Damien Browning

"I had mentors who opened intensive outpatient programs and outpatient treatment centers. They kept telling me, Damian, you really need to get over your block and open an outpatient treatment center. You need money to make money, and the more money you make, the more people you can provide scholarships for. My first night out my grandparents were in one of the 12 step fellowships, and they took me to a meeting. I just kept going back, and that changed my life."

"The vision always looks good, but the journey is hard. Hiring the right therapists was difficult, and getting an insurance network took forever. We just started doing it and learning along the way. We did the buildout on a bootstrap budget, going around the state picking up windows and using Amazon and donations for furniture. There were just five or six of us doing ten jobs each. We worked hard, and it was tough for the staff we had. We still didn't have enough staff to provide the quality services we wanted. We just hit 10 years, and now in our 11th year, we have a 45% success rate."

"My kids were in permanent guardianship, and they told me I would never get them back. I was my own attorney, and I got them back. It took me three years, but I got my kids back. I wanted to start this program for free. One of the things I learned going through this process was communication and my own relationship with money. I had this whole idea that in order to get any kind of good recovery, you had to pay $30,000 a month or so, which I didn't agree with. I think I have confidence. I think I really can make a difference in people's lives. I don't want to seem arrogant at all. I always think I should be doing more."

"Steps to Recovery Homes started in 2013 with three credit cards, a lot of passion, heart, and hopes and dreams. I had no idea what I was doing. I got with a friend, and we met for two hours a week for four months and put the nonprofit together. They told us it would take like a year and a half to get a nonprofit. We got it in months. I was also going around to other businesses and knocking on doors to tell them what I was doing. I said, here's what I'm doing, I want you to get involved. I built an annual sponsorship program and went down to every business and asked them to sponsor us. I named the $100 level the Perseverance Level because I thought it really fit, just keep going."

The Connection Room is an intimate, inviting, and nature-inspired event space in Cottonwood, AZ, designed for gatherings both casual and formal. Whether

Embark on your path to recovery with Konnect Wellness. Our compassionate, licensed therapists provide a holistic and comprehensive approach to addiction

"I truly believe connection is the opposite of addiction. The Connection Room is a place to bring people together. It hosts events, training, and other modalities. We rent it out for baby showers, weddings, and retreats, including a four-day Spiritual Radiant Awakening retreat. I also started the Northern Arizona Roots Music Festival, a clean music concert, because music is healing for me. Unlike other concerts where people are smoking and drinking, we created a sober environment. And Erase the Stigma, a free learning event for the community. I would get five to seven speakers, 20 to 30 booths from organizations helping people with addictions. It takes a village, really. It takes a whole bunch of people working with just one person to meet them where they're at, guide them, be an example, and actually love them through the process."

We provide safe, structured environments free from alcohol and drugs for people who often fall through the cracks. Through behavior modification, core issue

"When I got clean, one of the questions I had was, if I could just help one person, it would make my life meaningful and give it some purpose. I started helping people, bringing them in, getting them clothes and haircuts, helping from the ground up. With Miracles Happen, we started giving jobs, providing furniture when people moved out, and donating to other nonprofits. If someone's house burned down, we'd donate trailer loads of furniture. It was really nice to be part of the solution. Last month, there were four people that had 10 years clean who had been through our program. One of them just had twins. He came in, he was going to die, he was like a skeleton. He got his teeth back, he got his worth back, he started his life, now he's married, he has two twins, he's productive. It makes such a big difference just by saving one life."

"I remember being in the gym, in the locker room, curled up in a ball, crying. Memories from when I was seven years old came up. I remember hitting my head and pulling my hair out, screaming at God, why am I here? If my mom doesn't love me, why am I on this planet? Then I got into using substances, and all of a sudden I felt better about myself. Using substances made me feel better about who I was, and I didn't even know it. I was getting approval from other people, but I had no idea who I was. I just went through this cycle. When I got clean, I had buried a lot of that, so it started coming up. We take people just like myself, and when these things happen, they don't know what to do."

"What we realized was using isn't the problem. Using is just a symptom. For me, I used for so long just to self-medicate, and it worked for a long time, then it stopped working. When I got clean, I thought I had a problem with a certain substance, and I realized that I didn't have any skills - basic communication skills, how to budget, how to keep my life together, how to be a parent, how to be a father, how to be a son, how to be an employee. There was so much I didn't know. I realized, oh my gosh, I need to do some real work if I'm going to stay clean. Getting clean and staying clean are two different things. You can stop using, but how do you stay stopped? That's where all this other stuff comes in. It really comes down to fear, trauma, abandonment, neglect, whatever is driving that. If they can heal that while giving them a purpose or career that they want to be in, that they feel fulfilled in, that they're making a difference, it changes everything."

"The last time I got arrested, I had 11 felonies in one stop. They were going to give me 28 years in prison. I ended up doing five. I went to prison, and I had a lot of thinking to do. When I was in there, I had three boys. I got out, and my first night out my grandparents were in one of the 12 step fellowships, and they took me to a meeting. I just kept going back, and that changed my life. My kids were in permanent guardianship, and they told me I would never get them back. I was my own attorney, and I got them back. It took me three years, but I got my kids back. I went and got a degree, and I built my life up. I have been through getting my rights back, I got my rights restored. My kids are 25, 21, and 20 now. They're of service, honest, and hold jobs. They have healthy relationships. This is a big contrast to how I grew up. I was a mess. I got expelled from two high schools, was stealing, and got into trouble."