'Tour De Recovery' raising money to support women completing substance use recovery program

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A Fresno County non-profit is taking action to raise awareness about mental health and substance use during a seven-day bike ride fundraiser.

TURN Behavioral Health's "Tour De Recovery" left Fresno Sunday, and is on its way to Oceanside.

The money raised will help women who have completed their time at the organization's recovery center.

Breanna George, a former patient of TURN, said she'd tell her younger self "not to give up and to know everything is going to change and that I'm worth it."

George went through a lot to become the woman she is today.

"Just applied to Fresno Pacific University, and I'm going to start in the fall. I am the manager at a hotel, the La Quinta," she shared. "I have a relationship with my daughter. I get to see her every week, and I'm working on getting my own place."

A year ago, George lived on the streets of Fresno and was using heroin.

"The more trauma that I incurred, the more drugs I would use to cope," George said. "It was like something had to snap in me to make me want it and to know that there was another way."

That way was through the gates of TURN, which provides behavioral health, mental health, substance use and homeless services to those in Fresno County.

"We consider this a holistic campus for people to come to heal that are dealing with all of those issues," said vice president Deanna Kivett.

TURN put on its first "Tour De Recovery" bike ride last year to raise money for the Faith's Hope Scholarship. George was the lucky recipient.

"I needed a vehicle and for them to help me with the down payment of my vehicle -- it really set me in a forward motion that I needed," she said.

The organization is hoping to support another woman soon to finish recovery.

"It's really hard to take that first step," Kivett explained. "Then it's really hard to take that step to exit."

TURN's CEO is one of several biking down to the Pacific Coast. The group is making its way through the Mojave Desert Wednesday, and is planning to arrive in San Bernadino by Friday.

You can learn more about donating to the cause by visiting their website.