“Drive to Help” by John Hanson
Helping others is something I realized is a passion of mine. Being able to help anyone was a whole different story. In order to do that I had to help myself first. September 2014 I was released from jail. I went to a treatment center and started my journey. This is where I realized my passion for helping.
Through people helping me and changing my own life, I found my passion for helping others change theirs. Helping others is not always easy, people need to want the help in order to be helped. I have come across this many times with friends and family members. It’s not always puppies and rainbows when you are trying to help addicts stay clean, especially addicts who are close to your heart. There have been plenty of times I’ve had friends or family members living on my couch, asking for money, bringing drugs into my house, asking for anything and everything really. As tough as some of these situations may be, I honestly believe it’s worth it in the end. If I can help even one of them.
I have lost friends to suicide and overdoses. I lost my mother to liver failure which was caused by her using. I am no stranger to the fact that not everyone gets the help they need. All the loss I have endured in my life has only strengthened my passion for helping others who struggle with the same disease that I have. That’s why I believe in a “help at all cost mentality”. You never know when, or if, you will get another chance to help that person. When I met Matt, I knew he believed in the same things that I believed in when it came to helping people. He has helped me get family members, friends, and others in need into treatment time and time again. His drive to help, and everyone else on his team (Jenna, Cody, Joe), are the reason a lot of my friends are still clean today. Simply by being vessels for them to use in order to help themselves, because at the end of the day that’s all you can truly be when you are trying to help someone.
You can be there and provide help and hope they take it and use it in their life. Just being there for people, letting them know when they are ready that help is available. Letting them know there is hope for anyone with a desire to stop using. I’ve also learned I can’t make anyone get help, I can only live by example and give them help whenever they are ready. I have taking that to extremes with some family and friends. I have gone out and taken my brother off the street and made him go to treatment. I have let friends stay on my couch and let them use if they would agree to go into treatment. I have given out money at times, when I shouldn’t have, because I wanted them to know that I would do anything for them. These things may not always be considered the right way to help, but I try to help at all costs.
Maybe It doesn’t work this time but hopefully you get something out of it and you can give it another go. I am grateful for treatment. Treatment has given me back my family and a lot of my friends. Yes, I have lost people close to me, but I don’t want to lose more. I believe anyone can have a better life and that every addict deserves that chance. I was a hopeless addict at one-point begging for a place to stay from anyone who would listen. So, who am I to turn away another addict asking me for the same. I never want to forget where I came from and what it took to get here. Helping others doesn’t just help them, it helps me. It helps me be grateful for how far I have come since I stepped out of jail 6 years ago with no education, no hope, no real belief in myself or belief in anything really. Today I have nothing but hope and faith in myself and that is absolutely priceless.
If you feel like you are carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders every day, like you are carrying all the pain you’ve ever felt with you every day, I get it. I just want to tell you that there is freedom from that. You can be happy, you can have a beautiful life. A life you deserve and are meant to have.
