Someone Beside Him

I have been in recovery for eight years now. In that healing process, service work is always suggested. I took the suggestion, and I fell in love with being able to help other people.

That is what I was already doing before firsthand. I worked as a peer supporter in the recovery world, for jail ministry and also for a recovery church, so I had already been in the role of supporting people when I came across firsthand's mission and values on the website. Reading them, I saw that they aligned with who I am. That is what brought me here.

What I had not anticipated was the scale of it. Thinking of all the individuals who could be served and helped this way, I was ecstatic.

He Came Straight to the Door

A big part of my job is outreach, which means going out into the community to meet people where they are instead of waiting for them to find us. I went out to a home belonging to a family member of the man I will call Marcus,* and he was actually there. He came straight to the door, and he was very welcoming. When I explained why I was there, he was willing to tell me what was going on with him. He said he needed help, that he really wanted to change his life.

He was struggling with substance use disorder, and the behaviors that came with it had left him facing bad consequences. And he was fearful he was going to be incarcerated.

While he fully surrendered and accepted the possibility of going to jail, he told me that regardless of whether he had to walk through this consequence, he wanted to have support around him on his recovery journey.

He told me his goal was to build a network of support around himself and start changing. He wanted sober support, and it mattered to him that I have lived experience of my own. He had been diagnosed with HIV, so he wanted help finding resources that ensured he got to his doctor's appointments, and he had goals of getting his T-cell count up. He also wanted that support to come from outside his family. He does have family members who are supportive, including his grandmother, but worried that it was a lot to put on them.

Getting Him Enrolled Before His Court Date

At firsthand, a person is not technically enrolled in our services until they sit down with one of our nurse practitioners and complete what we call a whole person assessment. Marcus had a court date coming, so it was important that we completed this assessment as soon as possible.

So I presented him at a huddle, which is where our team talks through the individuals we are working with and figures out who needs what. Christine, one of our nurse practitioners, helped us rush his assessment along so that he would have our support in case he was incarcerated. The whole team was so wonderful about supporting Marcus. From the very beginning, his situation required more than just one Guide's help, and our entire company said yes, let's get this done. That alone was amazing.

Then I called him the day he was supposed to go to court. He said he was happy to report that his probation officer had contacted him, and he was not going to jail! And then, right away, he asked me what he should do next.

Making the Calls Together

He needed a primary care doctor. I sat with him and we made the calls together until he had identified one, and that gave him somewhere to go for doctor’s appointments.

From there he put in a housing application, and he is now on a waiting list for a stable unit he can call his very own, because what he really wants is to be independent. He also needed somewhere to take the drug tests his probation officer requires, so we got him connected to a facility that handles the testing and reports the results back to his officer for him. And when he is panicked about something, he reaches out. That is what I always hope for, because it means he is no longer alone with the question of what to do next.

Where He Is Now

The life-changing work we had talked about in our very first meeting is happening. He reports that he is going to all of his recovery meetings, he is in compliance with his probation officer, he is connected to primary care, he has a facility for drug testing, and he has applied for housing. His T-cell count has improved, and he is on his way to a year of sobriety, which is one of his biggest goals. I would say he is well on his way to stability and self-sufficiency. Watching his growth has been beautiful. He has gone from being in a consistent panic to steadily working and achieving the goals that he set for himself, and he is doing all the work. My role was to encourage him to remain with his sober network. He is going to his meetings on his own.

Walking alongside him has given him confidence that he did not have before, and it has given him someone to turn to when he is unsure of what his next steps are.

That is what a peer brings. People helping people.

*Name has been changed for privacy