“Now my whole goal is to stay clean for the rest of my life.”

Robert Walker is a single father to two children, Camille and Robyn, ages six and eight. A few years ago, he lost his wife of ten years. The tragic loss of his spouse triggered Robert to relapse after ten years of sobriety.

In 1988, Robert was addicted to cocaine and sold drugs in order to maintain his addiction. He was consequently arrested and incarcerated for the distribution of illegal substances. Robert was never offered treatment instead of prison despite the relationship between his addiction and crime. In jail, Robert attended Narcotics Anonymous and, after his release two years later, attended an aftercare program.

Robert recognizes now that his time in prison and in aftercare never taught him how to “stay stopped”– how to stop using by acquiring the healing and coping skills to stay stabilized in recovery. “In Narcotics Anonymous you are told “if you don’t pick up, you can’t get high””. Robert didn’t pick up and he stayed clean for ten years.

For ten years, Robert lived clean and sober. During that time, he married, started a family, and worked hard to provide for them. But in 2000 Robert lost his beloved wife and he relapsed. He used marijuana, PCP, and crack-cocaine. After nearly six months of using, Robert sought help at a family treatment center which began to accept fathers into its program. In family treatment, he received therapy, parenting classes, coping skills, housing assistance and grief counseling.

Robert is now two years clean and feels truly grounded in his recovery. Stratford University has accepted Robert into their culinary arts program, and he will be attending the school for the next 15 months. He is a loving father to his two children and he feels joy from the ways in which his children express their love and admiration for him. “Now my whole goal is to stay clean for the rest of my life. My vision is to get a job as a chef, and open my own restaurant. My greatest hope and dream is for my children to go to college.