'There’s help for the black man in Detroit’ -- How a former addict now helps others

Keith Bradley is helping others overcome their addictions

DETROIT – Over the past 12 years, a man has helped hundreds of Detroiters get treatment, find shelter and get a job.

Through the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries this modest hero is truly making a difference. Keith Bradley doesn’t just check up on people, he lifts them up. He has devoted his life to helping men recover from addiction after struggling with his own. He spent a decade on the streets addicted to alcohol and crack cocaine.

“It was terrible. Don’t know where next meal, sleep -- addicted, always in need of something,” Bradley said.

He found himself at the doors of the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries.

“They told me we’re going to love you until you learn to love yourself and that’s exactly what they did,” he said.

After years in and out of treatment centers, he said the men who work there had a profound impact on his recovery.

“He (the men) looks like me, I can relate to him as a black man might not be same street or neighborhood but same struggle and I feel like he can understand what I’m going through,” Bradley said.

Keith turned his life around. Going from homeless and addicted, to director of permanent supportive housing.

“To be a black man in Detroit can sometimes be hard, but there’s help for the black man in Detroit, ask me how I know, look at my life,” he said.

He’s helped countless men realize their own potential.


About the Author:

Priya joined WDIV-Local 4 in 2013 as a reporter and fill-in anchor. Education: B.A. in Communications/Post Grad in Advanced Journalism