Peer Counseling

At first I was hesitant to do the shot. I wanted to do the sub’s. The doctor “Khan” said the shot would be better so I trusted him and went for the Vivitrol treatment. The hardest part was the 7 day withdrawal before the shot. Dr. Khan gave me some medication to help with the withdrawals which helped but it was still really hard. I got to the point where I couldn’t wait to get the shot so I could finally start this recovery process. I’ve only been on the shot for one month and what a huge difference it made! Before I couldn’t control or stop myself from going and getting high. The addiction controlled me. Now after the shot, I can control the desire to go get high and the desire to get high is less and less everyday. This shot gave me the biggest tool to finally say no! I think about my addiction less and less and more about my future and what I want out of it. This shot saved my life and brought me back into reality.

Thank you Dr. Khan, you are amazing!

I remember a father who came to NWIH. He had been desperately seeking an addiction specialist for his 16 year-old son. He took his son to many treatment places but no provider knew how to treat that patient. We took on that case and successfully treated him. The first thing he asked for was food when he felt well again. His father was so happy. He has finished high school now. That case motivated me to pursue addiction medicine. I want to be that provider who patients would seek out for treatment regardless of the distance needed to travel, and NWIH would be the place they would come to.

The days when I was emotional and crying, they were there to put a hand on my shoulder and say, hey, you’re alright, you’re gonna get through it, here’s a tissue, c’mon dry it up. that’s what’s needed in some of these programs, those moments to acknowledge the feeling, to accept the feeling, and to move on from the feeling, and to have a person next to you, especially clinal staff where they’re not just pushing you aside. That’s what keeps you engaged with the program, that’s what helps you get here on days when its sunny out and you don’t feel like coming. ‘Cause you wanna see the staff who held you up.

Honestly, like they are really nice people here. They're with you every step of the way.

What keeps me coming is you know the bottom line, they saved my life.