Clean & sober: Program puts recovery efforts in hands of addicts

By LAUREN RUSSELL for the Missoulian

Joseph Grady is very proud of his home.

Spacious, tidy and decorated with his own colorful artwork, the ground-floor apartment is a perfect place for Grady, a single parent, to raise his young son.

And it is conveniently located right below his former recovery home, Next Step Housing, the place that helped him overcome the alcoholism that two years ago left him with nowhere else to go.

It took a while to get here.

Both Joseph Grady, left, and Andrew Wells have battled drug and alcohol addiction for years but are beginning to get their lives back together with the help of Next Step Housing in Missoula. “This environment gives you the opportunity to see yourself and your behavior mirrored in

Grady, 37, is a recovering alcoholic and drug user originally from Browning. He started and failed two government-mandated treatment programs before arriving at the door of Next Step Housing. The nonprofit transitional recovery home was founded in 2006 by then-University of Montana graduate student and recovering alcoholic Matthew Hopkins.

When Grady knocked on Hopkins' door on Oct. 11, 2006, he had hit rock bottom.

“I was just leveling off after a pretty serious alcohol bender and was calling around for treatment facilities and halfway houses,” Grady said. “I was on pretty shaky ground.”

Though the house was full to capacity with six men in residence, Grady's desire to change persuaded Hopkins to make space for an extra bed in the house's intake room. The original arrangement was for Grady to stay for two months in the upstairs communal living arrangement.

He had tried to get sober before. But previous attempts by the state to force him to quit drinking didn't work. He said he doesn't respond to being told what to do.

“I had no desire to quit drinking or stop using then,” Grady said. “I was just jumping through hoops.”

This time around though, something was different. There were no forced group sessions, no required treatment plans. Hopkins had two basic rules for the house: Keep it sober and keep it clean.

As long as Grady found a job, completed his chores, paid the rent - $350 per month - and put in the effort needed to achieve sobriety, his treatment was up to him.

“Matthew's effort to take a really hands-off approach really contributed to my success at staying sober,” Grady said. “Recovery is on your own. We were expected to live up to certain expectations, but it really put it into the hands of the individual.”

Living with five other men struggling to get sober was also instrumental in Grady's quest for sobriety. Not only were the other men's successes supportive and instructive, but so were their failures.

“This environment gives you the opportunity to see yourself and your behavior mirrored in other people,” Grady said. “That's one of the primary benefits of this communal environment - being surrounded by people who behave in this disease the same way I do. It helped me recognize these things in myself.”

Almost two years since he first arrived at Next Step, Grady is sober, employed and enrolled full time at the University of Montana, concentrating on Native American studies and social work. About a year and a half ago, he moved out of the upstairs community and into one of the apartments that Hopkins rents out. After two years in business, Hopkins counts Grady as one of the nonprofit's two greatest success stories.

Andrew Wells is another. Wells, a recovering alcoholic and cocaine addict from Corpus Christi, Texas, was referred to Next Step by the Warm Springs Addictions Treatment and Change program, which provides male fourth-time DUI offenders with the opportunity to receive treatment in lieu of jail or prison time. Wells, 47, was on his second go-round with the WATCh program when he heard of Next Step.

Like Grady, Wells came to Hopkins ready to change.

“I was tired of having this great life and then watching it all go down the drain,” Wells said. “I had kept trying on my own and that wasn't working out for me. I just kept going back to the same thing.”

For Wells, the cleanliness of Next Step's living arrangements convinced him to stay. Compared to the shabby and squalid halfway houses he had seen before, Next Step, with its cozy living area, spotless kitchen and spacious bedrooms, was a sanctuary.

The house made Wells feel safe and comfortable, which in turn made him want to help keep the place in good shape. He thinks the sense of ownership and obligation that the house's slower turnover rate instills - the average stay by residents is six to nine months - contributes to higher treatment success rates because residents are made responsible not only for themselves, but for the rest of the house.

Hopkins runs a tight and clean ship. Residents are given house chore lists in addition to keeping their own rooms clean, and even one dish left in the sink earns a reprimand from Hopkins.

“These guys get to live in a nice environment, and it helps build their self-esteem to keep the place clean for themselves,” Hopkins said.

Wells, who moved into a downstairs apartment in April, is now sober, employed full time and working to pay off his debt and finish his college degree. Like Grady, Wells said he responded better to Hopkins' beckoning rather than prodding method in terms of his recovery.

“Matthew is really encouraging as long as you're moving forward,” Wells said. “He will step up and say ‘You're not moving, you're stagnant and that's not what this place is about. If you're not helping yourself, there's nothing I can do for you.' ”

Hopkins, 55, knows firsthand how hard it is to break the cycle of addiction when stuck in the same destructive environment. Sober since 1997, Hopkins blew through two treatment programs and amassed four DUIs before he decided to leave his home in Wyoming and move to Montana to complete his GED and attend college.

Removing the addict from the addictive environment is the key to recovery, Hopkins said, which is an element in the recovery process that most court-ordered treatment programs don't have.

“We provide a clean and sober place for the residents, which can be a big obstacle to find when you get out of treatment,” Hopkins said. “At this time in these guys' lives, drinking is all they've done ... and an establishment like this really helps them get back on their feet.”

Hopkins wears two hats at Next Step: house manager upstairs and private after-care counselor down below. He said that while he is basically on call 24 hours a day every day, the residents are mostly self-sufficient and proactive in achieving their own sobriety.

“There are some people who don't want to try and they fall behind and are eventually asked to leave,” Hopkins said. “I will welcome people back if they relapse as long as they're willing to try.”

Hopkins always tries to find new activities for the men to engage in to fight boredom and isolation - high risk factors for a relapse. He recently purchased three pontoon boats to take house fly-fishing trips.

“Change is so tough, and finding a new environment with new social networks is probably the key to success,” Hopkins said. “(Grady and Wells) are atypical successes in that they are extraordinary guys who've taken the foresight to stay close to the recovery home, to stay connected to the treatment community.”

Grady said he appreciates the support of someone like Hopkins who has been in recovery longer and wants to lend his help to the man and facility that gave him a fresh start.

“Any new guy who comes into the house can knock on my door and come talk to me, or get help with anything they need,” Grady said.

Wells likes to watch the arrivals and departures of those who come in fresh from treatment programs. He observes their successes and failures and takes notes for his own life. Though he said he is content in this phase of his recovery, he doesn't want to get too comfortable.

“Living here helps keep it real for me,” Wells said.

Lauren Russell is a newsroom intern at the Missoulian. She is a journalism student at the University of Montana.