Ben Sawyer Shares his Addiction and Finding Hope, Help and Support
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“My name is Ben Sawyer. I'm 46 and I was addicted to opiates.
I graduated from nursing school in 2008. Within the same year, I had a root canal and was prescribed Percocet for the first time. Then, it spun into a serious addiction. I lost my marriage. I lost a house. Then, I tried the geographical cure and said I'll go back to Maine.
I started working as a nurse and it wasn't long before it took off again because I didn't have any way to recover. In 2013, it finally destroyed my nursing career. I surrendered my license in 2013 and I was broken.
The investigator for the state of Maine for the nursing board gave me the name of an agency called the Maine professionals health program. It's an agency that helps healthcare professionals that are affected by alcohol and opiates and addiction.
I remember getting home from work and breaking down. Two days later, I was in a support group for healthcare professionals that met in the evenings.
I got hooked up with the 12 step program. It helped me claw my way out of the hole and back into hope. I remarried, got back in a house, got back into work, and started my recovery journey that has lasted over the past eight years.
In 2020, COVID hit, and so did the unemployment. I was looking to help other addicts. I got hooked into that system, and I got employed with an in-home addiction treatment company called Aware as a certified recovery advisor.
There is help out there. The Maine professionals’ health program works with all the boards to keep medical professionals in practice while they are getting treatment for the substance abuse disease.”
“Hope's a huge part of my recovery. There is always hope.”
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