Testimonials
I arrived at Soulutions June 1st 2011. I had just completed sixty days of in-patient residential treatment. I had no idea what was in store for me. I walked through the gate, went into Joe’s office and took a seat on his couch. He began speaking to me about what was to become of me if I were to stay here for my four month commitment. Joe talked about creating a “legacy” and becoming a man. He talked to me about responsibility, integrity, being a man of my word, and God. All I really heard at the time was just a bunch of words. I had no recollection of the meaning behind them or what they actually meant when applied to my life. I had been an addict and alcoholic for the past three years. I lied, cheated, stole, manipulated and took the shortcut through life. Obviously that way did not work, for it ended me up in several different treatment centers, detox units, hospitals, and halfway houses. Well it is now almost May 2012 and I’m preparing to move into my own place. I am leaving a new man. I spent almost eleven month’s at Soulutions and thank God I did. Over the past eleven month’s I learned how to live life on life’s terms and stay sober through thick and thin. When I arrived at Soulutions I had a bag of close. I now have every materialistic item and young man could ever want. I have a new car, a great job, and money in the bank, a beautiful condo, and much more. All of the materialistic items are a direct result of changing my ideas, attitudes, and beliefs about life. It is nice to have nice things but the greatest gift I have received being here is a total transformation from a hopeless state of mind and body. During my time here at Soulutions, Joe & Keith, the alumni, and a sober support group helped me to engage into the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and become an active member in the community. Soulutions encouraged me to take directions from a sponsor, work the 12 steps, and attend meetings on a regular basis. Joe and Keith supported me and guided me down the same path that had been shown to them. When I got here I did not want to hear about “God.” Little did I know a year later I would be engaging in prayer, meditation, and become a true believer in my higher power that I choose to call God. I now have sponsee’s of my own and get to bring guys down the same path that my sponsor, Joe, and Keith took me down. I actually have some integrity today. I try to be a man of my word. I help other human beings on a daily basis who struggle with the same disease of alcoholism and drug addiction that I struggled with. I have my family back in my life and I am closer with them than I have ever been in my whole life. They actually call me for advice today! I have real friends who are there for me and support me through the good times and the bad times. I am able to love today. I am able to be the man God created me to be. I am far from perfect but I am a thousand times better than the man that walked in here eleven months ago. Soulutions gave me a place to get grounded, get involved, and an opportunity to change my life. They gave me fertile ground to grow. Soulutions guided me down the path to happiness, joy and freedom. I now have a pretty good understanding of what Joe meant when he sat me down and talked to me about legacy, integrity, and becoming a man. I always say to people, “I don’t understand how anyone gets sober without coming to Soulutions.” Thank God for this place and the people who run it. They saved my life.
I am truly grateful for all of the assistance, help and direction you provided to me from the moment I was released into your care. You stood for me and by me, you believed in me and supported me. You gave me several opportunities and brought hope back into my life when I thought it was over for me. What a blessing Soulutions is to guys like me. I made many mistakes and I’m so grateful you called me out on each of them, helped me examine them, accept the consequences, learn the lessons and move forward. You gave me a chance to re-commit and learn a better way, the way to become a man and become who God created me to be. I enjoyed the time I had at Soulutions even though I had to leave sooner than I wanted because of a rules violation, one that I realize could not be overlooked. I took full responsibility and accepted the consequences as I was taught to do. Because of what I had learned from the both of you and God’s Grace it did not lead to relapse, I was able to make amends to the individual, acknowledge my part, pay the consequences and move on. As I move forward in life I will never forget what the both of you and Soulutions has done for me and will always strive to do the right thing. I am excited to continue in this journey God has prepared for me. A lot still has to be done but I’m willing and will put forth the action. I don’t always make the right decisions but continue to take the necessary steps to live in the correction. I am gaining insight and knowledge with each experience and I’m able to live the principals of the 12 Steps. I always hope to help others and rely on God’s power. If there is anything that I can do for Soulutions don’t hesitate to call on me, I owe you so much, I never thought I would experience life the way I do today, I am truly a free man. Everyone I met there helped me one way or another and I thank you both. I love you all. Peace, love and may God continue to bless you guy’s and Soulutions.
I thought this would be a good time to email and Thank You for all you have done for our son Joe. I can’t put into words how Thankful we are that you came into Joe’s life. From the time he met you and moved into Soulutions he has made so many positive changes in his life and for the first time we have true hope that he can stay clean & sober and live a good life again. I truly believe that God sent him your way because he knew you would be the person that could help put him back on the right path in life. From the Bottom of our hearts, Joe’s entire family Thanks You & Soulutions!
God Bless
I just wanted to express my deep and heartfelt appreciation to Joe Behr, Keith and everyone at Soulutions. My son stayed at Soulutions for almost ten months, and amazingly, he has been alcohol and drug free for exactly one year this month. In fact I just returned from flying down to Florida to watch him receive his year medallion at an AA meeting led by Joe, which was a truly wonderful experience, and a memory I will carry with me forever. What a miraculous change my son has undergone in just one year. Soulutions, along, of course, with God’s grace, provided my son with the structure, guidance and help he needed to achieve and maintain his sobriety. But Joe’s guidance went beyond simply helping my son through the recovery process. In fact, during my recent visit my son said that his sponsor and Joe guided him through the AA twelve steps, but that Joe Behr helped him learn how to become a man — pretty profound words from a 22-year-old. So I am beyond grateful to Joe, to Soulutions, and to God, for saving my son’s life, and for guiding him during his journey to a safe, sober and serene life. May God continue to bless them all, and allow Joe and Soulutions to continue their mission helping addicts like my son.
I was up last night talking to my big brother (Keith) and I was in awe just listening to his story. In that short hour or so it dawned on me that I was meeting my brother for the very first time!
Growing up, I wanted nothing more than to be just like Keith. Unfortunately, because of the 12 year age difference and not being raised by the same parents…I always felt like I had a big brother, but not really! (If you get what I mean). When it came to playing basketball, I always told myself “If I could just beat Keith, then I would be the man. I would play varsity basketball in 9th grade, get recruited to play D-1 basketball and possibly play overseas somewhere.” However, the reality was…I never got a chance to play my brother in 8th grade because he was gone. I ended up making varsity in the 10th grade and got a significant amount of letters from a couple of schools, but none to the magnitude that I had envisioned. If I only got a chance to play my big bro one on one…maybe I would have played D-1 ball somewhere, maybe…maybe not I guess!
From the ages of 12 – 22 I told myself that the person I always looked up was dead. Given what he was going thru at the time, in his mind I am sure he felt he was. I have no idea what it is like to go thru the things that you, Keith and so many others go through when it comes to addiction, but I am so thankful that the Lord brought my brother to Florida and to you and Soulutions doorstep. I do not know what you actually saw in Keith that made you reach out to him, but if you had not…in my mind I am sure my brother would have really been dead.
Last night he was talking about his legacy and the things he wishes to accomplish and at that very moment it dawned on me that the legacy that you and he are leaving for sooooo many others is mind blowing. I do not even know if he even understands to what magnitude. Most people do the things that they do for money, power, respect and things of the sort. But you two…..it just seems as though you are doing the very thing that you are supposed to be doing. I do not know exactly what “that” is, but I do know that most people spend their entire lives chasing the thing that the Lord would have them to do. The most intriguing thing about the journey you two are traveling on is you do not seem as though you care anything about the accolades. You just want to do for others what was done for you, that is saving lives one at a time.
As a police officer, I too strive to generally do the right thing and ultimately save lives. I feel if I am able to save just one life, then I would have been doing what I was supposed to be doing. After listening to my bro, I want to do so much more than that. I want to leave a legacy that I, my family, and the Lord would be proud of. At the end of my day, I just want the Lord to say “Job well done, my good and faithful servant.”
I just wanted to tell you Joe that I am eternally grateful for allowing me to meet my real brother for the first time. I have been alive for 32 years and have never been given the opportunity to meet my big bro until last night at 10:30 pm. I do not know what you saw in Keith some years ago, I am just glad that you did.
We are taking this opportunity to express our sincere feelings, thoughts, and appreciation to Joe Behr and his involvement in our son’s road to recovery. We have witnessed the ups and downs of this struggle with its heartbreak and the optimistic, positive changes that we are seeing. We realized as a family, that we could not go through this alone. Any time we needed to talk to Joe, he was always available and responded immediately. We’ve had multiple conversations, and he was generous with his time. We felt secure in his approach and his structured methods moving forward to reach the ultimate goal of a life time of sober living. Not only is he helping our son go through this journey, he has been a constant force of support for us as well. We truly believe that Joe cares about us as a family. We’ve experienced Joe going that extra mile for us on several occasions. We are grateful and appreciative for all that Joe has does for our son and all the other men at Soulutions.