Your life DOES have purpose and meaning. But there are some who just don’t believe that. For those individuals, there is support. Adam Nugent and Kate Strong are joined by Dave Durocher, executive director of The Other Side Academy. His personal journey that brought him there is incredible, including nearly two decades in prison. Learn more about second chances, rising from the ashes, and how, with the power of mutual self-help, there is a true opportunity for learning and change.
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This week’s podcast excerpt explores drug addiction with someone who has overcome it. Dave Durocher shares how overcoming drug addiction is much more than being sober, as well as some ideas for how to help a child who has a drug addiction.
AN: It’s like you said in the beginning—drugs aren’t the problem. They’re not. I’d love you to expand a little bit more on that.
DD: Drugs aren’t the problem. Most people listening right now know somebody who’s a drug addict, but if you take drugs out of the equation, we are liars, cheaters, thieves, manipulators, and self-centered human beings who don’t care about anybody, including themselves. It would be impressive to find a drug addict out there that isn’t lying to sneak around, to get loaded, or isn’t stealing in one way, shape, or form. Even if they’re dealing drugs, they’re stealing from the government. You’re a liar, a cheater, a thief probably emotionally or physically violent. Like I said, if you take drugs out of the equation, what remains of them? The behaviors.
We always talk about clean and sober, but clean and sober is not the answer—it’s the reward.
A whole change in your person is the answer. When you take people like myself, and the people at The Other Side Academy, and you give them the opportunity to learn to be truthful, to learn to be honest, they’ll also learn to be accountable. And the sum of those two things is integrity. When they learn to really have integrity. Nothing else matters. But if all you all were ever after is getting people clean and sober, that doesn’t change the behaviors. Almost inevitably, people are going to go back.
AN: What would you say to a parent that might have a teenager who’s experimenting with drugs?
DD: It doesn’t matter who you ask. There’s no direct answer for this. But as a parent, you have to lay down the rules of the home. You have to set healthy boundaries. You have to work with your child, obviously when they’re teenagers, but sooner or later, when the teenagers start doing things that are really detrimental to themselves and could kill them, you’re going to have to take it a step farther. You’re going to have to involve outside entities—get them the help that they need: outpatient, inpatient, whatever that is.
When I was a drug addict going in and out of jail and prison, my mom and dad visited me in jail all the time. “Hi, Mommy and Daddy. I’m in jail again. Will you come visit me?” And at the end of that visit, I’m asking them to put money on my books.They’re just enabling me. When you’re an adult and you’re committing crimes, the worst thing you could do is let us have visits. You want to break the cycle and take away all the things that we took for granted.
To learn more about how The Other Side Academy can help those who are struggling with drug addiction or homelessness to rebuild their lives, read our in-depth feature article or visit theothersideacademy.org.
