Thursday, September 12, 2013

Why we do This

Last night I got home from the office late, dead tired, and wondering why I’m still doing this job.

All day it was a series of issues with clients and staff. Clients were accusing one another of stealing. Another was misusing medication. One was accusing another of being inappropriate. In other words, typical recovery business. Only this time it all happened in one day rather than being spread over several days or a week.

Then I checked my email and read the following message. It reminded me of why we do what we do.

"Hello, I'm 24 years old and I'm in need of some serious help. I cannot get rid of my heroin addiction.  I was already good enough at self-destruction, before the heroin. Now it's just ten times worse including depression and suicidal thoughts. Within the first 6 months of my addiction, which began about 3 years ago, I lost my car, girlfriend, apartment, and friends. Now, it's to the point where I'm sleeping at parks and panhandling to get my fix. I need to quit, and I cannot do it without help. Here’s my biggest issue. I do not have health insurance. Please, for the love of God, please look past this. I cannot find a decent detox center and/or rehab center that will take me simply because I don’t have a lot of money anymore to afford health insurance. I don’t have kids, I’m not military, or married, so I don’t have insurance. But I assure you, I'm very worth taking the time to help. Is there anything you can do to help me? Thank you for reading this and I look forward to hearing back from you.

I answered and told him we’d try to help.