Bryan Cressey founded Above and Beyond, a treatment center on Chicago's West Side that rejects what he calls "clinically hollow" programs. Instead, it offers five personality-matched programs and helps residents discover their life purpose in a home-like setting designed to rebuild self-esteem.
The 20 Most Inspiring Chicagoans Award was created by Streetwise to honor individuals who are making a positive difference in the lives of our Chicagoans and our communities.
So I'm Bryan Cressey, and I'm a partner at Cressey and Company. I also founded Above and Beyond, which is an innovative treatment center serving the homeless and poor on Chicago's West Side. In my family experience, I've been to many treatment centers around the United States, including some well-known ones, and I recognized that sadly, sadly, the treatment being offered by every place other than Above and Beyond is not working because the programs were what I saw as clinically hollow. They didn't have the substance needed to help these individuals Change and improve their lives. So I vowed to make that into a program, and we've done that at Above and Beyond. We put in the essentials that I saw were needed. One was we— when people come in the door, we help direct them to— we have 5 different programs, and the one that fits their personality, which they agree with, they'll do well with. You The other thing that was missing, or another, was people didn't know the purpose of their life. And in my family, those who succeeded found their life purpose. Those who didn't, didn't know, were wandering without following their purpose. And so I recognized that above and beyond, we will teach them to learn their life purpose. Another thing I noticed Uh, in my family is that people who walked in the front door did not love themselves. We wanted the first moment a person walks into Above and Beyond for them to feel welcome, happy, and wow, this is different. So we made it like a really nice but cozy welcoming home. And we wanted them to be where they're proud to be there. Because the first impression is, wow, I belong at a nice place like this. That's the beginning of building back their self-esteem. You rebuild your community and your families one life at a time. That works. And then you do more lives and more lives. That's how it really happens. So we need to be able to get in there and help those people who need the help. Most of them are wonderful people who had a series of bad breaks and made some bad choices, but they're not bad people.
Congratulations to this year's 20 Most Inspiring Chicagoans. Please visit streetwise.org to make a donation in honor of today's 20 Most Inspiring Chicagoans or to register for our free virtual celebration on the evening of October 1st.
