Gregory's Story
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“I had a basketball scholarship but I lost interest when the drugs took over. I started talking to myself but I didn’t get diagnosed with schizophrenia until I was in prison, but you never know you’re sick until you go and ask somebody why am I doing this?
This is what I learned from Project Renewal—to open up and seek out other peoples advice. I said to Mr. Blocker I really need some structure in my life, doing things my way really didn’t work, so I had to try things someone else’s way. I think he picked me because he saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself, and that made me stronger, he said he knew I could do it, I stuck by what he asked me to do.
When the success started coming, I liked the feeling, being that I never thought that I would be successful again, being that I let so many people down. I started graduating from programs, completing everything that I had started. They (PSTP) just kept guiding me and staying on me. They were always there for me, I almost went backwards because I lost my wife to cancer in 2011, and they stood by me.
I have six kids, two live with me. I even rescued my daughter out of the shelter system. I took parenting classes. Now I work at Fairway but I want to go to school to become a therapist.”
