Tag: passion projects

Cycle-ology: A Passion Project Story

Posted on May 26, 2021 - 8:59 am by

For young men beginning their journey in recovery, one of the most common misconceptions is that once drugs and alcohol are given up, life is destined to be boring and empty. At Green Hill, we strive to make sure that our residents have ample evidence to the contrary.

Will (28) had been struggling with addiction for years, his world becoming smaller and smaller. He described living life feeling lonely, detached, depressed, and aimless. Despite recognizing the need for treatment, and appreciating the potential structure of a transitional living program, Will still harbored many concerns about recovery and how it would impose limitations on his life and future.

Drew (20) knew he needed help and wanted to change his trajectory, but he was worried about losing the freedom to pursue the things he loved while in treatment. One of the most important parts of Drew’s life was outdoor activities like hiking and biking, and he felt skeptical that he’d still be able to follow his passions during treatment. He wasn’t sure if a program like Green Hill would allow him any opportunities for fun or to pursue his own interests.

These concerns are common for incoming clients at Green Hill. They recognize that while structure is an important part of a sober living environment, they also desire space to explore and pursue their interests. We believe it is part of our mission at Green Hill to ensure our residents have ample support to pursue their passions. We have built a culture which encourages teamwork, human connection, and growth. For Will and Drew, we found some unique ways to help them feel like they belong and experience the freedom to explore. 

Working with Will and Drew, we found that a shared love of the outdoors and the support of our staff helped them become Green Hill’s resident expeditionary adventure team. As of this writing, Will and Drew have just returned from a self-planned camping trip and hike with other residents and are already planning the next one. And that’s not all!

In addition to hiking and camping, Will and Drew both enjoy biking. In fact, several other residents brought bikes and enjoy riding. The revelation that biking was a shared interest among residents inspired Will and Drew to create something cool for the house. As their service project, Will and Drew built a specialized bike rack and storage system to help accommodate all Green Hill’s bikers and outdoorsmen, current and future.

At Green Hill we are proud that our residents have an opportunity to pursue their passions in recovery, and feedback from residents tells us this support goes a long way at making recovery feel meaningful. 

As an example, Will told us: “I feel Green Hill does a great job in helping incubate client ideas and energy in a positive way.” 

Drew also found his passion project work at Green Hill very rewarding. He says: “It was great to revive my woodworking skills for our bike rack, and I enjoyed giving back to the house. It really felt like I accomplished something.”

We believe our cultural commitment to building exciting and fulfilling lives is key to our identity. We find that lasting recovery rests not in the absence of relapse alone, but in rediscovering the things which make our lives exciting as well. Drew and Will certainly accomplished something special and we thank them for leaving their mark on the Green Hill community.

The Right Ingredients: A Passion Project Story

Posted on February 25, 2021 - 1:07 pm by

Will was a bit apprehensive before coming to Green Hill. Being in his late 20’s, his concern was whether or not he would connect with the community in the house because he figured he would be significantly older than most of the other guys.

“I was coming from a challenging period of my life,” says Will. “My addiction had taken me to a pretty lonely and dark place; living in a halfway house, drinking and getting away with it. I had to get up at 6am to drink in order to avoid withdrawals.”

Having been through treatment before, Will was anxious to progress in the program and as many Green Hill guys do, was wondering what his Passion Project might be. Immediately, he became an asset to the community with his empathetic listening and sharp sense of humor. 

Not long after his arrival, our team was overwhelmingly impressed by both Will’s intelligence and earnestness in recovery. He began contributing to our house the moment he arrived, and was always happy to talk to staff about a wide range of subjects.

However, it soon became apparent that Will wanted support in other areas of his life as well. One major area he wanted support in was in how to prepare delicious and healthy food.

This was an excellent opportunity for a Passion Project! We matched Will up with Chef Brian, a local chef who is also very active in recovery and frequents the Green Hill house.

Chef Brian agreed to begin meeting with Will to mentor him and provide cooking lessons. What emerged was a weekly personalized cooking class for Will. Will came in with a beginner’s mind and quickly absorbed important life lessons. Will noted “the most important things I learned was how to plan meals and effectively shop for groceries.” There were other benefits as well. Chef Brian made sure that Will learned multiple recipes, fundamental and advanced cooking and food preparation techniques. Ultimately Will became much more comfortable in the kitchen.

After several months, Will is an old hand in the kitchen and has become more comfortable in the community as well. “I felt really welcomed and supported by the community at Green Hill and was able to connect well with the guys here” says Will. 

Staff too noticed a change. “After Will began his cooking class I noticed a huge shift,” said Michael O’Sullivan, a Green Hill Program Facilitator, “he’s definitely become more comfortable and energized. One specific thing which has been awesome to see is how Will has taken an active role in cooking community dinner on Sunday nights.” 

Will also started to notice a change in himself, saying “I have become more comfortable being honest about when I am struggling and asking for help.” Since being at Green Hill, Will has begun working again full time and has plans to finish school. 

Will is still growing and adjusting to new challenges around food, Now that he’s working full time, keeping up with his healthy cooking routine has been a difficult balance to maintain. However, he still feels that Green Hill and his Passion Project have helped provide him a foundation to build upon and move forward.

Food knowledge has always been a part of our culture at Green Hill. On Sundays we have a community dinner where clients and staff make dinner for the whole community together.

Green Hill prides itself on its ability to facilitate enriching activities and pursuits for our residents. 

Ultimately, that’s what our Passion Projects are all about: helping our guys find their “thing” and then working out a plan of action to foster and support the pursuit of that passion. Our mission is always to bring hope and joy back into the lives of our young men. 

Color Coded: A Passion Project Story

Posted on November 9, 2020 - 8:16 am by

Our story begins, as many do, with a talented young man who felt very much “on the outside” when it came to social interactions. From there, Liam eventually gravitated towards both substance use and using art to express himself. At first, Liam only used drugs and alcohol occasionally with his peers, but his use began to ramp up dramatically as he got older. Unfortunately, the isolation and anxiety he felt only increased.

“Before treatment, my life was closing in on me and I saw no way out,” says Liam. “A few weeks before leaving for rehab I had a horrible LSD experience, and it only intensified the feelings of irrelevance and worthlessness. At the end of my active addiction I was doing nothing to better myself.”

Eventually, Liam’s parents found out about the scale of his use and decided to intervene. After attending a 90-day treatment program, both Liam and his parents were confused as to the next steps. Did he return home and potentially fall back into his previous cycle? Did he relocate to a new city? Or should he continue to engage in the treatment process in a more structured environment?

After some back and forth and counseling with the team at his rehabilitation clinic, Liam eventually decided to join Green Hill to further ground him in the culture of recovery.

One of the most exciting parts of watching residents enter our program is seeing what first ignites their passion. When he first arrived, Liam seemed unsure what to make of the Green Hill program. One day, our team at the house watched in amazement as Liam spent hours creating a complex and abstract art piece using just a pad of paper and colored pencils. Our team quickly found that the quickest way to get Liam to open up was to ask him about his art work.

“My art aids in my recovery because it provides an emotional outlet that I can always pick up,” says Liam. “My art really feels like my voice, and I love that I can speak through it at any time.”

When our program team mentioned spray painting at nearby NC State’s Free Expression Tunnel as a regular weekday activities, we saw Liam really come alive. Arming himself with a number of spray paint cans, Liam parked himself in front of a spare section of wall and worked on a single, elaborate design.

Recognizing the positive potential in Liam’s focus, our program team and Liam began planning his Passion Project. We scheduled a graffiti workshop for Liam and a couple other interested clients with Morgan Cook, a renowned muralist and graffiti artist whose works can be found all over North Carolina’s capital city.

“I really loved my graffiti lesson. Morgan is a very talented artist and he has so much knowledge about street art! He is also a fantastic teacher, and made the techniques and lessons very accessible,” says Liam. “Now, when I look at really elaborate tags I used to think as impossible, I see them as something I can accomplish. I think this will help me expand my abilities as an artist and I’m excited for the journey.”

Cook, who is perhaps best known for his impressive typography and The Alphabet Project, a partnership with the city of Raleigh where Cook embeds a single letter of the alphabet in notable spots across our city, also benefited from the lesson.

“Teaching the class for Green Hill was a humbling experience,” says Cook. “When I was younger, I always wanted someone to show me how things were done, so being able to pass on real knowledge about the culture was fulfilling. We talked about everything from spray paint control to the history of graffiti, and it seemed like they thoroughly enjoyed the class.”

In addition to Liam, another resident, Ian, a recent graduate to our step-down program, also attended the graffiti session.

Ian enjoys the therapeutic aspect of painting. Arriving at our program soon after the beginning of the pandemic, our offices are covered in canvases Ian has branded with his own style of oil painting. Even though Ian no longer lives in the Transitional Living house, he is often seen participating in our house activities, and jumped at the chance to learn some techniques from a master.

Whatever their passion is, Green Hill simply wants our residents to know that we are here to provide support for their healthy aspirations. As a team where many of us are in recovery as well, we understand first hand that a little support at a key period can make a lasting and life-changing difference.

We’re excited to see where Liam and Ian apply the lessons they’ve learned in their Passion Projects and thrilled to see what future residents might set out to accomplish!

While you’re here, check out a few of our previous Passion Project stories below.

Voices Heard: A Passion Project Story

Posted on September 8, 2020 - 8:04 pm by

A sad fact of substance use disorder is how it robs the sufferer of so much joy. Hobbies that once seemed to drive the sufferer fall quickly to the wayside. Often, intoxication is so mingled with activities and hobbies that people in recovery wonder whether they will ever be able to enjoy anything, much less branch into new areas. 

In our Transitional Living program, we’ve learned that a bored and disinterested resident typically doesn’t thrive in recovery. With that in mind, our Passion Projects initiative is working hard to facilitate our clients positive aspirations, and nowhere is that more evident than with our more musically-inclined residents.

Music plays an important role in our everyday lives, and so it naturally is ever present in our program. Whether music is playing in the van on the way to a 12-step meeting, is a part of a programmed activity, or one of the residents is selecting their favorite lofi mix for study hall, there’s always some sort of soundtrack unfolding on our campus. For some of our residents, listening to music isn’t enough. They feel a drive to create it.

Spearheading one of our first Passion Projects were two residents with a talent for hip-hop. At first just close friends with similar music tastes, they turned what was initially a fun pastime into something much more. Program Facilitator Caleb Barnhart saw the dynamic these two residents were achieving and knew it could motivate them further. 

“Recovery is both essential and fantastic for these guys, but it’s not something they can just talk about 24/7,” says Caleb. “I saw how excited and inventive these guys got while making music, and knew it was something we could use to push them in the right direction.”

Hooking the guys up with studio time and pragmatic goals to reach in exchange for meeting programming expectations turned out to be exactly the type of incentive they needed. Now independently living in the city of Raleigh, we’re happy to report that this artistic endeavor and the friendship that supports it continues.

A newer resident, Jack, is not someone who initially considered treatment as someplace to have fun. But when Jack heard about the Passion Projects initiative, he found himself feeling excited because he did have a passion he wanted to pursue. Jack reached out to Caleb and asked if Green Hill would be willing to connect him with a vocal coach to assist him with singing training. Of course, we were thrilled to do that.

Jack with his vocal instructor, practicing harmonizing.

Jack values his vocal lessons not only for the instruction, but the time it offers him to reflect. “Practicing singing helps me disconnect from whatever stressful environment I find myself in,” says Jack. “When I practice my passion, I feel like it’s aiding my mental and spiritual health. I like the lessons because they provide an outside connection, and my teacher is someone fantastic to talk to.”

In addition to providing a healthy outlet, Jack believes his vocal lessons have helped him become more invested in his recovery, feel more balanced, and able to identify more with other people in recovery, including other residents. Jack and one of our other residents, Garrett, have begun collaborating musically, Garrett playing guitar while Jack handles vocals. And now Garrett is taking vocal lessons himself and is loving it.

This is one of the greatest possible outcomes of a Passion Project, two residents from very different worlds now share a passion to reflect and build on. 

Most recovery solutions rely on one overarching principle: Success cannot be achieved alone. People in recovery must help each other, build a community, and foster healthy meaningful relationships. Our music-inspired Passion Projects are a great example of this happening in real time.

In both of these stories, we saw clients bond with someone else in early recovery and collectively focus on a passion that was not only healthy, but had depth and weight. These motivated young men have now reignited a lost passion, and decided to make it a foundational part of their new life in sobriety. 

Photo Finish: A Passion Project Story

Posted on July 6, 2020 - 9:29 pm by

A Maryland native with supportive parents, Matt’s life seemed to have all the ingredients for success. Unfortunately, experimentation with drugs at age 16 led to a long and costly battle with substance use disorder (SUD). Eventually arriving at Green Hill via another treatment program, Matt was reintroduced to an interest he thought he’d left behind.

Initially introduced to photography in a high school class, any passions Matt might have had fell by the wayside as his addiction deepened. “In my active addiction, I knew no passion or ambition,” says Matt. “These were entirely foreign concepts to me. The idea people could love doing something with no ulterior motives or have the energy and attitude to pursue something they loved seemed preposterous.”

Matt’s potential skills in photography were spotted early on by Program Facilitator and in-house photographer, Caleb Barnhart. Caleb, as part of our Passion Project initiative, coordinated with the rest of the Green Hill programming staff and Matt’s parents to help foster Matt’s interest. Giving him weekly assignments in a variety of formats, making equipment recommendations and taking him to interesting locations to shoot, Caleb’s hard work and dedication turned Matt’s passing interest into a true passion. 

“Caleb has done more than I ever expected,” says Matt. “His advice is often interchangeable between photography and living sober. He’s shown me that life has so much more to offer than getting high everyday, to the point where my previous need to find enjoyment in substances seems laughable.”

More than just a hobby, Matt’s passion for photography has added an extra dimension to our programming opportunities. Whether it’s a trip to the skate park, a day trip to the Eno River or any of our many outdoor athletic activities, Matt can often be found posing residents, capturing the action on his camera, and giving friends tips and tricks to better capture images for their social media accounts. 

It’s not unusual for staff to find Matt constructing a lightbox or editing images on his computer in his free time. Matt’s passion and dedication to a creative activity have inspired not just residents, but programming staff as well to more constructively use the time they’ve gained through freedom from substance use.

Perhaps most exciting of all, Matt’s photographs have gained acclaim not just from our own community, but businesses and institutions in the area. The North Carolina Museum of History, upon seeing an image Matt shot of residents there, asked to utilize the photo for their own social media marketing. Most recently, Matt has landed his first paying gig as a photographer, shooting menu items for an up-and-coming North Carolina-based restaurant franchise.

Whether it remains simply a healthy pastime or develops into a full-fledged career, at Green Hill, we’re simply proud to have been a small part of this man finding himself in something other than damaging behaviors. It’s our sincere hope that through clinical support, our programming staff and the Passion Project initiative, every participant in the Green Hill Model of recovery can ultimately reorient themselves down a healthier, more holistic path of passion and service.

Click here for more information about the Passion Projects initiative at Green Hill.

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