Why We Built Grassroot

We both grew up around sports. Lacrosse gave us structure, a team and somewhere to put our energy. It took us both to Johns Hopkins to play Division I. And for both of us, addiction took a lot of it away.

Jack's struggle started early. He first went to treatment as a teenager and found lasting sobriety around his twenty-first birthday. Henry fought through mental health and addiction challenges through his teens and early twenties and found a sustainable path in his mid-twenties. Different timelines, same lesson: getting sober is one thing. Staying sober once treatment ends is where it gets real.

What we saw

Between the two of us we saw a lot of programs. The good ones had structure and people who cared. Too many places sold a room and a list of rules and called it recovery. Families were left guessing. Residents were left alone with their heads at exactly the moment they needed people around them.

What we built instead

Grassroot is a program, not just a house. Every resident has a case manager. Our coaches have been where our residents are. Testing and money are handled with care, because in early recovery those are where things go wrong. Families hear from us on a schedule, not only when there is a problem.

And we built a community, because that is what kept us sober. The Wednesday Night Meeting has been the heartbeat of the house since day one. Our alumni keep showing up.

The promise

We lead from the front. We will never ask a resident to do something we have not already done, or would not do right alongside them. That is the whole idea.

Structure to get sober. Community to stay that way.