My name is Steve , and I’m a person living in long-term sobriety, September 18, 2020. My initial introduction to sobriety was back in MA, where I grew up, roughly 9-10 years ago. I had a warrant out for missing a court date for a possession charge, and when I finally went to court, I quickly learned I was not leaving the ADAs office until she personally found me a detox bed. After that, I was in and out of recovery but always acquired more clean time than reoccurrence time. During one of my reoccurrences, I had a severe overdose that thankfully, my mother found me and was able to see another day. 

This sparked my parents to send me to NH, where they had learned of a Men’s Rehab, Riverbank House, in Laconia, NH. I agreed and stated my intentions were to stay in the program for a whole 2 years; however, 7 months later, I quickly found myself letting things that were out of my control get the best of me and moved into an apartment with my roommate from the program. That was a short experience as I once again had another reoccurrence and severe overdose. I was asked to vacate and spent the next couple weeks in a hotel before two men from AA came banging on the door one morning. These two men are not a duo you want knocking on your hotel room door first thing in the morning under my particular circumstances. However, they dragged me out and took me up to The Doorway, and I began yet again another journey. 

I went back to MA to go to a detox again, and when I came back up to Laconia a week later, I moved into sober living. It was a short time after I ended up being asked to be the assistant house manager of that sober house, and shortly after, I had an opportunity to move into another house to manage it. During this time, I took a break from work and decided to make a complete career change from the construction trade into the recovery field. I started volunteering at Riverbank House and a local non-profit RCO, Navigating Recovery of the Lakes Region, and then began working at both under paid positions. Shortly after, I ended up leaving the job at Riverbank because it was becoming a bit much working both jobs while trying to manage a sober house, and then I ended up finding an apartment to rent right in Laconia. 

Working at Navigating Recovery, I started to grow more personally and professionally and was also introduced to working at The Doorway as well. While at The Doorway, I learned about a lot of resources in NH and all the different programs throughout the state and began building professional relationships with many people. It also introduced me to another new job within the Laconia Hospital as a Patient Safety Attendant. While working nights at the hospital, I found that I wanted to do more, so I looked into schooling and ended up attending Lakes Region Community College, acquiring my LNA, and put in for a department transfer to the Emergency Department. Shortly after, I wanted to expand my skills in Emergency Medicine, so I once again attended classes, this time for my Basic EMT. Although I have been struggling to pass the National Registry test to obtain my licensure, I have passed the course and obtained all the knowledge I was looking for, and I will continue to make attempts at the test to become fully licensed as an EMT. 

To this day, I continue to work full time at Navigating Recovery and per diem nights as an ER Tech (despite working nearly full-time hours there as well) and am always here willing to do what I can to help anyone out. I strive to give back in both fields what was so freely given to me and seek being a small puzzle piece in helping to end the stigma. I have also been involved in a co-ed softball league here in Laconia, which has helped me to obtain friendships outside of recovery and learn something new that I wholeheartedly enjoy. During the summer, if I am not at work, you can usually find me down at the field hanging out with friends, filling in on teams, and watching some good ol’ fun softball games. I have found a completely new way to live, and couldn’t be happier than I am today with my life. As my Uncle would say, “There is never a wrong time to do the right thing”.