Focus on Recovery And Coping Skills Builds Successful Outcome

“I went through the residential treatment program at Pioneer Center East in Spokane. It was my eighth time in a treatment program. Previously, I don’t think I was really ready to get clean. I hadn’t yet learned who I was or could be, and I hadn’t gained anything new in life because I was staying in my old circle of life that was familiar,” David said.

David started getting into trouble in his teens. He started with marijuana and slowly his involvement with drugs grew. At 16 years old, David tried crystal meth for the first time and years later he started using heroin.

“Over the years, I have been in prison a few times due to my addiction. The last arrest, I was offered the opportunity to enter the Grant County Drug Court program to divert my prison sentence and I gratefully accepted the offer. I had been homeless nine years before drug court and wanted to participate. The first thing I was ordered to do was enter a residential treatment program. I ended up at Pioneer Center East,” David shared.

Lisa Webb, Pioneer Center East community engagement specialist, stated, “In treatment, David really had an open mind to learn about how to cope with his emotions in a healthy manner and he made a lot of progress while in the program. He set goals for his recovery by being open-minded for change.”

David shared, “Before, I think I just got overwhelmed with coping with my emotions and the fear of change. Pioneer Center East was a good experience as we worked on my addiction and mental health challenges that led me to use. I learned to work on focusing what to avoid in my life and what to lean towards that was beneficial to my recovery.”  

Lisa continued, “David was a delightful gentleman to work with and he could always turn his negativity to something positive when he set his mind to the task. He worked hard with identifying his triggers that led him to use and learned the tools he needed to cope with his emotions.’

After David completed the program at Pioneer Center East, he engaged in Intensive Outpatient (IOP) treatment and checked in with his drug court case manager once a week to report on his recovery journey. However, he was also told not to take on too much work in recovery, but he ignored the advice and pushed forward. David took on a lot of responsibility over the next 18 months working long hours for the Labor Union – often 70+ hours a week – and re-connected with his young son who was born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.

After 18 months in recovery, David started feeling overwhelmed with his obligations and responsibilities and he experienced a serious relapse where he overdosed. Narcan and CPR were administered and they saved his life. He immediately contacted his drug court case manager and reported what happened. He was put in jail for 40 days and then ordered into residential treatment again where he went through the program successfully. He also completed the drug court program and has been clean since 2023.

The Recovery Navigator Program of Grant County worked with David after his release in giving him rides to court, helping him to obtain his birth certificate and social security card for work, and providing housing assistance. He is now living in an Oxford House for clean and sober living and has transitioned into being the president of his house. 

David is once again in the Labor Union and on the path to becoming a journeyman. His work schedule is much more manageable to reserve time for his own health and recovery. The plan is to move to the Seattle area after he earns his journeyman status to work on the tunnels and roads in the future.

A focus on his recovery keeps him going to four to five NA meetings a week and he now has a sponsor. Also, David is active in meetings where they have auctions around the county.

To continue his connection with his son, David has been active in a parenting plan through the courts. He met with his son’s maternal grandmother who is caring for his son and he was granted guardianship where he can visit his son once a week. “I want to have a relationship with my son now that I am stable; I want to be a responsible father.”

All of us at Pioneer Human Services are very proud of David’s work on his recovery and wish him the best with his son and his career.