Wade, 34, works each day at ARC (Addiction Recovery Care) as a chaplain and peer support specialist. He is a sponsor for other guys and encourages them to stay sober. He attends Bible study on Monday nights and goes to church regularly. But he has not always been this way.

In fact, Wade has been addicted to some version of drugs and alcohol since he was nine years old. He lived in the country where there wasn’t much entertainment, and he felt a part of the group of older guys who were doing meth, then OxyContin, then heroin.

He graduated from Pendleton County High School where he played sports until they started drug-testing, when he dropped out.

Now Wade knows himself better than ever in his life and knows that he cannot do anything in moderation. He came from a good family with a loving mother and step-dad, and for a long time they were unaware of his addictions. Finally even his mother quit giving him money, no matter what excuse he gave.

He is a four-time convicted felon. He has been incarcerated in at least six different counties. The first time the person who was helping him get metal from her parents’ home (for him to sell) denied her involvement and he was convicted of burglary. He was convicted twice for heroin possession, and the last time was for not paying child support. His children are ages 12, 5, 4, and 2. He no longer has a relationship with either mother except for arranging for visits with his children.

Before coming to Reset, he was sent to Belle Grove Springs ARC center near Flemingsburg, Kentucky, for 30 days. At first he was disgusted that it was faith-based, but now he knows that God was looking out for him. God spoke to him as the preacher was talking and he knew he needed to turn his life over to God. He was saved there and baptized in a nearby lake.

Phase 2 sent him to Northern Kentucky where a case manager put him into Reset. The goal of ARC is “crisis to career.” First he worked at Panera, then for Grant Dawson at Gutter Boys, and now at ARC.

He is now in a 12-step anonymous program as well as attending three sober support meetings a week. He has been at Reset 16 months and clean and sober 17 months. He will leave the Reset house when he graduates in January. He has made a deposit on an apartment to share with another Reset alumni.

Wade has had much support from the START program—Kentucky Sobriety Treatment And Recovery Team. Their intervention model helps not only the addicts but their children in fighting substance abuse. He relies on God to help him stick with it, praying throughout each day that he will stay clean and sober. His sober support sponsor gives him supportive ideas. Wade also is a sober support sponsor for other guys, and that puts pressure on him to stay sober.

“I know I can’t do it on my own,” he says. “It’s God that will help me overcome my addictions. I depend on him every day.”