Stopping Addiction Is My Mission
I AM a Narconon Staff Member
Every day Narconon staff members are helping individuals find a new perspective on life by getting them through a drug-free and effective drug rehabilitation program. Without this important work, many individuals would continue to suffer from the downward spiral of addiction with no hope in sight. Narconon staff provide that hope and help the individual through the sometimes difficult process of becoming Drug-Free, for Good. The benefit for the addict is obvious, but for the individual who wants to change society for the better, becoming a Narconon staff member is one of the most rewarding choices a person could make.
Before joining the Narconon staff team, Fio felt like she was in a bubble, oblivious to the world around her. Over time the bubble began to crack and the pain and suffering slipped in and Fio knew she had to do something to help. With a hurricane barreling down on Texas while Fio was in school, she left for two weeks to help those around her and then when it was over, she knew that she had to continue to help. That’s when she became a Narconon staff member.
We asked Fio to sit down and tell us about her experience.
What was your life like before working at Narconon?
“Imagine a bubble—an impermeable bubble. Now, imagine your friends and family are in that bubble with you living a picture-perfect life. Now, imagine a little window appearing next to you and getting bigger and bigger every time you take a quick glance at it, giving you a chance to look outside of your bubble.
“Outside that little window, you see pain, heartbreak, broken relationships and a world of hurt. You find it uncomfortable to look at and you almost choose to ignore it for a while. You spend the next few years trying to avoid looking at it and keep living your picture-perfect life, but the window becomes bigger and bigger and the noise outside becomes louder and louder until you can’t ignore it anymore. You spend a few months trying to figure out whether or not you should stay in your bubble or climb out of the window.
“Do you close the window? Do you go on and pretend it’s not really happening? Do you climb out of it? While you love your little bubble, you can’t stay in it because you are responsible for the individuals on this planet.
While you love your little bubble, you can’t stay in it because you are responsible for the individuals on this planet.
“That was my life before Narconon. I was completely oblivious to the world outside my bubble—a world I was protected from since I was a child. I was told it wasn’t my place to help. I was told I couldn’t help. I couldn’t disagree more.
“I can help. I have helped. I have guided hundreds of individuals to take control of their life again. I have met the bravest human beings on the planet—individuals who chose to stop their way of living and are trying to find a better, more survival way to live. I have helped restore relationships. I have helped individuals rebuild their lives and keep growing every single day. It is my place to help because there aren’t a lot of people on this planet who can or who will.”
What do you think is the worst thing about drugs in society? And how does working at Narconon address that?
“Society operates with the idea that a pill will solve all your problems. Pain? Pill. Headache? Pill. Sadness? Pill. Drug problem? Another pill.
“The world revolves around the concept that drugs are the solution to all of mankind’s problems. It is the “easy” fix without needing to be responsible for anything else going on in their life. The drugs take away the individual’s ability to be responsible for their own condition. Narconon handles the reason why they started doing drugs in the first place and makes the individual responsible again.
What are your personal goals in life and how does working at Narconon align with your personal goals?
“My biggest fear was living a life of mediocrity. More specifically, working at a purposeless 9 to 5 job, going home and then going to bed. Then doing it all over again until the day I died. That scared me more than anything else. Not growing, not learning, but doing the same things over and over again without a purpose, without direction.
“Deep down, I’ve always known I wanted to help. I wanted to help those who couldn’t help themselves. Before Narconon, I couldn’t understand why I was so unhappy. Everyone else around me seemed fine and I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me that I couldn’t be satisfied with what I had.
“I came to Narconon and everything changed. I have grown as a person, I’ve grown spiritually. I finally found something some people search their whole lives to find—a job I adore and couldn’t imagine doing anything else. I am not afraid of mediocrity anymore because what we are doing is anything but that. I have never been happier.”
How did you get interested in working in Narconon and what are the reasons you decided to join staff at Narconon?
“The catalyst for me was a different experience than most, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. I was enrolled at a university at the time and all that was aired on television and posted on social media was about the destructive hurricane called Harvey. I remember sitting in my living room petting my cat watching the news. I was in between classes and my friends and I were sitting around our TV just watching this massive storm approaching the Texas coast. We braced ourselves for the damages that were about to ensue. We prayed and sent positive thoughts and hoped that the damages were not going to be as bad as they said they were going to be—unfortunately, we were wrong. The damage was great and people suffered a great loss and it didn’t seem to get any better. My skin started to crawl—I wanted to go help, so I did.
“I took a leave from school and traveled to Texas. I volunteered my heart out for two weeks. We gave out supplies, helped clean out people’s homes and helped them rebuild their lives. I had never been happier. That’s when it hit me—I had been doing it all wrong. This is what I wanted to do: help people, get them through those difficult times—help those who couldn’t help themselves. Then, I made it my mission to find the right place to do just that and I found Narconon.”
What do you like the most about being a Narconon staff member?
“The wins and success of the students are great, but one of the best things I have to say would be the group itself, the network, my second family. We take care of our own, we protect and have each other’s back. I have never had this much support from any other group I have ever been a part of. We rise together with our group members and we pick up those who are struggling to do so. I have learned from my group members, we have cried together at graduation, we have laughed. We all have the same purpose and that is a beautiful thing. Out of all the things that I love about Narconon, that is definitely the best.”
Describe the single best experience you have had on staff. How did it affect you?
“It must have been a year or so ago, it was a spring day and we were experiencing a rainstorm. I walked past the large windows overlooking the lake, and I saw one of the female students running outside, laughing and smiling—like a little kid, sticking her tongue out to catch the raindrops. It was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen in my life. I talked to her afterward and I asked her how she was doing. She said that in all her life, she couldn’t remember the last time she felt the rain on her skin. She couldn’t remember the last time she had fun without the use of drugs and felt like herself again. She was crying, she was so grateful—she wanted to help others too but realized she couldn’t help them if she couldn’t help herself first.
Addicts are no different than anyone else. Addiction isn’t a disease or something someone ’has’; it’s a behavior and a pattern. But take that away and expose the individual to who he or she really is, all the layers drop and the person can be himself again.
“That’s when I realized that addicts are no different than anyone else. Addiction isn’t a disease or something someone ’has’; it’s a behavior and a pattern. But take that away and expose the individual to who he or she really is, all the layers drop and the person can be himself again. Narconon staff don’t help them see who they really are—we really don’t. We just apply the technology we know that works and help them guide themselves to find out who they are and to a new way of living. We guide the individuals to find that out for themselves.”
What’s the hardest thing about working in rehab?
“The hardest thing I had to learn and work through is trying to get someone through the program when they lie, manipulate and try to cheat the system. That was the hardest lesson I have ever had to learn. Because of my impenetrable bubble, I wasn’t really exposed to lies and manipulation. Here, I run into that. Here, I had to persevere despite it and never give up. Here, I had to learn that that is how addicts survived. I had to learn and understand that’s what they had to do to live to see another day. I got through it, but only because it was my responsibility to help them see there is another way to survive. It gets irritating, to say the least, but I had to keep on going despite it because it was my responsibility to do so.”
What would you say to someone who may be considering becoming a Narconon staff member?
“It will be the hardest thing you will ever do. It will also be the most beautiful, most rewarding thing you will do in your life. Helping people come off drugs isn’t for the faint of heart. You are going to have some very tough days, but the best days you will have will make up for every bad day.
“Drugs are the scourge of society. Whether you chose to ignore it like I did, or decide to do something about it, the problem isn’t going away on its own. It is our responsibility to do what we can to improve the state of our society.”
—Fio M., Narconon Staff Member
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