“Life’s a forge! Yes, and hammer and anvil, too. You’ll be roasted, smelted, and pounded, and you’ll scarce know what’s happening to you. But stand boldly to it! Metal’s worthless till it’s shaped and tempered. More labor than luck. Face the pounding, don’t fear the proving; and you’ll stand well against any hammer and anvil.”
― Lloyd Alexander
Making Whole is an addiction recovery process built into the framework of a traditional apprenticeship. Men are taught the creative process–a method of problem solving that is practical, relatable, tangible, scientific, and spiritual.
Making Whole actualizes a simple premise: the mentor/student relationship overpowers the ego barriers of addiction. When trust is established, the apprentice can begin building studio-quality objects while rebuilding himself. The work provides a perfect metaphor for sustainable recovery and a successful life.
In short, Making Whole embodies the two things that are indispensable for someone new to recovery: intimacy and direction. This work in this community provides the foundation of recovery: learning to do the simple things well and consistently.
.
We make things.
Beautiful things. Challenging things. Useful things. We make things out of wood, metal, concrete, leather, and any other material we fancy. We make these things in a world-class studio, under the guidance of masters of craft. As we make things, we learn the steps to making a whole life.
We make questions rewarding and answers attainable. We teach by asking and we model the process by searching together to discover how we learn. When asked by a news crew what he had received from the program, one apprentice explained, “I’ve learned how to learn.”
Making Whole teaches apprentices how to build furniture, because this provides a framework to learn how to solve complex problems. They learn that the same process helps solve the complex problems in their own lives. Men that commit to the process learn and become whole.
Thank You
Thanks for reaching out.
Someone will be in touch with you in the next 24hrs.
Let us help you find what you are looking for
Would you like to find out more about becoming an apprentice? Find out more.
Are you a family member or a referring professional? Find out more
Would you like to find out more about the furniture we create, or commission a piece of your own? Find out more
Are you a maker that is interested in collaborating in some capacity? Find out more
Would you like to tour the studio, or join us for lunch? Find out more
Want to keep up with the journey? Keep scrolling and you can follow us on social media or sign up for email updates.
An Invitation
“It’s fair to call me a run-of-the-mill alcoholic. I used to joke that I was ‘athletically alcoholic’ because I could still pull off some impressive things while I was drinking. I went to college and graduated with a degree in accounting and finance. I was career driven, but I was also debilitatingly anxious and overwhelmed by the pressures of life. Alcohol was the only solution I could figure out at the time.
When COVID hit, everything got bumped to the next level. I was isolating to a new degree. Then I got laid off–an absolute gut punch. My relationships with everyone fell apart, I was lost; to put it lightly–I felt totally screwed. My life had blown up, and I had no clue how I’d ever pull the train back on the tracks.
Somewhere between 2021 and 2022, I went to rehab. I’d never heard of Asheville, but that’s where I landed. After rehab, I moved into a halfway house that happened to have a small woodshop. I didn’t know much, but my grandfather had done some woodworking when I was small, and I had some good memories of tagging along beside him. Along with service and exercise, tinkering in that shop gave me a way to keep busy during the early days of sobriety.
I’d see Jeremy in passing. Sometimes he and his crew would stop by to drop off materials. Finally, I got curious enough about what they were up to and found my way over to Making Whole. The entire setup immediately resonated. I could picture myself there–being among a group of men who were all just trying to get their lives pulled back together.
From Jeremy, I felt genuine care–the kind I knew could sustain me while I figured out how to care for myself. Up to this point, everything in my life had felt transactional. But not with him. In so many ways, Jeremy was offering something profoundly different, and without hesitation, I accepted the offer.
Before I went through the program, I only knew myself through how I assumed other people saw me–through accolades and performance indicators. Making Whole gave me a real sense of self. I learned to slow down; to pay attention. I was given agency to feel proud of what I made, and I learned what I made didn’t have to be perfect. I built remarkable things alongside remarkable men. It was craft, and it was camaraderie. The work became mediation. It taught me patience, attention to detail, how to sit with myself and how to stop redlining my engine. In addition to making furniture, I also learned how to make meals (and how to prepare those meals with intention). It was a true brotherhood. We all wanted to get well–we wanted that for ourselves and for each other. Everyday we were faced with challenges, but our unified attitude was, “We’ll figure this out.” At Making Whole, we approached everything with a plan. Whether it was building a table or charting out my next chapter, we talked through the steps, and I was 100 times better off for it. Making Whole taught me process; that beautiful things come with time and care for each step.
I’m two years out of the program now, and my life looks nothing like it did prior to my apprenticeship. My relationships have healed. I have an incredible job as a public accountant for a national firm. I love my work, and not because it’s problem-free but because I know how to find creative solutions to the problems that arise.
I built a lot of incredible things at Making Whole, the most important being the vibrant, joyful and community-oriented life I get to live today.”
– Former Making Whole Apprentice
For nearly eight years now, Making Whole has done the steady, faithful work of guiding drug and alcohol-dependent men through a year-long journey that builds an enduring version of recovery and a life worth living.
Since 2018, over $1M in scholarship money has supported apprentices with verifiable need. The vast majority of this funding has come from within, forcing us to find creative ways to keep the lights on without compromising the quality of the experience we provide. It is my commitment to ensure no one who comes here has to leave, prior to the magic happening, on account of finances. If you feel called to support this commitment, here is how that can happen.
PIVOTPoint WNC is a trusted, local nonprofit that manages and maintains the Making Whole Apprenticeship Fund. All donations are tax deductible and go directly towards tuition for those apprentices who demonstrate financial need. Contributions can be made via the link below, through stock exchanges or via your charitable foundation. Please know your gift is necessary for the sustainability of this experiment. And more importantly, understand your generosity is changing lives in a way that is impossible to overstate.
