10 minute read
On the Road to Recovery
EDUCATION PAVES THE WAY FOR TWO WARRIORS
By Gina Oltman
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For some students, just enrolling at Stanislaus State is a major victory. They have spent years struggling with drug addiction, alcoholism, homelessness and indigence. In their darkest moments, they doubted they would ever start or resume their college educations.
But once they start attending classes, these students embark on an educational journey that changes the trajectory of their lives and the futures of their families. As they work toward a degree, they develop the soft skills they need to succeed in the workforce, and they find the encouragement and confidence to persevere in recovery. Many of these students also discover that their greatest desire is to give back to their community by helping others overcome the obstacles they know so well.
Here are the stories of two such Stan State students.
Katharine Wallace
When Stanislaus State Stockton Campus student Katherine Wallace was awarded a $1,500 scholarship from the Stockton Host Lions Club last fall, she was caught completely off-guard.
“They knew my story, and they knew I wasn’t going to have financial aid for the next semester,” said Wallace, a mother of three who works waiting tables at Bud’s Seafood Grille, where the Lions meet. “So, they surprised me with this scholarship. It was amazing. I’m so grateful for their help.”
Wallace’s story is a saga of life’s unexpected turns and the power of hope, tenacity and transformation. Married in her 20s, she spent several years as a wife and stay-at-home mom of three before she started turning to alcohol whenever she felt the need to escape. That led to alcoholism, which led to homelessness and, eventually, “losing everything.” “I had gotten a DUI, and I lost my car and apartment, and I was in jail,” she recalled. “I didn’t know where I was going to go or what to do. I didn’t know anything about the services available to me or how to get help.”
It was the court system that directed her to the services that helped her achieve sobriety and rebuild her life. She started her recovery with the Gospel Center Rescue Mission, then moved on to Lily Pad Living, a soberliving house where the compassionate approach of the people running it helped her better understand her physical addiction, rediscover her confidence and change her life.
“I learned to trust again,” she said. “I learned to trust myself. I started trusting my higher power that I would be OK, and I reunited with my children, who I am very close to.”
As she made progress, she knew the time was right for her to resume the college education she had started years earlier at Columbia College in Sonora. She enrolled at San Joaquin Delta College and eventually made a smooth transfer to Stan State through the Warriors on the Way (WOW) program.
Now three years sober with the help of a 12-step program, she is volunteering at Lily Pad Living and working steadily toward earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She thinks about pursuing a master’s degree and believes her personal experiences position her for a career helping people who are homeless or addicted because she understands what they are going through.
— KATHARINE WALLACE
— KATHARINE WALLACE
“The people you see on the streets, they are desperate for connections. No one ever goes up and says, ‘Hi. How are you doing?’ to a homeless person,” she said. “Most people think they need food, but they know where to get food. They are starving for connections. They are starving for opportunities, and they are starving for acceptance.”
Wallace counts her blessings every day. She is thankful for the support of people she has met in Stockton and the community-based recovery programs she says, “truly saved my life.” She appreciates the scholarships and financial aid that help cover her expenses, and she is grateful for the guidance and support of the staff and faculty at Stan State’s Stockton Campus.
Katharine recently sent a thank you letter to Stockton Campus Dean Faimous Harrison. In it she noted that Stan State’s unwavering dedication to the success and wellbeing of students—even while making the unanticipated and massive transition to online instruction due to COVID-19—reinforced her belief that the road to recovery has led her to a place where she belongs.
“I am proud to be part of a University that took on this crisis with such determination, strength and perseverance,” she wrote. “I want to thank you for your encouragement, approachability and commitment to the success of the students here at Stanislaus State. I am proud to be a Stanislaus State Warrior!”
Faith Weatheral-Block
With five years of living clean and sober under her belt, Stanislaus State sociology major Faith WeatheralBlock is focused on helping others overcome addiction and realize their full potential.
“My personal experiences have taught me that your past decisions do not define you, but they can strengthen and motivate you,” said WeatheralBlock, recipient of a Mary Stuart Rogers Scholarship and on track to graduate with a bachelor’s degree this spring.
A resident of Sonora, WeatheralBlock fully understands addiction, recovery and the strength and motivation it takes to reclaim one’s life. She started using alcohol at age 12 and was in and out of treatment programs over several years. Then, at 21, she was prescribed an opioid painkiller for a medical condition and her addiction accelerated to a new level.
“The painkiller was very addictive and very similar to heroin,” she said. “Back then, I could purchase it easily and relatively cheaply (as a street drug). Then it became not so easy to get, so someone introduced me to heroin, which was easy to get.”
A mother of one at the time, Weatheral-Block tried to maintain her addiction while juggling parenting and attending Columbia College. It didn’t go well. Her family could see she was in trouble and intervened to take guardianship of her son to keep him safe.
Eventually, Weatheral-Block’s addiction led her to stop attending college and become homeless. She was prompted to take stock of her life after learning she was pregnant and had a run in with the law, and reassessed her future while she sat in a jail cell.
A switch flipped in my head that this wasn’t OK. I didn’t want to keep doing this,” she said. “And when (the court system) gave me one more opportunity to go into a program, I took it and ran with it.”
This time, recovery meant being open and brutally honest with herself and not sugar-coating anything.
“I took responsibility for my actions and my choices,” she said. “I needed to finally come to terms with who I am and then start to love myself.”
” — FAITH WEATHERAL-BLOCK
When she emerged from the treatment program, she had a new daughter in her arms. And after a year of living clean and sober, her family supported her in regaining guardianship of her son.
Weatheral-Block returned to Columbia College and earned associate degrees in sociology and human services. In 2019, she transferred to Stan State with the goal of eventually earning a Master of Social Work and becoming a licensed clinical social worker after she earns her bachelor’s degree.
She works part-time as a peer specialist at The Enrichment Center of Tuolumne County’s behavioral health agency. There she does outreach to the homeless population at a community center that offers showers and other forms of assistance. The work is fulfilling, and it reaffirms that she is on the career path that is right for her.
“If I can alter the course of my life, I truly believe that anyone can, and I want to help make that happen,” she said.
Students in Need of Help Can Find it at Stan State
Stanislaus State students dealing with addictions can find referrals to local treatment programs and additional mental health support at the Student Health Center and Psychological Counseling Services.
The Student Health Center can refer students to treatment programs in Stanislaus, Merced or San Joaquin counties, while Psychological Counseling Services are available to students while they work through a treatment program,.
“Students experiencing these issues are encouraged to have honest and confidential conversations with their provider in the Student Health Center to begin the journey,” said Elizabeth Peisner, interim executive director of Health and Wellness and interim director of Psychological Counseling Services. “It’s a long road, to be sure, but we will do our best to assist students in connecting to the help they need to overcome addiction.”
The Student Health Center can be reached at (209) 667-3396, and Psychological Counseling Services can be reached at (209) 667-3381.
Basic Needs, Community Service Are Priorities for Stan State Grad Student
When it comes to his career plans, Stanislaus State graduate student Michael Taylor of Modesto maintains a wide view.
Michael Taylor
“I’m trying to combine all of my skills: my communication skills, my leadership skills, the knowledge I’ve acquired at Stan State and my willingness to be of service to people,” said Taylor, who earned a bachelor’s degree in communication studies in 2018 and is working on a master’s degree in social work. “The big goal is to help out my community and make it the best place possible.”
Thirty years old, Taylor transferred to Stan State from Modesto Junior College with a natural inclination toward leadership and community service after working several years in restaurant and retail management. The first-generation college student juggles a full schedule of coursework, a government relations internship with Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers (SEIU-UHW) and memberships in the Alpha Alpha Alpha honors society and Alpha Phi Omega national service fraternity.
He is on track to earn his master’s degree this spring after completing a team culminating project that will recommend actions to the University’s Basic Needs Program based on information gleaned from a group of 15 students who have experienced food and housing insecurity.
“It’s a participatory action research project to understand the effects of food and housing insecurity on students and give them a voice in the solutions,” he said. “We can all see the problems, but the actions to address the problems will come from the students who are actually suffering.”
Taylor became interested in basic needs services last year when he took an internship with Stan State’s Basic Needs Program. He found he loved helping his peers overcome food insecurity by registering them for CalFresh and sharing information about other resources available to them. That experience, and his overall grasp of basic needs issues, prompted the California State University Office of the Chancellor to select him last fall as one of four experts to participate in a Zoom-broadcast panel discussion on supporting students’ basic needs on the CSU’s 23 campuses.
Taylor says much of his desire to help others and improve his community stems from lessons he learned as a young Boy Scout while camping and working up to the rank of Eagle Scout.
“We learned to always leave places better than you found them,” he said. “So that is what I am trying to do now. I want to make sure that I leave my city, and the whole world, better than when I came.”
Along those lines, he has been paying close attention to the governmental policy issues he is exposed to as an SEIU- UHW intern with the goal of getting a full understanding of how public policy drives the delivery of social services to people in need. It may lead him to a career in government, or at the very least a future of being well-informed and better able to impact his community.
“I’m informed, and I want to make sure I can help others be informed,” he said. “If we have a society of informed voters, that is our best chance for making this world a better place.”
