Healing Transitions consistently shows up and meets our community where they are regardless of their readiness for change (especially on their darkest of days) to provide just enough light to lead them through our open doors.
But finding one’s way to Healing Transitions may take years of encounters with our team. Because the disease of addiction is not a linear path, the journey to recovery is different for everyone. That’s why we provide wraparound services with multiple entry points. It’s our best chance at saving lives, offering sustained recovery outcomes to those who need them most, and ensuring every community member struggling with addiction knows exactly where to turn when they’re ready to make a change.
THE IMPACT OF ONE MONTH
Our wrap-around services provide many avenues to the open doors of Healing Transitions’ long-term recovery program. By focusing our peer-to-peer model on both going out to the community and providing care inside the walls of Healing Transitions, we’re able to consistently meet people where they are on their journey to recovery.
This is the impact Healing Transitions makes in one month by meeting people where they are:
LONG-TERM RECOVERY
250
program participants served per month (avg.)
FAMILY SERVICES
28+
referrals to partner organizations per month
NON-MEDICAL DETOX
220+
unduplicated persons served per month
OUTREACH
160+
people met in tent communities per month
EMERGENCY DROP-IN SHELTER
4,950+
beds of shelter provided per month
SARA’S JOURNEY
It’s the hope of providing a path to long-term recovery that’s fueled our commitment to show up daily — from dusk to dawn — for our community. You’re invited this September to witness the miracles we see every day on the journey to recovery. Miracles just like Sara.
When Sara Crawford first entered Healing Transitions in 2017, she was not yet ready to own the responsibility to address her addiction. Because the disease of addiction is not a linear path, the journey to recovery is different for everyone. So our doors are open as many times as it takes. One night, overwhelming shame and guilt took over, and Sara left campus on a whim. That night, she overdosed.
Sara was found — and saved — by Healing Transitions’ Rapid Responders. With a rude awakening to the life-threatening reality of addiction, Sara entered another detox and treatment facility to gain some comfort and structure. But she was able to skate by without truly confronting her addiction. When she left that facility, it wasn’t long before she was using again. Addiction chained her to a brutal, unpredictable pattern of jail, broken family relationships, and drug use.
Sara was living out of her car in 2019 when it got repossessed. When she arrived at the repo lot, she was met with an arrest for nine felonies and three misdemeanors due to the pills found in her car.
“In recovery, we talk about jail, institutions, and death. And I’ve experienced all three.”
The vicious cycle of addiction pulled Sara away from her son, her mother, her job, her schooling, and her life itself. She was in and out of jail for years. When the pandemic hit and Sara’s mother kicked her out of the house for using, Sara hit rock bottom.
Her life was in grave danger. Sara was mandated by Wake County to return to Healing Transitions. Today, she’s overwhelmed with gratitude for the mandate because the grit and acceptance she experienced paved the way for her participation in the program.
“I’ve been to rehabs all over North Carolina multiple times, and Healing Transitions is the only one that was challenging for me because of the dedication it required to work on myself.”
Sara credits the Rapid Responder team at Healing Transitions and her sponsor Maya with saving her life. From the time she overdosed years prior, they stuck with her — even through relapses and jail. They visited her, showed up for her court dates, and encouraged her in her recovery.
“It was amazing to see multiple people in the courtroom stand up on my behalf,” she said with a smile. “Stephanie, one of the Rapid Responders at Healing Transitions, was one of them. And Maya helped me see that God is not a punishing higher power. I know I’m not sitting here by luck.”
It took years of jail time, confronting her own death, interactions with Rapid Responders, and a court mandate for Sara to commit to recovery and experience real change in her life. This is the power of showing up for those who need it most on the darkest of days. In May 2023, right before she received her Silver Chip, Sara’s probation ended, and she was free to live her new life in recovery.
“I was in a very dark place. Healing Transitions gave me my life back, gave me my family back, taught me how to have genuine relationships with people in my life,” she shared.
And now we get to witness Sara giving back in her Recovery Life to help other people find the light of recovery at New Waters Recovery and Detox, another local recovery program. She’s living proof that there’s hope on the other side of despair. And her story is the reason we see the potential in our community regardless of where they are on their journey to recovery.
This September, in honor of National Recovery Month, we invite you to invest in 75 people’s journey to recovery, many of whom caught a glimpse of hope because someone showed up for them regardless.
SHOWING UP REGARDLESS
Meeting people where they are means providing hope and dignity through relationships. Healing Transitions’ outreach team meets an average of 40 individuals a week across seven tent communities. Our focus at the beginning of our relationship is to reduce harm and save lives.
Our outreach team has accomplished the following in just one month:
120
pounds of used syringes collected
91
Fentanyl test kits distributed
4,300
doses of NARCAN distributed
Because of Our Village’s support, the lives saved in just one month are innumerable. 100+ contacts have transitioned to recovery housing. That’s the power of showing up regardless, so people know exactly where to turn on their journey to recovery when they’re ready.
OVERDOSE: KNOW THE SIGNS
150+ people die every day from a Fentanyl-related overdose.* Acting quickly can save a life.
We consider addiction a disease that requires long-term engagement with healthcare resources and peers who are invested in assisting a person and his or her family with reducing risk, especially in the wake of an overdose.
In the throes of a national opioid and Fentanyl crisis, our community must be equipped to know the signs and what to do next if an overdose occurs.
* NCHS, National Vital Statistics System. 2020 data based on provisional data. 2015-2019 data based on final data here.
Know the Signs
- cold and clammy skin with a bluish tint (lips and fingernails)
- unresponsive, unable to be awakened as if in a deep sleep
- very small pupils
- limp and relaxed body
- choking, gurgling, snoring, or vomiting
- slow, irregular, or stopped breathing and/or heartbeat
What to do Next
- call 911 immediately
- administer NARCAN (or another overdose reversal medication) if available
- stay with the person and monitor their breathing until help arrives
“I choose to invest in Healing Transitions because of the dignity and hope they provide for people in their darkest moments of addiction and homelessness. Healing Transitions has created a model for recovery that works for people battling addiction. They’ll show up as many times as it takes to prove life is worth living.”
– DONOR
CONTRIBUTE TO THE JOURNEY
FOR 75 PEOPLE
The path to $125,000 starts now.
GIVE TODAY
For only $55 per day, Healing Transitions is a much more effective alternative to emergency rooms, jails, and the streets. Your generosity has the power to rekindle a person’s desire and ability to return to a meaningful and productive life.