What's next?

Many addicts can’t rent an apartment and buy a home because of their criminal charges. They also probably don’t have any money. They are starting again from the bottom. Halfway houses give those addicts a chance to start over. They can pay weekly and they will be given drug tests and curfews so that they learn how to be productive members of society.

Existing Market Interviews:

I interviewed 5 businesses: Charleys in Tampa, Cheeksecake Factory in Tampa, Berns in Tampa, PF Changs in Clearwater, and Ocean Prime in Tampa. The reason is because they already do drug testing for every employee, and offer a drug training program to every employee. In result, the company has a very low turnover rate. These specific businesses had the same answers as each other: I asked them if they currently drug test, and they said yes. I asked them if they had a drug abuse training program in place. They said yes, they do it themselves. I asked what does their training program offer. Then I saw an opportunity even with them. I told them what our training program offers so they know the value of why they have the option to switch from their own program to hiring our workplace drug program instead. 

Reflection:

The person who rents these halfway houses to struggling addicts must be a recovering addict themselves. A person that isn’t an addict or not a professional may not understand what the other person is going through or know how to catch someone in their addictive behavior etc. That’s why its one addict helping another is what makes this so exclusive to addicts. 

There are plenty of addicts who need a place to sleep. There are also willing recovering addicts who have the desire as well as the ability to open up halfway houses.

That even with all the halfway houses that are currently open around the city, there’s still not enough beds for all the addicts who are looking for a safe place to sleep. There needs to be more halfway houses that are open for the Pinellas County residents.