Recovering Addict Turns Curse Of Mental Illness Into Blessing For Others

Oklahoma City will be the site of this year’s National Recovery Rally and Walk. The event is held each year in September to educate people about how access to substance use and mental health treatment services saves lives.

Tyler Ross is proof of that.

“I thought my schizophrenia would serve no purpose at all,” said Tyler Ross.

Ross found that purpose, though, and is now the light in the darkness for those in recovery.

“It took a meth addiction for me to realize I needed medication,” he said.

Diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 20, Ross spent years in and out of crisis centers.

“I heard voices all the time,” he said. “The voices are just constant, there was evil ones, there was good ones, it was just always different types of voices.”

To cope, Ross turned to drugs and alcohol.

“When I put down the pipe and picked up the hope, that's what changed my life was finding a little hope in the medicine,” he said.

Five years sober now, he works as a youth ambassador at the non-profit OCARTA, the Oklahoma Citizen Advocates for Recovery and Transformation Association, where he spreads that hope to others in recovery.

“To hear a parent, say, ‘thank you,’ to hear a loved one say, ‘I think I’ve got it now,’ that's all we’re asking for is to understand not judge,” Ross said.

Founder Donna Woods says, like Tyler, 65 percent of the people who seek help at OCARTA are dealing with both addiction and mental health issues.

“We don't enable anybody, you know, we're a hand up not a handout,” Woods said. “That's what peer recovery support is all about, is seeing that there is life after drugs and alcohol, there is life, and you can live your life and respond to life instead of react.”

For Ross, what he once thought was a curse, turned out to be a blessing for others.

“When I was diagnosed with schizophrenia, I thought it would be the curse of my life,” he said. “I didn't think I’d ever turn it around and use it to help others.”

The event is open to the public. It will take place on Saturday, September 16 from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. on the OSU-OKC campus, 900 N. Portland Avenue in Oklahoma City.