By LIZZ HAROLD
lharold@cherokeescout.com Tuesday, January 10, 2012 8:05 PM CST

    Peachtree – Harold Stanley admitted himself into drug and alcohol rehab and never left. An extended stay turned into a permanent home, then a job. Fifteen years later, he wouldn’t leave unless he was asked to, because he’s a rule follower.

    “I do what I’m supposed to do. I follow all the rules. I knew when I came up here that I would follow the guidelines. I’ve never had a write up or been reprimanded,” Stanley said.

    After a pause, he reworked his answer to why he lives at Father’s House, the men’s wing for substance abuse treatment at Christian Love Ministries off U.S. 64 East.     “I love it,” Stanley said.

    There’s very little Stanley hasn’t done at rehab center, save that he can’t have Denny Smith’s job as founder/director. For all of his hard work, Stanley was named Christian Love’s 2011 Employee of the Year.

‘Constant drinker’

    Stanley was one of the first addicts to be accepted as a student of the faith-based program. He was an anxiety-riddled drunk. It left him with a black hole where memories are supposed to be.

    “For 20 years I stayed in a complete blackout. Bits and pieces come back. I was a constant drinker,” Stanley said.

    He came to Christian Love from Fannin County, Ga., with some persuasion from his brother. It wasn’t his first attempt to dry out and get sober.

    “I’m just a happy person. Before this, I was in depressions and paranoid all the time. I couldn’t get out of the car and go into the store without thinking everyone in the world was talking about me,” Stanley said.

    The weeks of study and structure produced a more conducive result the second time around.

    “I would get up on Sunday morning and if my name wasn’t down for it, I would still get up and vacuum, sweep up the kitchen,” Stanley said.

No exit plan

    Smith took notice of his proactive tendency to jump in when not asked. Toward the close of his program, Stanley was asked to come up with a strategy for living outside of the controlled environment of Christian Love. Stanley said he was tending the garden when Smith approached him and changed the course of his life.

    “He said to tear up the exit plan,” Stanley said. “I knew I would have drank if I left here.”

    Almost two years into volunteering for odd jobs around the compound, Stanley noticed the staff going through a transition. A new manager’s position was available and Stanley said it was a highly sought after with many applicants. He figured he didn’t have a shot at the position.

    “I didn’t think I had a chance at the job. I didn’t even put in an application for it,” Stanley said.

    Smith pushed him to apply at the last minute. The board of directors voted, and Stanley was given the manager’s master keys.

    His days consisted of collecting rent as well as maintaining cleanliness and order in rooms and common areas. It was up to him to make sure the men weren’t using in their rooms. He walked into unpredictable and tumultuous scenes during his sweeps.

    “If he’s real violent, you’ve got to get help. You need 911 if they are breaking furniture or destroying property,” Stanley said.

    Anything could be waiting behind a student’s closed door. A past student who Stanley has a hard time forgetting is one who had a serious withdrawal episode.

    “He had a seizure out here on this porch. It was the first one he ever had. He was so scared,” Stanley said.

    Last Stanley heard, the man was employed and living clean for several years.

    Men’s program coordinator Mick McCloskey was a student when Stanley pulled one of the later evening shifts. Both men are clean and sober at this time. The difference between them is that Stanley never had a formal graduation, as is customary for all Christian Love students.

    “He never had the actual graduation because he said he didn’t want to consider that he ever graduated. He’s still learning. We’ve become close over the years. He’s filled in every job except Denny’s and my position. Everyone acknowledges him. He’s loved. He wanted to remain a perpetual student,” McCloskey said.

    Although men and women in treatment are not allowed to speak or look at each other, Stanley is friendly with the women. He keeps an eye on all the students, and reminds them to focus on themselves and not the opposite sex. It’s vital to their treatment program, he added.

    “I can see a relationship develop between students. I know before anyone else. It’s a sixth sense I’ve got when something is going on,” Stanley said.

Father figure in Father’s House

    Stanley’s stories of encounters with addicts are neverending, understandably so as they are replenished weekly when new arrivals come in with their unique substance abuse background. Methamphetamine tops the list as drug of choice, followed closely by prescription medications.

    More than 1,800 students have known Stanley over the last 15 years. The tide of the new year usually brings with it an increase in new students, he said. The men are a brotherhood, and Stanley stands outside of it.

    “I’m probably more like a father than anything else. They respect me,” Stanley said.

    He shares his own testimonial in one-on-one personal settings, but never in front of a crowd. Give him a guitar, and he’ll perform in front of thousands, he said. It’s the part of publicly opening up that frightens him. Music settles the feelings, and it is the best way for him to let loose. Alcohol used to do that for him. He hasn’t relapsed since coming to Christian Love.

    “I really like bluegrass. I play a five-string banjo,” Stanley said, adding that he picks an acoustic guitar with Smith whenever possible. “We’re real tight on our music.”

    Christian Love celebrated its 25th year in operation in October. Stanley is one of few who have seen the dramatic transformation of the hill on Penny Lane and the addition of a halfway house and Mary’s House, a female treatment facility. He’s held the jobs of donation handler, cashier at the ministry’s nearby Marketplace thrift store, van driver, forklift operator and guitarist during worship services.

    “We have had a good relationship for many years now. When he first came as a student, I was playing music, and he just let me know that he had been a country and western musician in bars and clubs and all that. I asked him if he wanted to play gospel music with me, and he did. We have done it ever since,” Smith said.

    It’s OK with Smith that Stanley refuses to graduate and continues to live in a cabin at the facility.

    “That’s a point of pride on his part. We didn’t force him to, but he’s definitely a graduate. He just didn’t want the ceremony because the people are in the spotlight have to get up and say a few words,” Smith said.