- Alcohol
- Drugs
- Friends & Family
My parents divorced when I was twelve and abandoned me. I quickly looked for something to numb the pain. I started hanging out with older kids that accepted me and found they knew where to get alcohol. Alcohol made me forget about my parents splitting up. I started drinking often by age thirteen. By age sixteen, I was using cocaine and drinking. By age eighteen, I was living in a crack house selling drugs to support my own habit.
At twenty-two years old, I was hooked on cocaine and alcohol. I wanted help, but I did not know how to get it. I kept doing what I knew best and that was to get drunk and high. One night, after partying with my friends till the early morning hours I was dropped off at home and in a blackout ended up on a hill that surrounded my apartment complex. I rolled to the bottom, flopping off a retaining wall and smashing my head on the pavement. I was rushed to the hospital and had a right frontal craniotomy. After the surgery I stayed in a comatose state for several weeks.
When I woke up from the coma and was able to eat again. I was placed in a nursing home to live out the rest of my days. I could not control my emotions and was angry all the time. I found it hard to accept what I did to myself and did not know how to express my feelings.
I discovered moving forward, being productive, and finding the positive in each day was the only way to make my circumstances better. With determination, hard work, and focus, I left the nursing home and my wheelchair for a walker and eventually a cane. After three years of therapy I was walking with no assistive device.
In the sixteen years since my accident I have been able to walk, talk, and drive again. I went to college and earned a Bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in counseling and psychology. I retrained my brain to find positive in each day and keep moving forward.
I have dedicated my life to helping others who have experienced trauma, injury or addiction. I am a behavior therapist, recovery coach, and certified professional life coach that specializes in helping individuals overcome addiction and move beyond injury and trauma. I now have over sixteen years clean and sober! My date of becoming clean and sober is 8/26/1998.
If this drunk and drug addict can turn things around, you can too! Thanks for reading!
Yours truly,
Rick V.