Business Owner Loses Everything to Alcohol Regains His Strength

Jeff’s Story – July 2022

Former Business Owner Who Lost Everything to Alcohol Regains His Strength and Purpose

Jeff grew up in Northern California near Berkley. His father was in the Navy, where he spent 10 years overseas and wasn’t around much. He had a rough family life and at age 17 Jeff was emancipated from his parents and became a ward of the state. He worked hard to earn his high school diploma and was accepted to Cal Berkley for college, where he graduated with a degree in business.

Jeff got into roofing and eventually started his own business. He bought his first house at the age of 21 and was doing quite well for himself. “My mother said I would never graduate college. She didn’t think I could succeed. I did all this to spite her”, recalls Jeff.

A tragic event occurred with a couple of his employees at his business, and that’s when things started going downhill. “I started drinking more and more. It went from an addiction to where I became dependent upon alcohol to function”, says Jeff. He got involved with Alcoholics Anonymous and had 6 years of sobriety. Things were looking up again. He landed a large remodel job in London. “One night in my hotel room, I was hungry, angry, lonely, and tired. I thought one little drink won’t hurt,” Jeff lamented. “I’ve been struggling ever since, in and out of detox. I’m older and I can’t drink like I used to. Alcohol scares me”, says Jeff.

Jeff was on his way to the hospital to detox and fell while getting out of his car and broke his shoulder and his nose. The hospital social worker told him about Harbor Care. “I was in a wheelchair. I couldn’t walk. I wasn’t eating. When you’re drinking, you don’t want to eat. I was weak”, Jeff recalled. After the first four days at Harbor Care, Jeff was getting his strength back. “The chef’s creativity with food, to be healthy, low salt and delicious impressed me greatly. The food is excellent! The staff is so friendly and are responsive to my needs”, says Jeff.

Jeff is also grateful for the self-administered medication management at Harbor Care. “I’m on a lot of meds. It’s difficult to manage it living in a Honda Civic”, he says.

Jeff is making good use of his time here, exercising and building up his strength for an upcoming surgery on his shoulder. Jeff also appreciates the encouragement and guidance he is receiving at Harbor Care. “I haven’t thought about alcohol since I walked through this door”, he says.

Jeff will have a ten-month recovery after his upcoming shoulder surgery and is looking to continue building strength by maintaining his sobriety, getting back to work and into his own stable housing. He hopes to return to Harbor Care someday to volunteer and encourage others to live a better life.