According to the most recent survey conducted by the Federal government and published in Monitoring the Future 2015: Teen Drug Use, use of illicit drugs is up just slightly in a ten year period. Although, at first glance, when reading the site they claim that the use of drugs is down in the long term, it only takes looking at their infographic to see that teen drug use is actually up, even if only by a very small margin.
This is a subject very near and dear to Per Wickstrom as he, himself, was an addict at the early age of 13. His story is like so many others but the difference is that Per was able to turn his life around and is now committed to the rehabilitation of others through his highly successful drug rehab, A Forever Recovery Battle Creek.
In the Beginning There Was Alcohol
When Per tells his story, you can’t help but feel for the boy that he was when alcohol first entered his life. And, yes he was just a boy of 13 when his life became shattered when he was first introduced to alcohol. He was sent packing from his home by the time he was 15 and for a time stayed with those much older than he was. His run with alcohol soon evolved to using cocaine which he began to sell as a means of supporting himself. In January of 2000 Per Wickstrom found the inner strength through the help and support of a Narconon Revert program and has been in recovery ever since.
Back to the Land of the Living
Once clean, Per knew that he had to do something with his life. His initial ‘move’ was to go back to work at a Chevrolet dealership as a finance manager. It didn’t take long for him to realize that this was not something he wanted to do for the rest of his life. “After all, I was given a second chance, a chance to recover that so many people never get, so I thought it was time I reached out to help others.” Just three years after his own recovery, Per opened up Stone Hawk in Battle Creek, Michigan which is credited for helping more than 6,000 addicts to find their own personal path to recovery.
A Forever Recovery
From his humble beginnings with the launch of Stone Hawk, Per has since opened other facilities among which is A Forever Recovery that offers a unique approach to treatment and ultimate rehabilitation. Per and his staff are committed to offering a holistic approach to help heal the body and mind as well as the spirit. “Each person finds his or her own path to recovery so we want to offer them options that meet their personal needs. Where one person is content to work the 12 Steps, others look for a more physical approach to recovery. Still others find healing through a metaphysical path and there are others yet who need some intensive psychotherapy to get at the root of their personal addiction. By recognizing that the road to recovery can be as individual as the person, we offer them the broadest scope of possible paths they can take on their journey to recovery.” Per Wickstrom was one of those individuals in the past so he is taking what he learned to help others move forward into the future. In the words of that now classic movie, he is ‘paying it forward.’
