2020 has been a challenging year for the world and the same is true for RYAN Healing Center.
In January, we opened our second home to expand capacity to allow for more room for more women and their children. To see the vision for a second home come into being has been nothing short of miraculous. Those of you who have partnered with us to make this happen, we cannot thank you enough. We can now help twice the amount of women and their children into an authentic life of freedom from addiction.
The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.”
“I truly do not have words to express how grateful I am for the RYAN Healing Center and all its companions. I have been extremely blessed from the moment I walked into the RYAN family. I have received countless donations, gifts, support and love. I am extremely thankful to all who have helped me in my recovery journey. My daughter gets to have a healthy, happy mommy and without the extended sober house RYAN family I don’t know where I would be. Thank you does not seem to cover how truly blessed I feel to have received such love.”
This year one of our residents, Ashley delivered her newborn daughter for our first newborn resident, Willow Grace. Willow just turned a year old and her mother Ashley is a great mother and able to be the mother God intended her to be. We cannot do what we do without your support!
Lisa's Miracle
My name is Lisa and right now I have 28 years of on and off cocaine usage addiction in my life. My newest clean date is July 21st 2019.
RYAN Healing Center is exactly what the name stands for and implies, Regenerate Your Authentic Nature plus Healing Center. Entering the program has helped me on the course of healing. I have had the opportunity to focus on myself, the wounded emotions, the repressed hurt, the triggers that turned me back to numbing with drugs, but mostly restored a relationship with a forgiving and loving God. I am no longer on prescription medication for bipolar, as holistic remedies have replaced them. I would like to add that God has met me right where I am at and has provided "every" need I have encountered. On this journey I'm finding my authentic self and it has been freeing, exciting and a little fearful. I find trust and faith growing in God daily. He is supplying me with proper therapy groups and resources to help me heal and succeed. I've had several years of abstinence but in that I never heal the wounded emotions I've denied having my whole life. Being at RYAN Healing Center has been my new beginning and fresh start. Getting educated and healing the proper way to fulfill my plans and purpose in life.
Numbers 6:24-26
The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you; And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you And give you peace.
This scripture is extremely powerful as I sit and reflect on my testimony this morning. Like a lot of people 2020 has been the hardest year of my life. After 5 years of sobriety and helping others with their sobriety and thinking I had all the tools to remain sober, I was sadly mistaken. My life dramatically changed on January 26, 2020 when we found my husband deceased from suicide. Soon after that COVID-19 hit and all the tools that I had simply went out the window as I began to isolate and not process the grief and loss. As a result I relapsed almost taking my own life. Through this relapse I lost our son to the Department of Children and Families. God sure does know what he is doing as he called Jennifer Barth to my life and she asked me to come to RYAN Healing Center. The things I have learned here have strengthened my faith, being able to identify with what God says about my life, and of course by working the 12 step program of AA that has changed my life to the point that words could never explain. Through this process and my past, the Department of Children and Family’s wanted to remove my son from me with a goal of adoption. Today I have to say God is so amazing and having faith in Him and His promises and through the support and love of everyone here, the goal is changing. They are now talking about offering a case plan to me so that my son can come home. Through humility and accepting my part in this situation, hard work, dedication, and letting God guide my feet, my son will have his mom happy and whole. I am so grateful today for exactly where I am at and every person and door that has been opened to me to finally have that sustainable recovery I was lacking.
2020 Challenges & Growth
Shortly after the opening of our second home, our world changed dramatically with COVID-19. RYAN Healing Center remained open and suddenly had to re-prioritize the little funds we had to supporting the women in the home who were suddenly jobless. Recovery meetings shut down, treatment centers shut down, and much of our country shut down. We continued to have open support group meetings at our homes and bravely adapted our healthy routines to keep supporting recovery in our homes and in the community. We tripled the amount of healing retreats with Lifecare that the women in our program attend for emotional, spiritual, and physical healing. We have continued to develop our partnerships with Lifecare, Into the Jordan, Love and Compassion Ministries, Archway Institute, Kimmies Recovery Zone, SWFL Coalition Against Human Trafficking, Lee County Coalition for a Drug-Free Southwest Florida, and more partnerships with other organizations with similar missions. Our Outreach Specialist Jennifer Barth became certified with the Florida Certification Board as a Recovery Peer Support Specialist, our House Manager celebrated 30 years of sobriety, and we added great talent to our board of directors.
Hope In Uncertain Future
Though the future is more uncertain than it was for our world in the beginning of this year, we are certain to continue to be a lighthouse of hope in the darkness of addiction. We know we have yet to see how this pandemic has truly affected the long standing epidemic of addiction but understand that statistically addictions, alcoholism and related deaths are increasing. We need your support more now than ever. We expect more women to seek help than ever before and we need to be there for them. We want to be ready for whatever comes our way. Your ongoing support can be offered in a myriad of ways. If you have a special call on your heart to serve with us, let us know! We always need volunteers to mentor and lead recovery, life skills, and biblical classes to equip the women with the tools they need in their new life of freedom. We need transportation means like bikes, vehicles, Uber gift cards and bus passes. You can always sponsor a woman and a child’s first month in our program or during a mother’s maternity leave. We trust that God will lead you in how you can support us. Thank you for all you are and all that you do!.