Shane Poulin is a current resident in our John Flowers Recovery Home, and is celebrating five months of sobriety. With a rampant history of substance use on both sides of his family, the South Shore native grew up with a strong familiarity to addiction. Having to face his own battle with addiction for ten years, today at 28 years old, Shane is proud to be on the road to recovery and taking the necessary steps towards substance use treatment. Recently, Shane found himself reflecting on his personal growth through his journey towards recovery at Dimock. Though he was introduced to substance use from an early age, Shane did not view his addiction as a problem that intervened with the priorities in his life. “I was still paying my bills, I was holding down my job, I didn’t think much of it,” Shane explains. His responsibilities were well taken care of, and with the normalization of addiction in his environment, it seemed to Shane like it was okay to “dabble so long as (he) got things done”. In his earlier stages of addiction, Shane did not feel the need to go to recovery.

His brother, also suffering from addiction, sought out treatment during this time. Shane served as a crutch of support for his brother throughout the many stages of his brother’s recovery process. In the moment where he sought to support his brother through recovery; Shane was going down the darkest time in his life. Personal conflicts caused his life to spiral out of control, and in turn, his addiction was totally out of control. The duality of both brothers’ struggle with substance use disorder was a strong contrast; as Shane recounts, “I was helping to support my brother through his recovery, but at the same time I was heading down my darkest path. It was crazy because that changed everything”.

After being disconnected from personal relationships and those closest to him, Shane realized he truly needed help. “I’ve always known the help was out there, I knew there were resources. I never thought I needed them until that moment, but I knew they were there,” Shane expressed. In the last year of his substance use, Shane sought out the help he needed. Through a placement program, Shane learned about The Dimock Center’s Dr. Lucy Sewall Center for Acute Treatment Services. He successfully went through our two week detox program where he received targeted attention and guidance from a clinician. Through his treatment there, Shane learned about the John Flowers Recovery Home. By the end of the detox program, he chose to continue the next steps of recovery at John Flowers.

Today, as we sit down with Shane, he reflects on both his medical and personal growth. Shane’s perspective has shifted greatly from when he first came to Dimock; he’s thinking much more forwardly and he continuously keeps his “big picture” goal in mind when he plans for anything. The strong feeling of community that Shane has experienced at John Flowers has encouraged a sense of comradery, motivation and drive between himself, fellow residents and counselors. For Shane, it has become imperative to have this sense of community because he feels that they each learn from each other and keep one another “in check”. Shane recognizes his recovery process in certain stages. He keeps his “big picture” goal in mind, but does not fixate on it. After all, progress is not linear. Because of that, he creates small goals from that big picture goal to make the goal more attainable and to take greater pride in his accomplishments. The feeling Shane gets when he checks off anything from his list is unmatched.

With the help of Dimock’s resources and his counselors, Shane is devising a plan that will create a track for sober living. Recently, he’s started a new job that he hopes will propel him into his career goals. The structure the program of John Flowers has created in his life is something Shane greatly appreciates and has reflected in his work ethic. He shares, “something as small as making your bed every single morning makes a big difference in your attitude for the day, how you feel about how you can accomplish your goals for the day and just overall builds a habit for you”. Each day, Shane is building small yet impactful habits in his life that are creating a sustainable path towards his continued recovery. He, and those around him, have seen an incredible growth in his character, values and what is important to him and why. For this, we celebrate alongside Shane Poulin in his recovery.