'It's a lifeline': Steps to Recovery program in Pasco County helps veterans after service
Steps to Recovery in Pasco County
A program in Pasco County makes sure veterans have support and get on the right path after they serve our country. The Steps to Recovery program gives them the tools to avoid addiction and loneliness. Mark Wilson reports.
NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - A program in Pasco County makes sure veterans have support and get on the right path after they serve our country. The Steps to Recovery program gives them the tools to avoid addiction and loneliness.
What we know:
Years of service surrounded by their band of brothers can turn into deafening silence. Some veterans become isolated, secluded and lonely, which could lead them down the wrong path.
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Army Veteran Rodger Cowards said, "In the service, you learn to depend on your brother. When you get out of the military, you tend to lose it".
Which led Cowards down a dark road. He added, "when I got bored, I isolated myself and I started abusing".
The backstory:
His story isn't rare, other veterans at Steps to Recovery have been down the same path. Now, the program is their lifeline.
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Army Veteran Hector Cintron has spent the last year and a half with the program, creating a bond with others who know what he's going through.
"The camaraderie helps me solidify that there's a world out there, learn to have fun and don't block yourself out and be secluded," Cintron explained.
He said it helped him climb out of a dark hole.
"The steps program really got me out of a jam in my life," Cintron said. "They gave me a lifeline, they threw me a rope and I'm climbing back out of the situation I'm in."
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The program covers everything from recovery to veteran support to transitional and supportive housing. They require participants to go to several different meetings and courses a week to keep them on the right track.
What they're saying:
Many of those who work there went through the program themselves, including Ramon Lugo, the intake coordinator and clinical educator.
"I got involved in drugs and spent a lot of time in prison," he added.
He's been with the program for eleven years, both through the recovery process and his job.
"Not only do I help them, but I am helping myself," Lugo explained. "I still have scars. You never recover, but you learn to live with them."
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He said he doesn't know what else would give him more pleasure.
Case manager Josh Reinhardt feels the same way.
He said, "It's awesome being part of someone's recovery. Seeing them come in broken and busted, then three to six months later when they have their own home, it's a whole 180 and light in their eyes".
Why you should care:
They know the need is great in the community and that's why they are growing.
They're working on a new construction project, adding thirty beds next year.
"There's a need for it," Lugo explained. "Veterans come back and come back damaged and no one is helping to fix them."
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Those going through the program now know they can make it to the top of the mountain thanks to the program showing them the light.
"It's a lifeline, it helps you keep your head above water," Cinton said.
What's next:
The program will open their new transitional housing by February or March next year.
The project is made possible thanks to Pasco County, the VA James Haley Capital grant and an Opioid Task Force grant.
The Source: FOX 13 gathered this information from veterans who participate in the Steps to Recovery program and those who work with them.