Jack Cloutier

“Hi Jack. How are you?” Jack’s reply to this question is always, “I’m blessed.”

Jack is from California. He was blessed with a good home—mom, dad, siblings. When he was about 12 years old, things changed. Jack began using drugs. He experimented with more intense drugs and things deteriorated.

Jack got married in his early 20’s. His wife had two daughters and together they had two children, a daughter and a son. He and his wife did drugs together. Neither Jack nor his wife could hold down a job, nor could they keep their own family together.

Jack’s stepdaughters went to live with their father. Jack owned his own business as well as his own home. Eventually Jack stopped using drugs. Unfortunately, this only lasted a short time. The desire was too great, and Jack went back to using drugs. He lost his business and his home. He resorted to living in his mom’s garage.

His daughter went to live with her grandparents. His son lived with his mother and bounced around from place to place. Jack stole metal and copper to support his meth habit. Jack knew something needed to change.

He moved to Missouri to get his life back together. After Jack was settled in Missouri, he returned to California intent on moving his family to Missouri with him. For many reasons, that plan did not work. Jack returned to Missouri alone.

After the failed attempt at reuniting his family in Missouri, Jack was “clean” for seven years. It didn’t last. Jack got back into meth. He got into trouble and received a second-degree felony assault. He started out with probation, but eventually ended up in prison. Then the change took place. While he was in prison, Jack surrendered his life to Christ. Upon his release from prison, he made New Beginning Sanctuary his home plan. He continued to focus on God. His life is becoming whole again.

Jack has a relationship with his children and grandchildren. He has a cordial parenting relationship with his ex-wife—together they purchased their son’s class ring and had it engraved “From Mom and Dad.” He is planning a trip to California to celebrate his son’s graduation from high school.

The skills and tools that he learned from the Fatherhood Development Class and the Within My Reach Relationship class have been instrumental in helping to repair his relationship with his children. Jack is now a trained facilitator for the New Pathways for Good Dads program and is sharing his skills and knowledge with many others at New Beginning Sanctuary.

Jack said it best, “God is restoring all the things I messed up and putting them back together!”