John Barrett, 17, a former Flowery Branch High School student, has been in the Three Dimensional Life program for about three months. His addiction problems started when he was 14.

"(I) started getting locked up around 16," he said. "From then on charges kept piling up."

He wouldn't go home for weeks at a time. His parents didn't know where he was. He was in and out of jail. Finally the court system gave him a choice — enter the Three Dimensional Life program or serve time in jail. Barrett chose Three Dimensional Life.

The Hall County residential program has been around for five years and serves up to 19 teenaged boys with drug and alcohol problems. Now the organization is planning to begin a girls program as well.

"We started recognizing that we were getting more and more calls in the last year for a girls program — girls that were just having some issues with life and with drugs and alcohol," Executive Director Greg Brooks said.

After a year of talking about plans and praying, Brooks said they are now about four months away from starting the program.

And the need is evident in the community, he said.

About a month after Barrett came to Three Dimensional Life, one of his friends died. About a week later another friend died. Both had been Flowery Branch students, and both deaths were drug related.

"(It) hit me hard, woke me up," Barrett said. Now he takes the program very seriously.

"I want to do my program right and get a lot out of it," he said. "And I really just want to get a good business when I get out and try to stay sober, keep worshiping God, keep my journaling."

Brooks said the situation at Flowery Branch emphasized the need for help.

"As I'm at the funeral and surrounded by all these young people, there were girls and boys that you could tell were just drained and hung over and high at the kid's funeral 'cause that's how they dealt with their problems," Brooks said.

Three Dimensional Life aims to offer a way out.

"What we try to do is create an environment where they can deal with those problems in a healthy way," Brooks said, "instead of reverting back to those destructive patterns."

The program requires students to voluntarily enter and spend at least nine months living on the property, working and taking classes.

Students in the boys program wake early for devotional time with God where they pray and write in a journal. Three days a week they go to a gym to work out. The Christ-centered program emphasizes working on mind, body and soul.

Those who are still in school have class and study hall. The organization is teamed with Faith Academy, a private Christian school.

Residents also attend Free Chapel on Sundays, and the organization partners with other churches, too.

There are spiritual enrichment classes where the boys learn about dealing with addiction and how to change their lives. They focus on peer-to-peer accountability.

"Peer-to-peer accountability is the strongest thing that we have going for us because it provides an environment to where they can hold one another accountable," Brooks said.

In the afternoons the residents are involved in a work program. One may cook meals for the house. Another may be captain of a team on a building project.

"They'll learn how to swing a hammer to how to drive a tractor and everything in between," Brooks said. "So that when they leave our program, whether they're 15 or they're 19, when they leave our program they will have the life skills that it takes to be productive outside of addiction, outside of destructive behaviors they've been a part of."

Residents also participate in what program directors call character-building activities. They may go rock climbing, camping or hiking.

"(They) do things they've never done before so they can see a life outside of drugs and alcohol can be a lot of fun, can be very engaging," Brooks said. Until entering the program, residents often have not been involved in much outside of their destructive behaviors or activities like video games.

The girls program will be run on a separate campus but will be closely modeled after the boys program. The work program will cater to the girls' needs. They may serve in an office environment at a local business or learn how to be a hair stylist.

The program will still offer character-building activities like hiking, but Girls Program Director Nola Baughman also plans to include events like fashion shows and have the girls learn to create items like jewelry and purses.

"We want them to walk away with not just ‘I'm sober. I'm doing well,'" Brooks said, "but walk away with, ‘I have the life skill to be successful outside of my addiction and as I move forward in life and as I get older.'"

Baughman is ready to get started.

"In everyday life we see the need," she said. Recently she came across a teenager at court for a DUI. Baughman said the teen was taking prescription drugs, which Brooks added is becoming more and more popular because of easy access.

"It was obvious she was addicted to drugs and didn't know what to do," Baughman said. "My heart was like, ‘Man, why couldn't this be a few months from now?' where I could go up to her and say, ‘Hey, I have an option for you if you would like to improve.'"

That option will soon be a reality, though. Despite the slow economy, Brooks said Three Dimensional Life has had an incredible year.

"It's been remarkable. This has been our best year to date financially," he said. "We've exceeded last year's gross income. We've only had one fundraiser. Last year we had five. God's just blessing us and we're doing exceptionally well.

"I think the role that God has played for us as a program, especially in the last year with the ups and downs of the economy, we have done nothing but excel to his credit."