PASCO COUNTY, Fla — Justin McPadden fought addiction for 23 years.
“I kept finding recovery then falling out. Finding it and falling out,” he said.
Kellie Rodriguez says past trauma led to her substance abuse.
“It was prescription pills and alcohol,” she said.
And Nathan Cantie says he’s lucky to be alive.
“I made it when a lot of people didn’t.”
Now, all three have been clean for years and will use their experiences to open The Always Center in New Port Richey.
McPadden is the President of The Hope Shot, Rodriguez is Programs and Outreach Director for the Alliance for Healthy Communities, and Cantie is Vice President of Peer Support with The Hope Shot.
They and others are teaming up to open The Always Center, where they plan to do all they can to help with drug prevention and recovery.
“Going throughout my years I never had coping skills or anything like that. We had divorced parents and I used drugs and alcohol to make me feel better and any problem, any celebration, that’s what I did,.” Said McPadden.
“We have this unique capability to see what they see. Feel what they felt and just get down with them on ground level and not judge them because we’ve been there as well,” said Cantie.
“We get to pull all those resources together. All our expertise together as a one-stop shop. So anybody can walk in. If you are a parent that has a child struggling. If you lost somebody from an overdose. You can get recovery support services, look for a job. We will have community partners offering counseling and things like that,” said Rodriguez.
Drug addiction and overdoses, many fatal, surged in Pasco County during the pandemic, and the problem continues to destroy lives and tear families apart.
“This is passion. I have a passion for this. And I want to see other people succeed as much as I have,” said McPadden.
The Always Center is expected to open to clients in July. For more information, go to https://thehopeshot.org/
A state report says hundreds of frail elderly nursing home residents were stacked side by side, head to toe in a small church with no working air conditioning or refrigerator during Hurricane Helene.
