There was a young man from a small town in Oklahoma who was abused and traumatized pretty much all of his childhood life. He came from a broken home. He was the only son and the middle child with an older sister and a younger sister.

Due to his childhood trauma of mental physical spiritual emotional sexual and psychological abuse, he was emotionally immature with low self-esteem. He grew up always trying to please people so he was always taken advantage of, not only by his own family members, male and female, but other adults as well. He turned to alcohol and drugs for comfort. 

The drugs and alcohol would falsely appear to be the only thing that temporarily made him feel good about himself. He had trust issues, emotional issues, mental issues, and spiritual issues that no one knew about, not even the young man himself. He got married thinking that would change things for the better but it only made things worse. He realized that he stepped out of the frying pan into the fire, so he continued to use drugs even more.

He moved to Dallas thinking that would change how he felt, but little did he know he had just added insult to misery. He became homeless, sleeping under bridges, eating out of garbage cans, going from treatment center to treatment center, trying to figure out what was wrong with him. His life seemed to be getting worse and worse. He proceeded to go from hospital to hospital, roaming the hallways, not only looking for shelter from the cold and heat, but for food and anything he could sell to continue to get high.

He would go to patients’ rooms and pretend to be a family member sitting with them until they fell asleep. Once they did, he would eat their lunch or dinner then leave. He became tired of the life that he was living. On April 13, 2008, he once again re-admitted himself into a treatment facility called the ARC the Adult Rehabilitation Center Salvation Army of Dallas Texas.

He became clean and sober and became a member of Celebrate Recovery, AA, CA, DRA, NA. He got a job, after two years of sobriety, working in a Dual Recovery treatment center. He then dedicated his life to helping those who suffer from the diseases of mental illness and addiction.

He then moved on to working for a recovery resource center (APAA) Association of Persons Affected by Addiction where he trained as a Peer Recovery Coach (PRC). He was then hired at Green Oaks Mental Hospital as one of the first (PRN) Peer Recovery Navigator for two years.  He furthered his recovery by going to work for a company called Transicare under the guidance of Scott Black where he would work with the same population of men and women who were dual diagnosed. 

He then went on further and applied at the same hospital whose hallways he once walked, patient rooms he once exploited, and became a (PRN) Peer Recovery Navigator for Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas TX.  He then followed his dream of moving back home to Tulsa Oklahoma where accepted a position at Shadow Mountain Behavioral Health System as a (CPS) Certified Peer Specialist/MHT. He started a support group called (DDA) Dual Diagnosis Anonymous of Tulsa Ok Inc. for people who suffer from Dual Diagnosis. (DDA) has been thriving for yrs. now and growing. He has since then obtained a certificate of completion in trauma informed care; (RTP) Recovery to practice he became a certificated group facilitator After the closing of the Hospital he was hired at Laureate Saint Francis Hospital as a (MHT) where he was not able to operate under his role as (PRSS). Therefore, he accepted an offer at Family & Children Services Crisis Center where he is now currently working as a (PRSS).

The young man in above story is me Hi!  My Name is Johnny M. and I am dual diagnosed, and because of Recovery, I have learned how to live life on life’s terms, with a Dual Diagnosis by living one day at a time...

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