Recovery: you have to see it to believe in its power

Miklat House’s Lola Amundsen on how the men who seek treatment at Miklat House change her life.

QATHET’S WISDOM ON THE OPIOID CRISIS

Acouple of years ago, I went through a dark period in my life.

In 2019, I lost my mom and in 2020, I lost my dad.

I’d worked as an office manager and a medical office assistant for Dr. du Toit for many, many years but felt I needed a change. (Lola has also managed a recovery home for women).

Rob Fitzpatrick invited me for tea, as he knew I had many years of office and medical experience, and he asked if I’d help him at Miklat House.

He offered me a job and it began.

The first shift, the men at Miklat had my heart. Prior to admission, the men start contacting me by phone and I hear their sorrow and their sadness and their cry for help. And we talk for weeks prior to being able to get them into our facility.

These men are your fathers, husbands and sons, that have an addiction and are desperately seeking help. When they are finally given a bed in our three-month residential program, I personally greet them at the door with a huge hug and a big smile. When they enter, every single guy in Miklat comes over and greets them with a hand shake or a hug and lifts them up by saying: “It’s going to be okay, man,” or, “I’ve been there, you can do it. We’re all here for you.”

The shame on the new client entering into Miklat is evident: the tears, the regret; it breaks your heart. They have lost so much weight, they may not have shoes or a coat, they haven’t shaved for a very long time and usually, they have not had a decent homecooked meal in forever.

But, give our new guy just one week, one week of good home-cooked meals and for some clients, a warm bed with actual blankets; give this man a whole lot of love and hugs and within one week, a new guy emerges. His skin clears up, he is smiling, he has put on a few pounds. Maybe he phones his mom for the first time in forever.

Family usually phone me to ask how their son or father or husband or brother is doing and when I say, “Fantastic! He is attending all the counselling, sleeping in a big warm bed, hiking, taking part in yoga and starting to understand that he matters and that he is important and he has made so many friends...” they are sobbing on the other end of the phone because they never thought he would get there.

You can only imagine, if they choose to go to church with me, how proud I am to be standing beside this beautiful man, dressed in his Sunday best, singing and giving thanks. There are no words to show how proud I am of every single one of these men that come to get help, and become a part of our Miklat family. ~

-Lola Amundsen