A Womans View

Written by Nicole Saturday, August 09, 2008

My name is Nicole and I‚'m an alcoholic and an addict. I always thought that if I could just stop drinking, I would be happy. If I could just lay off the drugs, I would be able to accomplish the things I had planned and I would find peace and serenity. Despite the threat of death, emotional destruction, and the shame and guilt that hung over me every minute of every miserable day, I couldn‚'t stop inviting the abuse of my addiction. My parents gave me a choice, treatment or the street. I chose treatment because it sounded like a safe 30 day escape. Although I longed for the personal achievements and accomplishments that would surely follow sobriety, I was extremely frightened by the thought of living my life without the haze and comfort brought on by alcohol and drugs. After 28 days as a patient in a residential rehab for substance abuse, even with the therapy and treatment, I realized that if I went back home I would die. For the first time in my life, I decided that I didn‚'t know best, listened to therapists and supports, and followed suggestions. I admitted I was powerless. God led me to a halfway house in Delray Beach called Healing Properties. Scared out of my mind and willing to do anything to stay sober, I moved into the sober house and immediately began to follow suggestions. The first rule required that I get a sponsor and work the steps.  I had no idea what the 12 steps entailed, but with the support of the girls and guidance from my property manager I began building a foundation as I learned about a solution with infinite possibilities. There are numerous club houses offering daily AA and NA meetings in Delray Beach and surrounding areas such as Boca Raton and West Palm Beach. The rules of the facility and the random drug testing provided the structure I needed to stay focused on recovery. The houses are located off of Atlantic Ave which offered many job opportunities and beaches within walking distance. All of these things made my transition from rehab into real world situations a lot more comfortable. The houses provided a safe, clean, community for this hopeless alcoholic. As the result of getting a sponsor, I was taken through the steps and the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous brought me to a solution that could solve all my problems. That solution is God. I lived at Healing Properties for 8 months and it changed my life in a way that I can‚'t describe in words. I always thought that if I could just stop drinking, I would be happy. If I could just lay off the drugs, I would find peace and serenity. The difference today is that I have found an incredible happiness, unending peace, and a contentment I thought I never deserved, and because of these things, I do not drink, and I have no desire for drugs.

Miracles do happen

Written by Brian Z Friday, July 18, 2008

Basically the turning point in my life came when a friend of mine accepted me at his halfway house; which happened to be Healing Properties. I had been an active alcoholic since I was seventeen years old and my disease progressed to a state of paranoia at which point I was on the brink of death. By the age of twenty-seven I began to lock myself into hotels, crashing on the couch's of friends and staying at my parents house when I could. All of this was brought about by my addiction which was growing stronger as it was weakening my spirit. When recreation turned to habit I was getting high and drunk every day. The paranoia began playing tricks on me and I would talk to myself and scream at the phantoms in my closet to save me. Eventually I became so disheartened that I went to my father and confessed what my life had become. This was my initial attempt at willingness, something I hadn't seen in myself for a decade. Before I ever picked up that first drink, my life was on the path to success, I had everything I could have wanted. My parents were hard working individuals who provided me with love and care. And I had Grandparents who spoiled me rotten. I had two brothers and a sister who loved me unconditionally, the best friends a boy could ask for, and a promising athletic career with the grades to take it to the college level. Although I had a promising future I started to experiment with mind altering substances which grasped my life and turned it upside down. My caring family saw my life crashing in around me, this is when my father found a treatment facility in Delray Beach where I spent three months. This is where I was introduced to Alcoholics Anonymous. After graduation I was fortunate enough to get a bed at Healing Properties, however I was resistant to the structure and accountability that I was encountering there. I was truely convinced that I could acheive sobriety without the twelve steps, structure, or accountability. I left Healing Properties after 3 months and stayed dry for 18 months without working a program of recovery. This state that I was in was more miserable than any of my days drinking or using drugs. The day came when I picked up once more, and in a few short months I had lost my job, my friends and the roof over my head. The final two agonizing weeks of my bender, I was broken and on the verge of suicide. Sleeping in my car begging for change and bathing in pools. I had what most addicts call a moment of clarity, I thought of Tim and Healing Properties. I thought of all the times I had been told that there was a solution to my alcoholism. Finally I had enough and mustered up the strength and courage to call Tim. I spoke to him about coming back. When I got back I had nothing but the shirt on my back. The fact was that I needed structure and accountability in my life if I was going to succeed in sobriety. But more-so I need to get a sponsor and work the twelve steps as outlined in the book of alcoholics anonymous. Healing Properties allowed me to build a strong foundation which outlined how to live my life. I lived at Healing Properties for 9 months the second time working a vigorous program of action. I developed and perfected a set of life skills like showing up for work, being a son to my parents, coming home at a decent hour and cleaning my house to the best of my ability. These are just some of the skill sets i developed while staying at Healing Properties. Today, having over two years sober, my life is beyond comprehension, I help other alcoholics and addicts in need by being a sponsor and taking them through the twelve steps. I am a productive member of society, but helping others at Healing Propeties as the male Property manager is one of the greatest blessings which sobriety has granted me. I am truly blessed to carry the tradition that Healing Properties has produced within the sober community. Healing Properties is a place of great faith and passion and it is my belief that miracles do happen here, I am living proof of that.

A little bit of history

Written by Tim Wednesday, July 16, 2008

I guess I will talk about how it all came about!

I had been selling Real Estate since I was 20 years old. In my late twenties, I was working in South Beach and trying to save enough money to invest in some property of my own. For years I had tried but all of my savings seemed to go into drugs and late nights out. This was just one indicator that I had a problem. I tried to get sober many times…many Treatment Centers, many therapist and many unsavory half-way houses. I finally went to long term treatment in Mississippi, COPAC. After a year there, I was finally ready to come home, to Florida. South Beach didn't appeal to me anymore and I had heard about the Real Estate boom in Delray Beach. I moved here eight years ago found a great Big Book sponsor at Central House, one of the many local Alcoholics Anonymous club houses here. I vigorously dove into the 12 steps with him and started working tirelessly as a Real Estate Salesman, trying to save enough money to buy my first investment. About a year and a half into my stay I had saved enough money to do it. In the mean time I started to learn that Delray Beach is the ‚ Recovery Capitol of the World. What a perfect match! I could combine my two loves; Helping People through Alcoholics Anonymous and Investing in Real Estate.

I found a villa in East Delray Beach, through Harold Jonas, Owner of the Delray Inn, www.sober.com and Koffeeokee Coffee House. At the time, he owned the longest running half-way house in Delray Beach. He became my half-way house sponsor (Insert Giggle). So, I started with 5 beds. I had no idea of what I was in for. I was so naive. I thought that if someone was living at a half-way house they really wanted to get sober. I soon found out that wasn't the case. Rules had to be created and enforced. I lost many tenants initially. But, I knew that I could not start out on this venture if it was going to conflict with my own program that I had been developing with my sponsor and through the Steps and Traditions of AA. Calls to my sponsor went from daily to hourly. I started to bring my Big Book to the house meetings. Interestingly, I found that most of these guys had never been exposed to the solution of Alcoholics Anonymous. Remembering that ‚ Love and Tolerance is our code‚Äù, I trudged on! As time went on word got out that there was a real safe place to get sober if you really wanted to.

I did find an ally in one of the tenants. He had a year of sobriety when I took over the half-way house, had a strong understanding of the program of action (the 12 Steps) talk about in Alcoholics Anonymous, sponsored many men in Delray and became my property manager for the next two years. After his two years of working with me he when on to get his Masters in Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy. He is now working on his PHD, at Barry University, in Miami-Dade County.

There were a few decisions that I had to make early on.

First: Since I had experienced some of the most horrific half-way houses in the country; tenants getting high, no accountability and the physical structure of the buildings falling down, there would be no way that I could live with myself if I allowed this to go on in my own half-way house. Unlike most half-way house owners, I actually own the properties which give me the freedom to renovate and improve whenever and whatever I feel the properties need. I believe that pride in ones environment is crucial! We have spent many a night in crack houses, shooting galleries and street corners and when we get sober esteem building is essential.

Second (And probably the most important thing that I do): I made the decision that during the time (minimum stay of 90 days) that my tenants are staying at Healing Properties, they will hear the message of the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous at least one time in their life. If I can accomplish this, I feel that I have done my job.

Everything else I/we do at Healing Properties stems off those two ideas.

Welcome to The New Healing Properties Blog

Written by Tim Friday, July 11, 2008

 Healing Properties is Proud to Introduce this brand new feature on our site. We hope you enjoy this new feature! Keep Coming Back!