My name is Stephen Shafer. I am the clinical director of Alpha & Omega Counseling Center and I will use this space to tell you a little bit about me and how I have become the man and the counselor that I am today.

From a young age I felt out of place. I grew up in a single parent home that was very violent, emotionally, mentally, and physically. Also, I was taught that God was very hard and that mercy and compassion were non-existant. Guilt, shame, anger, resentment, and feeling less than were all normal feelings for me. They were to remain with me for the next 30 years.

At age 11 I did my first drug.
At age 12 I went to my first foster home.
At age 14 I was kicked out of my home for good and living in the streets.
At age 14 I was jumped into the War Lords, by age 16 I was president.
I was in State prison by age 17.
At age 18 I met my future wife.
At age 21, we got married and had the first of three children.
At age 26 my life was in the toilet due to drugs and alcohol.

I knew that I needed to make a drastic change when I got a call from mother who told me about a Navajo reservation in California called The Ranch. She convinced my wife and family to sell everything and move to the ranch, at that point in our lives we were so desperate we agreed.

I had my first encounter with God at that time.
A) We fed the poor.
B) We built a school, television station, and orphanage on the Navajo reservation.
C) We helped under-privileged Hispanic and Philipino churches in Los Angeles CA.

This was the first real experience with the power of God.

I ended up staying at the Ranch for about seven months.
We were doing really well at the Ranch for a while, but I started to slip back into my old lifestyle. We left the Ranch broke and destitute again. We moved back to the East Coast to try again. I slipped so far back into my old lifestyle that I got arrested again. I spent eight days in a six by nine cell. I realized that my life was over. I had run out of chances; I was broke, alone, and out of choices. I had nothing
left.

For those eight days my closest friends and family would have nothing to do with me. I had no change of clothes, no shower, no smokes, now I realize that that was the best thing that could have ever happened to me.
While I was in jail, I prayed to God that if I was released with no prison time that I would never do drugs or get drunk again. After Eight days in jail I finally went to court. The minute I got into the court room, the power went off. The computers went down, and there were no copies of any past arrest records available. I was let go.

Through years of counseling, AA/NA and other support groups I was able to build a strong relationship with God. I learned how to have trust in God and people. I learned that not everything was about getting something in
return and I learned that with God and a support group that there is another way of life other than street living. More importantly, I learned that even though God is with me always, that there are going to be really hard times in my life.

Here’s my testimony and why I am starting this ministry. During the first few years of my walk with God I lost three men who were like father figures to me. I got seriously hurt on the job and could no longer work. I then got hit by a drunk driver from behind. I went through six major surgeries and have been declared permanently disabled for the rest of my life. Yet, through all this I was able to have time to draw closer to God, get a degree in Counseling, then get a masters degree, and get state certified. I have also had the opportunity to bring a lot of people closer to God and help them with their problems.

I received my bachelors and graduate degrees from the University of Scranton. I have been involved in several research projects and I am a state certified rehabilitation counselor, I also attend trainings to remain current on new techniques in counseling.