Addiction & Recovery 9.14.25 - Flipbook - Page 4
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A Special Advertising Section of Baltimore Sun Media Group | Sunday, September 14, 2025
Restoring Hope, Rebuilding Lives
Helping Up Mission
I
n order to help people battling addiction and homelessness, Helping Up Mission,
(HUM, https://helpingupmission.org), a residential spiritual
recovery center in Baltimore, has
a successful approach – meet them
where they are. Through its mobile outreach vans that go into
disadvantaged communities and
key partnerships with community organizations, places of worship and hospitals, HUM’s team
of peer recovery specialists spend
time with those in need and provide hope for a better life.
“We try to figure out what the
next best solution is for them. It
may be Helping Up Mission or a
different type of program, such as a
28-day program. We help facilitate
to get them to the place that is most
effective for them,” says Brent Jones,
Senior Director of Men’s Programs
at HUM. “We give them a warm
meal, talk about our program, and
listen to them.”
Jones says that the majority of the
men and women who enter HUM’s
program are unemployed. “They’re
coming here because life has spun
out of control and become unmanageable, and they need some help.
These people are often homeless or
couch surfing.”
Jones notes that HUM’s yearlong
residential program may seem intimidating at first, but he endorses
the mantra of “one day at a time.”
“Don’t look at it as a year, just
look at it as one day at a time. One
day of not picking up a drink or a
drug is a success, so why not get
up the next day and do the same
thing. Before you know it, the days
turn into weeks, the weeks turn into
months, and those months turn into
a year,” Jones says. “The longer
they stay here, the further they get
away from their addiction, the more
they can really start focusing on life
transformation.”
In addition to helping people get
sober, HUM also integrates health
care, spiritual care, dental care, behavioral health, workforce development and life enrichment activities.
Jones says that behavioral health
is a key component of HUM’s program.
“Oftentimes people use substanc-
es to mask something such as an
underlying mental health issue or
trauma. If I’m depressed and can’t
get out of bed, it becomes a lot easier to continue to lay in my depression by drinking heavily. If I suffer
from a significant anxiety disorder,
drinking can mask my overwhelming sense of anxiety, dread or loneliness, and that cycle continues. It’s
rare that you come across somebody
who has a substance abuse issue
without some type of co-occurring
mental health problem.”
Once men and women in the program are fully focused on going to
recovery classes, as well as an embedded Intensive Outpatient Program for substance abuse – typically
after five months – they explore education and workforce development
programs.
“This can be either job skills, continuing their education by attaining
their GED or starting community
college or a trade school. We can
also help them return to the workforce into an area where they have
had success in the past and can
make a decent, sustainable living,”
Jones says.
It’s only natural since Baltimore
City has a large Hispanic population
that HUM also provides programming and education in Spanish for
those whose primary language is not
English.
“We have a cohort that focuses on
Spanish speakers who may struggle
with the standard English version,
and we have bilingual staff here
who help translate the curriculum
into Spanish for them,” Jones says.
These resources are another example of how HUM is continuously
looking for ways to remove barriers
to sobriety and a healthier life for
the community it serves.
Since 1885, Helping Up Mission
has impacted the lives of those experiencing homelessness, poverty, and
addiction in Baltimore to transform
the lives of and restore hope to those
suffering from addiction and poverty by harnessing the power of faith,
science and community. Its 24-hour
Hotline for Help Now, 410-9296999, is available for people who
need help. For more information,
visit HelpingUpMission.org.
