I overcame addiction. Now I help others make the trip

By Tommy Trevino, special for Calmatters

This comment was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

My life changed 20 years ago when my friend and I sailed on the Rogue River in Oregon. Suddenly the motor fell from the boat that turned. I slid into the icy water. Some young children threw me a rescue jacket, but I gave it to my friend.

As I sank into the river, my lungs began to fill with water. My hands reached out to a branch on the side of the bank. When I looked up, I saw clouds moving in the sky and the birds flying. I heard a powerful voice say, “This is a bit of my strength and what I can do to you.” At that moment I realized that this was my creator.

When an ambulance arrived, the emergency medical technician told me it was a miracle, I survived in frigid water.

I was dependent for more than 30 years. I started my addiction at the age of 17 and while I was 47, it was a meth, marijuana, cocaine and alcohol. For the last two years of my addiction, I’ve been suffering from homelessness.

But after experiencing this fateful incident, I began my recovery. The first year was very difficult, fighting the impulse to return to my addiction. When the year passed, my mind seemed clear. I visited two years of college, studying mental health and addiction. The courses have taught me how the brain works with addiction and challenges to mental health that perpetuate this disease.

I also worked as a DUI adviser for 10 years and worked for five years in mental health, along with drug addiction. After receiving a certification, I joined the UC Davis Hospital to help withstand the Emergency Department in the training of medical staff how to treat stray people who exit the street, or the families who introduce them to the emergency room to find help with the disease.

There is a brief moment in which we have the opportunity to help these people change. This person may enter the emergency room once or 50 times. We always have this opportunity to help them change their lives forever.

Through the training member of the medical team, he learns to treat the individual carefully and respect, to contact them without judgment and to build trust. The advisor can then help the person find a treatment plan that is most appropriate for them.

In the past, recovery was to treat addiction. Since then, we have found that the needs of mental health must be addressed to the recovery process.

There is a pain that drives addiction in each individual. Discovering this black hole and working on healing from this emotional pain is the key to recovery.

My goal is to help restore addicts like me to clean. I want to be an example to inspire people to start their journey to recovery.

I have used drugs for more than 30 years. These 30 years got out of me and passed so quickly. I lost all this time.

I want to help the suffering person not stick their toes from their shoes, hungry every day – not only for food, but also for family and shelter. I want to help the sufferings not have to sleep on the street or on the couch of a stranger, hoping that one day things will change. I want to help sufferers overcome the feelings of shame, sadness and hopelessness. I want to help them not feel this deep hole in loneliness.

Anyone can wake up. It can be spiritual, physical or emotional. There is a recovery and this is a difficult road, but it is still worth the trip.

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.