Building a stronger industry through recovery

By Emma Peterson. 

The roofing industry is coming together at events like Swing Fore Recovery to raise awareness of mental health and addiction recovery. 

In a new episode of Roofing Road Trips®, Alex Tolle hosted Stephen Spence from Project Map It and Paul and Kim Reed from Roofers in Recovery for a conversation about the importance of talking about mental health and addiction, especially for the roofing industry. This is a topic that is very close to both the Reed’s and Stephen as they have personal connection to the challenge that is recovering from addiction. 

Paul himself is now 18 years sober. He shared a bit of his story, saying, “This is actually my 33rd year in roofing. And back in the day I was kind of your typical guy putting on the roof, tearing off roofs, putting them back on and drinking and drugging and eventually it became a problem.” It was when he was able to gather the money to go to rehab that things started to change for him. He explained, “Generally speaking, when you're an addict or an alcoholic, you probably don't have health insurance and you probably don't have money available to get into rehab. You've probably burnt a lot of bridges to people maybe that could help you or like to help you. I was one of the lucky one, where I had people who stepped up for me 18 years ago and were able to somehow scrape together literally $30,000 to put me into rehab.” 

It was when he started reflecting on that personal experience, that Paul realized he could be one of the people that steps up and helps someone else who was struggling like him. That’s where the idea for Roofers In Recovery was born. Kim, who co-founded an organization called Hope in the Valley and works with Paul at Roofers In Recovery, shared a bit of what they’ve been able to do, saying, “Since we started the organization, we've been able to serve almost one thousand people, which means we've saved almost one thousand lives. And a lot of the folks that came from the roofing industry that we've put through recovery have literally had about an 80% recovery rate without relapsing.” 

As for Steve, his connection to the battle with addiction comes from his brother, now three years sober, and his friend Ty Backer. He explained, “Ty, I can say is like a brother of mine and I did a podcast with him where he mentioned Roofers In Recovery Day. At that same time, my brother was just starting his recovery journey, and I realized, here’s a way I can support my brother and others who are fighting similar battles!”  

With that realization, Steve got involved and was able to help organize the first of what is now an annual event, Swing Fore Recovery. He shared a bit about the golf tournament, saying, “Three years ago, there were about 20 people who showed up and we raised a couple of thousands of dollars and it was great!” Today, the event has grown exponentially and this year’s event, happening October 13, will actually be happening “in four different states with four different industry hosts, including Project Map It.” 

Listen to the full conversation and learn more about the Swing Fore Recovery event and the work of Roofers In Recovery.