Help one: how a Ukrainian returns to life of drug addicts in the USA - ForumDaily
The article has been automatically translated into English by Google Translate from Russian and has not been edited.
Переклад цього матеріалу українською мовою з російської було автоматично здійснено сервісом Google Translate, без подальшого редагування тексту.
Bu məqalə Google Translate servisi vasitəsi ilə avtomatik olaraq rus dilindən azərbaycan dilinə tərcümə olunmuşdur. Bundan sonra mətn redaktə edilməmişdir.

Help one: how a Ukrainian returns to life of drug addicts in the USA

Sergey Volyansky created a successful home renovation company. He hires people who, like he once, managed to give up drugs. He helps them undergo rehabilitation and teaches the craft. He told his story Voice of America.

Photo: video frame VOA

I deal with this every day. In America this is a huge problem, it is an epidemic - with a mortality rate of 82 thousand people a year. I know that I cannot change the situation as a whole, but I try to help individual people and I do.

I came from Ukraine in 2001. My parents took my brother and me to America, trying to solve the problem we already had at that time - drugs, alcohol and everything connected with it. Around the age of 10, in the company of older comrades, I got drunk for the first time. After some short time I tried marijuana. Tablets, pills - anything that could affect my brain, I took everything I could find. At the same time, he ran away from home, because this could not be done at home. I have a very good family. I was born and raised in a Christian family, my father is a priest. But I didn’t see anything interesting in it, so I went outside, where it was interesting. From 13 to 17 - getting drunk, fighting, being taken to the hospital, going to court - all this was not scary, but gave life interest. I felt unpunished for several reasons. I realized that any moment in Ukraine at that moment can be solved with money and my parents can solve it.

In these years, they were the hardest for my mother, they brought her a chair on the porch, where she sat at night and waited for me to come, they would bring me, or they would say that something had happened to me, or they would come and say that I killed someone. It was very painful for her, she plucked her nerves. In the 15-16 years, I knew that I would live the maximum until 30. Dad left everything there, and we went to America.

My parents received visas as religious refugees and brought us to America in the hope that things would change here. Moving to another country, new people, new interests, new friends - perhaps this will influence us and we will change. I was 18 years old and in the USA I was introduced to heroin and crack.

The routine every day was like this: get up, inject yourself, go, steal something, sell something, buy drugs, inject yourself, go, steal, sell, buy. And this is every day. That's how I got into serious addiction. I struggled with this all the time, I filed it 5 times. And my brother fought. But we understood that we would be drug addicts. To avoid breakdowns and always have a minimum supply - we built our lives around this. No one could offer a way out. We also tried methadone, but we knew that it was even more difficult to get off of it than from heroin. I've only known one person in my life who beat heroin addiction.

Once, my mother read a story in a newspaper about a man who was a drug addict, and next to him was a pastor who took him to his rehabilitation program. He went through the program, moved to America and opened a rehabilitation center. Mom already knew that it was almost impossible, but when she saw the story, she said: either you go to the program, or go away and live your life in another place. I went there and did not leave the next 3 years.

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When I got to the center, there were 15 drug addicts who were still injecting drugs yesterday, but today they are healthy, they walk around, clean up after me, wash my things, bring me tea, feed me, I haven’t slept for 2 weeks and they don’t sleep with me - so that just help me somehow. It has a very strong effect on you. You understand that you are nobody to them, they are nobody to you, and they treat you like family. This program was led by Alexander, he lived in this house with his wife and daughter, at that moment their second daughter was born. When you go through withdrawal, it's a terrible depression - but when I went through it there, I wasn't depressed. I felt something very good inside, peace. I love children very much, and this little girl came to me every day and sat in my arms. I can’t convey what I was experiencing at that moment. It was probably only thanks to her that I was able to get through these two weeks. Children - you can’t deceive them, they strongly feel adults when adults feel bad. Maybe she felt it.

After 3 of the month I began to help new guys go through the first, most difficult days. Six months later, I decided that I would stay and work as a volunteer in this program. I worked in the rehabilitation of 2,5 of the year.

I have been clean for 14 years.

I analyzed, talked with leaders of various programs, asked about the percentage of people who do not return to drugs. This percentage is from 2% to 5%. This is very little, for the enormous resources, money and effort expended... People who used for 5 years, they were all on some kind of program and it didn’t work out for them. They no longer believe in these programs. Therefore, it is important for me to convince the person that I can help him. Now I know that I won’t have anything in this life, and suddenly someone says to me: “Where did you get that from? Someone deceived you that this will not happen. You have been deceived by society, TV, thoughts, friends, parents - it doesn’t matter who. You shouldn’t live like this, you weren’t born to be a drug addict and die under the fence to suffer. When you were born, did you dream of something? You didn’t dream of becoming a drug addict and alcoholic.”

When in my city every week there is a funeral among the Russian-speaking population, and I know many of them personally, everyone is silent - everyone is ashamed to talk about it. The need that exists today does not allow me to sit quietly and watch how, left and right, young boys and girls of 18-20 years old are dying from overdoses. We need to help one. Millions and the whole world don’t need it. Help at least one. He will help the next one, because he also learned this motto. And to the next one. And you took someone else. And people appear around you who shouldn’t live, but they do. It's a miracle.

I did it, look at my life. If I succeeded, you will succeed.

Our program is a non-profit organization. We help people who are addicted to drugs or alcohol. The foundation of our program is the Word of God. The program has been in existence for a year and a half, my brother came up with it, and I finalized it with him. It's called Exodus US.

There are 3 main features on which drug addiction in a person rests: irresponsibility, impunity and the fact that everyone is owed to a person. If these things have not changed in a person during the process of recovery, rehabilitation, he may stop using drugs, but he will continue to live the life of a drug addict. A place that was filled with drugs and alcohol cannot remain empty. In order to help a person so that he can become free, he needs to change his routine and habits. This cycle is so addictive that in order to break it, you need to put the person in a rehabilitation center - sometimes it takes 2 months, and sometimes up to a year to stop. Then you can build something new on this - this is what we are working with, what I focus on. If he changes this, I can give a 99% guarantee that he will never return to drugs.

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The first stage takes place in Scranton. There are 7 girls and 6 guys. This is a house where guys who have problems live and help each other. They are engaged in moral, psychological, spiritual work - as a rule, this is a pastor. He decides whether a person is ready to go out or not. I am preparing a workplace for him, taking him to Philadelphia - we have two houses there, but they are already full, perhaps we will expand.

There are conditions that I discuss with each person before he moves on to the second stage. You cannot smoke, use drugs, drink alcohol or have sex before marriage. If he cannot cope with one of these things, he is obliged to go for 4 weeks to the first stage, but for this first stage he already pays 500 dollars from his own money. It happens that he fell, could not resist, the temptation was too strong, he has two options: agree with me or go to the first stage, or go home.

At the second stage in Philadelphia today there are 11 of them. They also live together, they are required to go to work - the starting salary is 15 dollars per hour, mostly in construction. I'm looking for other options, because not everyone can do construction. I give them work, teach them skills in 3-4 areas in construction while working. I have professionals who have been working for many years, I introduce these guys to them - and they pick up the skill. We do different types of work. When he has mastered 3-4 types, he can not depend on anyone and find a job anywhere. But while he is in the program, he is obliged to work, learn and develop. They can travel, walk, go to gyms, communicate, meet girls and boys absolutely freely. They are free to move, but the only thing I control is money. But they pay for themselves - they work, learn how to handle money. They learn that food is much tastier to buy in a store and cook than to go and eat something unknown at a fast food restaurant.

They never did this, they never lived like this. As a rule, they all ate fast food. Now they are starting to think because I give them a certain amount for a week. They earn money, take what they need for living expenses, and save the rest in a savings account. They can take them away at any time, but I help them in this way to collect a sufficient amount of money, because basically they do not have documents, identification, there are problems of a criminal nature that need to be solved - lawyers, courts, fines. They themselves restore what they have done in the past. And in the future, when they have resolved these issues, the money goes to buy a car, for example.

Ideally, what I want to see at the end is a person who, in the process of recovery, adaptation to the social sphere, met a girl or guy, started a family, and at the end of the day they have money for housing, a profession, a job and a good income, there are friends, society and a chance for a completely new life. This is the form we work in.

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Photo: video frame VOA

A completely destroyed person comes, you understand that everything in his life ended a long time ago: he is still alive, still walking, but inside he has a scorched desert. And after some time of my work, his work, the efforts of the group - you look, and instead of a desert, flowers grow in his soul. He breathes deeply, smiles, enjoys life, strives for something, he has goals. After some time you look - his children were born, he is a dad! When this happens before your eyes, you understand that even if even a small part in this is yours and without you it could not have happened, it brings such satisfaction... I don’t even know what to compare it with. Even working and earning money does not bring me such satisfaction. When I see such stories, I see these people, I am very happy.

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