You don't have a home anymore. Until you do something, we are done.

"When my dad said that to me, it was the defining moment for my decision to change my life," says Frank, who graduated from The Foundry's Recovery Program five years ago.
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"Before I went to prison, I got saved," shares 43-year-old Kevin. "God took away the desire for drugs I'd had since I was a teenager. He opened all kinds of doors for me. I had my own business. I had a wife and kids, and we were happy." Then pride came knocking on Kevin's door. "I'll never forget that day-I decided to get some drugs, and I took that first hit out in my shed. Right then, the devil started in with the lies: "God turned his back on you. There's no hope, there's not a chance."
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Melanie moved back home to Alabama to start her own business, and the next thing she knew, she woke up in the emergency room after a drug overdose. That was a wake-up call, but it was only temporary.
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Michael served his first prison term at 17. Since that time, he'd rarely spent more than a few months outside prison walls. To his father, Michael was little more than a voice on the phone asking for money. To his son 12-year-old son, he was just a guy who rarely came around.
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When I was seventeen I moved in a trailer with the father of my child. I was very stressed and began to experience with drugs. I was getting prescription drugs as my addiction worsened. I was able to get drugs from my father and I was so confused.
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I stole one of my dad's painkillers. I liked the way it made me feel so I continued to take them. My parents found out about this and sent me to a rehabilitation center. I was just at the young age of seventeen. At the time, I just felt like I was on a vacation. I relapsed the day after I was released.
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Overall, I had a very happy childhood in California. However, I did not grow up in a Christian home and both of my parents were “functioning” alcoholics. As such, they often had large dinner parties with friends at our home and I remember it looked like they were having a great deal of fun. When it was time to have the meal everyone would move into a different room and I would go from glass to glass and finish the wine that was left behind. I was about 10 years old and honestly I liked it. This continued whenever they would have parties, and in time I figured out I could just go straight to the liquor cabinet and drink what I wanted.
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The beginning of my journey at FOCUS began on January 18, 2010. Coming to FOCUS was one of the best decisions I took advantage of on this quest to be restored to sanity. FOCUS provided me with the experiences of learning how to live sober.
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Drugs had beaten me down and I was a hopeless and broken woman. A few years before entering into recovery drugs had taken me down a very dark and lonely road. This way of life left me numb and spiritually empty. When my son was born the State of Alabama, DHR, stepped in. They said that I was an unfit mother and they placed him to live with family members. For the next ten months I continued to use drugs and soon realized that something had to change.
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Ten years ago I was broken and a homeless drug addict. I lost everything, including custody of my child. I finally entered Bradford Health Services treatment program and then referred to FOCUS On Recovery for six months. This is where my recovery journey began.
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The year was 1989. Mom died. Then Dad. Then my aunt and niece. All dead within a 90 day period. Emotionally, I was a wreck. Lacking the skills to cope with such sudden and devastating death, I turned to alcohol and drugs to deal with my pain.
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Lawrence is happily married, employed full time with benefits and is the proud owner of a Chevy truck. In addition, he has been clean and sober for nearly 18 months; adding that when he started “hangin’ with positive people”, his life started to change.

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Have you ever been told that you would never amount to much and that you would never accomplish anything of significance? Jerrious heard those words all too often as he grew up struggling to deal with his serious mental illness and drug abuse. Jerrious, diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic, was told his attention span and mental illness would prevent him from earning his high school diploma, going to college and living on his own. His drug addiction only added to his problems.
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Since December, Jesse has disciplined himself to jog 3x-4x/wk in an effort to create new healthy habits, clear his head mentally, and deal with the toxic emotions of 8 years of addiction and substance abuse.
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Eighteen months ago, John lost his job when his employer went out of business. Unable to find work, he eventually drained a healthy savings account, lost his car and finally his home. John’s already estranged relationship with his daughter became worse when he couldn’t pay child support.
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Total despair came to Scott in 2003. His mom, dad and brother had died over a 5 year span. He began using drugs to numb the pain. Unable to cope beside him, his wife left shortly afterwards with his 2 boys. He became homeless.
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At the age of 19 I was violently raped. My whole world fell apart. I began to escape through alcohol and I dropped out of college my junior year. By this time, I was hurting so badly I would have tried anything to stop the pain.
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My name is Tom, I am a faithful believer in Jesus Christ and I have suffered from alcoholism. My childhood wasn’t wonderful but that does not apply to this story. I was a functional alcoholic for about 14 years. I never drank in the morning, never lost my job and never got arrested. This kept me in my alcoholism for many years.
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I was raised by my mother in an extremely tough housing project and despite her best efforts, I quickly became engulfed in the pursuits of the world. My mother developed cancer and passed away while I was a teenager and my situation rapidly spiraled out of control
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Watch the video of James and learn his story of recovery.
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My future husband started becoming abusive but later would be very remorseful about hurting me. I always forgave. Even though we participated in recreational drugs we still attended church and felt like we had a normal life.
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Watch the video of Andrew and learn his story of recovery.
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By the age of 16 I had done almost every drug I could get my hands on and was about to get introduced to the one drug that would take control of my life; crack cocaine.
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Watch the video of Daniel and learn his story of recovery.
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Watch the video of Barbra and learn her story of recovery.
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By the age of 15 I was hooked on Oxycotin and being introduced to methamphetamines. That was the beginning of the long road of my drug abuse. Because of my addiction, I gave up on life, left my husband and my two little girls.
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My name is Jonathan; I’m twenty four years old and grew up outside of Birmingham, AL. I considered myself to have a pretty normal and happy childhood, growing up with a loving mother and plenty of friends. I was active in the youth group in my early teenage years and became a Christian when I was 13. Unfortunately, as I entered into high school I began wandering away from my faith. Instead I chose to follow negative influences and a mischievous curiosity.
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Watch the video of Andrew and learn his story of recovery.
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I was raised in a stable, two-parent, church-attending Christian family. I always felt like something was missing in me and I wasn’t sure what it was or how to find it. As a fifteen year old, I thought I had found what was missing in a new and exciting relationship—I soon became pregnant.
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Watch the video of Deedra and learn her story of recovery.
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Watch the video of Luther and learn his story of recovery.
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I had a great childhood; nothing traumatic happened to me while I was growing up. I was in church every time the doors were open and gave my heart to Jesus when I was eight years old. When I was thirteen, my parents decided to get a divorce.
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Watch the video of Robby and learn his story of recovery.
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I started using drugs recreationally when I was 14 years old. What started as an excuse to party on the weekends quickly became something that totally consumed my life and bankrupted me in every aspect of my being.
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I always felt like I was different from my friends. I questioned everything they believed, especially when it came to religion. My parents took me and my two siblings to church every Sunday, and they did their best to raise me in a Christian way. At the age of 13, I started the question the whole “God” thing, and began to drift away from church and my Christian friends. I very quickly started to fill the gap in my life, created when I removed Christ, with everything the world had to offer.
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Watch the video of J.D. and learn his story of recovery.
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I always felt really insecure and shy and I cared too much about what other people thought of me. I drank for the first time when I was 15 and I loved it. It gave me confidence that I never had before.
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Watch the video of Chris and learn his story of recovery.
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Watch the video of Lanette and learn her story of recovery.
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I was stuck in a cell after my fourth DUI – a serious felony. The judge held off the other court cases just to talk to me. We went to an old court room in the top of the courthouse that no one used anymore. He said I could either go back to my jail cell or enter a program and get some help for my addiction.
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Watch the video of Janet and learn her story of recovery.
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I never had any significant problems with recreational drug use until my mid-thirties. Someone introduced me to methamphetamines and my life has been a downward struggle every since.
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With no spiritual foundation, when my parents divorced my perfect world came crashing down. Instead of sitting in a classroom and graduating with my classmates, I was sitting in jail with no way for me to get out.
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Watch the video of Ervin and learn his story of recovery.
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Watch the video of Vicki and learn her story of recovery.
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I have great memories from my childhood. Nevertheless, I became rebellious toward my family and wouldn’t listen to any of their advice. In failing to do so, I lost many years of my life to serving myself. My rebellion continued to get worse. I began to do drugs and try to fit in with the older crowd and be cool, or so I thought.
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Watch the video of Gene and learn his story of recovery.
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My name is Samantha and I was born May 9^th 1988 in Chicago, Ill. I was born into a poor family that was very negative and abusive. My mother Sheila was twenty two years of age. Who already had three children and was addicted to cocaine and Heroin. My father was 18 and homeless and also addicted to cocaine and Alcohol.
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My name is Adrian and I am 21 years old. When I was growing up, I was very fortunate to have been raised in a Christian home with two Christian parents who instilled Biblical principles in my life. At a young age I started rebelling and doing things my way.
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Watch the video of Latoya and learn her story of recovery.
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