Success Stories
Moving Forward One Day at a Time
Julio Sepulveda was married with children and doing okay for himself. Then he started to have problems with drinking, driving, and the law. It was a dark period where the people he associated with were a big part of his problem. Julio’s problem is his addiction to alcohol. After a series of drunk driving arrests and the subsequent loss of his license, Julio was told by his lawyer he had a choice between rehab or prison. Julio chose Project Rehab’s Hispanic Residential Program(HRP). Thirty days later he was out and getting into trouble again. Julio points out “I didn’t listen the first time.” He returned to HRP with a commitment to recovery. He learned that the key to his recovery was complete change. Changing his lifestyle meant focusing on sobriety, his higher power and for Julio, his family. He has some simple advice that he picked up in recovery, “Stay away from bad people and always keep busy.” Julio expresses his appreciation for his “great wife,” but explains, “she does have her limits of patience with old habits of mine.” As for his children, he prays they never have to go through what he went through. Today Julio looks to expand his company by adding more stalls at his auto repair business, a business he will pass down to a son. For those facing addiction of any sort, Julio suggests, “If you accept the help, you will get better.”
Julio’s story appears in 40 Stories of Courage and Hope: Celebrating 40 Years of Project Rehab, which was published in Fall 2008 in recognition of Project Rehab’s 40th anniversary. Click here to read more stories about our courageous clients and the treatment pioneers who helped make recovery possible.
This story is sponsored by Grand Valley State University