"Crestwood Heroes Initiative started as fiction and it turned into a philosophy of “Hey guys, you know every disability is a superpower, right? You guys are all heroes because you get up every day and live the most independent lives in the best way that you can, and deal with challenges that most people will never know.”

My name is Justin Christian and I’m the program supervisor for Crestwood, a part of the REM Community Services at Sevita. One night one of my guys who is a traumatic brain injury patient was very down on himself. He started talking about wanting to end his life. I listened and encouraged him and told him he was a hero to me. He didn't believe that at all and said “No, I'm nobody's hero.”

But eventually we used our imaginations and came up with this story that at night he and I would dress up and go out and fight crime, and we talked about this for more than an hour. By the time we were done talking, he was smiling and happy. The suicidal ideations passed and he went to sleep.

It snowballed from there, and Crestwood Heroes Initiative was born. All my guys now have their own superhero story. Meaning that they're all secretly superheroes living in Crestwood and fighting crime. They've all got their superhero name and their superhero costume and all of that good stuff.

Take Gabe for example. He’s a ‘good buddy’ kind of guy, so he's got the power of love, and he fights crime with that. And we have an older guy named Charles who has explosive farts, and he's silent but deadly. It's pretty cool. We've got some merchandise and stickers and water bottles and all that good stuff. We're all having fun with it, them and me too.

If I can help make my guys feel more valued as a human being, that's what Crestwood Heroes is about.
Thanks for sharing your legacy story with us Justin!