Jason Van Dusen is a valuable member of our KDD Media team & wanted to share his story in hopes of reaching & relating to anyone that's gone through a similar ordeal. JVD had a pretty normal childhood for the most part. He was brought up in a loving home & had a good upbringing. He was very involved in sports, even at a young age. The one thing he says was the main catalyst for his trauma early on, was the fact his parents divorced around the age of 11 or 12. The friction there between his mom and dad would fuel his depression as well as his acting out at a young age to deal with the circumstances that he was forced into. Their separation, the anger, the disagreements would be too much for him to handle at times. He would witness scenes like his father punching holes in the wall and constant arguing between them. With meth, he couldn't just stop doing it. He felt like he couldn't function at work or in any way, without his fix. It became a lifestyle that consumed him in every way. He would drive for hours in the middle of the night every week just to find his drug of choice. It was really difficult for him to break this cycle because he was so productive at work and school at that time, he would even get incentives at his work for re-organizing the warehouse while on drugs. So this justified the addiction. Eventually, this all started to catch up with him. He lost 40 pounds in 16 days during a drug bender. He can't remember much of that time, but the paranoia and withdrawals were too much to handle. When his supply left, he just couldn't get his product anymore.  He crashed for 8 days, was non-responsive to friends and family, and eventually, his family reached out to him. He met his wife by chance in 2003, while in a hospital emergency room. She was there to support one of her friends, and it was love at first sight. He says she replaced his desire for the drugs and high he was chasing all those years. His wife brought stability and helped him get his life back on track. He found a 12-step program, found God, and committed himself to building his family.  Now he's a successful graphic designer, Marketing Director for 51FIFTY Enterprises & an addiction and recovery advocate working for KDD Media & Knockin' Doorz Down. He is also an active mentor in Celebrate Recovery, a national faith-based 12-step recovery program. He hopes that by sharing his story, he can inspire people to let them know it's never too late to get their life back on track. This is Jason Van Dusen in his own words, on Knockin' Doorz Down.   For more on the Knockin' Doorz Down podcast and to follow us on social media https://www.kddpodcast.com https://www.instagram.com/knockindoorzdown/ https://www.facebook.com/knockingdoorsdown/ https://twitter.com/kddmediacompany https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUSJ5ooBFqso8lfFiiIM-5g/ For Carlos Vieira's autobiography Knockin' Doorz Down https://www.kddmediacompany.com/ For 51FIFTY use the discount code KDD20 for 20% off! https://51fiftyltm.com/ https://www.facebook.com/51FIFTYLTM https://www.instagram.com/51fiftyltm/ https://twitter.com/51fiftyltm  For more information on the Carlos Vieira Foundation and the Race 2B Drug-Free, Race to End the Stigma and Race for Autism programs visit: https://www.carlosvieirafoundation.org/ https://www.facebook.com/CVFoundation/ https://www.instagram.com/carlosvieirafoundation/   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Broadcast on:

23 Aug 2021