Dear Jim, Kathy, and the rest of the Oasis Team:
This is Kent S. ... I don't know if you immediately remember me, but I was at Oasis in November, 2001 and again in the first part of 2002. I was the guy who was massively addicted to prescription painkillers and who relapsed again in March of 2002 (which resulted in my termination from Oasis). Well, I thought I would give you a quick update:
In April, 2002 I went back in front of my Judge who was none-too-happy that I was terminated from treatment. To summarize a long story, in the end I was sentenced to 17 months in prison. For a year of those 17 months, I was at a "Treatment" Prison and I went through the treatment programs offered there (not nearly as good as Oasis, of course). More importantly I had NO access to drugs for a very long time.
Well, as I am sure you can imagine, prison was NOT a pleasant experience, but it finally got me clean. So in a way, it was the worst thing and the best thing to happen to me. Kind of strange, isn't it. I was finally released from incarceration around the end of September, 2003. And at the time I moved back home with my wife who was still with me after all that I put her through.
The next challenge was finding a good job. I certainly have some good job skills and am a pretty intelligent person, but I faced four serious obstacles: (1) I am a convicted felon, (2) I was fired from my only job I have had as a adult (Not a real good job reference there), (3) I had been out of the work force for over two years, and (4) I had to declare personal bankruptcy.
Throughout October, I searched very hard but was getting very frustrated. I had been told flat out on multiple occasions that there was NO WAY I was going to get a job in
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