TLC’s mission is to help recovering alcoholics and addicts rebuild their lives.
And one of the ways we do this is to provide clients with jobs. Some work with us for a few years and build a solid foundation of recovery before returning to the community. In fact, 10% of our 650 clients work for us in some capacity.
They are house managers, cooks, drivers, night security, office support, bookkeepers, store managers, construction and maintenance workers, and so on. Many would have had difficulty working outside the program because they came to us with few skills and little education.
Still others have physical issues that don't allow them to function in a more competitive work environment. Or else they lack good social skills, another problem in a work environment.
Some leave the security of the program prematurely and start looking for a job. And the next thing we hear is that they’re high. Or drunk. They have so little impulse control that at the first sign of adversity they’ll relapse.
Others have spent so much time in jail or prison – some as many as 30 years – that they have difficulty functioning in the real world. Sometimes these clients stay with us for years before they feel comfortable enough to venture into society.
And most of the people I refer to above have no outside resources. Families have given up on them. They have no money. No insurance. Nothing to make a new start in life..
But when these folks succeed it's very satisfying. At the end of the day we feel as if we we've accomplished our mission..
