Episode 7 — Getting Ahold of Your Personal GPS —with Patrick Balsley - a podcast by Joanna Lilley, MA, NCC

from 2020-03-17T10:00

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The mind is like a GPS. If you lose sight of your passions, any type of vision —of something truly meaningful in your life, you’ll end up lost. 

Growing up Patrick Balsley’s life looked a lot like basketball with a side of drugs and a dash of academics. As he grew older, Patricks passions started to drift and his life became mainly about drugs. He started experimenting with alcohol in middle school and progressed over the years into college. His healing journey was a back and forth cycle of interventions and rebounding. It wasn’t until he went to a 90 day program, when he felt his academic career truly began. In recovery Patrick found a deep responsibility to share what he had experienced and use his natural ability to connect with young men, to go on to work at a treatment center himself, which sparked a fire for him to become a clinician. Patrick is now a Certified Substance Abuse Counselor and Structure Family Recovery© Counselor and has been working with individuals and families affected by substance use for nearly a decade. 

On this episode of Success is Subjective, Patrick joins Joanna to share his journey as he went from numbing his pain from a young age, to eventually come to use his impactful story to connect and support individuals in the same boat he once was in. He dedicates the life he has now to all of his experiences and the support system he found throughout recovery that pushed him back to a life of passion. Listen in for insight on Patrick’s drive to educate families at every stage of the recovery process and share how detrimental the family system is for early recovery. 

What You Will Learn

  • The idea of academics growing up
  • Dealing with divorce at a young age
  • Felt less than the other kids in school
  • Went to college because classmates were
  • How life shifted in college
  • When things started taking a turn for the worst
  • Getting kicked out of college 
  • A rough breakup and start of a heavy addiction
  • When Patrick’s idea of academics completely changed
  • The englighting experience Patrick had in a 90 day recovery program
  • The miracle moment with Patrick’s transcript
  • Patrick’s first job as a certified addiction counselor
  • Patrick’s plan to eventually go back to school because he wants to. College isn’t going anywhere 

Connect with Patrick Balsley

Connect with Joanna Lilley  

Further episodes of Success is Subjective: Helping parents of college students accept that dropping out is okay

Further podcasts by Joanna Lilley, MA, NCC

Website of Joanna Lilley, MA, NCC