“I’ll say it 1000 times over, the VA saved my life,” shares Ron.
Ron is a former U.S. Marine. He currently lives at a residential facility in Lewiston, Maine, operated by Veteran’s Inc., a nonprofit that provides support services to Veterans and Veteran families across New England. They are a trusted partner of Preble Street, working alongside the Veterans Housing Services team on the No Homeless Veterans initiative, with the goal of functionally eliminating Veteran homelessness in Maine by June 2025.
Ron has a substance use disorder and deals with addiction. In August of 2023, Ron lost his home after it was condemned.
He was able to move in with his mother, but Ron felt defeated and like he had no options left: “I had enough living, and I just saw no future. No hope. I was at the lowest point I’d ever been.”
Ron got in touch with the Veterans Crisis Line and was directed to the Togus VA Medical Center, where he spent four days in a detox bed. From there, he was transferred to a Residential Recovery Center in Vermont. Importantly, Ron was engaged in a continuum of care, getting emergency services and a detox bed, then transitioning to a long-term recovery facility. In Vermont, he worked with addiction therapists and support services staff to chart his path to recovery and gain stability in his life. “I never even knew these programs existed,” says Ron. “I did really well there.”
Ron later moved to a program in New York, where he took different classes and programs on grief, loss, anxiety, and intensive relapse prevention. “Being in New York really helped me work through a lot of the resentments and anger I kept inside. It let me let go of a lot of stuff,” he shares. His time in Vermont and New York positioned him to be successful in living independently again and establish his goals and priorities for the future.
At Veteran’s Inc in Lewiston, ME, Ron is stably housed and working to become a peer support specialist to help other Veterans who have mental and behavioral health disorders or substance abuse disorders. He wants to provide the same support services he received on the path to rehabilitation. “I plan on working in peer support, as a peer support specialist,” says Ron proudly. “I want to help the people who helped me… I want to be there to help somebody getting over addiction.”
Ron’s story and success demonstrates the importance of engaging people in a continuum of care. Ron first received a detox bed when he was ready to get sober. Then, he entered recovery programs to facilitate long-term rehabilitation. Many times, these resources aren’t available when people make the decision to get sober. Now, he’s stably housed and receiving support services from Veterans Inc., working towards his goal of becoming a peer support specialist to give back to the community that offered him help when he needed it.
