When I first started at Northbound, I was new to recovery. I started getting more involved in other things outside of my advocacy, and now, I am the Alumni and Client Services manager for Northbound. I went from being an advocate to working directly with recovering individuals to help them develop natural highs (amongst other things). If I looked back at where I was four years ago, I would never think that I would have been given these opportunities to give back, and just recently, even more opportunities have come my way.
Recently, I have been getting involved in participating in interventions for friends, family members and others in need. This is a fairly new venture that I am more than proud to say I am a part of. While I don’t lead the interventions, I work more as the “producer”. This means that I meet with everyone involved, help them prepare for the intervention, and constantly go over the game plan with them until they feel as comfortable as possible. When the time comes to execute the intervention, I sit in on them and am there mainly as a source of support for both the families and their loved one. Within these past few weeks alone, I have been a part of five separate interventions, and while they each come with their own set of baggage, I am more than grateful to be on this side of addiction, as opposed to being the one who needs the intervention like I used to be.
I used to be the one who needed an intervention. Now, seeing how I have progressed in my recovery, my mom always reminds me of how much of a change I have made in going from needing an intervention to being the one helping to facilitate them. When she says it like that, it all just clicks for me. I have come such a long way since my days of using, and I recognize that it is my responsibility to lead by example now. I most certainly do not have all the answers, but I have been able to overcome my obstacles and have what I consider to be a good life today. Through the continued opportunities that Northbound keeps providing me with, and my constant drive to keep doing more, I hope that I can help others in need get to the same place I am at and then some.
