Breakthru House celebrates 40 years of breaking the cycle of addiction
It was 1969. Things were rapidly changing in the nation and especially in Atlanta. “Downtown Atlanta had changed dramatically as the influx of young people into the nightclub district altered the face of the community around Saint Mark’s United Methodist Church. Rather than avoid the situation, a small group of dedicated ministers decided to make a difference,” according to the Breakthru House, Inc. website. “Glenn Galtere, who was working for Atlanta Urban Ministries (later to become Action Ministries) and ministering to the “night people” in the area; Claude Turner, Minister to the Community at Saint Mark’s; and Bill Tyson, Pastor of Saint Mark’s; met together to discuss opening a house for women who were trapped in the destructive patterns of drugs, alcohol and prostitution and wanted to change their lives.”
They were able to obtain the use of a house on Piedmont Road behind St. Mark’s UMC and “on January 1, 1969, Breakthru House was chartered.” The idea was that the women who were being helped could “break through” to acceptance and spirituality and in doing so; discover a new way of living.” Breakthru House became the first residential recovery program in the state dedicated to women with addiction. Eventually, they had to move, and through donations were able to purchase a house in South Decatur where they are still located. As they continued to grow, they have been able to purchase four additional houses on the same street: one is used for their offices and meetings, one for a resident manager, and two which can house up to 18 women at a time, and one for transitional housing. Breakthru House is one of the ministries of Action Ministries in North Georgia.
According to Barbara Larsen, their clinical director, when the women first arrive, they are enrolled in the DeKalb County day treatment program. The average time they spend in that program is five months. After they complete that program, they begin looking for a job, which, according to Larsen, can be difficult because they must be back at the House by 5:00 p.m. for group sessions. They attend group therapy meetings three times a week, participate in an AA program, and are involved in other group educational activities to learn life skills.
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Kate Boyer, Director of Administration and Development for Breakthru House, shows off some of the art work by the residents in their new art studio |
The average stay at the House is 6-12 months with 18 months being the maximum. The older (those who have been there longer) residents become the leaders, and are given special privileges. One of them will be given a check with a set amount, and will take one of the other women with them and go to the store to buy groceries for the week. They must stay within budget, and provide nutritional meals. Kate Boyer, Director of Administration and Development, stated that about half of the residents come through the criminal justice system which requires that they seek help with recovery. All of the women who are accepted into the program are screened to ensure they have a high possibility of success and that they are out of other options. Most of them are homeless.
When they first arrive, they are not to have contact with anyone for 30 days. The only exception is for women with minor children, and even those visit are limited. Breakthru House survives because of the generous support of its donors, and the 470 volunteers who assist them. Several churches will do work projects at the house to clean up yards, paint, and do other necessary repairs. An eagle scout candidate, as one of his projects, built a shed in one of the backyards for storage of gardening equipment.
Members of the Oak Grove UMC built and equipped an art studio complete with a kiln for firing ceramics. Teachers come in to help the women with their art which is therapeutic as well as fun. A dedicated group of UM women clergy, signup each quarter to teach classes in spirituality. “Once the dates of the classes are posted,” Boyer stated, “the clergywomen fill up the spots within hours. Someone who doesn’t check their email on that day misses out for the next quarter.
In the yard between two of the houses, the women maintain a garden, so they can have fresh vegetables during the growing season. The program is designed to not only help women break the cycle of addiction, but to give them the skills and education they need to return to society and care for themselves and their families. On April 16, they will be celebrating their 40th anniversary. They will have a evening of “Celebrating Light, Life and Recovery” at the Northside UMC beginning with dinner at 6:00 p.m. The keynote speaker for the evening will be William Cope Moyers, Vice President of External Affairs at Hazelden Foundation. He is also the author of Broken: My Story of Addiction & Redemption.
Mission Conference focuses on the spiritual aspects of missions
There have been numerous conferences on how to do missions; the most recent being “Beyond these Walls” which was held back in October. But Elliott Stotler, who is responsible for the Mission Ministry at Atlanta First UMC, wondered about the spiritual side of mission work. “Mostly,” he said, “we focus on the ‘doing’ part of mission work, and not enough on the ‘being’ part.”
“How does spiritual development fuel our mission work?” Stotler wondered. He spoke with his pastor, the Rev. Jim Ellison, who also saw a need to alert people, and especially Methodists, throughout Georgia that there is a rich mission field right there in the heart of Atlanta. He said that for most people “mission work” is something you have to travel some distance to do. Several groups come to Atlanta every year and stay at their church to do mission work in Atlanta, while groups from Georgia go to other states and other countries to work on a project. Ellison did admit though, that there is something to being away from home and in an unfamiliar environment that adds to spiritual experience.
So Ellison and Stotler decided to put together a mission conference that would draw people to downtown Atlanta, and would focus on spiritual formation. It was called “Cultivating Compassion: Perparing Hearts for Mission.” They also felt it was important for people to stay connected once they return from a mission trip and to find ways to “plug into local missions when they come back,” according to Stotler. He stated that at Atlanta First, returning groups will get together for an evening several months after returning to discuss the trip and what they learned from it. He felt mission planning needs to include what the group does in preparation for the trip, what they do while they are there, and what they will do when they return.
Stotler then contacted the Rev. Trevor Hudson, a Methodist pastor in South Africa, who was going to be in the United States for several weeks speaking to other groups around the country. He was able to work Atlanta into his schedule and agreed to conduct the two-day conference on February 27-28. Hudson is also the author of several books on spiritual growth, among them are Questions God Asks Us, and A Mile in My Shoes. The conference contained six sessions led by Hudson with two small group discussions. The sessions focused on the importance of learning to listen, to be present, and to learn from the people not just to build something. Interacting with the people you are there to help, needs to be a major focus of any mission trip. “Too often we just go there and build something, or focus on our work and miss talking with and getting to know the people,” Ellison said.
Hudson told of his many trips back and forth to Africa. Invariably, there would be a group going on a mission trip, and he would usually end up sitting next to someone from the group. He would ask them where they were going, and they would talk about the place and what they were going to do, but not about listening and learning from the people. One of the sessions was titled, “Why are you Crying?” Individuals need to understand their own issues, and need to know themselves before they can effectively interact with others. That should be part of the preparation process. Everyone has a unique story they need to share. About 70 people attended the two day conference. Most of them were laity who are the mission leaders from their churches. Overall, Ellison and Stotler considered the conference a huge success.
On Sunday, March 1, the congregation of the Avondale Pattillo UMC was greeted by a blanket of snow as they left church after the 11:00 service.
