From Hazelden to Turnbridge Extended Care Sober Living

Our Resident Profile highlights a current resident. Here we focus on Tommy, who came to Turnbridge Extended Care Sober Living after completing primary drug treatment at Hazelden Treatment Center in Center City, MN. Tommy started smoking marijuana with his older brother at a young age, beginning a descent into a drug-related lifestyle that heavily influenced his teenage years and particularly dictated his friendships and social life. His recreational marijuana use eventually led to years of prescription painkiller addiction and a later affair with heroin. After about six months of heroin abuse, Tom passed out during class at his high school in June, 2011, at the age of 17, and the incident led to his first treatment at an addiction treatment center in Southern Massachusetts. Tommy said that the first treatment was forced on him, but by the time he came to Turnbridge, “he was ready to change.” Following the initial drug treatment, he spent several months in five other addiction centers, eventually admitting himself into a Hazelden Treatment Center in Center City, Minnesota. “I was at Hazelden for just under three months,” Tom said, “and they recommended that I come to Turnbridge for extended care and sober living here in New Haven.” Tom has been a resident in Turnbridge’s Extended Care Sober Living program for 10 months, and is scheduled to graduate in January. “We made a pro/con list between staying in New Haven and going back to Massachusetts,” he said, and New Haven won. “It would be easier to fall back into drugs [in Massachusetts] because I was comfortable there.” After graduation from Phase III later this month, Tommy said he is planning on going into an Oxford house for sober living in New Haven, and he plans on living in the area for a couple of years. “Turnbridge tries to get you to do the right thing,” Tom said. “They’re really hands-on, and they’re doing to it to be able to see you lead a better life and stay sober, not just to make money and meet girls.”