SK Mwangi's Addiction Story Part 2/ SK as a counsellor #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness

The story of S.K Mwangi is one of hope after 22 years of being addicted to Alcohol and other cosmos drugs. Literally he could not stay sober. This habit was picked up early from his parenting. Alcohol was available in his home since his dad was drinking and he would steal his fathers beer when left at home and he would consume in small portions. This was until he graduated to his secondary school when he started using alcohol and other drugs but luckily he managed to clear his secondary education. He got employment in one of his fathers businesses that was a butchery and a hotel and here, he confesses that he was drinking from morning until late night, which made his addiction grow the more. He could not keep the job for long since he started stealing to keep up with this addiction. He was dismissed from work and this is where the rubber meets the road since he started stealing his neighbors chickens, selling electronics from his own home, selling utensils and cooking pots, selling his wife''s clothes all to get some cash to keep him high. S.K had married early after completing his secondary school education and gotten three children quickly before his addiction habit got worse. However as his addiction grew, he was not able to pay his children school fees or provide for his family, roles that were taken up by his sisters. At some point S.K is given some money to go and deposit for his daughters school fees and he switches off his phone and enters a pub and wastes that money in two days. At 37 years old after being in addiction for 22 years, several failed counselling sessions, his family realized how bad it had gotten and also noted if they do not do anything, they were going to lose S.K in less than a years time. Although they continued with the counselling sessions, they started having a plan to take him to a rehab behind his back. They still cared about him. In one of the sessions, that he had gone to at Laikipia county, he collapsed during the session. Unknown to him, his brother had followed him there. After a few phone calls with his sisters, they wheeled him to a rehabilitation center called Better Life still in Laikipia county a place he would be for the next 3 months. 18 years ago, the rehabilitation center he was in could either not afford the medication to manage withdrawal effects or were not aware it existed since they did not give it to their patients. This made life a living hell for S.K as he was going through that Phase of being sober for the first time in 22 years. Hallucinations, seeing devils at night, insomnia, fear were some of the experiences that confronted S.K as he was getting sober. Three weeks in to the rehab and he is now sober to remember dreams he had and reconnected with them and wrote them down. He takes us through the 12 steps into the counselling sessions and one of them includes taking stock of the number of people that he had affected and taken their property, thus inflicting pain and loss. Another of those steps involves writing down some of the actions to be taken on each of the affected persons to compensate them and where this is not possible, it is advisable that they write down and destroy such as a way to healing. surrendering to a higher power is also one of the steps to healing where one admits that they do not have power to deliver themselves and thus surrender to a higher being- God, One month into the rehab and he could now be allowed to speak to his family but they were so much wounded and not willing to speak to him. It took the intervention of his sister in the United States of America to get help. His mother and grandmother and his three children agreed to come and visit him after 2 months into the rehab. One of his daughters was soo happy to see his dad soo handsome unlike the man who had entered the rehab 37 kgs in weight and soo battered-Now over 70kgs. He was able to confess some of the things he had done and receive forgiveness from his family. S.K takes us through his journey after rehabilitation center, the stigma, rejection, neighbor's talking, debts still owed to date, forgiveness and payment of some of the debts. It is a story of both hope and resilience. His counsellor continued to call and do daily follow ups something that he had adopted to date as a counselor. S.K was able to find purpose again when he joined Asumbi treatment center a place where he did his first job for two years. After working in several other rehabilitation center. S.K is one of the directors of Taraji Rehabilitation that has two centers, one in Nakuru and the second one in Gilgil in Kenya.