Getting comfortable After joining Divine Light as a client, Cubbage says it took him another year-and-a-half to release his deepest secrets. “I finally found someone who I was comfortable enough talking to about it,” he says. “It was like the weight was lifted off my shoulders.” When he opened up to Sakina Dean, founder and CEO of Divine Light, he came to find that he was anything but alone, and that his peers could support him in working through the trauma, leaving discomfort in the past in order to function in the present. Recovery has allowed him to reconnect with family and build close relationships and a new support network. But he knows what to avoid. “Even when I go home to Delaware, I never go in my old neighborhood, I never call any old friends,” he says. “I don’t need to tell them how good I’m doing. They’ll find out.”
One big family As he approaches his fourth year of involvement with Divine Light, Cubbage’s colleagues have become a new family to him. It’s a family he is grateful for, and a family that’s constantly growing in numbers. Cubbage’s new family has seen him through the ups and downs of sobriety, and he recognizes each new client as a mirror of his past. By assigning responsibilities, developing new programming, and maintaining a warm, welcoming air, Cubbage says he treats clients with the same caring displays that were offered to him. “I maintain my gratitude every day, and all I’m doing is just passing the baton” when new clients come looking for help, he says. And in turn, he can see the direct impact of his work at Divine Light on a daily basis. “I see someone walk in the door without clothes, without anything, and then walk out a different person after they finish the program,” he says. “We’re in the business of saving lives.”
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“I maintain my gratitude every day, and all I’m doing is just passing the baton.” - Anthony Cubbage
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