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Mark also said he tasted beer at age seven, grew up living in fear of his alcoholic father and at age 16, quit school on Sept. 30 and headed to Yonge Street where he slept under newspapers on the stairs of the Sam the Record Man store and supported a drug and alcohol habit as a male prostitute. Mark said he was abused, in every manner possible, at the hands of his father. He has panhandled, sold speakers out of the back of vans, sold drugs and was repeatedly sex- ually abused by a man to get drugs. At age 27, he quit drinking. I didnt want to be like my dad, he said. Fast forward to the present, Mark had relapsed from his seventh time in treatment last summer when he came to be at Halton Recovery House and was referred to Home Suite Hope (HSH). Im an alcohol and an addict. From the time I was born I wanted more. My mother was a teen mother, my father was an alcoholic. I grew up feeling alone and not part of any family, said Mark who was raised across numerous foster homes. He remembers his dad used to have him bring him beers as the man watched football. His dad would offer him a sip and Mark said it felt right sitting on the couch with his dad, watching football. At age 16 he headed to Yonge Street. I was going to live life on my terms. I had two suitcases and nothing else. I had a new jean jacket. It was mid-November and I was freezing, said Mark. Then someone gave him something to stay warm LSD or acid. I would sleep anywhere I could... by the stairs by Sam the Record Man with newspapers over me to keep warm, he said. At 16 he was doing speed intravenously... I worked the streets as a male prostitute off and on for many years after. I worked the streets to support my habit, said Mark. Though the money supported his habit and paid his rent, Mark said he always found himself to be somewhere else. He hitchhiked across Canada a couple of times before going home at age 19 or 20. Though his mom asked him how she could help upon hearing how he was living, he continued doing hard drugs in her home when she wasnt around, and doing softer drugs like marijuana and hash oil with her. By age 32, Mark said he first found himself in detox and until then, hed not known what detox was. By his late 30s he was gambling. He had turned to soft- er drugs while he was with his sons mother, but a run-in with crack one day at a friends place started it all over again for about four years, said Mark. Now hes getting back on track, even visiting his son. I was never happy. Here, Im happy, said Mark of HSH where he has met the HSH criteria of attending 90 AA meetings in 90 days, is working full-time and is involved in various support groups. Of his book, Mark said, It was about finishing something Id started, about proving not to anybody else, but myself, that I can do it. died before he left his homeland. It was very hard for me to accept, said Mohammed, outlining he would ask why he was to be spared. Mohammed said he didnt know what beer was and definitely didnt know the various brands, but he recalls distinctly his first purchase. I didnt like the taste, he recalls, but he did like the numbing feeling it gave him. Then he was trying drugs, hard drugs. I lost the ability to see what was happening. I found I had lost my busi- ness and I had lost myself, he said. When I was living that lifestyle, I wanted to get out but I didnt know how, he said. Mohammed eventually found him- self in treatment and then Home Suite Hope. That was several years ago now. Within three weeks, he had a job and he spent four hours a day, including Sundays, if needed, travel- ling to and from that job. Mohammed said the travelling pro- vided him discipline. After tackling his addiction, Mohammed left HSH with a job, a car and furniture. He had come without even clothes, he said. HSH even assisted him in a crimi- nal legal issue in which he was cleared. When Mohammed found him- self to be laid off in his job after leav- ing HSH, the support HSH offers again came to the rescue until he was employed again. The definition of family is some- one you can trust and thats here, said Mohammed. She settled in Montreal and was picked up by Cirque de Soleil. At one point she moved back to London, England where she met her partner. They worked on a millennium project and in west-end theatre. I guess Im not your typical homeless per- son, smiles Jane. When Jane became pregnant, she and her partner moved to Canada. A second child soon followed and then Janes partner went to Las Vegas to work on a show. He never came back, said Jane. Janes children were aged two-and-a-half and six months. She was not working. For two years, I tried to keep it together in Montreal, said Jane. I was working and taking care of little children and was in this horrible fog. Depression and real hopelessness had come in and at about the two-year point, I started drinking. That cycled on from there to a major addiction with alcohol coupled with depression. Fortunate to have family in Oakville, Jane left Montreal and came here. It was after a suicide attempt that Janes family in Oakville took custody of her children. After getting out of hospital, Jane got an apart- ment and saw a psychologist. She would attend to her children in the early morning and return home at night, but said she returned to her apartment hating herself and she would drink. We were three bags of garbage put out on the curb for somebody to come along and col- lect, said Jane. A second suicide attempt was followed by a third earlier this year as Jane described feeling useless, without focus and unable to complete simple tasks. While in hospital this past March, Jane said she was diagnosed with concurrent disorders depression and addiction and a nurse helped her get into a Hamilton detox facility and then to a Milton facility. By Victoria Day, Jane had completed her treatment, but with nowhere to go, landed at the Lighthouse Shelter in Oakville and connected with Home Suite Hope (HSH). While some assisted housing situations for mental illness have a 10-year waiting list, oth- ers dont offer much support for less complex cases. I dont need to learn to fry an egg, I do need to manage my life, said Jane. Home Suite Hope has been a beautiful thing because its given me hope for being able to get my life back on track and with that comes two young people who also have a future, said Jane. This has put me back on track with my family and with my children to put in a full effort at recovery, said Jane who, with the support and advocacy of HSH will now embark down the road of legal separation, child support and other matters. According to HSH officials, HSH has a holistic approach that engulfs its clients in a blanket of support that comes at them from all directions, much as problems do. Continued from page 1 Marks Story Continued from page 1 Mohammeds Story Continued from page 1 Janes Story