We once heard someone say, “watching someone suffering from active addiction was like watching someone drown in one foot of water, because you cannot convince them that all they need to do to save themselves is to stand up.” During active addiction, most people can relate to that statement on some level. Daya Mental Health and Wellness was built by individuals in recovery for substance use and has always strived to promote the advancement of people in recovery, not only from a mental health and wellness standpoint, but also in a way that allows people to gain employment, return to school, repair relationships and build the life that they have missed out on for so long. Years ago my husband and I returned to school for our graduate degrees and realized how difficult that could actually be, both financially and mentally. We hope this scholarship helps ease the financial burden that might prevent someone from returning to school and allow them to work on their education and remaining clean. Our hope is that the recipient will obtain their degree and give back to the very community that helped show them how to to stand up in that one foot of water.

Often times recovery introduces you to people that become more than copilots on this journey. David was a very dear friend of ours that passed away a few years ago. He spent many years of his life walking through this recovery journey beside my husband. In reality, he was family. While I know he is somewhere saying “y’all didn’t need to do all this,” I also believe he would be excited to see what the world would get from that person that was given one more chance to do things different.

~Tabatha and Jason Jones, Owners of Daya Mental Health and Wellness