Community Partnership Spotlight: Meet our friends at Alpha Home
To take a closer look at the themes in FOUR PLACES by Joel Drake Johnson, The Surround Project has partnered with several non-profit agencies providing services or resources in San Antonio. We talked to Angela White, CEO of Alpha Home, about our partnership and the connection between addiction, treatment, and the effect on the family.
For 53 years, Alpha Home has been committed to treating the whole person—not just the addiction— by caring, qualified professionals. Alpha Home has the only San Antonio gender-specific Residential Rehab Program dedicated exclusively to treating women.
Their Residential treatment program provides women intensive and expansive therapeutic drug rehab and alcoholism addiction treatment program in a home-like residential setting that prepares them to remain clean and sober while embracing the benefit of a lifelong 12-Step commitment. Centrally located, Alpha Home is the perfect place to find serenity and begin working toward a new life.
Angela, what is the mission of Alpha Home? Why is it critical to San Antonio? The mission of Alpha Home is to offer a pathway of help, hope and healing through spiritually-based drug and alcohol treatment and support. It is critical as we are the only female gender specific program in the City, addiction is a disease that causes deep ripple effects to family and the community. Mental health co-exists and until a body is healthy and the mind is clear from other substances it is difficult to really understand the mental health concern.
How long have you been with the agency and what is your background? I have been here since March 2016. I have a varied for-profit background from accounting to IT to international customer service and running a LifeCoaching practice. I have volunteered with abused women and separated families since my 20’s.
As part of our Surround, we are talking about mental wellness and self-care as preventative and as a way to know when it is time to seek more professional help. What is in your personal “bag of self-care tips”?
I am not too good at it frankly, my work is immersive! When I can being outside hiking or traveling is perfect for me, I love the ocean. I am working on mindfulness being a part of my daily life and I have a wonderful therapist. Exercise works but I am pretty rubbish at it! I love movies and read 5 books at time, they are my fantasy escape!
ABOUT OUR PARTNERSHIP
Partnering with a theatre company is a little unusual, why did you say yes? What do you hope the partnership will achieve? I said yes because it is a beautiful and interesting way to educate people. The partnership will spread the word about an issue that, generally, people do not wish to discuss. I hope those that need treatment for the disease will come to us, and I hope those who can offer financial support will also hear of us.
Is there anything recognizable or true about the play FOUR PLACES from your area of expertise? The truth that those impacted or suffering from the disease all have differing experiences and reactions, the uniqueness of being an individual means that we should treat everyone as such. There can be no assumptions.
When people learn about Alpha Home, what do you hope they will know? We are a family, we are here to serve in a respectful loving spiritual way and we are excellent at what we do, we have been doing it for 53 years. We are a low cost to free program, we will help with the barriers and be a strong advocate for our clients. On the flip side, we are cognizant of spending every dollar in the right way, we need additional support as a fact of life, we currently fundraise $815,000 each year out of a $4 million annual budget just to survive. We are a strong business and and unique service provider.
Let’s end with something fun, here’s the set of questions created by Bernard Pivot, made famous on Inside The Actor’s Studio:
What is your favorite word? Resilience
What is your least favorite word? Hate
What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? Books books books — continued learning from Socrates to JRR Tolkein.. and being a part of releasing a person inner sparkle a part of growth for another.
What turns you off? Judgement of others, the bundling of people “they” are all the same – URGH
What is your favorite curse word? Fuck – said with gusto and force or humour in my British accent
What sound or noise do you love? Ocean waves
What sound or noise do you hate? Air horns
What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Author
What profession would you not like to do? Computer programmer
If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? You were worth the life I sacrificed
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