Second chances
- Apr 4, 2009 -
Former addict brings addiction recovery program to state to help Kentuckians recover from abuse and find Christ
RUSSELL SPRINGS, Ky.—By all appearances, Todd Woodrum had his life together.
Married with two young children, he had a stable career as a bank security technician in his small South Central Kentucky hometown. He attended church regularly with his family and considered himself a Christian.
But Todd Woodrum carried a dark secret around with him. He was addicted to pain medication.
Woodrum was among the more than 260,000 estimated Kentuckians who are in the grips of some kind of addictive substance. And while hardly a day for celebration, Southern Baptist churches look to March 15, Substance Abuse Sunday, as a day to recognize the drug problem in their communities—and get involved.
The need to address that problem—especially in Kentucky—is crucial, according to Eric Allen, Kentucky Baptist Convention’s mission service and ministries director. He helps coordinate substance abuse recovery programs for state churches.
“We do have an enormous amount of problems” with drugs in Kentucky, Allen acknowledged. “It doesn’t matter where you go, every county and every city … will say, ‘It’s worse here than anywhere else in the state.’”
While there are many programs churches and other ministries can use to help addicts regain their lives and develop a relationship with Jesus Christ, Allen said residential centers often are best at providing the needed support for a recovering addict.
That was the help that Woodrum finally found—after a long, painful journey.
Following back surgery in 1999, Woodrum was prescribed pain medication for several months. Once the prescriptions ran out, he moved on, he said.
Later Woodrum’s doctor prescribed him the pain medication Tramadol, a drug which only last December was added to Kentucky’s controlled substance list. It was that drug which triggered his addiction.
Woodrum recalled that once the Tramadol scripts dried up, he began trying to get any pain killers he could from his doctor. That progressed into buying the drugs on the street.
“I had the money then and I’d get it wherever I could,” he said. “Then it just got worse. It spiraled out of control.”
Knowing the impact it would have on them, Woodrum hid his growing addiction from both his family and employer. But as he began to miss work more frequently, Woodrum’s boss, a Christian who “gave me every chance that he could,” according to Woodrum, confronted him.
“You can only hide an addiction for so long before people notice your behavior’s changed,” Woodrum noted.
His boss gave him the choice—rehab or unemployment. Woodrum attended his first rehab program for five days and later returned to work. He said he soon relapsed and was back in rehab three months later—a cycle which continued for some time.
“I would get out of the rehabs and then relapse within two or three weeks, then end up right back where I was,” he recalled.
A DUI arrest in 2006 exposed Woodrum’s addiction and “everything came crashing down on me,” he said. He was found to have excessive levels of non-prescribed narcotics in his system and spent a night in jail.
In that cell, Woodrum said he felt like an “outlaw on the run who finally got caught.”
“I just had this feeling like, ‘OK, it’s over with now. Everybody’s going to know what’s wrong with Todd,’” he noted.
As a result of the arrest, Woodrum lost both his job and his marriage. He had hit rock bottom.
Former addict finds Christ
Nearly 1,000 miles away from where Woodrum sat in a cold jail cell, Greg Troutt was contemplating a return to his home state of Kentucky.
Similar to Woodrum, Troutt was a former prescription medication addict no more than six years ago. Sexually abused as a child, he left home at age 15, married a woman nearly twice his age and became addicted to sex and pornography.
He joined the military where he was introduced to prescription medication. That addiction accelerated to other street drugs as well, including heroin, oxy-contin and methamphetamines “and whatever I could find,” he recalled.
“Hopeless addicted,” homeless and following an overdose, Troutt said he visited a church where he lived in Killeen, Texas. “I cried out to God and surrendered,” he noted, calling his story a “miraculous … Damascus Road experience.”
Committed to Christ, Troutt said he dedicated himself to sobriety and began helping others do the same. He ministered in jails and on the street. He even worked as a youth pastor and opened his first detox residence facility.
Recently ordained to the gospel ministry, Troutt ran the Wisdom Center in Killeen, a city located between Dallas and Austin and adjacent to the Army’s Fort Hood.
Troutt’s faith-based recovery program was rare in that it offered a detox program for substance abusers. After that, patients could live at the residence for as long as a year receiving treatment and “the Word of God,” Troutt noted.
A native of Russell Springs, Troutt returned for a revival in 2006. Several friends urged him to consider bringing his successful ministry to Kentucky.
After doing extensive research on substance abuse in the state, Troutt discovered that Kentucky’s rural communities had a much bigger drug problem than Killeen’s inner city. Alarmed, “that’s when I committed to coming and working” in Kentucky, he said.
In late 2007, Troutt, along with his wife, D.J., opened 2nd Chance Outreach just outside of Columbia in Adair County. The faith-based ministry offers a residential drug treatment facility and a detox program, something that is uncommon in the state.
Allen called 2nd Chance’s detox program unique in that most churches that have rehabilitation ministries “do not deal with the detox part.” They often refer addicts to hospitals for treatment, then accept them afterward, he added.
It was 2nd Chance Outreach that gave Woodrum what he needed to get clean and put his life back together.
With his mother’s help, Woodrum entered the facility last June.
“I ran out of options,” he said. “I had tried everything that I could think of on my own until I let God take over.”
He recalled that the Troutts’ energy and positivity helped him realize that people can have fun without drugs.
“I actually saw … there are people who can truly recover, and there are people who can use their testimonies to help other people,” Woodrum said.
“Natural detox”
Troutt described his process as a “natural detox.” He explained that most “secular” facilities administer drugs such as cyboxin and methodone, which are just as addictive as street drugs, to help cure addictions. That, he said, can leave a person just as addicted as before.
The natural process includes the use of saunas, whirlpools and herbal remedies to combat the pain that comes from drug withdrawal.
Most detox periods last seven days with some extending as long as three weeks. “But you’re truly detoxed in that seven days,” Troutt insisted. “There’s no alternative chemical in your body. … And your body will begin to prepare itself for repair.”
While Troutt admits he is not a doctor nor a licensed counselor, he said he surrounds himself with plenty of professionals trained to help with addiction recovery. His primary aim is to fix his patients’ spritual lives.
Through a rigorous schedule of classes and group meetings, Troutt said he delivers the Word of God through his testimony and a spiritual 12-step-based curriculum that points patients to a relationship with Christ.
“The best qualification that I have is that I’m not qualified, and I don’t try to do the work of the Holy Spirit,” Troutt said. “God deals with each man individually as He sees fit. All I do is administer the Word of God.
“The Bible is the best curriculum that I’ve found for changing anybody’s heart, mind and behavior,” he added. “If you find one better, I’ll do it.”
In addition to the Adair County inpatient residence, 2nd Chance Outreach also has outpatient facilities in Russell Springs and Campbellsville, and a satellite office in Irvine. Troutt said he plans to expand ministry, opening residential centers and satellite offices throughout the state.
As for Woodrum, he began his new role last week as assistant director at the Adair County residence. He said he eventually may lead the facility as Troutt expands the ministry. More importantly, Woodrum said he believes he finally has found his calling. “Maybe God finally got through my thick head,” he admitted. “I’m kind of like somebody who’s finally found what they want to do in life. Even though I had a good career, … I really wasn’t happy, it didn’t really fulfill me inside—and this does.”
This article is reprinted from the March 10, 2009, issue of the Western Recorder, the newspaper of the Kentucky Baptist Convention.
Further Learning
Learn more about: Faith, Ministry, Family, Addictions, Substance Abuse