Getting Honest

Rene Triggs has never had a problem working. He’s always had a job at one time or another. He joined the Marines in 1973 as a machine gun operator. He was a boxer in California. He was a garbage collector for 13 years. He drives a truck.

Each of these careers were begun and ended by drug addiction and, consequently, time in jail.

Rene did seek treatment. He went through many short-term treatment programs. Some were expensive programs, some were free. Some he completed, some he quit.

His failure wasn’t for lack of trying. His failure was partly due to a secret he had managed to keep from every employer. Rene was illiterate. He has an almost photographic memory and a quick wit which, he thought, was enough to carry him through life.

Rene entered the Volunteers of America veterans programs thinking he could slide through like he had the others. If they required him to do any reading, he would quit or make excuses. The program began for Rene in much the same fashion as the other programs, but this time Rene’s case manager gave him a different perspective.

“Rene, why can’t you kick your drug addition? Get honest with yourself and with me.”

This simple concept encouraged Rene to do some soul searching and honest reflection. He came back to his case manager with a confession. “I can’t read.”

Rene shared what had caused him shame and hindered his treatment for so many years. He thought everyone surely knew this and judged and scorned him for it. An illiterate veteran is a pretty rare occurrence, since the military requires a GED for service.

His case manager told him what he did not expect: “Rene, I would have never known.” He was so adept at hiding his hindrance that, to most people, he was smart and competent.

With this myth in Rene’s life shattered, he could “get honest” with the issues behind his illiteracy and drug addiction – what was really holding him back.

“I had to be torn down and built back up,” said Rene.

Recovery is always an uphill battle, but Rene is navigating it well. Graduating from the program in August of 2005, he drives a truck for Columbus Steel. His reading skills get better with each passing month.

“As long as I live, I’ll always be in debt to Volunteers of America,” said Rene. “They helped me break the bonds of my mental imprisonment.”

Rene’s goal is to one day come back to work for the program as a counselor, but now he would settle for driving one of our trucks.