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Jeff's Story
My name
is Jeff and I am a grateful recovering addict. These are
words that I never imagined would come out of my mouth. My
addiction has spanned over 20 years of my life. It has taken
everything from me mentally, spiritually and emotionally.
This disease rendered me homeless, frightened and hopeless.
For the past ten years I have been in jails, institutions,
homeless shelters and detox’s many times. It wasn’t until I
found the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s Ozanam House that
I was able to learn how to put a stop to this seemingly
endless cycle. At Ozanam House I was met with open arms. The
non-judgmental, loving and caring atmosphere, along with its
helpful and skilled staff helped me to stay clean and turn
my life around. They were there for me 24 hours a day,
providing me with a warm bed to sleep in, hot food to eat,
and more importantly, the tools and skills I needed to
arrest this disease. I was taught life skills, living
skills, time management, responsibility and accountability.
After an adjustment period I was introduced to a 12 Step
program that I continue to practice to this day.
Ozanam
House and its staff have far exceeded the quality of care I
received from all of the several institutions I have
attended, combined. Even when it was time for me to move on
and they referred me to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s
VP Homes, the staff of Ozanam House continued to offer me
care, support and guidance. At VP Homes I was given an
opportunity to practice what I had learned at Ozanam House;
how to live life on life’s terms. The structured environment
at VP Homes, combined with the freedom of choice gave me a
chance to build a new life. I took that chance and
flourished. I became a house representative for two of the
homes and learned how to live as a part of a community. I
learned leadership and many other valuable living skills
while residing there.
I have
since moved on from needing to live in a St. Vincent de Paul
home and I am now a self supporting and productive member of
society. Ozanam House and the staff continue to be there for
me when life’s troubles and worries are sometimes
overwhelming for me. For this I am so very grateful and I
show my gratitude with regular visits to share my
experience, strength and hope with the new residents, I help
with some house repairs, and have a little clean fun with
other recovering addicts.
I have a
life today that matters to me. I hope and pray that other
suffering addicts find Ozanam House and the Society of St.
Vincent de Paul, to see that there is a better way to live
and that there are people out there who do care. I don’t
know what would have happened to me if I had never found the
Society of St. Vincent de Paul, but today I choose to
remember how so very grateful I am that I did.
My name
is Jeff. I am 27 months clean and I am a grateful recovering
addict.
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Jeff continues to
visit Ozanam House on a regular basis as alumni and a
volunteer, he sponsors many others in the 12 Step programs;
he has a full time job, a nice home, a relationship and is
expecting a baby.
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