Living with Traumatic Brain Injury

My journey into peer support began long before I became a Certified Peer Specialist. As a child, I immigrated to the United States, the first of many life-changing and traumatic experiences that would shape my path. I later served as a firefighter/first responder and as a U.S. Army Infantryman before my military career was cut short by injuries sustained in a roadside bomb blast in Iraq. Like many of the people I now support, I have experienced profound struggles. I battled intravenous opioid addiction, served a lengthy jail sentence following a felony DUI with injuries, and spent years living with SI as I tried to make sense of a series of traumatic events. I know what it feels like to wake up consumed by hopelessness and despair, and to go to bed wishing tomorrow would never come. When I chose recovery, I committed myself fully to rebuilding my life. Using the GI Bill, I earned a bachelor's degree in Psychology with an emphasis in Substance Abuse Counseling and Human Services. I became a Certified Peer Specialist because I wanted to offer others the same hope, understanding, and encouragement that had been so meaningful in my own recovery. Over the past eight years, I have had the privilege of supporting people from many walks of life. My experience includes mentoring at-risk young men in a local high school, working with veteran nonprofit organizations, facilitating SMART Recovery groups, teaching the Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP), the lead peer supervisor with the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Sarasota and Manatee counties (NAMI), and serving in a variety of wellness centers and peer support programs. Today, I live a life guided by my values rather than my past. I believe recovery is possible, even when it feels out of reach, and that no one should have to face their struggles alone. It is both an honor and a privilege to walk alongside others as they discover their own strength, hope, and purpose. Someone once believed in me when I couldn't believe in myself. Supporting others is my way of paying that gift forward