- Alcohol
- Drugs
- Friends & Family
Submitted by: Susanne Johnson
Since 2004, Greg has lived his life in recovery, clean and sober. As for many, he used alcohol and drugs in his life. It was the alcohol that he enjoyed, but the drugs made him last longer in addiction. He loved the drugs that kept him going and others that put him to bed at night, a vicious circle of chemicals. He loved alcohol since he had his first sip of beer as a child and he was hooked on cocaine the first time he tried it. He knew immediately that this was the feeling he was searching for.
Greg grew up in Milwaukee and after he was arrested in 2004, he was asked to go to treatment to receive help for his drug and alcohol problem. He was busted for selling marijuana, although he never liked weed. He was only selling it to finance his cocaine addiction.
He didn’t get the choice or opportunity to receive treatment– he just know he is in trouble and did what his lawyer told him to do.
Although it was not really a choice of his at this time, he felt an enormous relief as he sat in the jail cell by himself and thought about things that might happen next. He was sick and tired of the life he was living. He was tired of not living up to his potential. He knew within himself that he reached a point in his addiction where he would either die or get arrested pretty quickly. As this incident happened, he felt very calm all of a sudden and accepted the situation as is. Greg spent four days detoxing in jail and had time to think about his life.
He remembers that day he came home from jail in withdrawal and emotional pain and where he found that his parents had cleared all alcoholic beverages from the entire house. They also hid car keys and money, so he wouldn’t have a chance to get anything. He found cooking wine in the fridge and remembers clearly how disgusted he was with himself. He looked at the alcohol content and knew it would make him sick, but not get him anywhere where he felt he needed to be. All he could think of that night was stealing his father’s car to get a drink. “That’s how sick I was,” he says. The next day, his parents drove him to treatment.
He first entered a facility in Minnesota, and continued his journey after four weeks there in Palm Springs, California, for 60 days, and later to another treatment center in Long Beach for three months as well. This long road of several treatment facilities was followed by a sober living program until he was accepted by Texas Tech University and found his support through the Collegiate Recovery Community of Texas Tech and stayed there for a seven year duration while finishing his studies.
In 2012, he was asked to come to Alabama and help build the Collegiate Recovery Community (CRC) from scratch. He felt thrilled and honored by this and took the opportunity and became the director of the Alabama program, where he still works today, helping people in recovery every day to find a way to receive their education without being a slave of their disease.
“If you are a college in the USA you have an alcohol- and drug problem. That’s a fact.”, Greg mentions. “It is not whether it is a community college or a big college. Each college needs a CRC, that’s a fact.”
Greg also found his long-term sobriety in meetings. He believes in total abstinence and, during early recovery, went regularly to 12-step meetings. He was told to listen what other people have to say and he listened and listened. He hit the point that he wanted to have what the other people had– they had careers, they were able to get their families back, they had a life.
“I wanted to learn how to make amends, how to be a good person,” he says. “I have to live by example. I’m the director of a collegiate recovery community. I get up in the morning and pray and try to be a better person.”
He is 39 years old today and has as a goal that each college in the south around him will get a CRC program and he is available as a resource for those who are ready and willing to get this started. Greg is engaged today; his fiancé is in recovery as well. “I was very resistant for a long time. When I finally gave up fighting it, recovery changed my life. I never had a better life than I have today,” states Greg.
If you have any questions about where you can find CRC programs and how to get into one of them, please contact us at Heroes in Recovery. We are happy to connect you with the right people that can help you get involved in a program while you attend college.