”IT'S A GOOD GROUP OF PEOPLE HERE AND WE HELP EACH OTHER OUT.” - Edward, ABA Health Services consumer
In his Baltimore neighborhood , 56-year-old Edward lives about a block away from ABA Health Services. Still, he wasn't aware of ABA until his physician suggested he see a psychotherapist there to get help with his mental health challenges. Making that one-block walk in 2011 started Edward on a journey of recovery after years of dependence on alcohol and cocaine. Last February, he became one of the rst consumers admitted to ABA's new, intensive outpatient treatment program for addiction, at the suggestion of his therapist and ABA founder and Executive Director Albert Njoku. It might be an understatement to say Edward has led an interesting life. His criminal record lists 113 arrests, and 56 convictions over the years, many for shoplifting offenses committed to support his habit. But that was Edward's life before ABA. What's more important now is that, since he started getting help in February of 2011, he hasn't been arrested or jailed. “After a while, I just got tired of the same thing over and over again,” says Edward, who Growing up in Baltimore's Park Heights-Pimlico neighborhood, Edward started using at age 15, partly due to “peer pressure,” he says. After a while, getting high everyday became as normal as brushing his teeth. “It takes a while before you realize that you have a problem.” Edward says ABA came into his life at the right time. “I knew I wanted to stop using drugs and ABA has helped me a lot.” “The people that run the program at ABA make you want to keep coming back; they are professional and now supports himself as a self-employed landscaper.
friendly. And they are not judgmental; you can't run a
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