At first glance, Giovanni’s life may have looked like everything anyone could ask for. A long and full relationship with a supportive spouse, a home with four great children, and overall, a beautiful, blended family. However, not everything was picture-perfect. Giovanni’s long-standing substance use disorder (SUD) plagued his life in many ways.

His SUD began when Giovanni was just a teenager, not far from his own kids’ current ages. He was kicked out of his childhood home at 17 years old and continued to use alcohol, cocaine, opioids, and other substances to avoid his problems. Even as he tried to push that obstacle aside over time, it would always return, interfering with his family life. Giovanni would keep up with family responsibilities to the bare minimum, but his craving to use would always pull him away, getting in the way of important tasks and even family outings. “My attitude would throw it off and ruin the day because I'd try to pick a fight so I could go drop them off at the house and do what I want to do,” Giovanni said. He also experienced several incidents of blacking out and being woken up by the police. As these incidents went on, Giovanni began to recognize the toll that his SUD was taking, not just on himself but his loved ones. “I realized it was taking a lot of time from my family and affecting them as well, especially my youngest one. He’d think that my behavior was normal; that that’s how you can act and treat your family. I’m trying to reverse that and change his outlook on how a man should be around his family.”

His family’s concern grew over time, worried that Giovanni would do something harmful or bring harm to himself. “[My wife] loved me, but she didn’t want to see me stuck in my addiction or behave the way I was behaving, just being so negative and depressed and down because I didn’t have control of myself or my emotions,” Giovanni explained.

The breaking point came when Giovanni blacked out and acted violently toward his family. He has no recollection of the incident himself, which scared him even more, knowing how quickly things could have turned into a complete disaster. “My wife told me that was the last incident she was going to accept,” Giovanni said. “She was scared. My kids were scared. It had been too many years of me using excuses... it was time for me to turn the page and start over and make sure it’s done right.”

Giovanni was incarcerated before moving on to recovery programs. He explained how after being pushed out of his childhood home, he always wanted his own family. But when he finally had those things, his SUD started to push that away, too. “I didn’t appreciate that until I was sitting in a cell by myself thinking about, ‘I have everything I asked for and wanted, and everything I prayed to God for,’ and I was just complaining about all of the responsibilities that I had. I realized I needed to change something.” So, Giovanni set his sights on sobriety.

He attended Heartland House, a men’s residential SUD recovery program before being referred to ECS Central East Regional Recovery Center (CERRC). Giovanni shared that it was initially difficult to commit to CERRC, sitting in class after already graduating from the previous program. However, once he began listening to others’ experiences and sharing his own stories, “it was empowering. It was new and different.” He shared that “I tried [to get sober] before by myself without any help or programs or anything, and I’d go a couple of months, but I didn’t have people explaining to me how to deal with my emotions or my feelings... just hearing those things and people that supported me, sharing their stories with me makes me want to make sure I get it right the first time.”

CERRC offered the support that Giovanni needed. “The staff here — Monic, Reiko, Skylar — they’re supportive, and they’re strong, and they make it easy to relate with them because they also have their history and share their stories with you and explain how they got to this part of their life,” Giovanni said. “It’s inspiring to see people change and be able to help others.” The staff at CERRC also gave Giovanni many coping skills to overcome his SUD and confront his problems head-on instead of turning to substances. “ECS helped me out with how to understand my emotions, how to deal with them, and not to use substances to try to drown and escape those feelings,” he said.

Giovanni graduated from CERRC after about four months in the program. Since then, his relationship with his family and his own career goals have taken a turn for the better. Giovanni passed a drug test for the first time since he was 14 years old. He got a security job, joined an online fitness group that offers support from members across the globe and obtained his Class A driver’s license, a longtime goal of his. “I wouldn’t have been able to do that if I was under the influence. I always talked about doing it, wanting to do it, but I never took the initiative or the step forward to try to do it,” Giovanni said.

With the help of CERRC, Giovanni has his family back, too. While talking about his wife, Giovanni described how impactful her support has been to him, as well. “Having her around strengthens me and shows me that people do believe in me, even if they see the flaws,” he said. “She’s a big help, she’s a great woman.” He described their marriage as a team that built a blended family. “I try to be the best role model for my kids and best partner for my wife as I can be,” Giovanni said.

While at CERRC, Giovanni learned the value of patience in his sobriety journey, moving one step at a time to go forward, even when it gets hard. “It’s not worth reverting back, pressing rewind, and losing all that progress that we gained and everything that we learned just for a high or to escape that moment,” he said. “The high is just temporary, but your life is more important than just the high.” Giovanni shared that although it can be daunting to take that step, “it’s not a bad thing to grow and change your lifestyle and express yourself. ECS teaches you how to do that. They’re a big support, and sometimes you need support whether you think you do or not. It’s good to have somebody to talk to and show you a different way, a new way.”

Thanks to CERRC, Giovanni can step up as the husband and father he knows he can be and strive to accomplish his goals. “Thank you to ECS, the program, and everybody in here... they really truly helped.”

To learn more about CERRC, visit https://www.ecscalifornia.org/central-east-regional-recovery-center.

*Caption dates may not be exact.