Gilbert Moses Jr. was a young Native American man that many people tried to help starting when he was 15-years-old.
That was when he starting taking alcohol to school, keeping it in his locker. Soon after, he was kicked out of school and got into trouble with the law for fighting. Unfortunately, it took many years for him to find a program that would both relieve him of the need for alcohol and his tendency to get into fights.
It wasn’t that he didn’t try to find help. Multiple trips to rehab failed to give Moses the tools and life skills he needed to stay clean. Drinking progressed to drugs. “Every time I left a rehab,” Moses commented, “I went back into the same situation. I kept getting in trouble and losing jobs. I got sober in rehab but didn’t learn how to stay sober. It was a dwindling spiral.”
After 25 years of attempts to get and stay clean, Moses’ tribal counselor asked him if he really wanted help. Moses looked at the time he’d spent in jail and how the same problems kept coming up over and over again. He said yes, although he didn’t expect the next rehab experience to be very different from the ones he’d done in the past. He was about to find out that some rehabs are very different. He flew to Canadian, Okla. to the long-term holistic drug rehab Narconon Arrowhead.
“The first thing I noticed was how courteous and smiling people were. It was different from the other rehabs I’d been to,” Moses said. “The atmosphere was so positive. I wanted what they had.”
The completely drug-free Narconon program is composed of study and practice to improve communication skills which prevents confrontations from escalating out of control, followed by a thorough detoxification program that employs nutritional supplements and sweating in dry-heat saunas. “I really applied myself to this part of the program because I wanted to get out all the toxins and drugs,” Moses explained. “When I was done, I was happy. Nothing bothered me any more and I felt good inside. From the testing they did here, I found out that my IQ improved too.”
Later steps of the program taught Moses to be more observant of and in touch with his present time environment. “That was something I lost from the drugs and alcohol,” he added. “I really learned to stop thinking of the past and start controlling my life now. I didn’t realize I was holding on to so much of what I’d done in the past. I feel relieved of all that, like a weight was taken off me. I now have a greater sense of respect, trust and honesty. I just didn’t have that before.
“Finally, I realized I didn’t have to be addicted to substances. Everything I learned just clicked one day toward the end of the Narconon program.”
Now, Moses knows he has something good to offer his community when he gets home to the Tulalip reservation. “I know how to be productive and be a role model for my son. I’ve changed in so many ways. Now I want to help others who are asking for help. I can tell them about my experience and what I’ve learned. Another person from my tribe has already arrived at Narconon Arrowhead to get help. I couldn’t do any of these things before.
“I’m looking forward to showing my tribal members a changed me. The whole experience has had an overwhelming effect on my life. I have achieved a better way of living. I didn’t think that could happen until I came to Narconon.”
To find out how you can help someone with Narconon’s successful drug and alcohol rehab program, contact Narconon Arrowhead at 1-800-468-6933 or visit their Web site at www.stopaddiction.com.
