Recovering drug addicts Brian Shim comforts Annie An in the Kitchen area of Nanoom Christian Fellowship in Los Angeles. The church doubles as a drug rehab for Korean Americans. Photo by Jae C. Hong, AP PhotoKimberly Knopik is a counselor at Father Joe’s Villages Transformative Recovery Services and is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in social work at San Diego State University.
This experience made it clear that, if we want to help people with substance use disorder, we must prioritize techniques to reduce harm and save lives.in many people. But, because I didn’t receive the right mental health care or support, my life was a cycle of homelessness and stints in prison.It wasn’t until I lost both of my parents in 2019 and fell down a dark hole that I finally surrendered and began educating myself on the disease that I had been battling my entire life.
I’ve been clean for years, and now I’m spending my life helping others win their battles against the same disease I struggled with. I was once pulled out from a dark place. As a substance use disorder counselor for San Diego’s largest homelessness services provider, I get to do the same for others. My life experience and my current work have taught me that there are key strategies that can help our neighbors experiencing homelessness with substance use disorder get sober for good and move toward a life of hope. At Father Joe’s, we use aor minimization model, a set of evidence-based strategies that can help people struggling with addiction by meeting them where they are at.