When Janet Jordaan, the manager at the Tower of Life (ToL) was sponsored two tickets to a weekend seminar hosted by David Hain, she did not know that she would meet the man who would help to change the lives of many addicts in Krugersdorp.

Part of what he was saying resonated with her. When he spoke about tough love Janet pulled a face, so when he came to speak to her during intermission she realised that his heart was compatible with ToL’s heart. Since then, ToL has been offering a programme for drug addicts not only to rehabilitate them but also to heal the wounds that led to abuse in the first place.

David has been working in the field of addiction for more than 25 years and wrote From Ashes to Destiny, a handbook that aims at helping addicts heal the heart wounds that led to their addiction.

At ToL they have already taken three groups through the programme successfully, and started with the fourth group recently. Over the years David had worked with more than 30 000 addicts and everyone of them had a heart wound, although they could not identify it immediately.

Although addiction is the main topic of From Ashes to Destiny, the biggest chunk deals with heart wounds. Everybody carries heart wounds, some people just deal with it through addiction,” Janet said.

David listed three characteristics of people with an unhealed heart wound. Firstly they need something to numb or comfort the pain – be it physical or emotional numbing. Secondly they need a way to their reality, and thirdly they create a type of fantasy persona for themselves. All of this lead to the use of counterfeit comforters. They are counterfeit because they come with consequences. When your heart wound is healed you learn true comfort which comes without consequences, and that leads you to realise that you don’t need the counterfeit comfort anymore.

He published his first book titled From Addict to Disciple in 2005, and in 2007 he published The Heart of an Addict. He combined these two and added in workbook with questions after each chapter to form From Ashes to Destiny.

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The course is presented on Mondays and Thursdays to the men at ToL, and David who lives in the USA conducts it via Zoom when he cannot be there in person. The men also have the opportunity to talk to Janet if they need support, or arrange a one-on-one with David if they really need someone to talk to.

The book consists of 30 chapters, 12 of which are the 12 steps of Alcoholic Anonymous, and the other 18 are heart issues, character development and how to continue in recovery.

David’s journey with recovery started more than 25 years ago when he left corporate life, got married and moved into an abandoned house. He and his wife wished to host sidewalk Sunday School for the children in the neighbourhood, but as David walked the streets of his neighbourhood he noticed the many addicts and started talking to them.

One day when he asked God what had happened to the children they were supposed to be teaching, the response was that the addicts were God’s children. David furthered his studies and obtained his Doctorate of Ministry, Counselling and Missions, which ensured that he became qualified at the highest international level to work with addicts. He worked as a counsellor and later started doing outreaches and training others in addressing addiction as well. Janet also wants to arrange community meetings and start a parolee programme. You can listen to David’s pod casts on A2D (from addict to disciple) on all platforms.

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