COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (KMTV) — The 12th annual Hands Across the Bridge begins on Saturday at 10 a.m. in River's Edge Park. It celebrates neighbors in recovery from mental illness or addiction.
- "It's just a powerful, uplifting event that we have every year to really show our communities that recovery is possible,” Maggie Ballard from Heartland Family Service said.
- "I was at a gas station, I was homeless and I said, 'I need help.' I said it just to the universe or whatever and I was arrested 10 minutes later. So, not the help I thought I was going to get, but didn't see it at the time, that absolutely saved my life,” said Jessie Haggas, who now works with other women getting sober.
- FOR MORE INFO: PreventionMeansProgress.Org
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Jessie Haggas told me, getting arrested was the best thing for her.
I'm your southwest Iowa neighborhood reporter Katrina Markel in Council Bluffs. And I'm at the Bob Kerrey Bridge because on Saturday morning, Jessie will tell her addiction recovery story at an event called Hands Across the Bridge.
"I was at a gas station. I was homeless and I said, 'I need help.' I said it just to the universe or whatever and I was arrested 10 minutes later. So, not the help I thought I was going to get, but didn't see it at the time, that absolutely saved my life,” Haggas said.
This is Jessie now, an addiction recovery specialist at Santa Monica House, but a little more than 8 years ago, this was her mugshot...
She wants you to see the mugshot because it shows how far she's come.
Now, she helps other women recover from addiction. And, on Saturday, Hands Across the Bridge will celebrate neighbors in mental health and addiction recovery.
Maggie Ballard is a certified prevention specialist with Heartland Family Service, a partner in the coalition which hosts the annual event.
"It's just a powerful, uplifting event that we have every year to really show our communities that recovery is possible,” Ballard said.
She says in 2022, almost 50 million Americans, over the age of 12, had a reported substance use disorder. One in four adults over 18 had any kind of mental illness.
"It happens across every socio-economic class, all different education levels, all different backgrounds," said Ballard.
Now, Jessie is raising her 3-year-old grandson while her daughter serves a jail sentence.
"He is the very best part of everyday. He is amazing," she said.
Ballard and Haggas want neighbors to know resources are available for people struggling with mental illness or addiction and for their loved ones.
One place to start: PreventionMeansProgress.Org
The 12th annual Hands Across the Bridge begins on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. in River's Edge Park. There will be some light refreshments before neighbors will link hands across the Bob Kerrey Bridge.
