This is The Do It For Yourself Podcast.  Each week I sit down with someone who is doing it for themselves and chasing a dream they just couldn’t suppress.  This is often speakers, entrepreneurs, or athletes.  They all share one thing in common, they are overcoming challenges and never giving up.  Someone who is Doing It For Themselves is not selfish in their pursuit, they are simply chasing a dream or working towards a goal because it is something THEY want to do.  They are not forging down a path because society or someone is telling them it’s what they should be doing.

My guest this week is Blake Cohen.  Blake is living in recovery and also working at a recovery facility called Recovery Unplugged.  Blake's story began when he was in high school with friends when he was first exposed to alcohol at a party.  After his first experience, he felt as though he "fit in" which was something that he was longing for.  Blake found that through all his experiences with substances and alcohol he was finding something that he was longing for, attention and being liked.  Blake just wanted to fit in and be liked and he felt like the substances were the only way to do that.

Later on down the road, Blake began to chase the "high".  He was still using marijuana but he wanted to find that feeling from when he first started smoking and he wasn't getting that from marijuana anymore.  Blake began to experiment with painkillers.  It just so happened that the person he was getting these painkillers from lived right next door to him.  This made it even easier for him to get his hands on the substances he was seeking.  This lead to the point where Blake was using every day and he began to feel sick when he stopped using.  He didn't realize that he could become addicted this quick, but he felt it.  Low and behold his drug dealer neighbor moved away and he actually stopped using at this point.  

Blake moved back home so that he could finish school and he woke up one morning really craving the pills and so he called around to find the pills where he was now.  This was the point where Blake's addiction really took off and he had all of the "typical" behaviors of an addict.  He learned how to crack safes, he was stealing, anything he could to keep the sickness away when he wasn't using.  Blake had it in his head that he couldn't be an addict because when his drug dealer moved away he stopped so he could stop whenever he wanted.  Blake was stealing from anyone and everyone he could just to get high.

Blake was arrested and in treatment once and while he was on drug court and being tested he was "clean" from the pills but he was still using alcohol.  He made it through drug court and went right back to the pills.  Blake knew at this point he could not stop unless someone stepped in to help him.  This happened when his dad, brother, and girlfriend had an intervention.  They came to his house with a drug test and he lit the test up with so many different drugs in his system.  

After this intervention, Blake's family sent him away to treatment.  He was in treatment for two weeks and that is when his family really figured out what he was doing and what was going on.  Blake thought that they were acting just for his good, but he received a phone call from his dad that was his real wake up call.  This was Blake's rock bottom and it devastated him but it was what he needed to hear to take this treatment seriously.  

Blake ended up staying in treatment for a total of 90 days in Minnesota.  He then returned home and stayed in some form of treatment for the rest of that year.  Blake's now working for a facility in the substance abuse field and he has been doing this for 5 years now.  Blake's degree in is mental health but he found his love through watching people go through their recovery process and watching the changes that people have made.  

Blake's goal now is to bring this disease to light.  He wants people to learn about this disease and help people understand that this is not their loved one who is doing these things.  Blake feels as though that sharing his story and bringing this to light will help normalize this disease.  He wants to show people that there can be change and this isn't a death sentence.  

 

I really enjoyed this conversation with Blake and I hope you do as well.  

 

Blake's Instagram

Recovery Unplugged

Do It For Yourself Instagram

 

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