Community Is the Cure to Chaos: Joshua Dunn’s Journey with Stepping Stone as the Organization Turns 50
By Cesar A Reyes
For 50 years, Stepping Stone has been a quiet constant in San Diego—a place people find when they’re ready, or when they have nowhere else to go. At its Pink Gala anniversary celebration, that legacy isn’t just something to honor, it’s something you can feel in the stories of people like Joshua Dunn. “I was born and raised in San Diego,” he says, grounding himself in the same community Stepping Stone has served for half a century. Today, he’s an artist, a public servant, Co-Chair of San Diego Pride, a staff member in the County of San Diego for District Four Supervisor Montgomery Steppe, President of the Black Young Democrats of San Diego, and a singer in the San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus. But at the heart of it, his connection to Stepping Stone is personal. “I am an alumni of the organization,” he says. “I graduated from the program in 2023.”
That lived experience shapes the way he talks about the organization—as someone who has walked through its doors and come out changed. Stepping Stone, in his words, is more than a program. It’s “a healer and guardian of the local queer health network.” In a community as layered and diverse as LGBTQIA San Diego, that role matters. Progress doesn’t erase pain, and visibility doesn’t always reach the people who are struggling most. “Shame can sometimes make us look away from community members who are struggling with trauma,” Joshua says. “Stepping Stone doesn’t turn its back.” Instead, it does something both simple and radical—it welcomes people in, meets them where they are, and reminds them they’re still part of something larger than their lowest moment.
Moments from his time in the program still stay with him, surfacing as reminders of what makes Stepping Stone different. He recalls a visit from Tracie O’Brien. “She was beaming with life,” he says. That energy carried something deeper than inspiration—it felt like proof. “In that moment, I knew that those who surrendered to needing help would get it.” There was certainty in that realization, the kind that can only come from seeing someone embody the other side of the journey. Just as powerful was an exchange with a cohort mate, one that shifted something internal. “They reminded me that faith doesn’t have to look like the trauma of church from my childhood,” Joshua says. “It can be new and fresh with who I am becoming now.” In a space built on recovery, that kind of reframing—of identity, of belief, of self-worth—is part of the healing.
As Stepping Stone marks 50 years, the celebration isn’t just about longevity—it’s about impact, and what comes next. Joshua is clear about what he hopes to see. “My hopes are for expansion,” he says. Not growth for its own sake, but growth that meets the urgency of the need—more infrastructure, more innovative programs, more pathways for people navigating substance use disorder and different levels of care. The world has changed over five decades, and the challenges facing the community have evolved with it. What hasn’t changed is the need for places like Stepping Stone to exist, to adapt, and to keep showing up.
If the Pink Gala is a moment to reflect, it’s also a reminder of what has always been at the center of Stepping Stone’s work. When asked to capture that spirit in a single phrase, Joshua doesn’t overthink it: “Community is the cure to chaos.” It’s a simple line, but it holds the weight of 50 years—of people finding their way back to themselves, and to each other, one step at a time.