Jason's Story of Recovery and Finding a Purposeful Life

Jason Arsenault, CARC, CRPA • May 11, 2022

Jason's Story of Recovery and Finding a Purposeful Life

From a very young age, I can remember feeling very different, not able to connect with family or friends or at school. I saw myself as being in total isolation. I was often bullied in school and by my peers. Growing up gay in central New Jersey had a huge impact on my desire to numb myself with drugs and alcohol.


I struggled with substance use disorder and mental health challenges for nearly 20 years before hitting my rock bottom and seeking in-patient treatment. I resisted treatment for several years thinking that if I gave up drugs and alcohol my life would get smaller. Little did I know quite the opposite would happen.

 

After a 30-day stay in residential treatment I returned to NYC motivated for change. I engaged in Individual Therapy, Psychiatry, a 12 step program, wellness activities and created a sober support network.  After doing these things for some time, life started getting big. I started to love and trust myself for the first time. 


After a successful career in fashion retail, I began to question my purpose in life. That is when I made the decision to change careers and working with individuals with SUD.   I realized that I wanted to help others overcome shame and stigma that I felt as I grappled with my own addiction. Additionally, my own experience had shown me the value in peer support in addiction recovery. Therefore, I obtained my Certified Recovery Coaching Certification, began coaching, and built a team to help bring these valuable services to others that struggle.


I feel peer support is the missing link in many individuals’ recovery journey.  Having a peer to guide, mentor and advocate on behalf of clients provides them with the best possible outcomes.  I personally have worked with a coach that helped guide me both professionally and personally.  I looked forward to meeting with my coach to share my challenges, successes and develop actionable plans for growth and development. 


Structure and accountability daily are important for my continued recovery. I regularly reach out to my sober support network, eat healthy, work out, bike, hike, journal and maintain healthy boundaries with friends, family and work.   Maintaining my recovery means that I do my best to treat others the way that I would like to be treated, don’t take things personally, do the next right action and let go of resentments.   


I’m very excited to join You are Accountable as the Head of Business Development and Partnerships to help bring these valuable services to as many people as possible. Our mission is for everyone that has struggled with addiction to enjoy the sustained recovery that everyone on the Accountable Team has been blessed with.


By Megan Miller, CAC 29 Oct, 2024
I grew up full of fear. Everything terrified me. I never felt comfortable in my own skin. It wasn’t until I started smoking pot at 14—because I was too afraid to stand up to peer pressure—that I finally felt a sense of freedom and relaxation for the first time. I chased that high for the next 16 years. Somehow, I managed to graduate college with an OxyContin addiction, and after that, with nothing tethering me to the real world, things got a lot worse. I went to detox for the first of many times in 2005. I left there thinking I wasn’t an addict and that my use had just gotten out of control. That denial kept me in and out of treatment for the next decade. Heroin became my entire life. I couldn’t hold a job, I overdosed, I got Hepatitis C from sharing needles, and I didn’t care about anything except getting high. I was so full of shame at what my life had become, but I just couldn’t stop. I was great at trying to stop, but I couldn’t stay stopped. The gift of desperation came to me in April 2012. I couldn’t keep living the way I was. I finally wanted to live instead of die. That compulsion to use left me when I finally surrendered to it. Today, I wake up grateful for the life I have. My 6-year-old daughter is the greatest joy of my life, and she has never seen me use. Today, with the support of my wonderful husband, my family, and my recovery network, I live a full life of joy and purpose. There is no more rewarding feeling in the world than sharing the gift of recovery with others.
By Dave Aumiller, CPS, NCPRSS 03 Sep, 2024
Overdose. It’s a word that catches in my throat and a topic that stops me in my tracks. As a person in long-term recovery from Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) and Substance Use Disorder (SUD), I have overdosed many times. I have been revived by paramedics three times. Waking up in a hospital bed with no idea how I got there—scared. Or in the back of an ambulance, sick and angry for being Narcaned, a crazed hostage of my addicted mind. Or in a front yard, soaking wet from someone throwing me in a cold shower, unsuccessfully trying to revive me before leaving me outside—confused. These experiences don’t account for the countless times I have overdosed and been revived by a concerned party—now scarred by the trauma of my disease in its final stage, trying to carry out its final act, resulting in an untimely death. Overdose. After all of this, it was the kindness and care of others that made the difference between another chance and another day. Another dose of hope and life. An opportunity to begin again. On a day like today, reflecting on a topic that is so close to the heart of everyone connected to this reality, I am grateful. I am hopeful. I am humble. Because I know how lucky I am. How undeserving I was. And I live my amends and gratitude by doing my best to embody and live the values of a recovery that works. I also keep close to my heart, at the forefront of my mind, and on the tip of my tongue, the names of the countless others who weren’t as lucky as I. In honor of Overdose Awareness Day, I will say the names of my friends who weren’t fortunate enough to receive as many chances as I did, and I will live in their names—sober today and willing to extend a hand to anyone who needs it in their journey to recover and spread hope to both the sufferer and the caregiver.  Today, let us remember those we have lost, cherish the moments we have been given, and continue to fight for a future where overdose is a distant memory. Together, we can make a difference. Together, we can spread hope.
By Shannon Schwoeble, CPS 29 Aug, 2024
I was devastated when I heard that another close friend I'd made in treatment was gone. Seven friends in my first six months—two had come into treatment, left, and passed away while I was still there. In the years that followed, many others who had walked this path alongside me were lost as well. Nine in my first year of recovery. I found myself asking, "Why am I still here? Why didn’t they ‘get it’?"  Survivor’s guilt was not something I expected to experience in recovery. It hit me hard and fast when I began my journey in 2011. I was terrified. I would sit and think about friends I had just seen or spoken to—did they seem different? Did they sound off? I was so scared of who I would lose next. Through my work with a therapist and finding my own voice, I learned to transform my survivor's guilt into hope. I realized that by using my voice, sharing my story, saying their names, and talking about the profound impact each of them had on me—in life and in death—I could help others understand that recovery is possible. Perhaps, something I share will give someone struggling a glimmer of hope that they, too, can find recovery. On Overdose Awareness Day, August 31, we remember and honor those we've lost to this devastating disease. In loving memory of Ben, Pat, Krista, Harry, Christina, Brook, Dustin, Jeff, Jamie, and everyone we have lost—you are remembered and loved, today and every day.
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