8 minute read
A Story of Redemption
Kurt Snyder, ’91, ’06, had hit rock bottom. He had dropped out of college after just one year of failing every class. He had gone to college to wrestle— but his addiction had gotten the best of him. “My addiction really destroyed something I loved in my life … I loved wrestling, and I remember walking away from it feeling just tremendous regret.”
He was living in San Antonio, far away from his home state of North Dakota. That’s when his brother-in-law reached out to help him find recovery. It was through his brother-in-law’s encouragement that Kurt was able to start going to addiction counseling — counseling that eventually saved his life and helped him overcome his addiction. About a year after that, his brother-in-law died by suicide. “It was really devastating; he was like a brother to me,” Kurt said. “Here’s somebody that saved my life, and I really couldn’t do anything to help him at the time.”
After he died, Kurt knew he had two options. He could either fall back into his old ways or step up and fill the shoes of the man who had done so much for him. Kurt decided to move back to North Dakota to help take care of his nephews. It was at one of their wrestling tournaments that Kurt ran into Milo Trusty, a legendary Marauders wrestling coach. “He came up to me and said, ‘I know you; I remember you. You were a good wrestler. Don’t you have some eligibility left?’ and I said ‘yes, but I was a bad apple.’ But he sparked something in me,” Kurt said.
Kurt wanted to go back to college to become an addiction counselor, but he needed to know if he could handle classes and assignments before Kurt even thought about trying to wrestle again. So he took a semester at Minot State and got straight A’s. “I sent Milo a heartfelt letter, saying I think I could be a good influence on the team, I have tremendous regrets, and I would just like an opportunity.” Milo gave him that chance, and at the age of 30, Kurt enrolled at Mary and joined the wrestling team. “My teammates called me ‘gramps,’” he joked.
Kurt wrestled for the Marauders 1995-1996, and got third place at nationals.
He’d had a hard life, but Mary was a great community of support to help Kurt have a second chance. The discipline he learned on the wrestling team helped him practice discipline in other aspects of his life.
He didn’t have the best wrestling season — he was hurt all the time, and he didn’t have a winning record — but he showed up every day, he didn’t quit, and he didn’t use drugs or alcohol. “I showed up and did the best I could do one day at a time,” Kurt said. At the end of the season, Milo could take 12 people to the national tournament — ten to compete and two alternates. To Kurt’s surprise, Milo chose to bring him as an alternate. “He said to me, ‘you’ve earned this. You’ve given to me every bit of your efforts this year, and I respect that,’” Kurt recounted. He went to nationals with the team, and another guy ended up getting hurt, so he got to wrestle. He lost his first match. “That night I called my counselor in San Antonio, and he told me to grab the Bible in my hotel room and look up 2 Timothy 1:7, which says ‘For God has not given you a spirit of cowardice, but of power and love and self-discipline.’ So I just said that over and over again,” Kurt remembered.
The next day, Kurt wrestled some of the best he had in his life and ended up winning seven matches in a row to get third place. “I had one good day, and it was that day,” he said with a smile. “It was incredible.”
He didn’t wrestle the next year, but he helped coach the team as he completed his degree in addiction counseling.
“I felt like I was somebody who was thrown away at one time, but then I was given this community at the University of Mary that supported me in incredible ways. Mary gave me more than a chance to redo my college athletic career. I was successful; I was valued. I reclaimed my life,” Kurt said.
After graduating from Mary, he began his career as a licensed addiction counselor, most of it at Heartview Foundation in Bismarck. Eventually, the role of executive director opened, so he went back to Mary for his master’s in management.
Now he helps those struggling with addiction to find recovery like he did. Heartview Foundation is a nonprofit that provides treatment for drug and alcohol addiction. “People walk through our door, and they’re so broken. But everyone who works at our facility realizes: that’s somebody’s person; that’s somebody’s loved one. It’s quite the responsibility to be trusted with helping them through some of the toughest times of their lives,” Kurt said.“But there’s nothing more powerful than to be a part of someone’s life from when they are hopeless and desperate with little reason to live to when they find hope again. It’s incredible to be a part of.”
As executive director of Heartview, Kurt oversees over 120 employees.
During his twenty years at Heartview, their staff has grown from eight people to 125, yet the need for addiction counseling has grown even faster. “Between April of 2020 and April of 2021, 100,000 Americans died from an opioid overdose. That is more people than the city of Bismarck. That’s a fully loaded jumbo jet crashing every day with no survivors. That’s how many people are battling addiction,” he said.
Even though they continue to add more services, more staff, their waitlist never changes. “It’s disheartening that we can’t get ahead of it at all,” he said. “But we’re trying. We have a job posting for an addiction counselor that we never takedown. I’d interview and hire anybody that comes around for that. I could double our services if I had the staff.”
2 Timothy 1:7
One new initiative he is excited about is a grant with the Bismarck Police Department and the Sanford ER that allows them to build a bridge to put their staff in the ER when people are brought in with a drug overdose. Instead of just giving them Narcan and “throwing them on the street,” Heartview staff can help them find long-term treatment.
There are many initiatives and services Kurt would like to start if he had the staff. In order to do that, North Dakota needs more addiction counselors. “Job Service just testified on January 20, 2022, saying that in the next ten years we will need 147 new addiction counselors. Right now, we only gain about ten a year. That’s not enough. We need more people to choose this profession,” he said.
One way the University of Mary is helping address that shortage is through an online addiction counseling program, which Kurt is excited about. “We opened a location in Cando, ND, and part of making that successful is helping our staff there grow into those positions and go back to school. But in Cando, where do they go?” he said. “Online addiction counseling programs allow people in rural North Dakota get the education required to fill those needs.”
Kurt and his wife, Lisa, have two boys, Jack and Will. The boys don’t wrestle, but they both enjoy basketball. Lisa is a pediatrician, and the couple believes strongly in giving back, especially to the University of Mary.
“I don’t know if I could give back enough to really make up for all that I was given,” Kurt said. “I was given so much, so to give back to Mary just makes sense. You want to give back when you find a new lease on life. It’s just the right thing to do. Mary has been there for me at every turn. I’m so grateful.”
Bachelor of Science in Addiction Counseling
The University of Mary’s addiction counseling program helps students understand addictive behaviors in society, so they can positively impact and drastically change the life of someone with addictive behaviors. Through their coursework, students learn about the dynamics of addiction while they develop the skills necessary to plan treatment and coordinate care for those they serve. In addition, our program integrates internship hours into the curriculum, which assists students as they seek licensure after graduation. Students can tailor their degree to include a minor in addiction prevention, criminal justice, or psychology. A new program at the University of Mary, the bachelor’s in addiction counseling is offered in an online format, and can be completed in as few as 2.6 years, depending on transferred credits.
Learn more at umary.edu/AddictionCounseling
