'Your Home as Long as You Want'

Bravo Zulu House Opens in Winnebago

By NICK RELLER

The Diocese of Winona-Rochester is one of roughly 100 “Patriot Partners” supporting Bravo Zulu House, a sober living facility for military veterans battling both chemical addiction and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which celebrated its grand opening in rural Winnebago on May 28.

The project has been organized by Servant Leader Tim Murray, CEO of Trinity Sober Homes, a Catholic faith-based nonprofit providing housing for men over 40 who are coming out of initial treatment programs for addiction. Murray co-founded Trinity Sober Homes with the late Rev. Martin Fleming, a US Army colonel and Catholic priest for the Archdiocese, in St. Paul in 2011.

But his calling to advocacy for those battling addiction began on the receiving end of the dynamic.

"This man saved my life," he announced to the hundreds in attendance at the grand opening, while holding up a framed portrait of Fr. Fleming (pictured below).

"I was a drunk living in my car. Really had no prospects. It's tough to be a CEO when you show up drunk every day," he quipped. "They expect you to be sober every day, and in the morning! So Father took me in, and he saved my life."

The organization they founded 14 years ago now boasts a post-treatment recovery rate of 71% (71% of residents remain sober after one year), which Murray says is the highest in the nation.

"We know that the reason we have a 71% success rate is because of spiritual coaching," said Murray. "That's it. Take that away and we're no different than any other facility."

While not all residents are necessarily Catholic, spiritual coaching is a key component, or "secret sauce," of the program. "The reality is that, without God, you can't stay sober," said Murray "...and [sobriety] starts with understanding that there is a God, and it's not me."

One of the spiritual coaches who will be serving Bravo Zulu House is Fr. Joshua Miller, who this past year was the parochial vicar for Sacred Heart Parish in Owatonna, and is now the pastor at St. Catherine in Luverne and St. Leo in Pipestone. Fr. Miller is currently an Army Reserve chaplain. He was a field artillery officer for the US Army before entering seminary formation, and he will return to active duty as a chaplain in a few years.

Fr. Miller said he sees his role as a spiritual coach as similar to that of a chaplain, in that, though not everyone in the house will be Catholic, he will still have a role to play in helping residents recognize and embrace their relationship with God.

"It's an opportunity for evangelization," he said. "Speaking from a military context, being present as a Catholic priest to people who are not Catholic is often their first experience with the Catholic Church. The physical presence of a priest is a witness to God the Father. Just that people see me and know that I have given my life to God, is a witness."

Fr. Miller's involvement with Bravo Zulu House is personal, him having seen the effects of PTSD in family and friends.

"People I know and love have suffered the consequences of war. ... I have been able to help and experience healing and know it's possible. That was the start of my vocation - meeting with soldiers [as a field artillery officer] and hearing their struggles and feeling a desire to be a spiritual father to them, rather than just their boss."

The effects of PTSD on veterans caught the attention of leadership at Trinity Sober Homes, who saw an opportunity to fill a treatment gap with Bravo Zulu House. The statistics are laid out in a program distributed on the morning of the grand opening: Of the 120,000 US veterans who have committed suicide since Sept. 11, 2001 (compared to 7,500 combat deaths), 90% suffered from both PTSD and addiction. "Despite the existence of 20,000+ sober homes in the USA, there are exactly zero all-military sober homes addressing both PTSD and addiction."

According to Murray, "Lack of sobriety is the number one barrier to effectively treating PTSD." With Trinity Sober Homes' 71% success rate, Murray believes his organization is uniquely equipped to help.

Residents coming from treatment centers to Bravo Zulu House will experience a quiet rural setting featuring a hydroponic lettuce farm, a kennel of rescue dogs (one to be paired to each resident for canine therapy), spiritual coaching, mental health counseling and therapy from Mayo doctors, and on-site 24/7 transportation. On their end of the bargain, residents must undergo a psych assessment before acceptance, work or volunteer 30+ hours a week, attend three or more 12-Step meetings a week and submit to regular random drug testing.

Deacon Michael Zaccariello, who serves the parishes of Christ the King in Byron, Holy Family in Kasson, and St. John Baptist de la Salle in Dodge Center, also has a role on Bravo Zulu House's advisory board. With 30 years of experience in the mental health field, and a recent 25-year military career, over half of which was spent as a military psychologist, he recognizes that Bravo Zulu House's "intersection of mental health, chemical addictions, spirituality, and military service very much aligns with my professional, military and diaconal roles. Bravo Zulu is an amazing example of the healing that can occur when the human person is looked at holistically."

Like Fr. Miller, Deacon Zaccariello also sees an opportunity to spread the Gospel:

"Pope Francis often talked and wrote about being on the margins, with our brothers and sisters, and smelling like sheep. Those with mental health issues and/or addictions are oftentimes looked down upon and on the outskirts of society. They are 'on the margins.' Such individuals are ripe to hear and experience the Good News of the Gospel. In other words, service to and the healing of these veterans is a form of evangelization, which is one of the priorities of Bishop Barron in the diocese."

After some delays with flooring installation, Murray expects that Bravo Zulu House will be ready for residents to move in by July 7. Dog kennel construction is expected to be completed by August 1, and funds for the hydroponic farming operation will hopefully be secured by August 1 as well. Bravo Zulu House will accommodate 12 residents, a full-time house manager and a full-time case manager. Murray estimates the average length of stay will be about 18 months.

"Basically what we say is, 'Welcome home,'" he said. "And this is your home as long as you want. If you look at the last 14 years with Trinity, our average length of stay is about 18 months. So it just takes that long. I used to think that if you cook brownies, and the directions say 350 degrees for 20 minutes, doesn't it just make sense that it's 700 degrees for ten minutes? And what I learned from Fr. Fleming is some things just take 20 minutes."

Nick Reller is the associate editor of The Courier.