Dr. Robert Tucker, founder and Director of New Life Spirit Recovery, struggled with addiction for most of his early adulthood. He was in and out of rehabs, with a continual and perpetual pattern of relapse. Robert, while a successful building contractor, experienced devastating losses as a result of his choices and behaviors. It took years of failure before he was captivated by God and released from the horrors and affliction that had consumed most of his life. However, his experience wasn’t just a “zap”, but a process of moving out of denial and into a truth-finding process of recognizing the countless lies and wounds that had sabotaged his heart and mind. He met a God who didn’t just want to “clean him up’ or change his behavior, but rather a God that was powerful enough to change him from the inside-out. Not only were the old unhealthy patterns removed, but God equipped Robert with new tools – healthy forms of coping and new ways to deal with life based on God’s truth and the power of the Holy Spirit.
With new-found freedom came a recognition of what he had been exposed to through treatment programs, and how he desired to offer others the same gift he himself had received. For years Robert studied in the field of professional addiction counseling and eventually earned a PhD. He began a private counseling practice while operating a sober living facility. The progress he was able to witness in those who participated in an intensive counseling process versus those who didn’t was astounding. People that were given the tools to deal with rooted issues experienced true and lasting freedom. Those that didn’t have that same opportunity were far more susceptible to chronic and continual relapse. That’s because as important as groups, recovery meetings and structured housing were, the Spirit-led counseling process is where the major transformation took place. It gave the opportunity to personalize and expose those deeper-rooted issues like no other venue could provide.
Despite all the professional options on the market, Robert felt there weren’t any that offered intensive one-on-one guidance at the core of the program along with Christ-centered groups, classes, prayer, bible studies, etc. Thus came the birth of New Life Spirit Recovery. 12 years later, New Life Spirit Recovery has prospered into an oasis of healing and hope for hundreds and hundreds of men and women. It is not an ordinary program. The environment at New Life is the mixture of love and grace, with an atmosphere that encourages accountability and responsibility. Here men and women engage with God actively, not in a “legalistic or rule-oriented matter – but by profoundly encountering the power or redemption. We watch people enter the doors of New Life broken, beaten down, hopeless and filled with shame, and leaving forgiven, restored, ignited with God’s love and on the pathway of a new beginning.