Photo by Erin Nelson.
Steve Ward, founder of Life Improvement STEPS, in his home office in April.
Steve Ward spent 38 years working in engineering, sales, and marketing for IBM. For some period during that time, he was a functioning alcoholic. His wife struggled with some issues as well, as did one of his sons during high school. For a while, all three of them were immersed in the world of recovery.
“I saw several pretty incredible things in that,” Ward said. “One of the world’s worst problems – addiction – is treatable. If people will go through the recovery and surrender to the process, they will get better. In recovery, they learn a lifestyle to live life better.”
Statistics show that about 90% of people who are at risk won’t get help. Ward became fascinated with the concept of taking the principles of recovery and moving them upstream to take to the rest of the world. He searched for books, and when he couldn’t find any, decided to write one of his own: “STEPS: A Daily Journey to a Better Life.”
When Ward’s mother was sick, he and his family came to stay with her in Birmingham and he became involved at Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church, while also got to know people in the business community. He began teaching seminars to parents at OMPC. Less than two years ago he retired from his job at IBM and founded his nonprofit ministry, STEPS Ministries.
The ministry is uniquely focused on preventing addiction. By taking principles from the world of recovery, Ward teaches them to people early in the addiction cycle.
“We help people improve their lives, grow closer to God, and prevent addiction, and the positive feedback on this approach has been exciting,” Ward said.
STEPS Ministries does that with in-person training plus content and courses delivered over the internet. There are three key areas of focus, starting with Life Improvement, which has content, courses and information to prevent addiction and live effectively.
Proactive Parenting helps improve families by equipping parents to become the best they can be and enable them to help protect their children and teenagers from the dangers of addiction.
In Business Wellness, Ward trains and consults for companies to provide effective lifestyle information, training and coaching for their employees, which can reduce the impact of these emotional issues, creating a more effective work environment.
“We enable people to avoid or lessen the impact of addiction and help those around them who are suffering,” Ward said. “We do that by delivering content, training and coaching to improve people’s lives emotionally, personally and spiritually.”
Life Improvement relates to addiction and recovery. He said everyone he talks to who is in recovery understands exactly what he is doing.
“All of this information is useful and relevant to all of us,” Ward said. “These days we all know people who are struggling with addiction, but most people are hiding it. There are things we can do to be more available and helpful if we’re only willing.”
The STEPS Ministries website features a blog, podcast and a wealth of other resources including a parenting assessment.
“We really have the potential to reach people digitally and make content available in various forms, since people consume content differently,” he said. “For digital marketing, we regularly send that information out on our Facebook and Instagram pages, post videos on YouTube, have a podcast and are expanding through social media and digital means for us to reach people.”
Due to COVID-19, Ward used Zoom virtual meetings for coaching, seminars, and discussion groups and increased the focus on digital outreach, including making available a "2020 Survival Kit" to thousands of people. To find out more about STEPS Ministries, or to contact Ward to speak to a group, visit lifeimprovementsteps.com/home or email him at stevecward@lifeimprovementsteps.com.
