addiction alcohol

it's been yearsand years of struggling, knowing that i'm an alcoholic but not willingto do anything about it. i'd been throughtreatment centres four times. the four last oneswere first nations ones, and, uh, sadly enough,none of them took. i mean, my addiction brought me to so manylower and lower depths. you never know when your endor your bottom's going to come.

mine had to come,otherwise i was going to die. the bottom line isi had had enough, and i neededsomething different. i needed a change. i'd had a first nations cousin who had previously gone through a place called the door, the last door, and, uh, you know, he waseven worse off than me. he ended upin the downtown eastside,

doing his drug of choicein back alleys and stuff, and... and the door brought himfrom those depths up to a placeof relative sanity, i guess, and if it could do somethingfor someone like that, then maybe this placehas something to offer me. the door promotes community, at the same timebeing culturally sensitive to what i neededto work through. they don't discriminate.

they deal with everyethnic background in here. another thingthe last door promotes is one addict helping another. that's very important, and i've had the good fortune of having other first nationsfollow me into the program, and, uh... i managed to take themto sweats and stuff, and to them, it madea big difference

to know that, okay, this isn't just a centre that jams the 12 stepsdown your throat. they, uh... they let you dowhat you need to do, while keeping your culturalbackground in check, and for me, they allowed me to be proudthat i'm first nations. i've finally come to terms withhow much shame i carried,

and to say "my name is farrel. i'm a kwakwaka'wakw, and i'm fromthe gwawa'enuxw tribe" is nothing but a gift for meevery day i'm able to say it. would i recommend the last doorto first nations people? in a heartbeat. i have a lot of peoplewithin my community that suffer from alcoholism, so, you know, if...

if there's one suggestioni could possibly give to them, is, you know, the last door.