For the past 50 years, Stepping Stone of San Diego has provided one of the nation’s few LGBTQ-specific recovery programs, offering culturally sensitive treatment.
For those decades of contributions, Stepping Stone will receive the Stonewall Service Award for service at this month’s Spirit of Stonewall Rally, coinciding with the organization’s golden anniversary.
The San Diego facility began as a cluster of houses in City Heights and has grown into a residential treatment center with 31 beds on Central Avenue, an outpatient facility, three sober living houses and short-term recovery services.
When the center was founded, being gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or queer was not widely accepted, making it difficult for the community to trust and access medical treatments and rehabilitation programs.
“It wasn’t very culturally competent at the time,” Sarafina Scapicchio, deputy executive director of Stepping Stone, said.
The vast majority of Stepping Stone’s clients are unhoused, Scapicchio said. Some patients are newly released from the San Diego County jail with nowhere to go or are referred to the facility by concerned family members. Others are there because they feel unsafe due to identity-based harassment at other facilities.
At the center, community members can feel safe instead of stigmatized — for their substance abuse, their identities, their housing situation, their past record or all of the above.
Scapicchio emphasized the importance of having safety nets for people looking to recover and of meeting them where they are.
“I think substance use disorders are often stigmatized,” Scapicchio said. “It’s a medical situation that needs treatment – so I’m really proud that San Diego Pride extended us this honor, especially in our 50th year, so we can really talk to more people and celebrate the work that we’ve been doing in the community.”
Many of Stepping Stone’s graduates have reconnected with the facility to share positive news about their lives, such as running successful businesses or starting families. Not only do former patients run into Scapicchio outside the facility, but she said they also come back to serve other clients at Stepping Stone.
Joe Westcott finished his program at the facility in 2017. He now is marking seven years of working for Stepping Stone as a program manager, overseeing his own clients.
“Giving back to the organization that saved my life was important to me,” Westcott said. “It kept me sober.”
Before Stepping Stone, Westcott was at a different facility, unable to receive the care he needed because addressing LGBTQ-specific topics wasn’t encouraged.
Westcott now creates strong connections with his clients, and by keeping a pair of bright red “rainy day” high heels under his desk, he can do just that.
“I think giving people the ability to be their authentic selves in the community of San Diego is really important,” Westcott said.
Stepping Stone hosted an April gala to celebrate the 50-year anniversary, and among the 700 attendees were donors, supporters and former patients returning to celebrate with those who gave them lifesaving treatment.
At San Diego Pride’s Stonewall Rally on July 17, Stepping Stone will accept its award, and the next day, the Pride parade will include a Stepping Stone float built by providers and decorated with flag-wavers, many of whom graduated from the facility.
