Coming from a family of addicts Scott had much to overcome in his life, but by God's grace he has done just that. Scott came to the Freedom House with nothing but what he could fit into a couple bags he carried with him, and now he has a stable job which he loves, is working on a long-term degree and career plan, and has been completely clean of drugs for two years. Scott shares some great wisdom regarding who we associate with and how they influence us, and he warns us to be very careful to cut out of our lives and stay away from any people that might influence us to follow a wrong path.
Coming from a family of addicts Scott had much to overcome in his life, but by God's grace he has done just that. Scott came to the Freedom House with nothing but what he could fit into a couple bags he carried with him, and now he has a stable job which he loves, is working on a long-term degree and career plan, and has been completely clean of drugs for two years. Scott shares some great wisdom regarding who we associate with and how they influence us, and he warns us to be very careful to cut out of our lives and stay away from any people that might influence us to follow a wrong path.
without the safe house I definitely I would have been violated. I, I wouldn't have had nowhere to go. I don't know nobody from here, hardly. Yeah. Not the right people at least. And I definitely would have started back using.
Phil Shuler:hello and welcome to Renew, Restore, Rejoice. the Safe House Ministries podcast where we share stories of the power of God to change lives through Safe House Ministries. Safe house ministries is based out of Columbus, Georgia. We are a ministry that exists to love and serve people who have been affected by addiction, homelessness, and incarceration. I am your host, Phil Shuler, the director of development for safe house ministries here in Columbus. SafeHouse serves over 1, 100 people each month as they transition back into our community. SafeHouse provides an abundance of services, including 213 beds for homeless individuals and families, case management for obtaining job skills and long term employment, more than 300 hot meals every day, free clothing, and so much more. One of the most incredible services that SafeHouse provides is our free 9 12 month intensive outpatient substance abuse program. Which is state licensed, CARF accredited, and has no wait list. Almost 100 percent of individuals staying in our shelters who follow our three phase program become fully employed within a few months, and 68 percent of individuals who stay at least one night with us end up finding work and moving into their own home. Thank you for being with us today and listening to our podcast. We hope you enjoy this week's episode. Good morning. This morning, I am sitting here with Scott Sherman and Drew, one of our case managers said that Scott would be great to have on the podcast. And so I'm glad that you're here this morning, Scott. It's good to meet you and thank you for coming just to be willing to share your
Scott Sherman:story. I appreciate you having me on here.
Phil Shuler:Scott, so just to kick off, I'd love to ask you, there's one word that you think might best describe you. What would that be?
Scott Sherman:Oh,
Phil Shuler:curious. I love that word. Curious. That is a great quality. What makes you say that? Oh,
Scott Sherman:Like I want to know why, like it's got me in trouble a lot, but I, like I, I want to know why I can't do something or I just want answers to, to stuff. Sometimes I'm not in a position to get answers, but I kind of wonder. That's, that's a, that's one of my qualities. It can be a good quality and it can be a bad quality.
Phil Shuler:Depending on how you use it. Depending on how you use it. So true. I identify with that. I'm a very curious person. I'm always asking questions. Always trying to figure out. I ask a lot of questions.
Scott Sherman:I ask a lot of questions.
Phil Shuler:Yeah. Asking questions is how you get, get knowledge. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. That's good, man. Scott, tell us what growing up was like, where things started in life for you.
Scott Sherman:Okay. I grew up in Atlanta. I was born in Atlanta, Georgia. I was raised in Riverdale, which is right below right below Atlanta. I was back in my grandmother, my great grandmother lived in East Point, which is in Atlanta, in Fulton County. So I grew up my mom, she was an addict. My grandmother, she was like the stability of the household. My dad, he was incarcerated most of my childhood. I didn't ever get to know him. My aunt. She was like a mom when my mom was in prison. So growing up, I seen my mom, my dad, my aunt all go to prison. They was all on drugs mainly pain pills and Xanax. And they eventually died from it. Wow. When I was 20 years old, my mom passed away from a drug overdose. Then my and my aunt, she passed away a couple of years before her and then my uncle, he died of a drug overdose a couple of years after that. Wow. Like all my immediate family's gone from drug overdoses, passing away. Man.
Phil Shuler:iT sounds like it was
Scott Sherman:tough. Yeah, it was. When my grandmother died, I was 14 years old. And, once she died, I didn't have no nobody to watch over me pretty much cause my mom, she was an addict. She had mental illnesses, so I was left in charge to take care of her pretty much. So I basically did what I wanted to. I Started like breaking into cars, smoking weed, stuff, a little like small stuff like that, taking Xanax, basically anything I wanted to do, I was doing I, when my aunt died, she that was in 2006 or 2004, or no, 2002, my mom died in 2004. My uncle died in 2006. When they all died, like I didn't have nothing, I didn't have nobody pretty much. And I was on my way to prison. Wow. From breaking into cars and stuff like that, from getting on probation and just, how old were you at that time? My mom died. I was 20 years old.
Phil Shuler:Okay. Bye. Wow. so not long after that, you faced some charges and ended up in prison? Yeah.
Scott Sherman:A whole bunch of internados and burglary. Yeah. Just doing dumb stuff. Looking back on it, I can't believe it, because I'm nothing like that. Sober minded, and a lot of people's got that same, story. A lot of people do things because they're under the influence. And it's not them. Then you got some bad people that just do it anyways. But I'm not one of those. prison taught me discipline. I wake up at a certain time. It gave me structure. It's sad to say, I was raised basically in prison. Wow,
Phil Shuler:that's when you, So you just were left to your own as a child. And then, around 20 years old you end up in prison, and then you really started to actually grow up, you're
Scott Sherman:saying. Yep.
Phil Shuler:Wow. How long were you
Scott Sherman:in prison? The first time I was in there for 35 months, I got out. I didn't have nowhere to go. I paroled out. I Didn't have nowhere to go. I absconded. My dad at that time, he was in Florida, Panama City. So I absconded from parole, went down there, got caught down there by driving. They extradited me back to Georgia. So that's my second time to prison. I'm going back to prison. I do another couple years. I get out. Then again, I don't have nowhere to go. My dad's in Florida still. And they won't extradite my parole. Or they won't do an interstate compact or whatever. So I get out again. I go on the run again. Same thing. Back to prison. So that was my third time. And then, the next time I started I discovered methamphetamines. and how to cook it. So I started doing that. I don't know. I don't know if you're familiar with methamphetamines or it's back in 2000 and nine to shake and bake. Yeah, people was doing that was real big. So I started, got involved in that, when the president behind that caught got a trafficking charge and I got that dropped possession when it's in. And I got a three year, I got a eight year suspended sentence as my first time of rehab. I went to rehab. I was in Panama City, I was 30 years old. Wow. Stayed in rehab. I finished, I completed the program. And as soon as I got out, I started using again. Wow. Like immediately.
Phil Shuler:So you, you were. Successful and staying clean through the program. But then when you got out, you're like, it didn't really matter to you anymore.
Scott Sherman:No, it didn't. But I guess because of the family, like family's important. I didn't have nobody to push me. Like I didn't have nobody to and I'm just now learning how to just resist my temptations. A lot of people, need guidance. You know what I'm saying? Like support structure, mom, dad, accountability and uncle. People that's got that they need to be thankful that they got that because a lot of times that's what it takes to be motivated to do better. If you don't got, you got somebody behind you like rooting for you. Yeah. Oh, you didn't have anybody. I didn't have that. I had girlfriends and stuff like that, but that was like temporary or just like nothing. Long term. I did get married. When I got done with the rehab, I met my wife. I was using, I was in violation of probation because I was using, I failed a drug test. I met my wife my would, soon to be wife. She got me out. She got me an attorney. I stayed in jail like nine months. I got out. I moved in with her. I stayed clean like a year. Because she was motivating me. You know what I'm saying? She I got married to her. But they ended up being like poison. They ended up being not Not a good relationship in the end. She was she was controlling.
Phil Shuler:Yeah. Okay. So that
Scott Sherman:was a bad relationship? That was a bad relationship. Ended badly? Ended bad. I was looking for somebody to latch on to. Like anybody, you know what I'm saying? By anybody who would replace a family member, yeah. How old were you around that time? 30.
Phil Shuler:Okay. So what happened from there?
Scott Sherman:Went back to prison. Drug charges again? Drug charges. I didn't care. I just went on the run. No, my wife called the cops on me because I was drinking on Christmas Eve. So she called the cops, they came out, gave me a breathalyzer, sent me to jail, and then she tried to get me out. She tried to get me an attorney and stuff, but they sent me, they gave me five years. And in Florida you do 85%. So I ended up doing I had already credit from the first time I spent in jail. And I'm doing like 30 something months.
Phil Shuler:31 months. And that was because you were drinking or that was you? That
Scott Sherman:was cause I wasn't supposed to be drinking on probation. I was on drug court probation. Okay. Or, drug probation down there.
Phil Shuler:Yeah. Okay. Wow. So 30 months again, and then where from there?
Scott Sherman:I got out that time. It was 2018. I got out. I came up to Columbus because my dad was living up here and my dad, he he told me about the safe house. He said, you go there, they help you out. The, I guess the shelter and the safe house are tied in together. Yeah it's
Phil Shuler:one of the many support ministries.
Scott Sherman:So they they gave me a voucher. They gave me some clothing vouchers. They helped me get my I. D. They got my I. D. For me. They got my birth certificate. They got they had something used to be called the homeless network where you go and get your your I. D. And Social Security card and birth certificate. So that's how, when I came up here and that's what I went through.
Phil Shuler:So your dad had, he was familiar and maybe had used some of the services. He used the
Scott Sherman:services. My dad had used the services when he came up here and I wasn't ever in a position where I had to go eat there, but I seen that fed people like every day, I guess at lunch or whatever. Yeah. And they give you vouchers, they got a store right next to it. And they awesome clothes and
Phil Shuler:everything. So you got connected and then were you living with your dad?
Scott Sherman:Yeah. I'll stay on my dad at the time. Okay. Yeah. I'll stand
Phil Shuler:on third Avenue. So safe house helped you get your ID, get some clothes. Where'd you go from there? What happened from
Scott Sherman:there? I was using it that time still. So I continued to use my everyday came up here and discovered heroin. I got on heroin. I don't know. People's familiar with Columbus. It's there's a lot of drugs here. There's a lot of bad influence. Yeah. And I'm easily influenced if I'm in the wrong situation. Yeah. So I got on heroin. And from there, I stayed doing meth and heroin every day for about a year. And then I got arrested again up here. Which I was a blessing that was the best thing that ever happened to me. I got arrested I went to jail stay in Muskogee County Jail for six months Got out To the journey to recovery rehab you ever heard of that? Yeah, I have heard of that. Yeah, I went there stay there for six months and I messed up again. I left it. I left and I stayed on the run again for a year or so or whatever. And I got rearrested. So I'm in drug court. I took drug court to get out of jail. And taking drug court is the best thing that ever happened to me also. That's one of the best. Getting incarcerated and going to drug court, and all the people in drug court. That's a very good place. Yeah. Between drug court, the safe house Freedom House. I don't know if y'all are connected to them. Yeah, Freedom House is
Phil Shuler:the men's shelter of Safe House. Okay. It
Scott Sherman:used to be the Grace House. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. With them entities right there, I was able to I left the journey to recovery. I stayed gone like a year. I was, I got back on heroin. I Overdosed one time I died and luckily the I was on Victory Drive and I was playing the slot machines or whatever and they ran me out because I was nodding off. I Don't even remember what happened. I went down to the Circle K and they thought I was drunk. So they they told me to leave. And before I got to Victory Drive, I passed out. Right on the, before you hit, before you step onto Bickery Drive. Yeah. And this guy from the skate park across the street at the Civic Center, they got a little skate park over there. Yeah. He seen me. I don't even know how he would see me, I don't even know why he was looking over there, but he came and started doing CPR on me. Called the called the ambulance and they they gave me an arcane and brought me back to life. Wow. Wow, that was but even then I didn't even stop then the same night I was getting high again. About six months after that, I got rearrested. No new charges, just on a a violation of probation. I went to a drug court, sent me to RSAT. I stayed there about a year, about nine months, ten months, something like that. I stayed incarcerated a year, I stayed in county jail like a month. Waiting to go and I got out. I went back to Journey to Recovery. I had a situation there. That's when I went to the safe house. Had my little bags and packed. I didn't know where to go so I went to the safe house. And I talked to, I think Drew. Drew and chap Richardson. Yeah. Yeah, I talked to him and he, that night he got me into the Freedom House. Jamie Ms. Jamie Lee,
Phil Shuler:yeah, so you got into the men's shelter at the Freedom House that night? That night, that same night. Alright. Was that the beginning of getting onto a better path?
Scott Sherman:Ever since then, I've been good. I've been sober for two years. Awesome.
Phil Shuler:Yeah. Man, praise the Lord. Yeah. What was that journey like? You got into the Freedom House and you really, you had nothing except the bags that you carried in. I had nothing except the bags I came in with. What steps did you start taking from there?
Scott Sherman:Okay. Okay. Once I got there, I got a job at a moving company. I started working. I'm still in drug court at the time. I'm still in drug court right now. But you got to be in by seven. So I just worked the program. I come, I leave, I come back try to follow all the rules. They're pretty lenient there. There's good people that run it. I save up a little bit of money. And after about four or five months of being there I got in contact with Drew. And it was somebody else at the time, it was Drew. And, Drew was the person at the time that you talked to get into a house. Yeah. Or get through the whatever it was called, the program. Yeah, the housing program. The housing program, yeah. So I talked to Drew. And I think within June of this year he moved me into a house. Wow. Yeah. thEy pay my rent for three months, my utilities, and then I've been paying my own rent for four months now, five months. That's awesome.
Phil Shuler:Now did you go through another treatment recovery program to, to like you said your two years clean did you go through, was it, RSAT. Okay. Is that part of the drug court?
Scott Sherman:That's part of drug. Yes. The RSAT stands for Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Center. A lot of people know what it is. It's like a, it's a rehab within prison. Okay. It's a, GDC runs it, Georgia Department of Corrections. But you can't, you don't got no freedom. You're behind a razor wire fence. So you did that
Phil Shuler:while you're in prison, before you came out to the Freedom House? Before I came out, yeah.
Scott Sherman:Okay. Cause RSAT November 10th of last year. I went to Journey to Recovery and I had got caught fraternizing or whatever. So they they kicked me out and that's when I went to the safe house that night with my little bags pack. Yeah, I went to the safe house. Yeah. And Neil Mr Richardson. What's his name? Neil Richardson. Yeah, Richardson. Yep. I spoke with him. And it was somebody else that was in there too, but they got me. I drove back with, what's his name, what's the guy that drives the vans. Might have been Jimmy at the time? Jimmy, yup, Jimmy drove me back to the Freedom House. Awesome. My bags, they put me in a room. Wow.
Phil Shuler:And so then, and, yeah, they had helped you get your ID and your social security card, all those documents. So you were able to did you go through the job training
Scott Sherman:I went through the goodwill training. Yeah, good. Goodwill job training, I went through that. And, but before you start working, you got to do the job training through the goodwill. Yeah. So that's what I did. I went through that and then I got a job and I've been good ever since. Good. I went into a house they like, without them without the safe house I definitely I would have been violated. I, I wouldn't have had nowhere to go. I don't know nobody from here, hardly. Yeah. Not the right people at least. And I definitely would have started back using.
Phil Shuler:That's neat. So I'm so glad. So you got out, you got clean, got out of prison. Neil and Drew and Jamie Lee helped you get into the safe, the Freedom House. Freedom House. And you went through the goodwill training. You had all your documents needed. And you got a job, started saving up money. Started saving up money. Drew helped you get into the housing program and paid three months rent, you said. And then now you're paying everything on your own. And what kind of work are you doing?
Scott Sherman:When I was in jail, I learned how to do legal work. Like I was always on the law library learning. I learned, like I've been doing that ever since I've been going to jail. So once I got out I messaged Mark Shellnut and I asked him for a job. I can, can I do like paralegal work for you? And he gave me the opportunity, I'm still doing that right now. Wow. Yeah. Awesome. He gives me a case and I go through it and find errors, pretty much. And I give it back to him. I type up the the grounds and stuff and I give it back to him. That's good. You enjoy that? I enjoy it, yeah. I like it. I'm interested in
Phil Shuler:it. Yeah. So what does your support structure look like right now?
Scott Sherman:It's really just me. I had a girlfriend, but recently, I got people this solid in my life. So my name's Shannon. shE was a big part of my life. Like I said, I don't got no family members. Yeah. My family's passed away, but I meet people along the way that becomes like family to me.
Phil Shuler:Yeah. Do you go into any meetings, AA or NA? I
Scott Sherman:go to the safe house for the meeting. I went to the safe house last night for the NA meeting. Okay. Good. So I do
Phil Shuler:that. Is that every day or every week?
Scott Sherman:I gotta go to four a week for drug court. That's a requirement. I go to the safe house and Agape. Yeah. Yeah. Good.
Phil Shuler:That's good. And that's that I've heard a lot of things that about the positive nature of that just being an accountability and support and encouragement. Just others that kind of help you stay on the right path. Yeah. That's good. You going to church anywhere?
Scott Sherman:Yup. I go to the Fort. Alright. Yeah, I go to
Phil Shuler:the Fort Church. I got a lot of good friends that go there. Yeah. It's a great church. Pastor Matt's a great pastor. Yeah,
Scott Sherman:he is. I pay my little tithes every every week. You know what I'm saying? A lot of good things. But God is a big part of my life now. That's good. Yeah, a lot of doors are starting to open for me. Awesome. So
Phil Shuler:When did God become a part of your life?
Scott Sherman:I always believed in God or had a belief in God, but like recently in the past four or five months somebody came into my life and they, they, started off with an app. I downloaded the King James app or whatever. I read it every night. And I started give my tent to the church pay my tithes and stuff like that. And ever since then, like doors has been opening like stuff that I thought that would never happen. Stuff like that. Like I got me a car now. I got my license. I got like I'm all the way 100%.
Phil Shuler:That's good. That's awesome, man. It sounds like you're doing really well. I am. Yeah, that's I'm so glad to hear that. I appreciate it. Scott, is there anything that I didn't ask you that maybe I should have asked you or anything else you just want to add?
Scott Sherman:Just like if you're in a bad situation in life just stay positive. Keep good people around you. Don't be influenced by negative people. Don't let negative negativity into your life. Stay away from negative people. apPreciate the positive people, appreciate family and love, love people, positive, always be positive and love people. It's
Phil Shuler:interesting. You mentioned a little earlier that you were the kind of person that's easily influenced by those around you. And that's huge. I think many of us don't realize how much. Influence other people have on
Scott Sherman:us. Yeah even people that's not easily influenced are influenced by people. If you're around the wrong people, you're gonna eventually, whatever type of people you're hanging out with, you're eventually gonna do what they're doing. Yeah. If you got negative people, even if I can't be, I'm the type of person, I can't be around nothing negative no kind of drug use, no kind of, even weed even drinking if you're doing anything like that. I can't have nothing to do with you. I'll stay far away. That's wise, to stay away. Yeah, I'll stay away. Cause me, I'm gonna eventually fall into it. Like whatever they're doing. Or just like the, I guess the easiest path to take is the wrong path. Yeah.
Phil Shuler:It's so easy to take that path. It is
Scott Sherman:easy. Especially when you got, people around you, if somebody really cares about you, they're not gonna bring that in front of you. They're not going to especially if they know you're an addict, they're not going to, they're not going to bring that in your life. Yeah.
Phil Shuler:Yeah. That's good. I think that principle is something that would be good for all of us to consider so much more often. Who am I hanging around? Yeah. And is this going to end up badly for me? Are they influencing me in a negative
Scott Sherman:way? You got to think about it. If somebody's trying to tell you to do something that they wouldn't do themselves, or somebody's trying to tell you to do something, That they know is going to ruin your life, make you a bad dad or make you a bad mom. You got to think about them. People don't care about you. Yeah. They don't care about your life period. And I would tell, I'll tell you that personally, somebody tells me, Oh, you need to do this. You need to do that. They know the consequence of that is me getting arrested or me becoming a severe drug addict. And that tells you a lot right there about the people you're hanging out with. Yeah. That's not love. That's not love. So if somebody is not trying to inspire me to do better. Or motivate me to do better for myself, then I don't want anything to do with them. Yeah. I don't want anything to do with
Phil Shuler:them. Yeah, that's good, man. That's good. Any other last pieces of wisdom or advice that you might want to offer?
Scott Sherman:Just Stay true to yourself. Believe in God. And spread love. And be, stay positive. No matter what you do, stay positive. Could be worse. Yeah,
Phil Shuler:that's true. That's good, man. Do you have some plans on where you're heading like what
Scott Sherman:you want to I'm in school right now to be a paralegal So I'm in Columbus Tech doing that. So that's I'm gonna see how far that goes. So I just take it one day at a time. Good. I don't want to I don't want to pre plan things there's two Want to reach for things is within my grasp So yeah, something like that. Paralegal and something like that. Something to do with the, I'm not trying to be a judge, nothing like that. But if I could be an attorney one day, that's my dream because I'm infatuated with the law. Yeah, I am. It interests me because you can look at it like you can interpret it of being different ways. Like you can read a law or a case law or whatever. I'm just interested in something that inspires me. That's
Phil Shuler:good, man. It's good to be able to do something that you really enjoy. Yeah, awesome. Awesome in any relationships
Scott Sherman:right now. Oh Not right now, I got a couple friendships. Yeah.
Phil Shuler:Yeah, just working on your relationship with the Lord
Scott Sherman:with the Lord Yeah right now. That's good.
Phil Shuler:That's very good. It's got you mind if I close us in a word of prayer Go ahead. Father. Thank you for your goodness. I praise you. I love you. Thank you for Scott. Just for how you've brought him through and the things that you've taught him along the way. Thank you for where he's at now for just giving him the ability to be clean for two years now and just to. To have stable work, to be paying his own rent, taking care of things. Thank you that you've given him the ability to do work that he loves, that he enjoys. I pray you bless him and in his path of school and his path to become a paralegal, guide him Lord, if it be your will. Pray you'd open the doors and bless him to be able to even be an attorney if that's what you'd have for his life. Help him to give back in a positive way, to show love to others, to look for the truth, to hold to the truth, and to share the truth with others, Lord. So many of us are so easily swayed by things that are not true. Things that are lies, things that are twisted, and we find ourselves around people that In the end really don't want what's best for us, or maybe they're just in the dark themselves and they don't really know. Help us to be wise about who we hang around. Help Scott to stay away from those that might be a negative influence. Help me to do the same, and all those listening, Lord, help us to consider and evaluate. Who we are around and who we call friends to let go of those that are bad, to get rid of them, get them out of our lives and to pursue positive relationships. I pray these things in Jesus name, amen. We look forward to being with you again next week as we share another testimony about the power and the goodness of God to change lives through Safe House Ministries. if you are someone listening to this podcast that loves to hear these stories of the great things that God is doing in changing people's lives for the better, and if you would like to be a part of that work, please reach out to us You can reach us at 2101 Hamilton Road, Columbus, Georgia, 31,904. You can call us at seven oh six three two two. 3 7, 7 3, or you can email us at info@safehouse-ministries.com.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-2:Thank you so much for being with us this week for the renew restore and rejoice podcast of safe house ministries, we pray that God will bless you this week. And we look forward to having you back with us again next week for a new episode.