Bayou Catholic Magazine | June 2012

Page 33

healthier alternative than jail or the hospital for alcoholics and drug addicts.” Our 15-bed facility offers a community of support for men in their efforts to change. Many have referred to it as a “brotherhood.” Marc Tingle, a client of Assisi Bridge House reports finding true friendships there. “When you are using, friendships are based on lies and manipulation. This is different. It is a positive, family atmosphere. We support and understand one another.” Tingle describes the Assisi Bridge House property as “peaceful and humbling. I call it a sanctuary, a safe and relaxing place … God’s land.” Not every man who walks through the doors of Assisi Bridge House is ready for change, but it is important to know that many are and do make necessary changes. It is so rewarding to get visits or phone calls from men who are living drug and alcohol –free lives, successful in work and family life, perhaps with educational degrees achieved, and still going strong years down the road. Year after year, men happily report their successes. Brother John mentions Chuck Roth, who came through Assisi Bridge House 20 years ago and has been in recovery from his addiction since that time. He is now a member of the Assisi Bridge House Advisory Board and was the master of ceremonies for the campaign luncheon. Roth is the executive director of the Boy and Girls Hope of Greater New Orleans.

Michael S. Haydel, M.D., FIPP Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice Board Board Certified CertifiedininAnesthesiology Interventional Pain Management and Anesthesiology

Clarence McGuire, counselor for Terrebonne Parish drug court, at left, and David Mouton, program director for the Bayouland YMCA, discuss their support of the Assisi Bridge House at the campaign luncheon.

“There are men in our community (Houma) with double digit years of recovery who have come through Assisi Bridge House,” says Joey Sanger, another client at the facility. “We see them at meetings all the time. They are proof that recovery is possible.” This is why we keep doing what we do and with the support of persons from our diocese and our

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community, Assisi Bridge House can offer its services for many, many years to come. If you are interested in visiting our facility or helping to support our program in any way, please call me at (985) 872-5529 or email me at assisibridgehouse@hotmail.com. (Vicknair has been serving as a counselor for Assisi Bridge House since 2003.)

Michael P. Charlet, M.D., FAAN Board Certified in Neurology Fellowship in Neuromuscular Diseases

985-223-3132

315 Liberty Street, Houma, LA 70360 AdId: D Catholic 304805311• -Houma, 01 Bayou LA CustId: 9276309856 Dir/Iss: HUCLA Y1 02/2011

YPH: 103939 June 2012 Physicians & Surgeons Doctors YPSH:

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