We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Joseph Valadez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Joseph, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
About my own experience with resilience and how I use that term in every area of my life, it goes like this. For 43 years, I was a drug user. 38 as an addict to heroin. I used to get quite high on heroin sometimes, and I would wake up in the morning feeling awful or dope sick. Even though I knew it would take at least two hours for my body to start having withdrawal symptoms,. At that point, I would get frantic and, sometimes, desperate to end the pain. My brain would be telling me at this point that I needed to do something to stop feeling this pain. Of course, without getting into detail, I would find a way to get high and take the pain away. I had to lie, beg, borrow, or steal to get that high and nothing was going to stop me. Sometimes I wasn’t nice about it but I would succeed. I was resilient in my pursuit of getting high on heroin. So, when I decided to change my life and joined a 12-step recovery fellowship, I was told early on to apply that same resilience that I used to chase my drugs, to apply it to all aspects of my life and my recovery. That I would be surprise if I practice this mindset in all aspects of my life. Contrary action. I have and the rest is history.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I was hired by Project Kinship as a clinician in May 2023, following my graduation with a Master of Social Work from California State University Long Beach. I have truly discovered my place. treating people as a clinician who are just embarking on their journey. It’s like I’ve come full circle. I get to help out those individuals who are barely starting their own journeys. Whether just being released from state prison or a county facility, I get to participate just a little. Just so you’re aware, our mission at Project Kinship is to provide support and training to lives impacted by incarceration, gangs, and violence through hope, healing, and transformation. Project Kinship has staff members with backgrounds in mental health, social work, education, law, and formerly incarcerated individuals. We are proud to be a safe haven for thousands of lives who are on the journey of re-entry and healing.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
For me without a doubt, the number one area for me is having a big support group. Again, because I am in recovery, I stay connected to the men and women of my fellowship. I might not see them in person all the time, but I do call them on a regular basis and ask all of them for advice. Another one for me is to ask for help. That was a big one for me because my pride and ego would never admit that I was wrong or didn’t know. Lastly, is not to give up. There was a time when I was in community college, and I couldn’t get algebra. I had flunked algebra three separate times and was doubting myself whether I could do it or not. I reached out to school officials and explained my problem and they were all beautiful in helping me get the help that I needed to pass. In my case, more tutors during the week.
Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?
Definitely, the Adult Rehabilitation Center of The Salvation Army in Anaheim. My life was saved here. When I was allowed to enter this institution, I was 55 years old. I arrived on April 21, 2013, and left on April 22, 2014. I was granted a year’s stay. At that point, my only accomplishments listed on my résumé were my high school graduation and my honorable discharge from the service. In addition, I had used drugs for 43 years and had been incarcerated for more than 30 years, both as an adult and a juvenile. During my stay there, I had to completely rewire my brain. I had been deficient in certain vital life skills, and The Salvation Army helped me achieve them.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: joseph.valadez399
- Facebook: joseph.valadez399
Image Credits
All photos were shot by Miguel De La Rosa.
