Chris Herren

The story in the curator’s words

Fall River, June 2008

Fall River, Massachusetts. June 2008. A car sits against a pole near Oak Grove Cemetery, and the man inside has a needle in his arm. A few blocks away, a banner at his old high school still names him its highest scorer.

His name is Chris Herren. Seven years earlier he had played for the Boston Celtics, his hometown team.

No insurance

At the hospital, he later wrote, he had no insurance, so they would not admit him. Herren Project’s own account says he was released within hours and sent back out on the street. His fall had played out in public, on the news. What caught him was private.

Nine months

Friends stepped in. One of them, Chris Mullin, arranged nine months of intensive treatment. Herren knew how rare that was. “Unless you have the very best insurance,” he said, “you’ll only get eight or nine days.”

Herren Project, 2011

So in 2011 he started a nonprofit to do for strangers what one friend had done for him. Herren Project’s help is free: assistance finding treatment, scholarships for recovery housing and recovery coaching, and weekly online support groups for families. A family that fills in its inquiry form hears back from a member of the team.

The first day

And he walks into schools to talk about the first day, not the worst one. “Prevention starts on the first day,” he says.

In June 2008, by his foundation’s account, a hospital sent him back out on the street. Now, when a family reaches out to Herren Project, someone reaches back.