Heal Yourself

"What we realized was using isn't the problem. Using is just a symptom. For me, I used for so long just to self-medicate, and it worked for a long time, then it stopped working. When I got clean, I thought I had a problem with a certain substance, and I realized that I didn't have any skills - basic communication skills, how to budget, how to keep my life together, how to be a parent, how to be a father, how to be a son, how to be an employee. There was so much I didn't know. I realized, oh my gosh, I need to do some real work if I'm going to stay clean. Getting clean and staying clean are two different things. You can stop using, but how do you stay stopped? That's where all this other stuff comes in. It really comes down to fear, trauma, abandonment, neglect, whatever is driving that. If they can heal that while giving them a purpose or career that they want to be in, that they feel fulfilled in, that they're making a difference, it changes everything."