I know addiction counseling, I lived it

Numbers can be daunting for someone working to overcome addiction. They certainly were for me.

I was hospitalized for psychiatric reasons 13 times throughout my alcohol addiction. My number of inpatient alcohol rehab stays? Five. At times, it felt impossible to move forward.

I didn’t know this at the time, but my five tries at rehabilitation is the average number of attempts before successfully making it to recovery. Another important fact: About 75% of people seeking recovery from substance use disorder achieve their goal. I also didn’t yet know that helping others find their way to recovery would eventually be an integral part of mine.

My story began after I used my undergraduate degree in finance and a passion for fitness to open a health club in Farmingdale. It took me 10 years to develop it into a thriving business. But one year after a larger, better-funded club opened two blocks from mine, financial pressures forced me to sell my business. 

I experienced anxiety, panic and depression, and lost my purpose. I turned to alcohol for soothing and calm and, when the effects wore off, I drank more.

Next came conflict.

My significant other, boss and family were angry with me, often. My landlord threw me out and I lost my job. I faced a charge for driving while intoxicated. Alcohol might have solved one problem but led to countless others.

I didn’t start to turn a corner until October 2012, when medical staff at a rehab stay offered me a medication that lessened my cravings and anxiety. Recovery felt within reach. Therapy finally began to make sense.

After three years of outpatient therapy, my counselor asked whether I would volunteer as a recovery coach, a professional who supports others seeking help with their own recovery. I completed the two-week training and, about a year later, another staffer approached me Would I become a peer advocate, which included a six-month unpaid training and internship program? I was all for it.

That positioned me to pursue a career that allowed me to address the 12th step of my recovery: helping others facing addiction. Patients listen closely when they learn I faced addiction myself. It’s a different message than one from a physician. They appreciate my openness and willingness to share. My vulnerability is not a weakness, but a powerful, persuasive tool.

There is no effective hard sell when it comes to addiction. I try to understand patients’ challenges to match them with resources when they’re ready. Accompanying others on their journeys and modeling what recovery can look like is a privilege.

It’s humbling that my patients are my peers.

Together, with purpose and humility, we recognize how the pull of addiction can overwhelm us. We can lose sight of facts in our favor and feel far from recovery. However, the exchange of compassionate, sustained support between those in recovery and those approaching it can help. 

Now I focus on different numbers. In six years as a peer counselor, I have worked with hundreds of patients. The hospital where I work sees an increase of almost 50% in patients seeking aftercare when I remain in touch with them after discharge. I’ve been in recovery for almost 11 years.

As I work, I see the bridge between the challenges of my past and hopes for my future. It helps me as I help others learn that they, too, can develop skills to make it to recovery, sustain it, and become someone who is not living the problem, but the solution.   

This guest essay reflects the views of Kenneth Meyran, a care management peer assistant at Northwell Health’s Zucker Hillside Hospital.