On The Road To Recovery - We've Crossed Halfway!

Who this will help

Hi, my name is Cyndi E. Carpluk a Licensed Clinical Social Worker based in Boulder City, NV. I and Blair's family are asking for help for Blair Shepard. He is my younger son, the middle kid of my 3.

The impact of your support

Your support of Blair and his kids will help him to return to a less stressful environment when he comes home. We are asking for $5000 to help by supplying 2 months of rent ($3200) along with his utilities. Also, he will need to replenish the house with food when he returns after being gone for a month. The fewer stressors there are on the road to recovery the less likely one is to return to the maladapted coping behaviors they had in the past. Not having to worry about paying or catching up with rent and utilities as well as being able to buy food until he receives his first paycheck after returning to work. UPS is holding his job for him. He is a good hard worker, a loving and caring dad. Your help will support his forward progress for himself and his girls.

Why I'm fundraising

Blair has had and overcome a lot of obstacles in his life, including training to be a massage therapist and developing carpal tunnel to the extent that he cannot work in that profession. He attempted to adapt by working as a barback and bartender in high end venues but left because of the environment and recognizing that being around alcohol all the time was not a good idea for him.

He and his siblings were taken from me when he was around 7 because of my own substance use disorder. (I have been sober for over 30 years now.) Although, returned after a few months, they also experienced trauma from being around the abusive behaviors from my late spouse. They were exposed to this because of my own lack of self-esteem.

If any of you know anything about the Adverse Childhood Experiences screener, all my children have suffered a number of these, because of my bad choices. It also is an indicator for higher incidence of poor adult outcomes, misuse of substances and addiction being one of them.

Blair is a good and nurturing father to his 4 year old daughter and his 12 year old step-daughter from a recently ended relationship. He considers his "step" as his own and has not ended the relationship with his step-daughter because he and the mother of his daughter are no longer together.

During his journey Blair has struggled with alcohol use disorder, resorting to binge drinking when he became overwhelmed by life.

He is currently a driver for UPS but is on leave while he admitted himself to inpatient rehabilitation after recognizing that although he was going to AA meetings and has a therapist he was not getting better. He wants to be there for his children as a sober and responsible parent and he realized this meant taking extreme measures to getting better, for good.

He is currently in Crossroads for what could be up to 30 days. UPS does not have leave pay for this time off and his bills are not going away.

We, his family, are asking for help so that he can meet his monthly financial obligations while he gets the behavioral health treatment he needs to get and keep his life on track. These 2 little girls are dedicated to their dad and it was a big step for him to admit he couldn't hide his struggle any longer and do what was best for them all by taking the time to get the help he needs.