LifeChange Graduate profile: Doug Quinney

Doug lay on the ground and screamed. He was screaming for God’s help. After using and selling meth for two and half years and many more years of alcohol abuse, he was at the end of his rope. Doug was walking to his Mom’s house and he stopped and sat on the bench and started to cry because he felt so lost and hopeless, and his pain became so intense he lay on the ground and screamed.

Doug’s addiction began in a schoolyard when Doug was 14 years old. He was a good student and athlete in his early school years, but when he was 14 he switched schools and began drinking alcohol to try and fit in at his new school. That kicked off years of drinking and partying. He dropped out of high school.

Doug was a functioning alcoholic- he was able to hold a job, get married and have three kids. Despite his efforts to hold it together, he had a tumultuous marriage and split up with his wife. He then had a girlfriend, and when that relationship went sour, his downward spiral accelerated. He prayed and asked God to help him break free from alcohol.

Surprisingly, Doug’s alcohol craving subsided, but Doug continued to “party” and became addicted to meth. He was using and selling meth, his life was a wreck of broken promises to his children and the rest of his family. Things were so bad that Doug’s mother took out a restraining order against Doug.

Even though his mother had a restraining order against him, he told her he was looking for help. Though she rarely changed channels on her television, she had accidentally switched stations and saw information about Union Gospel Mission’s LifeChange addiction recovery program.

While Doug was in LifeChange, a few important moments stood out to him. Doug recalls, “I was working in the kitchen during our Operation Overcoat event, where the Mission supplies clothing and food to homeless people, and Russ, a friend in LifeChange, lead me out to the event. Russ said, ‘Let me show you what God is doing,’ and I looked over that crowd and that day I was overwhelmed, I felt the presence of God, it was a real spiritual experience.”

The other event that was important for Doug in LifeChange was reconciliation with his children, in particular his oldest son. Doug had grown up with an alcoholic father and felt the pain of alienation and broken promises from his father. Doug came to realize his own addiction was perpetuating this destructive cycle.

One day, Doug approached his son during a visit and said to him, “It can stop with us.”

Doug arranged for himself and his son to meet with a Mission staff person, and hear out his son’s frustrations, hurts and pain caused by Doug’s addiction and to put their relationship on a new, healthy footing.
“We hugged and cried with each other after that, I knew we were breaking that old father/son dynamic and creating a new positive ripple effect in our family,” Doug says.

Today, Doug works on strengthening his relationship with children, “My hope is to create sense of trust, stability and hope. The assurance that dad is there for them. My kids are drug and alcohol free and I’m thankful for that”

Doug is currently employed at RV Pro in Vancouver and says his future plans include following through on something God showed him.

“I just heard two words, ‘share me’ and that’s what I believe God wants me to do, share and help people who are on the edge of destruction, like I was.”

What is LifeChange?

LifeChange is a community. Each member of LifeChange lives and works together at the Mission. The cornerstone of LifeChange is faith in the transforming power of Jesus Christ. LifeChange is a peer-based, each resident helps each other to identify issues and grow in their recovery. LifeChange is self-governed, as residents work together to make decisions as a community. LifeChange is long-term, and goal– oriented. Most residents spend two to four years to complete LifeChange.

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