From lost to found: Pablo’s story

Pablo doesn’t remember a time without alcohol in his life. His entire family were alcoholics: “At a very early age, I knew very well what an intoxicated person acted like, looked like and smelled like. I just thought that was a normal thing.”

After a stressful family move, his dad’s drinking went from bad to worse. “Even though I was a kid, I understood why he was drinking so much. I understood it was stressful for him. But growing up, I witnessed my father being verbally abusive.”

As he got older, Pablo followed in his father’s footsteps, working at the same restaurant, drinking heavily on the job and trying to impress the other men in the kitchen. “I'm seeking validation from these older men that I worked with, because I felt like I never got it from my father,” Pablo shares.

It wasn’t long before Pablo’s life started spiraling out of control. “My relationship with my girlfriend was shattered, and my relationship with my parents, my little sister…” Pablo didn’t know where to turn.

It was actually his father who brought him to Helping Up Mission. “My father desperately wanted to help me.” And that’s exactly what he did.

“I didn’t think I was worth anything when I first came in here,” Pablo shares. “It felt like I was drowning.”

But through Helping Up Mission’s Spiritual Recovery Program, he found hope, community and a reason to keep going. “Before, I thought family just meant you have to have the same last name as me, but now I realize these are my brothers, that we’re all going through the same thing together.”

“I’m hopeful that there’s more to life than how I’ve been living.”

“They gave me the motivation to go back to school, to rekindle my relationship with my family, with my girlfriend – they were giving me hope. These people care about me.”

The love, counseling and fellowship he found here has made all the difference. “This isn’t just another little rehab. These are people who care. I’m still kind of speechless over everything that they’ve done for me.”

“This isn't just another drug detox center, you know? This is a home for people who are lost. And they just give us the work to find ourselves again. This is a home full of brothers, this is a place of love.”