Struggle, Scholarship, and Success on the Road to Recovery

When your past is full of personal trauma and struggle, you have two choices: bury it so that others don’t see what you’ve suffered or bring it out into the light and use it to help others who walk the same road. Justin Ganus has chosen to take the most challenging parts of his past and pursue an education to help others avoid and recover from the path of addiction he has battled.

Justin moved in with his grandparents when he was eight years old and has been around drugs most of his life. One family member was a cocaine addict and would invite Justin to come along when he went to make a buy. People selling drugs and getting high was just a part of life; an easy way to make money and feel good. While Justin wasn’t immune to the lure of the lifestyle, he stayed away from a severe addiction. 

Pictured: Justin stands in the Courtyard on Central Campus

That changed when he was 18. Justin was the victim of a violent home invasion, which landed him in the hospital with skull fractures, bleeding on the brain, and a Vicodin prescription. “I fell in love with the way it made me feel,” he said. Like many who become addicted to the high of opioids, Justin eventually found a less-expensive, easier fix when his prescription ran out - heroin. “When I took it…it was the same feeling I got from the medications,” he recalled.

That addiction led to a long spiral of homelessness, rehab, detox, and arrests. At the same time, Justin did anything he could think of to get a fix and struggled to want to get clean. After eleven years of fighting his addiction, Justin knew he had to commit to finding a better way to live his life. As he started sharing his addiction story, Justin realized that education was a way for him to help others not fall into the same cycle. So, he sought out and began pursuing a degree in the Substance Use Disorder Counseling (SUDC) program here at Blackhawk Tech. It was “time to use my education and my experience with drugs as a way to give someone else a chance,” he explained.

Still reliant on a system of support, Justin has added his instructors to the team of people who encourage him through his continued recovery. He’s always been honest with them through his struggles. “Blackhawk realizes that things happen in people’s life,” he said. “When things get rough, they have been there for me as they would be for you.”

SUDC instructor Carissa Johnson is definitely in Justin’s corner. “Justin amazes me with his determination to beat his opioid addiction and succeed in school. His recovery and schoolwork are a priority in his life. He is such an asset to the classroom, bringing real-life experience to supplement concepts we teach. He is a great example of determination and perseverance. He is an inspiration for other students or community members struggling with addiction issues.”

Justin feels the same appreciation and commitment to the instructors with whom he’s been working. “In my area of study,” he explained, “teachers have been working with people like me, people suffering from addiction, throughout their careers. It makes me feel comfortable to have them in my corner.”

Justin found himself back in an active battle with his addiction when his grandmother passed away a year ago. “She was my everything,” he described. As he’s continuing to get help, he’s come to realize that his addiction and past traumas have led to other personal struggles with PTSD, depression, and anxiety, compounding his personal challenges. 

As Justin looks to the future, he wants nothing more than to help others in his position. “Addiction is a long, dark, lonely road,” according to Justin, “and those in recovery need compassion and empathy more than anything else.”

He wants to sit down with the people he will counsel someday and tell them that they are not alone. That he has walked the same road, had the same stumbles, and will provide them the same level of support that he has received.

Learn more about the Substance Use Disorder Counseling program here.

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