MEMBER SPOTLIGHTS
NEXT STEPS TODAY
Kyle Marsh founded Next Steps Today, a local non-profit that empowers people to break the cycle of addiction, in January 2019. He now serves as CEO. The program provides support, ministry and housing to local men and women in Simpsonville and the surrounding areas.
“I initially launched Next Steps Today as a hobby, after years of serving in hospitality management and upper management,” he says. “I traveled a lot, so I decided to quit my career to go into ministry full time with a company I had been working with for nine years.”
Unfortunately, there was not a position available for Marsh. Amidst his anger and frustration with the lack of opportunity, he came up with the model for Next Steps Today.
“We had our first launch five years ago, and held a fundraiser to reach our $10,000 annual budget,” he says. “The goal was to open up one house for residents within five years to help men build mobility and independence.”
The first house served as a data test center, with 12 men still battling addiction staying on average for three days. The stay then was extended to seven months.
“When we opened our first location, we started seeking investors,” Marsh says. “Within five years, we had seven houses and had helped more than 50 people.”
This past May, Next Steps Today established a women’s program, with a separate house that includes six female residents. A second women’s location is opening this fall.
Other than participants being drug free, Next Steps Today differs from traditional recovery programs.
“While most recovery programs include meetings and step work that take drugs out of the equation with the hope participants remain sober, what we created is a self-help, self-driven program to fix individuals so they don’t go back to substances,” Marsh explains. “We focus on building individuals from the foundation up similar to a house. When you expose the foundation of an individual and work from that point, we can build from there.”
Next Steps Today is based on Four Corners —body, spiritual life, relationships and purpose. Those in the program are taught these tools in the first phase and learn to apply each one in every day life in phase two.
“We build into those areas daily, which is critical for six months and is all video based,” Marsh says. “This way, participants develop habits where they can continue to live life as normal as possible but work on those areas intentionally every day. And we hold them accountable to those tools daily.”
The average stay in the program is 18 months, at which time participants take part in Black Out, a boot camp-type graduation event. To reach their goals and overcome hurdles after graduation, Next Steps Today sets up participants financially, spiritually and emotionally.
“We work on credit scores, building healthy relationships, nutrition, etc. so when they go back out in the world, they can succeed,” Marsh says.
The Simpsonville Chamber of Commerce has been instrumental in Next Steps Today’s growth and visibility in the community.
“The Chamber has been phenomenal, as it has opened up connections and networks and allowed our guys to be involved with community events, which makes the transition easier,” Marsh says.
Next Steps Today sponsors the Christmas parade each year and also finds other ways to be face forward in the community.
“The Chamber has helped me become more engaged to speak about who we are and how we can and are impacting the community,” Marsh says. “Partnering with the chamber has been huge.”
While recovery programs’ success rates have a national average of just 2%, Next Steps Today’s is 36%.
“We’re building and focusing on the individual rather than their circumstances,” Marsh says. “As far as the curriculum, we’ve expanded to become more detailed on how we do things. Our infrastructure is more sound, and the model is more sustainable.
Next Steps Today does not rely on state or federal funding, and is designed to continue on a growth trajectory.
“Where we’re looking at next is how do we give what we do to everyday people that are in a rut in life with marriage, career, etc.” Marsh says. “Our curriculum lights a fire under them, that’s our next evolution.”
