Recovery Stories

It started on Christmas of 2022, i woke up in a tent and wanted to know how life had led me to that specific place in life where i literally had gotten. I almost was so disassociated so much i didn't know how i was, where i was or why i was even there, let alone how i had gotten there. I had wondered how life had gotten to that point and the only thing that clicked in my head was, if i get sober i can figure everything out and maybe, just maybe begin fixing things to the way they needed to be. So i took myself to a crisis center because like i said my level of care was so high, due to disassociations that i had to go a mental health facility first. The detox was so bad. It was as if my body was not mine anymore but this demon that was fighting to be fed. After about 19-20 days of this detox at this facility i was then referred to a rehabilitation program where they specialized in Dual diagnosis symptoms, as well as grief and loss. i completed that program and then went to sober of living however my level care mentally, and i found myself back out in the streets somehow. It was then and there i realized i needed to get some very intensive care for this, so i put myself back into another rehabilitation center. Here at this one i had the clinical director tell me that i was going to save lives and make a big change in the world. At the time i had no clue what she was even telling me, let alone where she was getting the idea that i would be the one to make a big change in the world, let alone save lives. While i was there i learned she was NCPRSS and she began helping me process through my trauma with relentless care and efforts. When i was resistant to something she would make me attend online school for it. Over the course of working with her i obtained 16 diplomas and certificates, including advanced diplomas. i even became a CPRSS. Eventually we parted ways and I had to figure out what i was going to do for a job and decided to do the very thing i knew would make difference based on my own lived experiences with and in the world of addictions. I started with just sandwiches, and I went out and passed them out to the community of unhoused and people suffering from drug addiction, and or trauma. Eventually I started The Sober Soldiers Outreach Foundation and just made an entire life of this. Looking back, i understand what she meant when she said I'm going to make a difference. These days, I'm over 3 years sober, we do relentless outreach through my foundation and we even scholarship people from rehab to sober living (if funds are available) , I went as far as building this website and i even got it put up on the play store so people can easily download it. Ive grown from just sandwiches and water to passing out full on outreach winter supplies that include socks, gloves, hygiene packs for both men and women, oral hygiene, hand warmers, emergency blankets, lip balms, and more. Sometimes we are able to pass out sleeping bags also. Getting sober didnt just give me my life back, it gave me the life i never thought i could ever have. During the 3 years of recovery i had learned what had happened to me that led me to that point and i was so upset that people had hid the fact from me. Turns out i was a victim of violence and was also a witness to a high profile traumatic event. So thats why i built this foundation the way i did. I vowed to never let someone be left behind again if i can help it.