Nick’s Story

“For a long time, I tried to fill a hole inside myself with everything the world had to offer. On the outside, my life looked fine. I grew up playing three sports, got good grades, and seemed like I had it together. But on the inside, I struggled with insecurity, self-worth, and not liking who I was.

What started as harmless partying in high school slowly became something darker. By the time I got to college, my habits had turned into addiction, and I ended up flunking out. At 26, I went to prison, and that’s where my addiction really took hold. Even after getting out, nothing changed. I was still empty, still unhappy, still stuck.

One day, something shifted. The things that once gave me a high didn’t satisfy me anymore. I didn’t want to be around the same people or live the same way. Looking back, that’s when God started taking the desire for drugs away from me.

I was at a motel just minutes from my mom’s house, but I wasn’t allowed to go there anymore. When I reached out, she told me I had burned that bridge. Then she said, “What I can do is send you this link.” That link led me to Teen Challenge — and it changed my life.

Since coming here, I’ve found real self-worth and a purpose bigger than myself. Every bridge I burned during my addiction has been rebuilt. The depression and anxiety I lived with for years have been healed. I proposed to the woman who helped get me here at my graduation, and a week later, our director married us in the chapel.

Today, I wake up excited to go to work. I get to serve these men and pour into the same ministry that gave me my life back. I’m a mentor now. I have my family back. I get to see my daughter every day, and when she runs to me across the parking lot, it reminds me why this matters.

I have hope. I have love. And I finally have a purpose.”