Jason's Story

As a young person, Jason remembers always wanting to fit in.

"But everywhere I looked I didn't fit in," he says. Soon substance use became his way to make friends. "I used drugs and alcohol to help make me fit in, and it seemed to make everything better," he recalls. Until his use eventually caught up with him, and then suddenly, "it didn't make everything better."

Jason says that his life was a such a "mess" that he realized he needed to look for help. "And that help came from Hazelden Betty Ford," he says.

"Hazelden Betty Ford showed me that as long as I was sober, I could live a fundamentally joyful life," he says. "It connected me with friends that I will have for the rest of my life."

Unfortunately, Jason's insurance only covered his stay for 21 days, and he had to leave inpatient treatment earlier than he would have liked. "It was so hard to leave Center City, and I didn't know what I was going to do," he says. "But Hazelden Betty Ford gave me the tools I needed to find recovery and to stay sober today."

Jason is grateful for the generosity of Hazelden Betty Ford's supporters who help give others a chance to find healing and hope.

"Addiction knows no bounds," he says. "It knows no gender and no socioeconomic status. It can affect each and every one of us—our family, our neighbors, anyone we see."

Hazelden Betty Ford, and the people who support it, are "giving people the opportunity to live into who they are," he says. And, Jason adds, the greatest gift for people seeking wholeness, as he was, is the freedom "to live our lives one day at a time."