Well, here is my story of "Paying It Forward" - the condensed version

I have a degree in IT. I made a small fortune in IT back during the DotCom boom. Working from home and having WAY too much money was my ultimate demise.

I nearly drank myself to death.

So, when my head finally cleared in 2012-ish I started to volunteer at a Community Centre in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I quickly became the building manager which included: opening, closing, food prep, cleaning, shoveling snow, trimming bushes, painting, plumbing, electrical work and ?. I am a jack-of-all-trades so this was an easy task. A weekly recovery meeting was dropped in my lap and I became the "head" of it to my dismay. I still am the "head" of this group to this day, it just stuck.

This led to me creating resumes, job development and placement for recently released inmates and the homeless and I then became known around town as "The guy that gets felons jobs".

I was offered a position at a local non-profit (which I accepted) and became even more well-known.

Now I work in the prison system, have received awards, have helped hundreds find jobs and have kept dozens of people from going back to the drink.

BUT, I am just a simple guy. I do NOT like the spotlight, I drive a 25 year old wagon, live in 400 sqft, and look like a "bum" on weekends with my green hoodie and ripped jeans.

I love what I am, what I do, and where I am going.

I am a biomedical scientist (PhD, no medical qualifications). For many years I had a University teaching/research position, which I enjoyed.

I drank socially for many years though, with hindsight, this increased with time. Probably this was due to my Major Depressive Disorder; there is a strong history of this in my family. I may have been trying to self-medicate MDD with alcohol which was not a good plan.

About 12 years ago I realised that I needed to do something about this so I became a voluntary patient in a psychiatric hospital. I was there for about a month. It was a life-changing experience; apart from what the clinical psychologists and psychiatrists offered it was good to talk with other patients - this helped me to understand that I am not a "freak".

I have been sober since then though I still get urges (very rare currently). I am also in remission from MDD.

I am now semi-retired but am still active in science; I get manuscripts and grant applications to review. Some of the 50+ research students who I supervised keep in touch, some for social reasons and others asking for general thoughts, reviewing a draft that they wrote or asking me to be a referee.

I am content.

Icehouse, that's some great stuff. You are way deeper "in the trenches" than I am, doing awesome work. For now I'm going at it from another angle, using the skills I have to help organize & promote.

One of my friends who is a professional movie director just offered to make a documentary about our foundation for free. Including a 30 sec ad that our national TV networks will air for free. That's what I'm bringing to the table for now, and it's great, but still...

As useful as that may be, I still want to actually do the real work of talking to folks and giving them some hope to a way out. Connected to what Kiwi describes, being in a rehab that was part of a mental hospital for 10 weeks totally changed my view on this world, and I was amazed - after a few uncomfortable initial days - how well I actually got along with the other patients, no matter their character, IQ, ideas.... without feeling any "better" or "smarter" than them. I remember talking to an alcoholic neo-nazi, a Jewish weed addict, and a Turkish Muslim who used heroin at the same time, cracking jokes... quite surreal. There was a part of humanity that surfaced that usually keeps hidden under our "beliefs & values". I hate to call it a "spiritual" awakening, but it surely shook my world.

Kiwi, back when I had to choose, I was wondering about doing a PhD. I was studying the field of non-verbal communication from both humans and animals (ethology)... and was totally fascinated by the domain. Yet I also saw that the academical world can be cruel, draining, full of petty politics. Anyway, I decided against it for a few reasons (money being one of them...), but I can see how it's hard to detect a depression in such a "safe" environment, where there is stress, but it's more hidden. Which may have been a reason why it took some time to find out that MDD was the real problem, is that a fair guess?

Like you, my drinking was self medication mostly. I used to combat stress with sports when I was younger, and also with performing on stage (pop music) but there was a period where I lost the time/drive for that, and at the same time the stress of my job increased. Alcohol, for which I had no interest for the longest time, seemed like a good medication. After all, it's not like I was walking behind a shopping trolley with a bottle of cheap wine in a paper bag, right? I mean, I was a $1,000/day IT consultant, so what could possibly go wrong? Uh oh...

Although half off-topic, may I ask what your specialty is?

Anyway, the trenches. No matter what my role will be in the organization, I will be one of the "EC's - or "Experience Carriers", which is the name we give to the "stabilized addicts" (there has been a lot of debate about what to call it, as you can imagine). And those EC's will do their "tours" going into the field actually helping people. which beats setting up forums or connecting with politicians etc. It's these people who will make the difference, who will be the bridge between folks needing help, and the qualified professionals/self-help groups.

Thank you so much for sharing you experience strength and hope and are not in the least ashamed
As you should never be
It take courage to change the things we cannot change
This is where I find myself getting sucked into taking my will back
I can suggest but must stop falling apart when my addict children fall off the wagon
This not about me
But your service to others
Just recently shared how lost in this cruel world I am
Fact not fiction
As I too give my all as it is the truth I choose to live in
How comfortable you must be in your ripped jeans and hoodie
And who ever judges one by their looks and status isn’t anyone I want to associate myself with
To give freely is receiving rewards beyond understanding
For in it you experience the joy of watching one take the steps necessary
Hats off my to you
Keep yourself healthy
Keeping it REAL
NEVER SUGAR COATING IT
as my boy says to me just not to long ago
I’m not as strong as you ar mom
(My choice of drug alcohol)
I tell my boy
What make you think it will power
I take it on day at a time
IT IS A “CHOICE”
period
So keep it real dear friend
As I worked in my tow in the EMS division
Many time I needed to put those who wold pick up drunks
And they would refer to them as EDP’s
Emotionally Disturbed Person
How that hit a nerve
This is when I had the opportunity to teach
“Nobody sets out to become a drunk or addict”
“I doesn’t discriminate”
Not a word ever in front of me when they returned from a job
Thank you for keeping it
ALIVE
IT IS SO OUT OF CONTROL
My story to follow
Love
Me

Wide-O, I think that we very are similar in many ways.

My PhD was a mixture of protein chemistry, enzyme kinetics and mathematical modeling.

Since then most of my published work has been on immunology (relevant to the Autoimmune Diseases, Arthritis, MS and MG forums here) and on protein misfolding (relevant to the Alzheimer's and Parkinson's forums here).

That has crossed my mind...

From a distance, as a non-expert, it seems that many ailments are linked to our immune & self protection systems being over-eager (inflammation is another one).

I still expect to see major progress in my lifetime in this area.

In the mean time, one of my friends from the UK is prepared to shoot a short movie/documentary about our org - which from now on we will call "Unified Addiction Support" for non-Dutch speakers. She is a film director and knows her stuff. But as so many she has seen the devastation addiction brings with it, so she wants to do it for free (well, combined with a social visit/stay and us showing her around in Belgium). We will also make a 30 sec infomercial that will be broadcast for free on our national television as a public service.

This is huge, so the ball is still rolling in the proper direction! We will have setbacks along the way too, that is inevitable, as you deal with a calcified political landscape where everyone is used to work in their little corner, and politicians often prefer some chaos as that is easier to manage (!...), yet we feel when we talk to those people that there is a glimpse of "hey, maybe this will actually work!".

One of the mistakes that have been made in the past is that they did use "stabilized addicts", but they were just added to existing projects, and had to tow the line. It was more about window dressing than about actually using them properly. Our group has grown from the grassroots from day 1, and we are very aware that this is not where we want to end up. This will be a challenge, and we may well stub our toe from time to time, but overall I think it will be hard to stop.

BTW, Icehouse, have you seen this? I thought it would interest you.


To help men relaunch their lives, this custom-tailor gives them suits | PBS NewsHour

I have now! Great story!