Addicts Without $

I received an e-mail from an out-of-state counselor, saying she'd referred several "desperate" addicts to our facilities in Arizona and Nevada. And she also made a comment about TLC being the only place an addict can get into without “having a cent." Her remark reveals the secret of our success.

Experience has taught us that when addicts or alcoholics show up with money they probably aren't done. Somehow, the alcoholic brain can find a shred of control in such circumstances. On occasion we’ve told addicts who show up with cars, luggage, and a girlfriend, to go back and continue to drink or drug until they lose everything. While we don't always do this, we’ve done it on occasions when an applicant seems very full of himself. While this might be judgmental on our part, our experience shows us when addicts haven’t hit bottom they have a more difficult time getting sober. For those of us who’ve had our asses beat by drugs and alcohol there is absolutely no question about our control – or more specifically – lack of control.

Some who run programs ask us how we make it financially when we take people in with no money. And you know, that's a very good question. After all, everyone needs to pay their bills no matter how pure their aspirations and goals. But somehow we've always been able to pay our bills. Our experience has been that we collect about 85% of the money we charge. I believe that when we have a strong mission in life somehow God intervenes with help.

We've never been able to obtain grants. Addicts are way down on the list when it comes to passing out money. Even though we live in more enlightened times, somehow the idea of providing funding for those healthy enough to work and care for themselves is not very attractive. I agree. I believe charity should go to the helpless and hopeless. There are children who need financial help. There are senior citizens who can't care for themselves. We succeed because we’ve learned how to economize. Most nonprofits spend 80% of their income on salaries and management, where we spend only 20%.

One way we accomplish this is we use clients to help run the program. The state allows us to use clients to help run our program as part of their recovery process. And it works well for them and for us. Many of our clients have never worked in the real world. Many men don't know how to shave and clean up to go to a job. Often the women don't know how to groom themselves so that they are presentable in a corporate workplace. However, when we hire them to work within our program we teach them basic job skills that will help them become employable once they graduate. This type of training results in savings for us and benefits our clients. Many of our clients have left our program and gone on to find well-paying jobs in construction or in the business world.

We just had to show them they could do it and give them the skills they need to do the work.