Preston has been coming to Recovery Connections since December 19, 2024. He called our 407-RECOVER helpline and was connected to one of our caring team members who helped him find a sober living house. Today, he is an engaged participant, actively working on his recovery and helping others by being one of our most reliable volunteers at our Seminole County Recovery Community Center and sharing his story to “help the next person in need.”
In Preston’s Words:
My recovery story starts with a lot of trying to find the way out of the darkest parts of my life. My life before recovery was not good. I was facing a lot of issues with myself and my family life. I was always trying to find a way to stay sober and get my life in order. I really didn’t see the bigger picture. I saw mental institutions and jails and rehabs and relapses before I really understood what it is going to take to get this under control. I have been trying to find recovery since my early 20s. I have been to many rehabs, I’ve had five years clean before this relapse and I went back out there and some more research and tried to find my belonging. My sober date is November 11, 2024 and the one thing that I didn’t do before is get my mental health regulated and maintained. I am working on my recovery and my mental health together, hand in hand.
Recovery Connections has helped me since the minute I called the hotline. It has been a dream that these people here are helping people just like me, letting us see that if they can make it, then so can the person coming through these doors. I am so grateful to be a part of this program and have these people in my life.
It is so important to just have someone that I really can talk to when I am not feeling like myself and they are helping to hold me accountable for the things I want in life and in my recovery. They are helping me out with things I need to start my new journey in life by helping me maintain my mental health and secure work and schooling, along with supporting my recovery and helping me care about myself more. These people have touched my life in so many ways without truly knowing what they have given me back in my life and what Recovery Connections has done for me. The people that have touched my life that have worked with me in my life would have to be Travis, my original peer, along with Tracy, my current peer specialist and lastly, Jillian, who is the Seminole County peer lead. I really want to say that Travis has helped me out with a lot of things that I was dealing with in my personal life, as he has been a person that I can call on when I am feeling down and out. I have Tracy as my peer specialist now and she has been amazing since taking Travis’ place when he moved locations. I would not trade anything out, because these two right here have taken time out of their busy days and have given me the extra time I need when I need support or someone to talk to. Jillian has been a blessing to me in my life as well just by talking to me when I need it.
What I really would like to say to the people that are helping Recovery Connections with everything they do is…thank you so very much for being here for them. It really means a lot to me as a person that is trying to get their life back in order and these services have really touched my life in so many different ways, so please let my words help with the hardest times in someone’s life who really needs to hear it.
