Thankful for Community & Recovery

SAN DIEGO — Every year the ECS community comes together to give thanks and celebrate the recovery journeys of our clients with a Thanksgiving Recovery Lunch.

The event was held at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. Volunteers from parishes, schools, and organizations across San Diego showed up to serve the food, facilitate activities, and enjoy the afternoon with ECS clients from Central East Regional Recovery Center (CERRC), Uptown Safe Haven (UTSH), Community Harm Reduction Team (C-HRT) Safe Haven, and ACCORD. Guests enjoyed an array of appetizers, Italian soda made by volunteers from The Bishop’s School, and a classic Thanksgiving meal, complete with pumpkin pie for dessert.

Summer Kahoonei, the program coordinator for CERRC, commented on the importance of bringing Thanksgiving to ECS clients. “My favorite part about this event is being able to look at some of the clients come in and share Thanksgiving,” she said. “A lot of them won’t have that kind of situation with their own family members so being able to still see that there are places that help out with this kind of stuff makes me really happy to see.”

The Thanksgiving theme went far beyond just the food. Each table was decorated with artwork made by CERRC clients which featured messages of gratitude; from family to sobriety to music, the art created an atmosphere of optimism. The hopeful energy was also felt through a communal art piece — the Gratitude Tree. The project, which was run by volunteers from Christ Church Day School, allowed any guest or volunteer to write what they were thankful for on one of the tree’s many paper leaves.

The afternoon closed with the Chip Ceremony. Those in recovery were invited to stand and receive a special chip indicating their recovery time. Whether someone was 20 years clean or 20 days clean, the room was filled with applause and celebration for every individual.

Before the Chip Ceremony, Embrie Tapia, ECS’ director of behavioral health services stated, “This is a really special time that we get to come together and celebrate recovery and also acknowledge how important behavioral health services are to our community.”

The significance of the event was felt by the guests, too. Tiana, a current UTSH resident remarked, “It makes me feel important that I’m welcomed in a group of people that are helping me reenter into society.”

Thank you to Blue Shield California Promise Health Plan for making this event possible and to all of the wonderful volunteers whose support and care created a beautiful display of community.

Visit ecscalifornia.org to learn more about ECS’ behavioral health services and ways to get involved.

The Best is Yet to Come

Matthew found support and compassion at CERRC which helped him achieve his goals. October 2023.

Matthew, a 2023 graduate of the Central East Regional Recovery Center (CERRC) Outpatient Treatment Program, recently celebrated two years of sobriety since starting his recovery journey in October 2022.

Fresh out of a divorce, Matthew shared that he chose the wrong path, “running from my problems, then things continued to downfall.” Before he knew it, he was “going from that perfect imperfect life of owning a house and having a kid to being homeless on the street to getting in trouble with the police.” Matthew explained that he was charged with carjacking and robbery. “The carjacking was for breaking somebody’s window, and the robbery was for a salad,” he said. 

After being released from jail, Matthew was directed to CERRC for outpatient treatment services and support. In the beginning, he had difficulty committing himself to the program. Matthew recalled that he “kind of ran from the sober living,” at first. He said he remained without shelter for two more weeks, “but I would come here [CERRC] and check in. I wasn’t able to put together clean time… especially being on the street,” Matthew said. Even amid the harsh conditions of homelessness, he continued to push forward.   

But then, on Thanksgiving of 2022, about a month into the program, Matthew tried to *commit suicide. “It was a really hard day for me; it was my first Thanksgiving without family, without my daughter. And I just wanted to leave the world silently,” Matthew said. His attempt failed, and he miraculously received a second chance. “I didn’t pass away; I just ended up going to the hospital, breathing like Darth Vader for a long time.”  

After that, Matthew reached a turning point and spent some time healing from the traumatic experience. “I had established some clean time and had done some minor work on myself… that’s when ECS brought me in again. I stayed clean through the whole program,” Matthew said. 

The path to recovery is not easy, but with hard work and a program like CERRC to guide you, the joy of sobriety is possible. **October 2023.

Matthew shared that he has taken many steps in his journey to recovery, “but coming here [CERRC] and getting dedicated to a program and living in a sober living [home] for a long time...  has just changed my thinking, my dynamic.” Matthew said he learned to change his mindset to “keep fighting; I am good enough… I do recovery for myself today because it feels good.”  

Now, Matthew is completely sober, has a job he enjoys, has continuous support from his friends and the CERRC staff, and is currently seeing a therapist. “It’s fun being sober today,” he said. “I’ve never felt this good about myself.” 

CERRC would not have the healing effect it does without its dedicated staff. According to Matthew, “One of the most important things that I can hold on to is the compassion from the staff.” In returning to CERRC for this interview, Matthew shared how welcomed he still felt by all the friendly faces at the program. He explained how much the staff does for clients, ensuring they have the necessities they need. “I feel like my counselor Summer was very understanding of my situation, as far as just being broken at the time for many reasons,” Matthew said. “She has impacted my life forever. And I’ll never forget what she gave me.” 

“There’s a lot of people that want it, that want to get better,” he said. “But it makes it very hard when you can’t even provide for yourself due to circumstances that are sometimes so hard to move through financially, mentally, physically. A program like this really helps you get your foundation going and also brings you back to life mentally.” The work to help those struggling with addiction may not always be easy, but “I think the ones that want it are worth it,” Matthew said. Thanks to CERRC’s programming and the additional services, Matthew regained control of his life and now envisions his future with optimism. “I feel like my 40s are going to be the best years of my life,” he expressed. 

CERRC offers outpatient treatment for adults and transitional aged youth with substance use disorders, focusing on individual counseling, group therapy, and strategic planning. The multidisciplinary team specializes in co-occurring disorders, homelessness, and employment challenges, ensuring connection to additional community services. To learn more, please visit https://www.ecscalifornia.org/central-east-regional-recovery-center. 

*If you or a loved one is experiencing thoughts or suicide ideations, call 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or 1-888-724-7240 to reach The San Diego Access & Crisis Line (ACL). The hotline is a free and confidential support system available 24/7. 

**Caption dates may not be exact.

Beyond the Darkness of Substance Use Disorder

CERRC helps people facing SUDs to recover and find fullness in their lives without substances. April 2024.

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.”

Giovanni describes his family as everything he’s ever wanted. August 2024.*

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.

Giovanni smiles for a photo with his wife and children. August 2024.*

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.

Giovanni speaks of his wife as his greatest supporter and teammate. August 2024.*

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.

CERRC Receives Certificate of Recognition from Supervisor Joel Anderson

ECS Central East Regional Recovery Center (CERRC) recently attended the East County Resource Fair, organized by the County of San Diego’s Probation Department. The event showcased over 60 organizations dedicated to providing crucial services to individuals seeking to rebuild their lives.

A significant moment was when Supervisor Joel Anderson presented CERRC with a certificate of recognition, acknowledging their contributions to education and resource provisions in the region.

Congratulations, CERRC, on this well-deserved recognition!

ECS CERRC Staff receives Certificate of Recognition at East County Resource Fair. April 2024.