Note: This article is part of a series relating to local resources for addiction and recovery. An individual in a local recovery program has agreed to share their story.
Cody Wright visits locally to meet with his sponsor and to take part in local addiction recovery programs such as RecoverWe.
RecoverWe is a newer faith-based addict support group located in Washington C.H. as a ministry of South Side Christian Church. Meetings are held every Sunday at 6:30 p.m. at South Side, 921 S. Fayette St. in Washington C.H.
RecoverWe is overseen by local Cody Bowen. To follow or connect with RecoverWe, find the group on its Facebook page, “RecoverWe.”
Wright recently shared his recovery story with AIM Media Midwest.
“I started using… first thing I ever tried was marijuana and that was in 2004. And then from there it just progressed from that to the point where, in 2009, I was addicted to Oxycontin,” said Wright.
Wright ended up going to the STAR rehabilitation center in 2009, where he spent 171 days.
“I got out. I didn’t utilize the skills that I’d learned there and it wasn’t long after that — a month or two after that — that I’d relapsed. At the time, when I got out from there, I was put on probation. I failed two urine analysis screens for them. The first time I spent three days in jail, the second time I spent 11,” said Wright. “I skated through probation barely.”
After probation ended, he was later caught with Suboxone, a medication meant to help people recover from an opiate addiction, and was placed back on probation.
“When I got caught, I had a court date, and I ran. I think I ran for two weeks, and they ended up catching me,” said Wright. “I spent 137 days in county jail, and then they let me out on my last chance. A little after this, I had my first child,” he said.
His daughter, Kyndal, was born Nov. 23, 2011.
”I’d never had anything — not probation, not consequences, not jail time — nothing ever kept me from using drugs or scared me out of it. But, the minute I held my daughter once she was born, I put down pain pills that day, and I’ve never touched them again to this day. But my addiction replaces things. And so, I replaced other drugs or substances for (the pain pills),” explained Wright.
About four years later, his son, Corbin, was born.
“He straightened me up for a little bit, but in between both kids I always seemed to go back to (substances) slowly but surely. My mom passed away in December of 2019, and I think that accelerated my drug use horribly, to the point to where it drove me to a divorce. I lost custody and visitation to both of my kids. It destroyed me as a person,” said Wright.
At that point, Wright said he was living with no utilities, no cable — “no amenities whatsoever for almost two years, because I was just so hurt from everything that had happened and blamed everything that was happening to me on drugs, when it was my own insecurities and problems that were what caused it. It just fueled that and threw me into isolation,” he said. “Of all the things I’ve ever done, drugs or anything, the isolation actually put such a toll on me that it messed with me for a long time and still does to this day. I still don’t like being alone today.”
In February of this year, Wright’s father contacted New Beginnings Outreach Ministry in an attempt to get Wright help. Within a week, they were able to get Wright into treatment.
“This is a faith-based program,” said Wright. “We go to church. We go to meetings. We have CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) classes, mental health classes. We do community service here. It’s more like a family atmosphere, but with accountability and classes that help you learn. I was baptised not too long ago which was a big accomplishment for me.”
When asked about the difference between the STAR program and the one he is currently in, Wright explained: “The STAR program was a lockdown facility and it was what is called a TC, which is a therapeutic community. It’s more a boot camp style—like, you walk with your hands behind your back, you have to announce yourself when walking in doorways. It was almost like a boot-camp, and I was court ordered to be there. When I came here, I did it of my own free will. This is more like a community. My problem is my addiction came way before my drug use did. I had so many things that I did that told me I was an addict way before I put substances in my body. Here, it’s a holistic approach, and it’s basically helping everything — your mental health, your cognitive thinking. Not to mention, it challenges your whole way of thinking to help you change how you think. If you just take drugs out of the equation, an addict without drugs is still an addict. Our addiction just manifests into something else that usually ends up being something unhealthy.”
Wright has now been clean for approximately 120 days.
“I’ve gotten so many things back in the time that I’ve been here like my license, my car, my insurance. I’m talking to my kids again, which is something that I never thought would happen,” he said. “A lot of people want to address the drug problem or certain things, and think that once it’s been addressed, it goes away. It’s not fixed for me. It’s going to be an ongoing process that I need to address for my entire life, because the minute I become complacent about what I’m doing or think that I don’t need the program and what they taught me, the minute I think that I don’t need it and get complacent is the minute that my drug (addiction) will attack that complacency and, before you know it, I’ll be right back to where I started again.”
Taking part in recovery programs has been especially important to Wright as it allows addicts to help one another.
“One addict helping another addict is without parallel. It’s the only way we do this. I couldn’t do it without my sponsor. I couldn’t do it without the programs that I’m in now. I couldn’t do it without the people that I met here. My son and my daughter — my son Corbin, he’s real quiet and my daughter, she’s outgoing, but they didn’t even want to be in my life until I got things taken care of,” Wright said. “And I did, and now I’m speaking with them on the phone now. Everything I had before I started using drugs has been given back to me 10-fold,” said Wright. “My advice for anyone in treatment or wanting treatment to not make excuses for reasons why, right now, isn’t a good time. The more excuses that you put on why you can’t do something or that the timing’s wrong is time lost. There’s people walking out of treatment that I’ve seen on a daily basis since I’ve been here and consider family, and they thought they were just going to go out one more time and get high, and that was the last time they got high — they are no longer alive. If you want the help, you need to get it now. If you have it in your heart to do it, the best time to do it is now. Not everybody is granted that second chance.”
Reach Jennifer Woods at 740-313-0355.
