r A year and a half ago, Spanish Fork’s Brett Griffiths’ dream came true: to completely turn on its head the way addiction recovery is addressed. Instead of focusing on insurance payouts or just one aspect of recovery, Griffiths’ Provo non-profit, Building Beginnings, which he started in 2017 with Ryan Hymas, is using a three-pronged approach to address the real issues for a whole recovery. The three aspects involve helping clients obtain employment in the construction industry, treatment, and housing. Griffiths says recovery is impossible if any of these three things are left unaddressed.
Their goal is for people to become self-sufficient. “We’ve got to teach them how to be the best employees so they’re hirable,” Griffiths says.
They have had 600 people come through the program. Griffiths is proud of the good that has taken place. “We have a sixty-eight percent success rate of clients who have stayed sober for over a year.”
Insurance companies often only pay for thirty days in addiction recovery treatment. But no one recovers fully in thirty days. In contrast, Building Beginnings is an uplifting, tight-knit, practical resource where addicts can live, work, and heal together.
One of the biggest ways Building Beginnings assists their clients is through transportation. They employ four full-time drivers who work around the clock helping recovering addicts get to and from work and treatment. “Many addicts don’t have driver’s licenses, so keeping a job and staying consistent with treatment is hard if they don’t have rides,” Griffiths says.
Building Beginnings employs four counselors and has an Intense Outpatient Program and a General Outpatient Program. The non-profit also provides a variety of housing: female sober living, male sober living, employee housing, and family living.
One of the essential components of true recovery is service. Building Beginnings often tells their clients: “God doesn’t help those who help themselves. God helps those who help others.” They are actively engaged in community and graffiti clean-up.
The thing that takes the most time for Griffiths and Hymas is finding more remodeling contracts and companies to work for. But whatever they are doing, their passion for this work is clear. Their latest endeavor is creating a trade school within their program, which will allow their clients to obtain a trade license, opening many more employment opportunities.
The missing piece, though, is community involvement. Building Beginnings simply cannot fulfill its long-term mission without help. Donations are easily and securely accepted at their Web site, www.bbrecovery.net. If you can’t donate money, stop by their Provo office, 286 S. 600 E. Suite A, and drop off work boots, other construction apparel, and basic hygiene items. Furniture stores are in a unique position to offer great help; by donating furniture floor samples, Building Beginnings can furnish the housing they provide to their clients.
