Dear Editor,

Hello once again from Huttonsville Correctional Center.

While incarcerated here, I’ve decided to enroll in a program known as The Therapeutic Community. The one here at Huttonsville Correctional Center is known as the “Lighthouse Community,” which stands for Letting Insight Generate Healing To Help Ourselves Understand Subtle Emotions.

A lighthouse shines a light on dangers that would otherwise be unidentified. It warns a traveler that they need to look at what is in front of them. Failure to see what the lighthouse illuminates could result in catastrophe.

The Lighthouse Community is an intense awareness program. It’s designed to bring our unhealthy attitudes and behaviors to our awareness or to light.

I guess we can be thankful for people who have dedicated their lives to help people like us, when most have given up on us.

The Lighthouse Philosophy says a lot about the program. It pretty much sums up why most of us came to this program. This we recite five mornings a week: “We have come to accept responsibility for our emotions and behavior. All of us have disappointed loved ones. We have also disappointed ourselves. We all know what is like to feel afraid, hurt, helpless, lonely, and ashamed.

Perhaps the greatest agony we must overcome is the realization that we have done this to ourselves.

As a result, I need your help. I need your awareness to gain insight that has eluded me in the past. I need the “lighthouse” to illuminate my issues to that I can begin to be the healthy person I long to be.

I must stand up for myself with courage, hope, and perseverance. This is real. This is life. My life, your life, our life.”

The moral of this letter is that if you need help with an addiction, or anything for that matter, there is help out there. You don’t have to be ashamed, afraid, or helpless. Pick up the phone. Go online. Talk to a friend. You don’t have to go through it alone. Don’t wait until you end up in prison. There are people out there that really do care. Chase your dreams, not drugs!

Sincerely,

Warren Todd Wade

Huttonsville Correctional Facility