Hope Is the Seed That Sparks the Desire to Create Something Better
When Blake hurt his ankle, he didn’t expect to become a heroin addict.
“When I first took drugs and alcohol, it was like just a relief off my shoulders,” he said.
According to the CDC, Fentanyl is now the number one cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 45, surpassing suicide, Covid-19, and car accident-related deaths.
The statistics are especially staggering in Missouri, with drug overdose being the leading cause of death among adults ages 18-44 in the state.
No one is immune to the crisis. The increasing death rates are seen in all genders of all ethnicities and across all age groups. Today, one in every 10 Americans over the age of 12 is addicted to alcohol and/or drugs, totaling more than 23.5 million U.S. citizens. Alcohol and drugs have a stronger influence on youth and young adults than any other age group. With so many young people and families in need of help, our society is short on solutions and recovery programs that are effective and can meet the special needs of this population.
In response to this crisis, Kathie Thomas – a St. Louis resident and artist with more than 40 years of global innovation and marketing experience – founded Hope Creates, a nonprofit organization that combines art, occupational therapy principles, and entrepreneurial skills to support youth and young adults who are in recovery from addiction. Her personal experience compelled her to take action.
"I am the mother of a young adult addict," Kathie explains. "My artwork became a form of therapy as I faced the daily struggles that come with navigating through the horrors of substance use disorder with my daughter. Art helped me heal, and I wanted to find ways to help my daughter and her peers discover that there are other highs in life that are safe and genuine."
Hope Creates provides an avenue for self-expression, diverse creative outlets, and a sense of community by engaging St. Louis artists to teach a broad spectrum of creative media, from modern dance, to pastel painting, to improv, to guitar. Isolation feeds addiction. Connections with peers, family, and individual passions support healthy and productive life choices. We invite young people and their families to join us in exploring the arts together. To fight relapse, sobriety must be more fun than addiction.
“I believe that when I’m creating, I’m doing the opposite of self-destructive,” Blake said.
Watch the video below to learn more about Blake’s journey from addict to photographer.