Richard C. has endured a lot of struggles in his 33 years, starting in childhood with an unstable upbringing in the foster care system and continuing into adulthood with stints of homelessness and an addiction to opiates. Yet, Richard’s story is one of resilience and hope, and with the support of his care team at Manet’s practice site in Taunton, he now has a chance at making a better life for himself and his two children.
Richard began using opiates (Percocet) at age 20 following emergency surgery for a ruptured appendix and soon found himself in a decade-long grip of addiction. He’d find doctors who would prescribe for him or buy drugs on the street. Eventually he was arrested for selling pills. Realizing he was in jeopardy of losing his young son and daughter, Richard vowed to change. “I see what I did was wrong and I took responsibility,” he says. “My kids come first.”
Richard began searching for help and after several attempts at sobriety, he heard about Manet and its medication assisted treatment (MAT) program, which offers closely managed treatment for substance use disorders in a primary care setting. He was pleasantly surprised, saying, “It took me three years to get to a doctor who took me seriously.”
Richard now receives regular care from his primary care provider, Bill Brandon, MD, a board certified family medicine physician who also specializes in addiction treatment. He also meets monthly with nurse case manager Stacey DeSousa, RN, as well as Manet’s on-site behavioral health counselors. “At first I was skeptical about Suboxone,” he explains. “But now…I can focus.”
While things are still far from easy for him, Richard is now able to hope that he can someday celebrate the holidays in his own home with his children. “This place (Manet) helps so much,” he says. “Before, everything was super hard, but then I got here and saw there was some light at the end of the tunnel. My life has seriously gotten better.”
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