“You have clearly instilled a true spirit of service across the board there. For which, we will always be appreciative, and willing to continue to support sober College with enthusiasm.” – Sober College Parent

Read What Parents and Sober College Alumni Had to Say About Their Experience with Sober College

You helped us

“One year ago today, Nelson and I brought Andrew to Sober College. He was so sick and we were filled with despair. We doubted things would ever get better. Now, one year later, the changes in his life and our family’s are nothing short of amazing. He is healthy, happy, productive – so much more than we dreamed of at that time. Please share this with the Sober staff. His participation in your program made the difference. I can’t imagine how he (or we) would have survived without it. Thank you all for the support and encouragement you gave him during the last year, and that you continue to give him. Words seem insufficient to express our gratitude.”

Our daughter has changed

“Immediately prior to Sober College, my daughter spent 3 months at another treatment center. That treatment center did a very good job during the first 30 days, and not so good a job in their step down program. I have found quite the opposite at Sober College. When people like Katie, or Sarah would certainly have the opportunity to turn their heads, in a ‘whatever’ type attitude, they have instead been quite interactive with my daughter and have taken her recovery, and her return to some semblance of life skills quite personally.

“Just this weekend, my daughter came home to San Diego. On Saturday night, she was driving back to Sober College and blew a tire at 10:30. She called a tow service and was told it would take at least an hour. I told her I was on my way and hustled my way there within an hour to find her stranded a foot away from oncoming traffic and on the phone to Katie, who stayed on the phone with her until I arrived. When I got there, surprisingly, she was quite calm. Trust me, the situation I found her in would have unsettled a sober judge!

“You can’t imagine how much my wife and I appreciate the commitment, care and simple kindness by Katie giving up a good part of her Saturday night to help my daughter. I get the same kind of prompt and professional courtesy from Sarah and have had the opportunity to interact with Gabbi and Naz, who have been great as well.”

Alumni Jeff B. Writes to Sober College…

“Whoever brainchild it was to create a resource for alumni to stay connected via Facebook, I say ‘kudos’. Brilliant idea. It’s easy to get distracted with the odds and ends of life and to lose touch with even our closest of relations.

“As I posted on the alumni page, I recently celebrated 3 years of continuous sobriety on the 1st of August. There were no fireworks or parade processions. The clouds didn’t part and the trumpets didn’t sound. There was only the subtle reassurance from close friends and loved ones that my life is different today. There was an even subtler reassurance from my own heart, my compass as you once told me, that in a perfectly imperfect way I’ve begun a journey into a lifetime of self-discovery, meaningful and thoughtful personal relationships, and service to my fellow human being.

“All of these things I owe in one form or another to the people who’ve walked this road before me. Those at Sober College and the fellowship, each in their own way, have shown me how to build a life for myself that I never knew possible. The indescribable compassion and patience from a family who could have given up on me before the miracle happened. And a loving Higher Power whose invisible hands can only be witnessed gently guiding those individuals empty enough of themselves to let that work be carried through.

“At 3 years the mystery continues to deepen. My appreciation and thirst for life and living continues to expand. “The more I live the less I know and I’m ok with not knowing” seems to be the theme at 3. I’m moving ever closer to a college degree which is something I’ve been working towards since 2007. I’m a week away from completing an internship related to my field of study. Things are moving in my life which is a relatively new sensation.

“Stagnation, entropy, and degradation were the pillars of my existence when getting loaded was the only thing I knew how to do. Plagued by my own skepticism and unwilling to accept the fact that I was an Alcoholic, my world had become a very small and lonely circle of events.

“‘Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of teachers, elders, or wise men. Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it agrees with reason, and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all. Then accept it and live up to it.’

“These words of the Buddha, ring true in my own life. With the help of Sober College I was given the means to keep myself off of drugs and alcohol long enough so that MY TRUTH could make it self known to me. I could look at my life with careful observation and analysis and accept my truth and live up to it.

Even though I’m no longer around I’ve found that I take SC with me wherever I go. I love you all. Thank you.

Sincerely, Jeff B.

Sober College in the News

Click the links below to read what other professionals had to say about Sober College

The Fix – “Sober College: Part Rehab, Part School”

Family Light: A Serivce of Thomas J. Croke & Associates, Inc.

USA Today - ”Sober College: College Courses, Rehab Center Under One Roof”

StrugglingTeens.com – Featured Sober College

INSIDE HIGHER ED – “College and Rehab Under One Roof”

“With the help of Sober College I was given the means to keep myself off of drugs and alcohol long enough so that MY TRUTH could make it self known to me.” - Ted, Sober College Alumni

My Life is Different

“Today I am doing well. Through therapy and journaling my self-injurious behavior has stopped. I have good grades in my classes so far and am working hard to make all the new people who come to Sober College feel welcomed. My exit date to leave Sober College is January 5, 2008. I feel bittersweet about leaving. Sober College has changed my life. I have done more growing in the past five months than ever before. I am sad, and often scared, to leave the warm, safe womb of Sober College. I have made so many great friendships here, and have seen many generations of residents come and go. I try to value my time here more and more as everyday passes. I will never forget my experience here.”

My Life Wasn’t On Hold

“Being able to work on college courses while I was in treatment was extremely helpful for my recovery. I had been to treatment centers before Sober College and was never able to make as much forward progress in my life as I was here. The learning environment, education center, and faculty were the difference for me.”