VIDEO–This installment focuses upon Justin Stimson, a certified recovery peer advocate who has overcome addiction to alcohol and drugs and has found a path to help others struggling with SUD.
This is the third installment of the “Recovery Journey Leads to Career at UConnectCare” series – articles and videos about people whose recovery journeys have led to employment with UConnectCare (formerly GCASA).
Previously:
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Recovery Journey Leads to Career at UConnectCare – Melissa Vinyard: Living Out Loud
UConnectCare’s Prevention, Human Resources and Recovery Services departments have teamed up with videographer Alecia Kaus on a project that will produce video and print accounts of these community members who are in recovery from substance use disorder and have gained employment at the not-for-profit agency.
By Mike Pettinella
UConnectCare Publicist
Just as he did when he was drinking and partying, LeRoyan Justin Stimson isn’t holding back in his role as a certified recovery peer advocate and addiction recovery coach at UConnectCare (formerly Genesee/Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse).
For most of the first 22 years of his life, Stimson used alcohol and drugs to escape what he calls “a toxic environment” at home – shirking responsibility and squandering opportunities that included a full college scholarship.
“I started drinking and using drugs when I was 13. It started with marijuana and eventually went to pretty much everything, every substance available. I went off the rails, looking for the party scene and the casual sex scene,” Stimson said.
Stimson’s life is completely different today – he’s been in recovery since September 2009 – but it took a series of events and circumstances to forge a path to sobriety and productivity.
Looking back, Stimson, 37, said he lacked the necessary guidance and stability in his formative years.
“My father wasn’t around very much and when he was, there was a lot of conflict between him and my mother,” he recalled. “That led to a lot of internal problems for myself and my (two older) brothers for sure.”
Nevertheless, Stimson did well in school, both in and out of the classroom.
“I did multiple choruses, multiple bands. I played saxophone and I sang. I was the student director of the musical in 12th grade, and we won an award at the Stars of Tomorrow in the Rochester area,” he said.
As a result, he received a full scholarship to Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva with a plan to follow in both of his brother’s footsteps. Unfortunately for Stimson, his partying sent him astray.
“I remember going to my brother Nick’s fraternity house when I was in high school and going to a frat party,” he said. “I thought this was paradise.”
Stimson’s paradise quickly became a living hell as he seldom attended class, leading to him being expelled from the college. From there, he went back to Le Roy to live with his mother, Andrea Rifkin, and enrolled at Genesee Community College.
“At GCC, I ran into a lot of my high school friends who I had done a lot of drinking and partying with. So, I just did the same thing again – the same BS for another two years and I only earned a total of 13 credits,” he said. “I think I have 15 college credits to my name over a three-year period.”
His antics included streaking from the Student Union at GCC to the dorm rooms off campus, moving a security guard’s golf cart without permission and becoming violent with police at a party. He was arrested over the last incident and ended up in jail.
“I was in jail for the weekend and on the third day, I had a heart attack, at 22, from cocaine,” he said. “I thought I was dying.”
Guards transferred him to the emergency room at United Memorial Medical Center, handcuffed to the stretcher. While there, he overheard a doctor tell his mother that he had only a 30 percent chance to live.
“It was then that I made my first honest prayer to God in years,” he said. “I said if I get through this, I’m going to find some kind of way to stop drinking and using drugs.”
Following three weeks in intensive care, Stimson said he was left with two choices – move back with his mom and change his lifestyle or go back out onto the street and be disowned by his family.
He chose the former and even found the will to call the Le Roy Police to ask to volunteer in the village. He connected with John Condidorio who called Brother Matthew Levis, a Catholic monk who was serving at St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church at the time. They said Stimson could shovel snow at the church, which was across the street from Stimson’s mother’s house.
“Here I was, born and raised Jewish, at a Catholic church,” he said. “I got up the next morning at 5:30 and went there. I thought, I need to do this because I need to make some kind of change.”
Stimson’s relationship with Rev. Levis blossomed into one of mentorship and led to his involvement in Alcoholics Anonymous.
“I went with a parishioner to my first AA meeting in Morganville. That was 15 years ago,” he said. “I went to as many meetings as I could.”
He had stopped drinking and drugging after leaving the hospital – and has been sober ever since. And he even upped his volunteering at the church to 40 hours a week for the next nine months.
Stimson impressed church leaders so much that they offered him a paying job. He stayed on there for more than a year before moving on to Le Roy Plastics/Lapp Insulator for eight years and then to Le Roy Dry Cleaners, where he still works part time.
And he experienced a significant moment in his life just last month when he got engaged to Heather Jarvis. The couple is planning to wed next year.
With a heart to help others break free of addiction and urged on by his AA sponsor, Stimson applied to UConnectCare in late 2022 and was hired to assist in the Reentry Program, which serves those with substance use disorder returning to the community following incarceration.
“I can relate to a lot of those guys because I myself have been in jail and have been through the lifestyle of drinking and fights and craziness,” he said. “It’s really my calling because I’ve always liked helping people. Being the first point of contact, I assure them that they are OK, they can change their lives for the better.”
Stimson said he’s eager to share his story, which includes something his mother told him years ago.
“I don’t know where she heard it, but she always said, ‘What can you do today to help yourself tomorrow?’ Does that mean applying for jobs? Attending an AA or NA meeting? Or just going for a walk with a friend?”
In January of 2023, Stimson was in a terrible auto accident that resulted in several broken bones — including two broken legs – and 30 hours of emergency surgery and three months of rehabilitation. Remarkably, he has participated in the GLOW Corporate Cup 5K race the past two years!
He said he’s grateful for the support of the UConnectCare staff during that time and as he moves forward professionally and as the father of 7-year-old Evie Mae.
“Everyone at UConnectCare is available and works as a team,” he said. “I’m especially thankful for my co-workers at the Reentry Program. By sharing our experiences, sharing the message of strength and hope, we can all get through this together.”
The path to recovery begins with U. At UConnectCare, we want you to work with us. For more information on employment opportunities, go to www.uconnectcare.org.