The Furniture That Fixes Lives: Jeremy French and the Making Whole Story
Episode 315 When I first heard about a woodworking apprenticeship as an addiction recovery program, I was skeptical. And then I sat down with Jeremy French, founder of Making Whole in Asheville, North Carolina, and everything I thought I knew about wha
Hopestream for parenting kids through drug use and addiction
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Show Notes
Episode 315
When I first heard about a woodworking apprenticeship as an addiction recovery program, I was skeptical. And then I sat down with Jeremy French, founder of Making Whole in Asheville, North Carolina, and everything I thought I knew about what recovery has to look like got turned on its head.
Jeremy got sober at 17 after stolen cars, drug runs to Florida, and a flop house he describes as straight out of a Netflix series. He's been in recovery nearly 30 years, never finished high school, and built one of the most remarkable programs I've come across. Men build high-end furniture together, share a daily meal with the community, and are never forced to stay.
Of the 55 men through Making Whole since 2018, 30 of the 33 who completed the program will tell you they are exactly where they want to be. That is not a number you hear in this space.
You'll hear about:
- Why Jeremy credits drugs with solving nine out of ten problems in his life, and what that means for your child
- The two things true in every recovery success story Jeremy has witnessed, without exception
- The decision his parents made that changed his life more than anything else
- Why stepping back sends a different message than you think
- What addiction is actually solving, and why treating it as the problem keeps everyone stuck
- What parents who have lost a child would give anything to do, and what that means for right now
EPISODE RESOURCES:
- Making Whole website
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