Pubdate: Tue, 21 Jul 2009 Source: Vancouver 24hours (CN BC) Copyright: 2009 Canoe Inc Contact: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3837 Author: Matt Kieltyka Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) TREATMENT BUT ONE STEP IN RECOVERY 24 Hours Followed Jesse Kozak Over Several Months, Both Through Drug Treatment And On His Own In The Real World Getting sober in a drug-treatment program is one thing. Staying sober on the other side of the program is entirely different. A recovering addict venturing back into a world full of demons and temptations - a world that nearly destroyed them the first time - is a daunting challenge. "Can I really do this?" was the first question Jesse Kozak asked himself. It's a question everyone graduating from the Last Door abstinence-based, drug-treatment program faces. Kozak moved out of the supportive, structured environment of the New West treatment centre in May. Could he stay clean? Did he have the tools to cope? Has his life really changed? "I was a bit scared at first," he admits. "You're protected [at the Last Door], if anything happens you run back to the house and get help." Knowing what would happen if he slipped, coupled with the day-to-day realities of independent life made for a hectic adjustment. "Things were a little more clusterf-cked," grinned Kozak, whose boyish looks belie his rough life experience. Paying the bills and worrying about each meal wasn't something he was used to in a home, where the chores were shared among a large group and "everything was taken care of." "It was definitely another step in my road to recovery," he says. "I had to find a whole new balance to my life." But amidst all the chaos, Kozak was discovering a lot about himself. "It surprised me," he says. "I got into a routine down and everything started flowing better and better." The habits that weaned him from drugs, ones he learned at the Last Door, had taken root. "I didn't realize it at the time, but I was taking everything from there and implementing it in my life," he says. "I was taking responsibility and that voice in the back of my head was always there." The little gangster-wannabe making all the wrong friends and fearing for his life in Surrey years ago had morphed into a productive member of society. "I owe [Last Door] a lot," he says. "I love life." And that's coming from a guy who used to sum up his life as "a ball of sh-t." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom