RRP 136 — Brad O. / I Get to Open the Door. They Still Have to Walk Through.

A lost baseball dream. A nurse's advice to wait five years. A job that let Brad be of service.

How does someone who dreamed of playing college baseball end up helping people choose treatment instead of prison? Brad O. told us about the long road between those two lives. His drinking and drug use cost him his baseball goal. He remembers sitting in jail and seeing his son's mother with their baby in her arms, trying to get him out.

Treatment did not make everything easy. Brad kept going to AA meetings, even through two and a half years when he was smoking weed. He told Julie and me about the one-year coin his sponsor made him give back. At a gas station, two women from his home group found him. One gave him a hug. Brad says that was the moment he knew he needed to trust the fellowship.

While he was in treatment, a nurse listened as Brad talked about becoming a counselor. She told him he might be good at it, but to take care of himself for about five years first. When Brad reached five years sober, he spoke up at a community meeting about the lack of treatment options in rural Colorado. The director of a local detox offered him a job. Brad has worked in the field ever since.

After Brad moved to Oregon, he worked with Volunteers of America, including a treatment-readiness program at Inverness Jail, where he helped men consider treatment instead of years in prison. Brad told us, "Everybody deserves a chance. It's like you never know when the light's gonna go on for somebody." He now works with families trying to find a way to talk with a loved one who is in trouble. He still works an active AA program and sponsors someone in recovery.

That is the line I keep coming back to. Brad can offer a chance. He knows he cannot choose for someone else. He also spoke about making amends, the trust he is still working on, and a moment with a cyclist when he stopped himself, owned a mistake, and apologized.

When Julie asked what he wanted listeners to hear, Brad said, "Just stay close to us. You're worth it." We are grateful he came to talk with us. Please give this one a listen.

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