A Bridge to Life

- [Narrator] Funding for this program has been made possible in part by the Horton Family Foundation Fund, Jay Swett, Martin Family Foundation, Iorio Family Fund, William and Cynthia McKernan, Kristen Wulff, SEG Family Fund, The Little Goodloe Give Jar Fund, Dale Family Foundation, and other generous supporters.

A complete list is available at aptonline.org and rosaliafilms.com.

(gentle music) - [Speaker] I was tired of the way I was living.

I had gotten to a point, you know, you get sick and tired of being sick and tired.

I need to change my life.

- [Speaker] When I first came here, I was angry at myself and I hated that my friends, my kids, my own family saw me at my rock bottom.

- I have been in and out of the correctional facility since I was 18 years old.

I'm 54 now and each time I go back.

So I wanted something different that's going to keep me from going back.

- [Speaker] When a man gets incarcerated, your mindset stays the same.

The only thing that does grow is the anger, the disrespect.

- Most inmates are folks who are just getting incarcerated maybe for the first time.

They believe their life is over.

There is no hope.

- This is not a process of recovery.

This is a process of deliverance I was not born into addiction.

I made a decision to enter into it.

The same decision I made to go in is the same decision I can make to come out.

(gentle music) Yeah, when I first came, this was right.

This was the perfect property.

We wanted to set it up as a program when the guys pull up on the property, the first thing they can see, this is different.

This is not your typical farmhouse or abandoned home, been fixed up and calling a program in the midst of the city with drug dealers on all sides.

And it don't work.

You know, because they, the people, the places and the things matters.

You know, how he see his environment is how he live his life.

And if he see his environment based on his past, he going to live his life based on the past.

So when they get here, especially when they come from the city and they see this huge black bear running around the property, it's a whole different mindset.

Kinda helpful 'cause at nighttime, I don't have to worry about them leaving the property 'cause they know.

If things around it don't know about.

To see and to experience something so different, not only when it comes to the way people love you or care about you, but experiencing something that now that they can see they can bring a change in their life is a wonderful thing, you know.

(gentle music) Bridge Ministry is a 18-month program.

We deal with life-controlling issues.

We go through a process of revealing those issues and bring in answers that now they can start to being in power over them.

- Black pen.

And you're going to sign and date that you're in receipt of our student handbook.

So you can be aware of the rules and regulations in this.

You don't have to.

- With The Bridge, Mr. Washington learned that it takes time for a man to change sometimes.

If you've been in your old destructive lifestyle for say for example, five years, 10 years, 20 years, for the most part, 90 days, it's not gonna cut it.

- Do you remember in the interview process, we talked about the first 30 days to communication, right?

You may not have a lot of people you're trying to communicate with, but after 30 days, you get a weekly five-minute phone call.

You can have up to three members of your immediate family on your contact list.

Okay?

Highest importance to be a part of.

- What happens here is we get to watch these guys come in the door for the first time.

Broken, sad, overwhelmed with guilt, sorrow.

They've let their families down.

They don't have anything.

Most of the guys that come here completely homeless.

So what we try to do here is we try to give them the tools, the components that they've never received for a whole lot of reasons.

For me, it's a fascinating journey that these guys are on.

Fascinating.

(gentle music) - [Speaker] The first night I came here, it was a little nerve-wracking.

- Yeah, that first night was, was a bit tough.

It was scary at first.

I didn't really wanna be here.

I was debating on leaving, to tell you the truth, - I've never been in a program before.

You know, some guys have been through things before.

I didn't know what to expect.

- Well, I got put in a room by myself, you know?

And coming from an environment where all I heard, you know, was just loud noise and profanity and just no control in an environment where they treated you like an animal, I come to a place of peace.

It was just the quietness of actually being able to hear the outside world, the peace of the birds and just the night sky, the wind just, you know, God's creation.

It was very peaceful.

And I was like, "Man, you know, if someone is truly wanting to change or have a fresh start, this is where my fresh start begins.

This is the place."

(gentle music) - When they get here, it's 17.3 acres.

We have this white picket fence around a half of the facility.

And the gate stays open 95% of the time.

They can walk out into the woods Everything is saying you're free here.

Now, the challenge we have when they first get here, they're trying to set up things that they're used to in the jail when they get here.

'Cause in the jail, you get all what you can and you stack it up just in case you know, you can't get something else or they use it to sell it to each other.

You will start to seeing that behavior.

Instant.

Soon they come.

You know, and like they trying to take them bars to put back around them.

It's very challenging in the beginning, but after a period of time, you can see they start to accepting, "Oh, I'm free.

I'm no longer in jail.

I don't have to act like this no more."

That take two or three months or when we get there, then that freedom that they have, they thought start to pass it on to each other.

- It's gotta be right here somewhere.

- Good morning.

- Morning.

- Again, another opportunity to expose addiction, right?

And another opportunity to work on behavior.

When I first started in Bridge and I was so committed to addiction, I'm going to defeat this.

I'm gonna find a way, I'm gonna find something that someone don't know about.

And from that, we going to set up a program that gonna be so successful they're gonna be like no other program where we have accomplished the success but I have not overcome addiction because the more that I work on it, the more that I understood that it was not a reality.

It was something that you cannot defeat.

And that's why you are always in recovery when you talk about it.

You know, the first thing that you confess with addiction is you're defeated, right?

And it's something that you're gonna be working on for the rest of your life.

Now think about that.

It's something just is not right about that.

You know, like, it's like working on a job and never coming to a ending of it.

It's not success, not to me.

I want an ending to this.

I want a victory with this.

You know, I want hope.

I wanna look at that man and say, who the son says, free is free indeed.

- [Student] Amen.

- I know that is a victory in this.

So what I decided to do is start to looking at the behavior that is connected to the addiction.

Which I thought that the addiction was the foundation and behavior just was an indication that the addiction was there.

And the more that I worked on the addiction, the more that I come to see that the reality was, was the behavior.

So I switched it.

I acknowledged the addiction, but I went after the behavior.

And the behavior of the people, the places of things it still was a reality.

But now, it's no longer we blaming the addiction, we holding the person responsible for it.

Because addiction have taken that completely away.

That was no responsibility.

Don't blame me.

I'm addicted.

I got a drug problem.

Don't look at what I'm doing to the community.

Don't look at what I'm doing to my family or the disrespect that I'm doing to myself.

Look at the addiction.

So we had this free card of every time that when we came to that crossroad, when we stood before the judge, when we stood before the accountability of our family or the things we was doing, we pulled out that card and they saying, "Don't look at me.

Look at the addiction."

Well, the first thing I did here, I cut the card.

When you walk through the door, I said, "Oh no.

And you know, pastor, I got a drug problem.

Give me that card.

Give it to me.

Give to me.

Here we go.

We gonna cut this right."

We are gonna start to talking about you.

We are gonna empower you to deal with you and not power you to deal with her addiction.

Come on, somebody.

- Yes, sir.

- You understand what I'm saying?

We're gonna start to working on that man and looking in his life and start to seeing what the truth is about him and not the lie that he been living.

(gentle music) Well it goes back with almost 14 years old.

My father had a drinking problem and my mother also.

And it comes from just abuse and what he went through when he was younger.

My father married my mother when he was 15.

Back then, you know, you get married early and what this was happened a little too quickly, I believe.

But nevertheless, he was a good provider, hard worker.

But the drinking was very intense.

One night, he came in intoxicated and me and my baby sister was having a disagreement about something belongs to me that I didn't want her to be playing with.

It was my homework.

And my father walked in at the perfect time when I snatched the tablet out of her hand.

And he asked me what was going on and I told him what was happening.

He told me to give it back to her.

And the first time in my life I said to my father, "No."

And he pulled out his gun and shot me.

And I survived that.

And after a period of time, I just couldn't cope with the reality at the age of 14, that the father that I loved, the father that I respected, did that.

So I ran away from home.

And I went to a place called Charlottesville.

It won't far away from where we live, probably about 30 minutes away.

And I started getting involved with people just to get a meal.

People that were selling drugs or doing things that I didn't understand.

But my goal was, at the end of the day, I needed a meal.

And from that, I started getting in trouble with the law.

It went from three months to seven months.

From seven months to three years And finally, 17 years.

So I was standing before a judge for 17 years.

And I needed help 'cause I not only was selling the drugs, now I have gotten involved with, you know, taking the drugs.

And I needed a program.

I needed someone to help me.

And I met a judge called Jay Swett.

And he gave me the opportunity to go into a program called New Life for Youth.

So I went into that program for 18 months.

I start to learn the things that we teach here.

And I got out and had the structure, had the discipline.

They didn't teach job certification, but I raised up on the farm.

I knew how to work.

And when I got out, things start to put new things to practice.

Things got in line and, you know, I got married and got my life in order.

And I always had a bleeding heart for those that I remember was still there.

So I started to reaching out into the jails and going back over and supporting them.

I became a chaplain in the jail.

So, you know, when those time hard time came, they'll call me up.

I would go in and spend time with the guys.

It was just something that I knew that I was gonna be connected with for the rest of my life.

- [Jay] Brian, let me ask you something.

Where is he located currently?

- [Brian] We're in Louisa.

- He's currently not incarcerated.

Is he living with you?

- [Brian] No, he's living with his mother who asked me to call.

- Excellent.

We do have space available.

You know, our program's 18 months.

It's 12 months at our residential facility down here in Buckingham.

And then it's six months at our halfway house up in Charlottesville where we place him in a full-time job.

Help him in terms of financial and then finding permanent residency.

So there's a lot we can do today And you know, the biggest thing, Ryan, as you know, when you're dealing with addiction, he's gotta choose that he's looking for a new opportunity in a different way.

Our program structure is so intensified that you know, if you're gonna come through here and be successful, you gotta wanna do it.

So the first test today will be, will he make the call?

You know, when you have a program for folks who are dealing with substance abuse, you know, they've gotta get into the program.

We've worked with people from all socioeconomic backgrounds, races, ethnicities, personal situations.

But it has to start with that person reaching out and saying, "I need help."

And once they do that, then we get involved as the admissions team to say, "Well, is this the right place to get you the help you need?

And if it is, fantastic, if it's not, let's find a place for you."

'Cause we're here to serve.

- So everybody know the depth, what we're working with?

Four inches.

Four inches under.

Y'all come over here.

And you pull it out.

You want to reach in there and turn it, you know, and just rip it and part.

Okay, this is good.

That's ready to go.

Let's do three feet apart because that is them cabbage get big.

Look, they right up on each other.

Let's do at least three feet apart.

I was asking some of the guy, how many of you guys race up around farming?

Yeah, yeah.

You know, the things today we go go to like a whole food and they say they call it organic food.

We call that garden back in our days.

(people laughing) All right, here we go.

Got another one.

Got another one.

So we can move on down.

I think we got that one.

Let's move on down.

Let's bring the rest some on down.

Who's that water guy?

Oh yeah, yeah.

That's good.

Just break your at the bottom.

Break it.

Oh, all right.

You got that brother?

- Yes sir.

- All right, good.

Good, good, good.

That look good.

Look at that.

Look at that.

If I was by myself, I'd take all day just to do one row like this.

Really.

- [Speaker] Brown garden.

- My God.

Look how all that man, that one on three feet apart, what happened here?

My god, man.

Why y'all did, man?

Why we didn't get three feet apart?

Pull this one out, pull that one out.

We had enough going.

Look at these things, man.

I think all the rest of them is okay.

Just right in that area.

They're not gonna grow if they're too close to each other, they're not gonna grow.

Yeah, so one of them gotta come out.

See, that's the thing.

All right, brother, y'all come here for a minute.

This is very important for all of us to learn something here.

A garden is more relatable to what we do than anything, any certifications.

Because if you don't do it right it's not gonna produce what you're looking for.

You see, and what seems to be a simple overload that you can do, you got two plants together and you don't have enough room.

So what they're gonna do, they're gonna start to battling for what they need to survive.

Because something is as simple as measure it out properly.

And we didn't do it.

We look at some of the information that we get about addiction.

That we will do that 90% and that little piece that calls you to really put forth effort or that piece of the puzzle that you have to go back and do it again.

And you say, "Well, I ain't gonna go back.

I'm just gonna, you know, it'll be okay."

And then you walk out the door and you didn't know that piece was the crucial piece for your success.

So if we say we're gonna do something, we're gonna do it right.

We're gonna do it the way we agreed on.

That's why we talk about it.

Now, if I'm asking you to do something we didn't agree on, that's something different.

But all of us, we agreed on three feet, right?

Four feet apart when it comes to the next row, you know, and we set our screens and we pull our line.

That was our agreement.

Let's stick to the agreement.

Come on.

Okay, go ahead and put it in.

This one up, this one, this one.

How many you got there on the end?

How many?

Give me four of them.

One, two, three, four, give me those four there.

Five of them.

Take five out.

Take this one out, this one, this one, this one and this one.

Okay?

All right, I asked you guys how many of you guys grow up on a farm?

How many of you growing up on a successful farm?

(laughs) - [Speaker] I grew up on a cattle farm.

(playful music) - I believe there are people need to be in jail.

But if you are going to deal with recovery or trying to change that person's mind and behavior, you gotta take them out of that environment.

They got to experience freedom on the outside before they can learn how to accept it on the inside.

So when you're sitting in a jail cell, and saying, "Okay, these are the things you need to do, but you can't walk no more than 15 feet to the wall to do it."

And you got 30 guys in that cell block and you got about 800 square foot, you know, 15 on each side, you can't accomplish nothing like that.

Because you saying you're speaking freedom but everything they're doing saying you still locked up.

Mind, body, and spirit - Being incarcerated, it's basically a no-win situation.

When a man gets incarcerated, I feel that his emotional level stays the same from the day he gets incarcerated to the day he leaves.

But you physically grow older of course, but your mindset never grows with you 'cause you're not, I feel that you're stuck.

You're stuck in like a bubble.

And so the only thing that does grow is the bad stuff about you.

The anger, the, you know, disrespect.

- I've been incarcerated several times.

I've been locked up off and on since I was a teenager.

And I get here and day one on the property, it's just, man, it's the freedom.

Being on the 17 1/2 acres and just the sunshine and the peace here.

I mean, that's the first thing that hits you.

- When I stepped out the car, it became like a sense of peace.

It was like something lifted over me that it just brought a smile on my face.

But I just felt comfortable, you know, like, this is where I belong.

- The very first day I came here, they put me down, I went down to the garden, they was all working in the garden.

Something I used to do with my granddad when I was a kid.

So, I mean, it immediately brought back just a sense of normalcy, you know.

Because I had been sober now away from addiction for six months, but I've been incarcerated.

So to be able to come here and actually live a daily life sober and just be able to do normal day-to-day things, it was just such a relaxing, peaceful experience.

I came to Bridge Ministry 'cause I wanted to change my life.

I realized that I had just destroyed my whole life.

And I didn't realize until 15 years later when I got in trouble.

You know, because I was a functioning addict and I worked and I thought I was being successful in the world's eyes 'cause I was able to use the drugs and to maintain a image of myself.

Like I thought I was doing good and I wasn't.

When I got here, I realized that the drugs was just an excuse.

You know, it manifested itself into much more.

What I had was behavioral problems, you know?

And it started at a younger age than even before my addiction.

You look back over 15 years that everything has been tooken from me.

To start over with nothing, to me, I think that's the best way so I don't have anything to hold on to.

I don't have anything to go back to that maybe enable me back into my old lifestyle.

- Good deal.

(people applauding) - Breach is different.

Breach really focus on being very practical.

It's not the knowledge, it's actually taking the knowledge and making it practical every day.

Every day, getting up at the same time, every day, showing up, doing the work at the same time, the classes at the same time.

So when that is what we are doing, we are reprogramming mind, body, and spirit.

We are not retraining what to say.

We are retraining what to do.

- From day one, just interacting with some of the staff.

They treated me different than I had been treated maybe my whole life, but definitely in a long time.

There's a really deep structure in order here.

From day one, you keep yourself, your personal appearance, your hygiene, right?

Your room, you know, simple things like making your bed.

One of the things our pastor talks about here is it's the small foxes that spoil the vine.

And they're the small things that lead to big problems later on down the road.

And from looking at these small things, these small behaviors, you can really find out a lot about what's going on with a person.

- The most important thing I've learned is structure.

How important a schedule is in my life.

You know, that's like one of the base things.

They teach you, you know, start out keeping your room clean and then there's a set schedule throughout the day.

You know, it's nonstop.

There's always something going on.

There's very little downtime, which is for a reason.

'Cause when you get into the real world, it's just like that, you know?

- We get them in a situation of structure because most people that get trapped into addiction come out of extreme dysfunction or a form of dysfunction.

So what we try to do is begin rebuilding their life with structure first.

There's a firm structure here.

It's not negotiable at all.

This firm order here, it's not negotiable.

You're gonna comply with it or you're not gonna be in the program.

And they understand that.

They get that There's a student code of conduct, which we go through every week.

And we're trying to, in the classes, empower them to embrace the things in life.

Like codes of conduct, rules, laws that we should, as human beings embrace.

Bottom line is what we're really trying to teach them here, is to be better human beings.

That's the bottom line.

And that can live in hope, hope of a better tomorrow, a better future, even a better eternity.

That's what we promote.

- All right, y'all ready?

Let's go.

So I wanna talk to you this morning, understanding the next step of a behavior or what would you want to call addiction.

We believe drugs is not the problem.

Drugs is the magnify excuse that all of us use because we don't really understand what's going on and why our behavior is so out of control when it comes to drugs and our action.

How many of you went through more than one program?

How many of you went through more than two program?

You know, we can keep raising our hands there because the challenge of it is it's not so much, the information that you got was not effective.

It just was not effective for you.

Someone didn't show you how to apply it the right way.

It's like having a manual but never reading it.

What is good for you?

What do you need?

What is the medicine you need?

I mean, you think about addiction, it's like the doctor is giving out the same medicine to everybody.

And you can't tell me everybody needs the same medicine.

You know?

I don't have these degrees, but somebody in this room need a different medicine.

And I can tell you every one of you do.

We have to go back to that place when it really started.

Not when you start to putting the drugs in your mouth.

When you start to take in the lies and deception of the life you was living or the abuse you was in, and start to living according to that.

That have to be corrected.

We are teaching you in a different way how to walk here so you can take what you learn here and apply it out there.

The neuro path, integrity, structure, discipline.

When you get power over yourself, then you don't have to sit around in a circle and proclaim drugs got power over you, lies got power over you.

"My name is William Washington.

I'm a drug addict."

I say that's a lie from the beginning and it's a lie.

Now.

If a way in, theres a way out.

If I can get in it, I can get outta it.

- [Students] Yes sir.

- Are you with me?

- Yes, sir.

We talk about addiction like addiction really have authority.

It doesn't.

Addiction only is given authority.

Let me say that again.

This is good.

This is good.

Addiction do not have authority.

Addiction is only given.

And just like you can give it, you can take it back.

Have you made a decision today to take your life back?

Huh?

Have made a decision to take your family back, huh?

- [Students] Yes sir, yes sir.

- Have you made a decision to take your life back, huh?

Your finance back?

See, just like you gave it away, the good news of it is because it belongs to you.

This is your life.

- Right.

- You don't have to ask for permission for it.

This is your life.

You know, you don't have to go to someone saying, "Can I have my life back?"

You can say today, "I want my life back.

I'm taking it back today.

I'm gonna make the right decision.

I'm going to do the right things No one going to stop me.

This is what I'm going to do.

And because of that, I'm gonna start the living right.

You know?

And when I start the living right, I'm gonna start to having the things that have been promised to me."

It's your decision.

Addiction don't have power, you give it.

And just like you give it, you can take it away.

How do you take it away?

People, places, things.

It starts here.

I know I made a commitment.

If I could get my life back from what I was doing, then I would serve in the same way that I've been served.

And I just start to reaching out to homeless people.

And some of them, I actually brought them into my home and let them stay there.

I think the first bridge was my home.

And I start to creating my own business and working more with those who was in need.

Because the more I was involved with the community, the more that I found this compassion in me to help.

And it was no longer just, you know, wanna do something good.

I was being driven by that.

I wake up in the morning thinking about it, thinking how that I can help, how I can help change people lives.

And it was almost when I looked at that person, like I was looking at myself.

Moments that I didn't receive that help.

Moments that that meal was not there.

I could relate to that.

And we always worked very hard.

If I could put them in a motel for a week and talk to my wife.

Yeah, could we give this money away or how we could support this person?

And finally, from that, the community seen what I was doing and they came beside me, a lot of people.

And we started to looking for a facility.

I heard about this property in Buckingham.

So on the weekends, my son and I, we came down and we started working on the property.

Now the property was, you know, it probably should have brought a dozer in to knock everything down.

But for me, I didn't see the wear and tear of the building.

What I seen was the opportunity of what I believed I was called to do.

So we just started working hard and over two years, we worked on it and finally I got my first students.

So I went from three guys to 15, from 15 to 50.

And through that process, we had a staff of 10.

And the growth, it was just so fast that we was getting, I had over 200 guys on a waiting list to come into our program.

And so we just start to serving who we could, supporting those who we could be there for.

We had an inpatient, a outpatient, I got a house in Charlottesville for them, for the transitioning part of it It was just a wonderful time.

And from that we built The Bridge.

- This is drugs right here.

It could be opiates, could be heroin, meth, or whatever your vice was back then.

This drug, without me, is nothing.

It's nothing but another substance.

It could stay here and rot and decay for the next 50, 80 years, say, it totally disappears.

The only thing that makes this drug powerful is what?

Me.

I have to pick it up.

I have to use it.

I have to give this power, you know?

So you're not a drug addict, you're you addict.

You just have a problem saying no to your desires.

No to your flesh.

So that's why pretty much here, I don't really sit around and talk to you all about drugs, drugs, drugs.

I wanna talk to you about you, you, you.

You know, 'cause you are the common denominator.

Why have I personally committed to this work?

That goes back to my childhood.

You know, it goes back to my family was directly impacted by substance abuse.

You know, I had two older siblings that really, really battled in that area.

So at that time, I was too young to really help.

So I pretty much had to watch from the sideline and watch the effects that it had on my family.

So pretty much I vowed to myself that when I was old enough and I was, you know, strong enough mentally that I would take this opportunity to do my part to help them.

So how I look at it, like for example, I might not be able to help my brothers directly, but I can help somebody else's brother.

So that's why, you know, it's led me down this path.

So, you know, we're gonna do our community build like we normally do.

And you know, we had a conversation before just talking about possible things that a lot of us need to kinda dig deep and bring out, you know, to build on.

And the thing that I was thinking about the most was, why do you want this?

You know, a lot of you all been doing this a long time, man.

You know, I mean a lot of you all have been doing multiple programs and been in and out the system.

So I wanna talk about and build upon when you first got here.

Why did you want change then?

- The environment that I was in, I didn't want to be in it no more.

I didn't like it no more.

You know what I'm saying?

It was just miserable to me.

And I think because of my age, it kind of get boring.

'Cause now I just want to sit back.

I don't wanna run around play games, you know.

So when I signed up, when I asked, you know what I'm saying?

My lawyer to find me a program, you know, the commonwealth attorney brought this one up and he was like, you know what I'm saying?

18 months.

I was like, "Whoa."

You know, I done done a 28-day, I done done a six-month, I done done a 14-day.

I ain't do no 18 months.

But I really prayed on it.

You know what I'm saying?

I said, "Man, I really wanna change."

You know what I'm saying?

And again, you know, I really didn't rate that serious decision until I got here.

You know what I'm saying?

Once I got here and started seeing the things that go on here, I was like, "Okay, I could have a better life."

You know what I'm saying?

- Change is like something that is 100% controlled by you.

You know, we put so much stock in everything else.

You know, I didn't change because, you know, my old lady.

And I didn't change because how I grew up, I didn't change because I didn't get this opportunity.

You didn't change 'cause you didn't wanna change.

- You don't work on what's already inside of you.

You ain't never going to change.

- You never going to change.

- So you can easily just not go to the liquor store or not go to the drug dealer's house.

- Yeah.

- But you gotta wake up every day with what's in your heart.

When I first got here, you know, the driving force for me to come here was for my parents.

That's why I wanted to do it.

That was the biggest thing because I knew they was getting older.

I wanted to be there in their life.

I got a disabled brother in my family that I know is gonna need me there when my parents are gone.

But after being here and getting the wisdom from pastor and Mr. Patterson, you know, if we're doing it for anything other than ourselves, that change isn't gonna last.

You know, it was all for my family, but can't do it for my family.

I gotta do it for me.

I gotta want this change in my life for myself.

And this place has helped me discover that.

'Cause the only thing that you're gonna be stuck with when everything else is gone is you.

- You wet this down right here.

Once you wet it down, you put water on this, this is what you call this wet sanding paper.

This is the same thing you used for acid rain.

And you hold that, cut that off.

What I'm gonna do, look like I'm gonna destroy the paint.

I'm gonna sand it.

It's getting all the imperfection out.

This paint had a flat look to it So once I get that sanded real good, I got plenty paint on.

I know I have plenty of paint on it.

So you can take a old car, especially foreign cars.

Foreign cars have five coasts of paint on it.

American cars have two.

So that's five coats.

So at any given time, you can take off a coat and if you know how to buff properly, that car will look like it just been painted.

Doing this type of work, I brought me a home.

I put four kids through private school and I put them through college doing this type of work.

So don't tell me you can't make it.

You don't have to go to college to make it.

You just have to be willing to learn a trade and willing to be the best you can be at it.

We got too many hands out today.

And you accepting crumbs when you can have a meal but a meal only comes from you.

You know, people willing to give you crumbs all day long to maintain your crumbs, low income crumbs, you know?

But when you get in there, that's a ceiling that a certain level that you can go.

You go beyond that, then you gotta leave it.

So it's really not designed to help you.

It's designed to keep you.

I refuse.

Are you with me?

I refuse.

I wanna live, man.

I wanna have a life.

And what I'm really saying to you to overcome addiction and addictive behavior, this how you do it.

They're talking the classes.

15% of it is 15% of it going to help you out, but it's not gonna change you.

What gonna change you?

When you start using your mind the right way, your heart the right way.

When you get up in the morning, you want to go to work.

Come on, somebody.

- Yes sir.

- You know?

When you really want it.

You know, when you want to be around people and you want to be a good example and you want to do a good job for the one you're working with, that would change addiction.

Give me some more water.

- There's such a great opportunity for job training at the Bridge Ministry program.

You can't sustain sobriety without a job.

You got to maintain that discipline in your life.

You've got to be sustainable.

Over the years, there was always carpentry, painting, construction, training that would lead you to a sustainable career.

That was always the objective.

Then in 2018, a new shift happened.

The dean of workforce services named Valerie Palamountain had a passion to see people who were dealing with addiction receive the workforce training that they provided at Piedmont Virginia Community College.

And she and Mr. Washington came up with a program that I think is a model that can be duplicated where you help people who are in addiction who wouldn't otherwise have access to this type of credentialed training.

And you bring that to them in a safe environment and watch what happens.

- I don't have a high school diploma.

You know, I dropped that high school at a young age wanting to do things my own way.

You know, so for me to be certified electrician, certified in construction, soon to be welding, AC, electrical, troubleshooting, all these things that we get here, it opens up so many doors for my future.

- I come here with no certifications and I'll be leaving with close to six to seven certifications in all different choices of life.

And it is not just one certification and one thing, we have opportunity here to get certifications in many different things.

And once you do that, you actually find what you enjoy doing.

My dad runs a drywall business for almost 35 years now.

And I kept telling myself, you know, I gotta go back to drywall, you know, to help with the family business.

But as I was talking to my dad on the phone, he told me just to pick something I love doing and I really love welding.

Like I have an act for it.

It just comes natural to me.

Like it's real easy for me.

So after I leave here graduate, I'm gonna go into PVCC and take the next stage two welding, and then I'm gonna go into pipe welding.

- When I left the Bridge Ministry, it was a mix of emotions, right?

So I had, you know, joy, happiness, a little apprehension, a little nervousness.

But overall, it felt great.

You know, I felt prepared, you know.

Felt like my toolbox was full, so to speak.

We are in The Bridge ministry's intern house, and it's a house in Charlottesville, Virginia.

It's basically a house for transferring into society.

Okay?

So it's a safe place, you know, still structured, you know, there's a house manager, you know, to basically oversee the guys when they come.

You know, just to make sure they're following the structure, the certain rules that are still, you know, embedded.

Similar stuff to The Bridge, but a lot more relaxed.

It's basically just a transition house.

A way to jump back into the real world.

Before you even come here, you have to have a job, you know, so you're working five days a week.

I was blessed enough to get a job at W.E.

Brown and I'm an electrical apprentice.

At the Bridge Ministry, I got certifications in HVAC and electrical as well as like basic construction.

And that's all stuff that I directly use.

People, places and things, right?

I know for myself, I can't go around certain people because misery loves company.

And I know if I put myself in that position, I'll jump right in, you know.

I'm the kind of guy, I'm just gonna jump in 100%.

And I know that about myself.

So I won't even put myself in that predicament anymore.

You know, my relationship with my family has been affected from top to bottom.

That's something I wouldn't have got back without The Bridge.

Now I'm at the point where, you know, it's the talking, you know, is I'm done with the talking, okay?

It's all about walking it out.

They've heard me say things 1,000 times.

I just have to show them, you know, through continuous steady structure, steady, you know, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

That's the only way to build trust and that's another thing that I've learned.

Don't talk the talk, walk the walk.

Simple as that.

- What's up, brother?

(students chattering) - We're doing them again, brother.

Let's go.

(excited music) - [Speaker] Community is at the foundation of The Bridge.

And it has always been a community initiative.

It's always been local churches volunteering, doing whatever needed to be done It's been community leaders supporting in ways that they could.

- [William] F3, it's a workout class that on the weekend, they come together and they work out.

- One, two, three.

- [William] Well, they approached me and said, "How can we work with The Bridge and come and do a class?"

And trying to get, you know, not only our mind, but our body in shape.

- One, two, three.

- There are a lot of generous people, very generous people.

We have people that come here and bring food.

They bring clothes.

You see the garden going in, they give us plants.

And on the other side of that, there are families and people that Bridge Ministry helps.

We deliver firewood to people.

You know, if someone in the community calls with a need, Pastor Washington does everything he can to fulfill that need.

Because not only do you have to learn to control your own life, you have to learn to benefit others.

(students yelling) - The Bridge can't function without support, right?

It's a 17-acre facility can accommodate 50 individuals that you're working with them and their families and their kids and their issues.

All the stuff that's tied to the Plus making sure that they have room and housing accommodations, that they have, you know, nutrition and everything is taken care of for them.

Oh, and then on top of that, let's give them behavioral health programming.

Let's give them education, give them a chance to have a real career.

But none of that can be accomplished without the community.

You can't do it.

It's like a boulder that you're trying to carry up a mountainside and you need others behind that rock pushing, you know, with you.

(students cheering) (excited music) - To make each one of us truthful and respectful in the words of the word of the Lord.

In Jesus' name we pray.

- [Students] Amen.

(students applauding) - I guess over the last 20 something years, it's probably gonna happen a couple hundred times.

Find myself behind the grill each time.

- [Speaker] Pretty good.

A contractor griller.

- Right.

(laughs) At The Bridge, you never know what the position is you going to be in for the day.

So one day, I can be the director.

The next one, I'm actually doing the cooking.

And remember I did the cook.

I didn't have to cook for a period of time, so four o'clock in the morning I had to get here and do all three meals during the day.

That went on for four months.

I learned how to cook because if you don't cook good, they'll let you know very quickly.

- My colleague, Mr. Patterson, our director of Behavioral Health Services, has about 20 years of experience in the criminal justice system.

And he said he learned more in five months from working with Mr. Washington than he had in the 20 years about the very thing we're talking about.

How to really understand addiction, what's really happening with these people?

- You know, Pastor Washington, he's very straightforward.

You know, he gets to the bottom of what's going on in you.

He can be intimidating in a good way.

Like he's just so intense, so powerful.

And if at first if you don't understand that, you know, it can be a little intense, but it's all for the good of it.

You know, I see that now.

Now that I understand him better, like, it's like, okay, like it's all coming from the heart.

- It's amazing how much time and effort Mr. Washington has put into this program to help people change.

One thing that I've noticed since being here, he does these things out of the goodness of his heart.

You know, this man opened this 75 acre piece of land up, put everything he had into it and opened it up to people that he doesn't know that he knows have problems but he treats them as men, not criminals.

- This is a guy who has worked with over 10,000 guys and helped them change their lives.

But he wouldn't know them if you bumped into him on the street.

He's not looking for a badge of honor.

He just wants to serve.

- Pastor William Washington.

I use one word to describe him and that is phenomenal.

He's a phenomenal human being.

Pastor Washington has a servant's attitude and a heart like I've never seen He lives to serve people.

When he says he loves these guys here, he loves them.

He has a spot for them in his heart.

He cares for them, he protects them.

- Two days a week, Mr. Washington in a meeting with some of the guys here.

And he said to them, "You know, all I really want from you, I just want you to make it.

That's it.

I don't need a thank you.

I don't need money, I don't need anything.

But what I do need, I need you to make it.

Because I need to know that the sacrifice that I've made with my life, and even if it's just for one, that it was worth it."

- When I've learned about a spiritual relationship, you have to walk by faith and not by sight.

I had so many different challenges in my life that I needed faith that that was not a clear way of getting out.

Broken family, broken relationship, not a good father, restitution, no job, you know, homeless.

It was just so many pieces there just saying, "You cannot get out of the situation."

So that was the one that I really, really needed.

I needed God to overlook my fault and see my need.

And my need was, I needed a life, I needed hope.

I needed another chance.

So I needed God.

Eventually, you know, the Jewish leaders said it better.

The religious part of a program, we have not as spiritual leaders done a good job in explaining it.

I have people come in, so I just don't believe in faith But you believe you are gonna wake up this morning.

We call that faith.

You believe that something was waiting for you and you got in your car and head to that direction.

And when you got there, it was waiting for you.

I know it's a more simple type of faith, but it's faith.

Yes, you do believe in faith.

Everybody believe in faith.

But the challenge of it is we trying to define it in our own understanding.

What I do with faith, I apply it according to the individual and not so much according to religion.

Not only you're not, but I wanna- And then based on our faith, based on what they need, let it be done.

So we have individual faith here, faith that based on what that person need according to what they need.

Now I get some men come in and say, "I don't need this type of faith.

I don't want God in my life.

I want the day-to-day practical what you do here."

We can give you that faith too that you wake up and hopefully, you'll be a better day than yesterday.

We have that faith too.

So when you start to speak in faith in that language, and no longer faith of putting it in a box now in this box, everybody have to receive it this way, it changed everything.

- When I first got here, I would the first few months was a struggle.

Maybe the first four or five months actually was a struggle.

Just trying to get rid of the old lifestyle, the old way of thinking.

'Cause I had a lot of negative thoughts in my mind, a lot of negative thinking of, you know, "I don't think I can do this.

I don't think this is actually the right place for me."

And I first had to admit that everything that I did in the past was, you know, actually my fault.

And once I got over that and accepted that, then I was able to accept myself.

And I could realize, you know, that I could actually do this when I had to turn to the positive way of thinking and a positive way of doing things.

- You know, of course, when you're living in the storms of addiction that you don't wanna change because change is painful.

Change is lonely, change is long But once you make that step, and once you start to see that though your way of living is not living and that there's a better way of living out there for you and you start to make that journey down that road, it gets better.

It gets 100 times better.

You know, you're not waking up sick 'cause you need drugs anymore.

You're not dealing with the drama, the violence, just all that stuff that comes from an addictive lifestyle.

- I got another idea too.

- I like that.

- I like that.

- So what jumps out the most is how just fearful I was of who I am, of responsibility.

That's the one thing I've learned about myself is I was using drugs as an excuse to not have to deal with responsibility.

You know, it's something I've never really thought about like that until I came through The Bridge.

- I think it's a thing that a lot of people in addiction, a lot of people with life control and issues struggle with is they get good at taking advantage of the people around them.

It's one of the things we're good at.

That's what I was doing.

I was taking this opportunity and kinda taking advantage of it in a way.

I was coming here to get outta jail, to have a chance to see my family, to, you know, try to better myself as far as, you know, get some certifications, do something different.

But I really didn't wanna change me.

And so this was like the first opportunity I really had to see myself.

And it was not what I really wanted to see.

- [Speaker] There you go.

- Biggest change I had made since I've been here was right after I'd been there about four months, I had a moment of conviction and pretty much started to hate myself for what I used to do.

When I used to brag about what I used to do and I used to have a lot of pride in the destruction I caused and the illegal activity I was in, And all of a sudden, it just hit me that, you know, I felt shame every time I thought about stuff.

I felt ashamed, I felt guilty.

And I just had a moment of conviction about my life.

And after I had that moment of conviction, shortly afterward, I was able to forgive myself for what I had done.

And once I was able to forgive myself for what I had done, it opened up doors for me to forgive other people that had also hurt me.

And it did me wrong.

- A couple of cans of black glossy back spray paint.

(gentle music) - Like I've told y'all many times this morning, I felt like I got something on the way here.

You know, so interesting.

And here's what I got is that some of you guys that are here at The Bridge are here because you were raised to survive, not raised to thrive.

You get that?

- Yes.

- In other words, you were raised to sustain yourself, not raised to thrive.

So at Bridge Ministry, what we're doing is we always take you back through the fundamentals of life the basics of life, the foundations of life that you need to become a better man.

Some of you didn't receive that or if you received it, you might've been too hardheaded to understand it.

I know none of y'all been hardheaded, right?

(students murmuring) None of y'all, none of y'all, including me.

I went through that season of my life.

So Bridge Ministry is the place where you come that you can learn those things that you didn't learn before in life.

And this is where you learn to live those things out.

Because if you don't learn these things here, you're not gonna learn them when you leave here, this is a time where you take that stuff and you begin to embrace it.

You begin to hold onto it, you begin to understand it.

And then you begin to own it.

Because when you leave here, guess what's going to come back knocking on your door?

Old people, old places, old things and some other things we can't mention.

They're gonna come back.

They're waiting for you.

They're looking at chops.

They've got their hands clenched together, they're waiting.

But if you can learn here how to embrace the things that we promote, you can get through that battle.

Your next is coming, whatever your next is.

You'll have a next when you leave here.

And my hope for you and all the hope everybody in leadership at Bridge Ministry is the hope is that your next will be greater than anything you have experienced.

(gentle music) - I don't see this as a program.

To me, this is life.

Because this is living, this is what you do every day.

You interact with other people, you work, you be productive, you focus on yourself.

So I don't see this as a program To me, I see this as a way of living.

A place that you come here and everything is dialed down where the distractions are not here.

You don't have any kinda worries in your life, you know?

And you focus on yourself.

And that's really what this place does.

It removes everything for you to look at you.

And if you can't figure out what's going on with yourself here, you're not gonna do it out there.

'Cause you got everything coming at you 100 mile an hour.

It's gonna be hard out there, you know?

'cause you're gonna have the old people, old places, old things coming back around you, trying to get back in your life.

We have the biggest advantage here to be here for 12 months on this 17 acres of beautiful property just to be able to find ourselves, you know.

To figure out what it is that brought us here, what it is that kept us in our old lifestyles.

Pastor likes to say, 'Use The Bridge as a buffet.

You know, we set you up here, all the stuff you know, and you take what you want.

You know, leave what you don't.

If it ain't for you don't eat it, if you wanna eat it."

And I always like to joke around and say that, "Well, with me, I can't eat but so much, but I'm taking a whole bunch of it and I'm putting it in my pocket.

You know, because, you know, you can't retain it all.

I mean, I've got notebooks on the notebooks of notes here.

I mean, some people, they joke, they mess around with me and say, "Well, Chad, maybe you should write a book when you leave here."

And I say, "Well, I don't know about me writing."

I could probably give the information to somebody and they could put it in a book.

- This system, it's a major issue 'cause it works against programs that work.

I've seen guys be successful here.

And I call that PO officer up and saying, "Well we got a opportunity here.

The student that finished the program, things is going good, you know, so what is this next step?"

And they will look at the structure they have.

And they don't have a structure for success.

They only have a structure for failure.

Now, if I say he violated, they know exactly what to do.

They know how to put him back in jail, bring him back before the courts.

But if he's successful but don't have the things he need to enter back in the community or some of the support he need to deal with the issues and the responsibility, there's no system for that.

So we have to first overcome the problem of the system.

That's a major problem.

The system is designed to make things comfortable now.

Jail used to be a deterrent.

It's no longer that.

Jail is a place a man can go and get away from the life that he's living in destruction.

So the jail is better than where he been, where he's coming from and the way he's living.

So after he go and do the things he do to get him in jail, jail is a place that they can tolerate now.

That's a major problem.

It's major.

So when the judge say three years, I can do that.

When the judge say five years, it's a long time for my family but I got an iPad that I can talk to them every day.

I got an iPad that I can buy movies.

And the same things that you can have, I can have.

I can go up online, I can talk to my friends, I can email them.

Jail is not jail like a lot of taxpayers believe it is.

Jail today is a place that now do more supporting what they call the inmate than disciplining and challenging them to take a look at the things that they're doing to not to come back.

You know, you talk to any of the guys in here, they'll say, "You know, jail for me is just a break.

I can go back out and do the same thing."

So that's a major problem that we have in our country.

And now the synthetic drugs, you can get that in jail.

Out of 16 guys on the list, one of the jails they gave me 16 guys that could fit our program.

Out of 16 of them, nine of them was on drugs, synthetic drugs.

And they get it from the jail.

I'm getting guys out of the jail system.

They're coming here and the first thing they're looking for what you got here that can give me the same effect.

What I have here is life, responsibility, structure, discipline.

And I can give you all you want.

All right.

So I wanna talk to you this morning about finishing your race.

We have had the opportunity to talk about the beginning of the race, the understanding of the race, the ability of the race.

Now I wanna talk to you by the faith, which is the finishing of the race.

Paul said it in the word, he said that, "The race is not given to the swift nor the battle to the strong but he who endured to the end."

And I think what he was trying to tell us, that were gonna come times that the race going to be challenge.

There's gonna come times that you're gonna find things in the race that is beyond your ability.

That gonna come times, that gonna be things in the race that it's not gonna be aware of.

That gonna be a surprise to you.

'Cause sometimes, in addiction and addictive behavior, we start to race off thank with knowing.

And when we get halfway through, we come to find out, we don't even know why we here.

- [Students] Yes sir.

- Why are you running?

Why are you running this race?

Why are you here?

I know my mother was not there, but I can't use her for an excuse no more.

I know my father had issues, but I had many opportunities to change that.

I know that been times life was not fair.

Come on, somebody.

Life was not fair.

But I've been in life long enoug to get the hell out of that.

So my mind is made up, my heart is fixed.

I'm getting out of this.

The Bible say, "The race not given to the swift nor the battle to the strong but he who endured to the end."

Look at your neighbor, say, "You gotta be there."

- [Students] You gotta be there.

- If you're not there, you ain't gonna win it.

I've never seen a man say, you know, I'm gonna be there in the beginning and then I'm gonna walk away and go to the finish line.

That's the race we've been or running when it comes to addiction and addictive behavior.

But this race, I'm going to go from the beginning to the end.

And it's not, perfection is not a wrong, it's not a race of perfection or race of ability or a race of strength.

It's a race of endurance.

Are you willing to endure to get to your place of freedom?

Come on, brothers.

Are you willing to endure when someone wanna say something to you that you don't like, head down, heart up, head down, heart up.

- [Student] Yes sir.

- You know what I'm saying?

Show some humility.

Put your head down, put your heart in it.

I didn't like it, but I know I need it.

I didn't like what was said but I know I need it.

Head down, heart out.

Is saying it's not a race of perfection.

It's a race that you are willing to run.

The race is not given to the swift nor the battle to the strong but he who endure to the end.

It's time to finish.

- Yes sir.

- In this group, it's time to finish.

It's time for some of you guys to make your mind up in a direction you're going to finish.

And you're gonna finish with success or you're gonna finish with your old man, but you've been in this race long enough to make a decision.

It's time to make a decision.

Are you going forward or you're going backwards?

You know, I pray to every man in here, go forward.

But the reality of it is, is not what we speak, it's what we.

- [Students] Do.

- It is not what we speak, it's what we.

- [Students] Do.

- So if you are willing to do it, then you can have it.

All right, pray with you.

Father, in the name of Jesus.

I always have loved my father.

You know, my father was a very hardworking man and he gave us everything he had.

But when it come to life that we know it today as family, as being a father, it was completely different.

It was all about survival.

And he was taught how to work hard and get up in the morning and oversee a large farm.

But the reality of love and encouragement and mercy, he didn't receive that.

So you only can really give what you receive.

And he didn't have the chance for that.

I remember giving a call from the jail.

My father have gotten in trouble with the law.

Now he's in the jail and the alcohol have shut his body down.

His kidney's not working, you know, and they called me up and said, "Your father, he going to die."

And the question of it is, do you want him with you or you want to leave him here?

And me and my father, our relationship was separated because all the pain and a lot of abuse.

And we made a decision, my sister and I, to bring him back among us with us.

That was a hard thing to do.

But I know, I understood the concept of forgiveness.

You have received it and what you receive, you're responsible to give.

So I started giving it.

And in giving it, I made decisions about him.

And those decisions changed his direction.

And 10 years later, we were still together.

And not only together, but he became my father again.

A grandfather to my kids.

My kids love him.

We ate dinner on Sundays together.

He came by on a regular basis and tried to share what he had with us, you know, and just started building a relationship of a son and father.

You know, at first, I thought what we had was special, but now, we had an interaction that he didn't have with his father, but he had with his son.

And it was just a wonderful time And when my father passed away, I got a call probably about 11:50 that night.

My father was about 45 miles away from me.

He had brought another home.

He had been remarried and sickness, have cancer.

And he would said, "It's a really bad place."

So I get a call and say, "Your father had passed away."

So I went over and when I walked in the room and just trying to prepare myself, my father laying in the bed with the biggest smile on his face.

I felt like he left that smile for me.

I needed to see it, you know?

And then I had the opportunity to close that final chapter of his life, which I think is one of the greatest honors that we can have to stand before a group of people and tell those final few minutes of how that life was lived and then close that book and that setting will never happen again.

I had that opportunity for my father.

And it was just wonderful.

My father lived a full life.

My father made mistake, but he was not a mistake.

And from that, I closed that book with honor as a son.

And I reminded in the word of God when he said, you know, you know, it's just, we are called to do well, but our mother and father so it will go well with us.

And I felt like at the end of our journey.

That scripture was fulfilled, that I honor my father.

And that was one of the most best days of my life when I closed that final chapter.

I think we are bridges.

I think every man and woman on this earth have the potential of being a bridge for someone or somebody.

I had a bridge in my life and that's why I understand the importance of it.

I don't think you can bridge to others until the bridge have been been extended to your life.

You know, just to give it, I mean, we can serve each other, love each other, support each other.

But when you talk about bridges, bridges being extended to you, that now you can extend to others, and that's what Bridge Ministry is.

It shouldn't be just about one.

If we do this right, we can build a community.

And if we can build a community, we can build a people.

And that's my hope of it, is that one day we gonna build something that be so unique that it will go on from years from now.

I'm not saying by any means to take away the responsibility of a person decision, but sometimes decisions are made through pain and hurt and rejection.

So if that's the case, let's apply the right method to the problem and not just put people in jail and saying, "Okay, you mess up.

You gotta do this time."

We gotta come out with a system, a system that benefit the community and not keep taking away from the community.

- So, you know, yesterday was obviously a different experience having been here for some of you over a year in this environment.

Can you share with us just what you felt, what it was like as you walked into that church yesterday?

- First off, I've been here almost 18 months and first time I've been out, other than to go to do the urine screen at the jail.

And just the opportunity to be a part of normal society again, to see the love and the acceptance, the joy on those people's faces to see us.

It was overwhelming.

It was just an incredible experience all around.

- I felt true happiness yesterday when I walked in that church.

Just the joy and the peace, the level of acceptance.

Nobody's looking at you of who you used to be or what you got going on.

They accepted you for you and that you was there.

And that joy that was in my heart yesterday has carried on to the day.

And it's going to, yesterday I needed, and it shows me what I want for my life.

And man, it's amazing.

- Yeah, it's wonderful to hear that, you know, to see where you at today when you came through the door and I see your heart is getting softer and softer and that's how the work begins.

You know, when you can start the hearing and feeling again, as we know, drugs take away that.

- Yes sir.

- You know, or addicted behavior We numb ourself to the pain, the shame.

And then when moments like this, we start to awaken again.

The life within, the hope within And that's what I see on some of you today.

So, you know, whether that's a blessing to see that and to hear it.

- I see what God's done in my life.

See what he's done for you, what he's done for everybody else here.

And I'm so grateful for it and I just can't wait for that chance to live again.

- Well you gonna get your chance to live again, brother.

- I appreciate it.

- All of you guys are gonna get your chance to live.

As I was sharing with you, I've been working on some of your cages and we've been working on yours, Mr. Boyne and a few others here.

And we got the release on yours.

That you can go home.

That the judge have approved for you to go home, that you have graduated the program.

Yeah.

So.

(audience applauding) - And even though you know you had to go through a legal process of being released, the one who truly released you, it's you.

Because if it's about the judge, you'll be coming back.

But if it's about you, you gonna set a wonderful example.

So Brother Jay, you want to do the honors here?

- It'd be my pleasure, sir.

- Now Mr. Boyen, that this is a piece of paper.

For me, it's very valuable.

I still have mines today after 30 something years.

It was the first step of my decision to live.

And I pray that this right here will indicate your first step, a decision to live.

This is your certification of graduation.

- Chad Lewis Boyne.

Congratulations.

(students applauding) - You are welcome.

Love you.

(gentle music) - You know, I think the world could learn a lot from the story of The Bridge.

If we come together, we're gonna overcome what seems to be so difficult.

And addiction has seemed to be difficult.

It's been this thing throughout our planet that people have been trying to understand.

And the Bridge's story shows you that not only can you understand it and what's causing it, you can defeat it.

And you can live a life that you don't ever have to look back.

(gentle music) - One more time.

You going home.

- Home.

- Going home.

- This is not a process of recovery.

This is a process of deliverance I was not born into it, you know, I made a decision to enter into it.

The same decision I made to go in is the same decision I can make to come out.

So that's what we teach.

And from that, I have seen just a very high percentage of guys have not returned.

They live life and life is enough to keep them clean.

(gentle music) - [Chris] What have you learned personally from your years of working to change and save the lives of men dealing with their life-threatening addiction issues?

- Chris, that could take a long time.

(laughs) What I've learned personally, I've learned how to love.

Yeah, my love is no longer superficial or it's in this box.

And if you don't fit the box, I can't give you love.

I've learned how to love the worst.

And I think that's why love begins.

Not end but begins.

When you look at someone that don't deserve it, but yet still you give it.

'Cause love is not selfish.

Love is not self-seeking.

It's not quick to anger.

It don't have right, it have no wrong.

So when you give love, you can't give it based on those type of things.

The good in people.

You know, I reminded in the Bible say that many will die for a good man, but how many will die for a bad?

Love reach out to the bad, just as well as the good because love can change things.

(gentle music) - Walking out the gate in victory, you can slow ourselves a little bit, yeah, and just take it in.

So this is it.

So we got your family up here and they are ready to see you.

Ms. Melton, it is our pleasure to offer Chad Lewis Boyne to you There he is.

- I love you.

- I love you too, mom.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) - [Narrator] Funding for this program has been made possible in part by: The Horton Family Foundation Fun Jay Swett, Martin Family Foundation, Iorio Family Fund, William and Cynthia McKernan, Kristen Wulff, SEG Family Fund, The Little Goodloe Give Jar Fund, Dale Family Foundation, and other generous supporters.

A complete list is available at aptonline.org and rosaliafilms.com.

(lively music)