Tyler wanted his old life back — but for the past few years, he’d felt trapped by mental illness. It all started shortly after he graduated from college back in 2002. He was coaching basketball and looking into a career in the mortgage industry. When he was invited to go on a mission trip to Haiti, he gladly volunteered, but sadly, that was the beginning of his journey with mental health issues.

“I had a bad reaction to a drug I received to prevent malaria,” he says. “After I got back from Haiti, I started experiencing some bipolar symptoms. It took nearly three years before I was able to return to work.” For a long time, he was able to manage these symptoms with medications, but then he started having severe side effects.

“My life was a rollercoaster. I was in and out of hospitals and struggling with which medications to take, and not even wanting to take them.” His family supported him as best they could; but thinking a more structured environment would help, they brought him to the CAC.

“I didn’t know what to expect when I got here. I had never been in a shelter before. At first, I felt like a fish out of water, but that feeling slowly faded as I met some of the people here.”

It wasn’t long before he decided to join our long-term recovery program. The routine of classes, counseling, work therapy, Bible studies and fellowship with staff and other guests in the program helped him develop new, healthy patterns of behavior. It also helped him become disciplined with taking his medications, which had been one of his biggest challenges.

Additionally, even though Tyler had always been a Christian, the program showed him how to go deeper in his faith and apply the Bible to his life.

Tyler’s life is now in a good place, and he has a clear path forward. He better understands his mental health challenges, and he knows how to manage them. But perhaps most significantly, thanks to the CAC, Tyler feels known, understood and supported by a larger community of believers. 

With Jesus’ love in his heart and hope for the future, Tyler is grateful for your support. “I’m thankful to the CAC for taking me in and making me one of their own. They gave me a community. I feel stable and settled."