Turning Trauma intoTriumph with

Eric Archibald

As with many of our participants, Eric’s path to Homes of Hope was a journey of trauma, grief, and life setbacks. However, once given the blessing of a second chance, Eric eventually took his trauma and turned it into a successful and sustainable life victory.

Early Life And Unexpected Events

Eric describes his early childhood as fairly typical, being a happy child of two loving parents without a care in the world. However, his young and carefree life unexpectedly turned when his father fell ill with cancer. After watching him battle illness for some time, Eric’s father passed away in the family home when Eric was only ten years old.

Grief affects all of us differently and can profoundly affect young children when a parent dies. Eric’s family struggled to maintain a sense of normalcy. He witnessed his family slowly falling apart as his loved ones turned to alcohol and other substances to cope with their emotional turmoil. At 17, he moved out of his family home, hoping to forge a more positive path and a life of purpose and hope.

To those on the outside, it might seem like Eric got out of a dire situation just in time and made great strides in establishing himself in business and as an individual. However, things aren’t always as they appear. Eric admits to using substances for nearly fifteen years to help cope with his grief and emotional struggles.

THINGS AREN’T ALWAYS AS THEY SEEM

Despite using various substances over time, Eric managed to function quite well and appeared to be living a successful life. While living in Mississippi, he owned his own electrical company, owned a rental home, and made payments on an additional property, but he was abusing different substances regularly.

Eric explains the fragility it is for people to be in active addiction while keeping up appearances and living in a state of denial. “They think they’re okay because they make good money, they pay their bills,” he said, “To them, they’re making it by their own power, pulling up their bootstraps, they’re fine.”

Appearances can be deceiving. While everything in Eric’s life appeared to be thriving, he was struggling with his life. “You don’t realize you’re hanging on by a thread,” he said, “and when that thread snaps, you can literally go from a homeowner, owning a successful business, to being homeless in six months. I know because I lived it.”

A Path Of Struggle Leads To Unforeseen Blessings

Life and circumstances moved Eric from Mississippi to South Carolina, where he fell into a more profound emotional spiral that led to the use of harder drugs. This out-of-control downward spiral soon made Eric turn to a lifestyle of crime to support his drug habit. For about three years, Eric struggled between being homeless and spending time in jail while navigating his addiction.

In 2019, at a court appearance, Eric was expecting to be sent to prison for three years for a crime he committed. Standing before the judge, he received a life-changing opportunity. The judge offered Eric a chance to complete a rehabilitation program instead of serving time in prison. Eric gladly accepted the rehabilitation program over prison and saw a glimmer of getting his life back on track after so many years of struggling.

However, that hope quickly turned into frustration and despair. While the judge had proposed rehabilitation for Eric, the timing of the COVID-19 pandemic made it challenging to find a program with any openings. Mental health and substance abuse centers were overflowing with capacity during the pandemic. After searching for two months, Eric’s sister finally found a rehabilitation program with available space. But Eric had an issue with the recommended rehab center - it was very Christian-oriented, and Eric had never considered himself to be very spiritual. However, Eric decided that the Christian-based rehabilitation center would be much better than prison - so he was admitted.

After a month at the rehab center, Eric accepted the Lord and began changing his life. “God really lit a fire for me,” he said, “Just a fire deep in my soul where I wanted to serve him. I started to see God in everything.” After seven months in rehab, Eric met the Homes of Hope team for the first time during one of their regular visits to Miracle Hill’s Overcomers Center. “They were just filled with this joy. You can see it every time they come over,” he says. Eric was determined to be part of the Homes of Hope team and sought out how he could get involved with their mission and serve others. “I had the work skills, but I wanted them to show me what it took to lead a Godly life.”

Today, Eric views his entire life experiences as God’s way of forging a path for him to be saved and become an integral team member at Homes of Hope.

What Homes Of Hope Provided For Eric

One of the essential takeaways from Homes of Hope is an empowered sense of structure and faith, which happened to be two of the most significant aspects missing from Eric’s life. As he reflects on losing his father at the early age of 10, Eric says, “One of the biggest things Homes of Hope did for me was they placed spiritual fathers in my life. Nate, Steve, and Bob taught me countless lessons in patience and accountability.”

God works in mysterious and unexpected ways. We often don’t know why something is happening in our lives until we look back and realize God’s plan.

Eric knows that God placed the opportunity to choose rehab over prison, which led him to be part of Homes of Hope in his life. He knows that without Homes of Hope, his life would be unfulfilled, with no purpose, and on a path of self-destruction. He knows he is the man he is today only through the grace of God and the home he’s found in Homes of Hope. Eric says, “I’m completely different in every way than I was before, in every aspect of my life.”

As part of Eric’s Homes of Hope apprenticeship, he enrolled in a 10-week Journeyman exam prep course at Greenville Tech. He passed the Master Electrician Exam on his first try. He is currently registered in college-level construction engineering courses with plans to earn his residential builders and general contractor’s licenses.

Today, Eric is the Men’s Workforce Development Project Foreman and a graduate of the Homes of Hope Men’s Workforce Development program. While it’s rare that our organization hires program graduates, Eric’s passion and drive made him a clear candidate for the role.

Because of his commitment and the faithfulness of our generous donors, Eric is equipped with professional career skills and is giving back to Homes of Hope - the organization that enriched and forever changed his life.