Not Alone Support Group, Gulf Breeze

09/14/2025

Shout out to Lackawanna Recovery Coalition for an great event in Scranton, PA! So many resources for programs and support systems. Thank you to the many local businesses and sponsors! Community support is necessary to make recovery possible!

08/31/2025

There is still time to come out to this free event. Come hear the stories, meet the people, get the community partner info. We are at Gadsden and 9th Avenue at Valerie’s House until 8:00 PM.

08/25/2025

Come join us as we support our friends’ event. It’s going to be a great opportunity to learn about resources in our area, meet people who have been where you are now, honor those who have been taken by this terrible disease, and learn how to protect your family from landing on this dangerous path. If you don’t think this event is for you, go anyway. I promise there will be som**hing you gain by being there.

💜 International Overdose Awareness Day is only 3 weeks away.
This year, we’re doing som**hing a little different.

Whether you’ve lost someone you love too soon or want to share your own story of struggle and survival—your voice holds power. It reminds others they are not alone, and it could help someone else find hope.

One incredible example of this is Crystal Lovelock, owner of Lovelock Healing Arts who lives her recovery out loud. She’s generously donated a gift certificate for one massage and six yoga classes for our Yoga & Healing Raffle.

💌 How to Enter:
Every person who shares their story—of loss, struggle, or survival—will be entered into the raffle. The winner will be announced at 7 PM on August 31st during IOAD.
📌 Share your story here: https://forms.gle/2c4zKedWdxTgwvEt8

This Week's Featured Story:
Matthew Gilley – “From Prison Cells to Purpose”

"At just 12 years old, I was introduced to drugs and alcohol by an older crowd I desperately wanted to fit in with. Sneaking out to get drunk and smoke w**d felt exciting at the time—but that was only the beginning.

For nearly two decades, my life spiraled into addiction, arrests, and destruction. I spent nine years in and out of jail and prison, chasing a feeling of belonging that always left me emptier.

One night, just weeks before sentencing, I overdosed—mixing pills, co***ne, and whiskey. I was homeless, squatting in an abandoned house, and didn’t care if I woke up. Three days later, I opened my eyes in a hospital bed. No one had stayed. I walked back to that same house and used again. That night, police came, and I was arrested. That 36-month sentence turned out to be what saved my life.

Today, I lead Lets Get It University INC., mentoring youth who face the same crossroads I once did. I also lead a faith-based recovery group and a small group called Unbroken, helping people overcome loneliness, rejection, fear, and shame.

Life is full of influences—some drag us down, others pull us back to our purpose."

07/08/2025

I highly recommend this incredible place in Baker, Florida for any woman looking for a recovery opportunity. They have a companion program for men, Project Hope.

Our mission is to rescue women from the grips of addiction, abuse and homelessness. We are a one year long, Christ-centered discipleship program.

07/08/2025

06/28/2025

Please share with anyone needing back to school help in the Pensacola area.

06/08/2025

We can help you find a church that will respond the very same way!

I shot m**h in a church bathroom. Let that sink in.

In the middle of two men of God who loved me deeply trying to tell me about Jesus, I excused myself, walked into a clean, tiled bathroom stall in the church … and I shot up. Not because I wanted to disrespect them or God. But because my body was *screaming*.

I was dying in real time, and I didn’t know how to stop.

I had driven to meet these guys in a stolen 2006 Jaguar.

I was ten days awake. No sleep. No rest. Just paranoia, hallucinations, and the feeling that som**hing invisible was constantly watching me. My body was twitchy and cold.

Somehow, Bart had gotten me to come to this church. He’d been chasing me for years. Not in a pushy way, but in the way that real love does. It keeps showing up. He was an elder at this trendy church, a place where a couple thousand people showed up every Sunday, wearing name brands and smiling and holding lattes. He didn’t care about any of that. He cared about me.

Richard came too. One of the pastors. Soft-spoken and wise. A theologian who would never claim the title. The kind of guy who looked you in the eye when you spoke, even if your pupils were shot and your breath reeked of chemicals.

We met at the coffee shop inside the church. Ten minutes in, I started falling out. I couldn’t focus. I couldn’t hold still. I felt like my skin was inside out. I don’t remember what they were saying. Som**hing about grace. Som**hing about how Jesus never stops knocking. I mumbled an excuse and headed to the bathroom.

I locked the stall door behind me, pulled off my shoe and sock, and shot up in the top of my foot. The veins in arms and hands were gone. Scarred, collapsed. Just scar tissue and regret. I found a vein in my foot and slammed the shot. Everything left, then my brain lit up like a smoldering fire flaring into a blaze from a splash of gas. For a minute, I could breathe again.

I knew they knew.

When I walked back, I could feel the needle mark pulsing with every step.
But they never said a word.

They stayed.

They stayed.

They didn’t call security. Didn’t ask me to leave. Didn’t act embarrassed to be seen with me. They leaned in closer. We talked about the deep stuff. My doubts. My guilt. The theology I couldn’t wrap my head around.

But what matters most is this: at that table, I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ.

Not halfway. Not one foot in, one foot out. Not like all the other times I “tried to get clean” or “turned over a new leaf.” No. This was full surrender.

I asked Him to save me.

And He did.

That church didn’t kick me out. Those men didn’t walk away. They did the hard thing - the uncomfortable thing. They loved me when I was completely unlovable. They didn’t care about image or rules or what people thought. They saw me. And they stayed.

And because they did, I’m alive.

If you’re part of a church - be like them. It’s hard. I was hard to get through to. They pushed past that. You should too.

If you’re someone who feels too far gone - hear me. You’re not.

Jesus came after me in a bathroom stall, with a needle in my foot, after ten days awake, a stolen car in the parking lot, and a lifetime of damage.

He saved me.

He’ll meet you too.

Wherever you are.

—

We are making a documentary about what God has done in my life. You can learn more and see the trailer here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fascinationfilms/killing-kyle-orth

05/27/2025

Time won’t take away the sadness, but God will provide healing.

Four years ago today, I woke up looking forward to a holiday weekend.

Four years ago today, we were trying to decide how we were going to celebrate my son’s 24th birthday in a few days.

Four years ago today, I got the phone call we lived in fear of for 10 years.

Four years ago today, I had to call my husband and tell him to drop what he was doing to get to the hospital because his son had a heart attack that left him with brain damage.

Four years ago today, my 21 year old son was called home from work to take care of me and do for me what I wasn’t capable of doing myself.

Four years ago today, I walked into my 23 year old son’s hospital room and saw what no parent should ever have to see.

Four years ago today, I saw friends and family drop what they were doing to come sit with us, cry with us and pray with us.

Four years ago today, I saw a brother sit on the floor of the hospital hall not able to go inside the room.

Four years ago today we were told we would have to make the hardest decision in life within the next 72 hours.

Four years ago today, hospital staff bent rules and showed compassion and love to a family preparing to say goodbye to a loved one.

Four years ago today, God showed up in a hospital room and began providing comfort in a way I’ve never experienced in my life. FYI: He hasn’t stopped comforting us yet!

Four years ago today our lives changed forever.

After 3 long days in the hospital, God permanently healed our son of his addiction by calling him home to Heaven on May 29, 2021. We miss him terribly, but continue to give God the glory for how good He has been to us. If you love someone who is battling addiction or know someone who loves an addict, we’d love to be an ear to listen to you, a shoulder to cry on or friend to relate to what you are going through.