ARC’s strategy of “From Crisis to Career”:  It’s a message fit for the Thanksgiving Season. 

From all of us at the Leviza Lazer and Addiction Recovery Care: Happy Thanksgiving!

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Addiction Recovery Care’s motto is simple: From Crisis to Career- #FromCrisistoCareer.

ARC is a substance use disorder treatment company based in Louisa. It has outpatient and in-patient facilities around Kentucky. It gives select clients with 60 days of residential treatment the option to become an intern, and to simultaneously continue with their treatment and learn the ins and outs of operating a treatment program.  ARC is combining occupational rebuilding with treatment for addiction to create a continuum for rebuilding lives.    

ARC believes supporting a client’s discovery of a sense of purpose combined with employment is a critical factor in long-term recovery, and it prides itself on helping clients first achieve sobriety and then helping them discover their God-given destiny.