Anybody that has worked in the addiction industry long enough knows very well that the most important part of treatment/recovery isn’t treatment itself but rather the aftercare. That may surprise many of you considering how much emphasis we have on treatment programs and the costs associated with treatment, but the truth is that real recovery begins and ends with the plan after they finish treatment.
It makes all the sense in the world if you think about it because many of us look at addiction as one part genetics and one part the enviroment someone lives in. How successful could someone be with staying sober if once they get out of treatment they go right back into the same environment that helped contribute to their addiction to begin with? It is almost impossible.
While people who come from a family of means have it much easier to change their environment, people who tend to be poorer and live in lower socioeconomic areas have much less control over changing their environment. That is pretty obvious but you know what factor nullifies your ability for a good aftercare program even if you come from money? Try changing your life and environment around when you have a felony on your record. How exactly does a felony make staying sober more difficult? Easy, with a felony on your record it is almost impossible to get an apartment lease, a good paying job, student loans, etc. I have had clients who come from great families and have totally turned their lives around but still couldn’t get an apartment or a student loan until their felony was expunged from their record.
It is almost impossible to turn your life around when you have such limited options on where you live and how much money you can make at work. This is why most people with felonies on their record go right back into the same environment and will eventually start using again. What is most concerning is we are seeing people with advanced college degrees such as computer science, falling into the cycle of addiction because of the nature of their work. These employees looking to get an edge turn to illegal stimulants which in turn leads to legal trouble because of their habit. Once they have that felony drug or other felonies on their record they can’t get past HR for the big companies because of their legal problems.This is why we are throwing out there that perhaps one of the most impactful & easiest actions that we can take to tackle the addiction problem is criminal justice reform with drug offenders.
To help us dive into this topic we are welcoming our special guest Juan Garcia from the Cornbread Hustle Employment Agency in Dallas, Texas. Juan Garcia is a prison reform advocate and a recruiter for Cornbread Hustle, a staffing agency for second chances. Juan has first hand knowledge of state and private prisons and the struggles of gaining employment after being incarcerated. Juan was sentenced to eight years in prison at the age of 19. Today, he spends most of his time advocating for second chances and putting efforts towards reducing recidivism.
As always I am joined by my co-host the Armchair QB himself Bill Reed to help keep me sane and safely in the gray. So help us tackle the problem of addiction by listening and sharing our show, airing every Monday exclusively on The Reporters Network
