Suncoast Rehabilitation Center Gives One Man More Than He Ever Imagined

   “The strength I needed to take my life back came from the man I wanted to be, the man I was meant to be. … I finally found the tools to use that strength and take my life back.”

At a time when over 57,000 people were homeless and over 1,000,000 people were out of work in the state of Florida, Andrew Long had a job he loved and a nice apartment with a pool that eased the summer heat.

Andrew also had an addiction to alcohol that in a month’s time would add his name to the list of the homeless and to those out of work. By July 18^th, 2010 Andrew was still by the pool, but the eviction notice on his apartment door would be enforced by police officers that following Monday. He had lost his job due to his addiction and the loss of his place to live followed close behind. Even after several D.U.I.‘s  which sent him to jail and cost him his license, he still could not win his battle with alcohol. I asked him if he felt there was anything he could do to stop this chain of events from happening. Andrew told me,” The only thing that mattered was that I had enough money to drink the next day”. He went on to explain that even knowing he would lose his job, his home and his family, his addiction cared about none of those things.  

With his world once again collapsing around him and with the reality of being homeless and unable to sustain a job due to his addiction, he had to make a choice. It was then that Andrew had to choose between his life and his death. “I begged for God to take me before I was forced to make that call I swore I would never make again’. He was referring to the call to his mother that he had made too many times before. He awoke at 4:00 a.m. still drunk, hating this day and himself more than the day before. With Andrews request of God to be taken while slept ignored, he picked up the phone and made that call – praying she would not answer. That prayer too was ignored and today, he knows that one call saved his life. His mother knew of a place in Spring Hill, FL. called Suncoast Rehabilitation Center from a family friend.  It would be just a few days later that Andrew and his mom would visit the center and find hope for a better life.

Andrew chose Suncoast Rehabilitation Center due the 76% success rate and because of the way this program teaches clients how to recognize and handle the triggers that cause them to use drugs and alcohol. “I just never realized how I allowed everything in my life, good or bad to justify drinking”. The program gave Andrew the tools he needed to make the right decisions based on the greatest good for everyone and everything in his life. This is why he believes the program is so successful and why he not only remains drug-free, but why everything he lost due to his addiction has returned to him in abundance.

   “It is difficult to explain to addicts how amazing their life could be if they just made the choice that I made, the decision to get help at Suncoast Rehabilitation Center gave me a better life than I ever dreamed possible…”