Jonathan’s Story

Jonathan is a 43-year-old man. He has been in and out of treatment centers since he was 14.  He never graduated from high school. He has never learned to drive and has lived most of his adult life in a tiny apartment with no TV and a microwave for a kitchen.  He is also diagnosed with Schizophrenia.  He was prescribed medication in order to reduce the voices in his head, but meth, pot  and alcohol seemed to work better.  Until it didn’t.
 
People do not recover from alcohol and other substance use disorders unless they want to, and, if they have a good support system to help them.  Jonathan finally found this through the STC services and other community partners such as Dunn County Human Services, DVR, WIOA adult and his AA fellowship.  He lives at the Onyx House, which is a recovery home for men and attends AA meetings regularly. This team meets with Jonathan once a month over Zoom and reports on the progress he is making in his recovery and life.
 
STC’s involvement was giving him resources so that he could use the computer lab to do his schoolwork in order to complete his HSED through Chippewa Valley Technical College.  He also received tutoring in Workforce Resource office/Job Center from Literacy Volunteers.
 
STC purchased him a bike so that he could have transportation from his temporary housing to the Job Center and school, as well as his medical appointments. He proudly graduated in December, 2022 with his high School Equivalency Diploma.  He is also taking his medication for his mental health condition and reports that the voices have gotten much quieter, and he celebrates his 9 moths of sobriety.
 
After Jonathan’s graduation we developed a plan for him to go to driver’s training as he never learned how to drive.  STC resources are going to pay for him to learn to drive.  It is important to have the freedom of knowing how to drive so that he can more easily go to and from work.  Jonathan began looking for jobs through the Job Center resource room with help from his career planner.  He applied to four jobs and had two interviews. He accepted the job at a pizzeria.  This is the first job that Jonathan has ever had.  He says he likes his schedule which is parttime so that he has time to go to his AA meetings and mental health appointments.  He also likes the perks of sometimes going home with a free pizza.
 
We also purchased books for a Native American recovery plan called Wellbriety.  The STC career planner was familiar with this program as she had been through it herself.  They meet every other week to read and discuss how that program relates to his own life, sobriety and heritage.  He is very interested in his native culture.  This helps with his recovery in addition to seeing his doctors, therapist, going to AA meetings and continually meeting with his team of professionals.
 
We are now at the point in which we are looking into his long term career goals.   Jonathan wants to go to school.  His Career Cruising assessment shows that his interests lie in the Arts and Technology area.  Jonathan is very technologically smart and loves art, so it would be a good area for him to get into.  We have started to research programs in web design that would use both his interest and skills.  We are looking into a program at CVTC for on-line and in person class work the is on with ETPL.  He would like to start school in the fall of 2023.  STC will provide resources so that Jonathan can further his education and meet his career goals.
 
This is not the end of Jonathan’s story.  He will continue to further his education and life skills in order to become a contributing member of society living a clean and sober life.