Ethan E. is currently a resident in Phase III of Turnbridge.  He spent years battling his addiction, completing various programs before suffering several relapses.  Today, he is doing well in the program and he works hard to maintain his sobriety and a positive outlook. According to Ethan, he began using drugs around the age of fourteen.  He played baseball in high school, and during his sophomore year a “falling out” with the coach led to a notable increase in his drug abuse.  “My senior year I was forced off the team,” Ethan said.  “That’s really when I started using every day.”  Ethan attempted an IOP to treat his addiction during high school, but “literally just showed up and stared blankly.” After graduating high school, Ethan moved away to school at the University of Delaware where his drug use expanded from alcohol and marijuana to include amphetamines and benzodiazepines.  He was placed on academic suspension after receiving four student conduct violations, and he moved back to Texas as a result.  Once there, Ethan attended another IOP to seriously address his addiction for the first time. He soon enrolled in a community college and suffered a relapse that included his initial use of cocaine.  Over the next two years, Ethan attempted several different addiction treatment programs and underwent two psychotic episodes.  In May, 2013, at the end of his junior year, Ethan suffered the second of these attacks, prompting another drug treatment attempt that led to his current tenure at Turnbridge. “Right now I have thirteen months sober,” Ethan said.  “The most change has occurred during that time.  Up until about maybe five months ago, in a strange way I was still living my life in total denial…just really warped thinking and a lot of justification.  It took six to eight months for my thinking to get back to a normal pace and for my head to get straight again.  I think the biggest change that’s occurred over these last four years is my emotional stability and emotional maturity.  In this last year my emotional state has really solidified.” In the fall, Ethan plans to return to college in pursuit of a degree in business management, and eventually he hopes to move back to Texas in order to start his own company.  Ethan stresses the importance of the friends that he has made while a resident at Turnbridge.  “Really without the people that I’ve met here, the friends and the staff, I wouldn’t be the person that I am today.  Even though my sobriety has been my doing, I wouldn’t have been able to filter out the negative and stick with the positive without the people that I can bounce things off of.  My roommate now is going to be my roommate after Turnbridge.  It couldn’t have worked out any better.” “I wouldn’t have been able to stay sober without the friends that I made in Turnbridge, and the friends that stuck by me through thick and thin before Turnbridge.  I most definitely wouldn’t be able to stay sober without the support of my parents.  Thank you to my Phase I Case Manager, Sam Cohen; Phase II Case Manager, Alan Griffin; both of the Case Managers that I’ve had in Phase III, Matt Walker and Chas Langford; and to the guys in my house, Cameron B., Matt L., and Andrew G.  The support from my parents is the greatest thing to ever happen to me.  Finally having trust is huge; it’s a very fulfilling feeling.”