{"id":1802,"date":"2020-03-02T15:55:32","date_gmt":"2020-03-02T21:55:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/?p=1802"},"modified":"2020-03-03T09:40:19","modified_gmt":"2020-03-03T15:40:19","slug":"ssc-student-carves-path-to-recovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/ssc-student-carves-path-to-recovery\/","title":{"rendered":"SSC Student Carves Path to Recovery"},"content":{"rendered":"

In February of 2019, A-yo Jones found he had exhausted a mode of living. For 16 years, he had drank heavily and been no stranger to drug use. He lost his job a month earlier when his struggle with depression impacted his work performance. <\/p>\n\n\n

\u201cOne day I woke\nup and I couldn\u2019t get out of bed. I had the bottle next to my bed. That was my\nsolace. That was my escape. I spent three days around the house. I didn\u2019t call\nin. I lost the job. I decided I was tired of living like that,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jones found\nhimself trapped in a lifestyle far removed from the path he had envisioned for\nhimself as a boy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI used to take my studies so seriously. I was a valedictorian at my eighth-grade graduation,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to a\ncustody battle between his parents, Jones transferred from a small school to\nShawnee High School his freshman year. The large number of students overwhelmed\nJones, and he tried to fit in wherever he could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI fell in with\nthe wrong crowd. I was impressionable. I got involved in gang activity and\nsubstance abuse,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He dropped out\nof high school when he was a sophomore. He obtained his GED when he was 16 and\nbounced from job to job, while struggling with depression and substances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Feb. 24,\n2019, Jones decided to take control of his life again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s my sobriety\ndate. Up until that point, I was always trying to con or scheme someone,\nsometimes it was just myself. I needed to give it to God for real,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Seminole<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jones, a member\nof the Seminole tribe, joined Wellbriety, a support system rooted in Native\nAmerican culture that offers a holistic approach to overcoming substance abuse,\nco-occurring disorders and intergenerational trauma. Wellbriety encourages\nthose seeking recovery to consider a four-part approach to wellness: mental,\nspiritual, emotional and physical. Jones began attending church regularly and\nfell in love with running. As he replaced his past addictions with healthy\nhabits, he also wanted to challenge his mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn a whim, I\nstopped by Seminole State College to see what they had to offer. I enrolled in\ntwo summer classes, and when I made A\u2019s in those classes my belief in myself\ncame back,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 He enrolled full-time at SSC for the fall\nsemester, studying health and physical education. When he completes his\ncoursework at SSC, he plans to transfer to a four-year university and double major\nin kinesiology and psychology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPhysical\nexercise has become a foundation of my recovery,\u201d Jones said. \u201cI want to help\nothers find peace through exercise. It\u2019s a sharing of a gift, in essence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jones finished\nthe fall semester with a 4.0 GPA and was named to the President\u2019s Honor Roll. He\nfinished his racing season last year with eight medals, including three second\nplace finishes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He celebrated\none year of continuous sobriety on Feb. 24, 2020. He recently served as the\nkeynote speaker at a Free Life AA group meeting in Shawnee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since enrolling\nat SSC, he has become active in several facets of student life. He spoke at the\nMartin Luther King Jr. program held at the College on Jan. 16. He works as a\nPeer Mentor for Student Support Services and regularly leads peer group\ndiscussions. On March 3, he will be added as a member to the Phi Theta Kappa\nInternational Honor Society at a ceremony on campus. He is also an active\nmember of the Native American Student Association, and he is presently training\nto run the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon later this spring. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m getting\nback to the path I was originally on. It started here at SSC. It\u2019s incredible,\u201d\nJones said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In February of 2019, A-yo Jones found he had exhausted a mode of living. For 16 years, he had drank heavily and been no stranger to drug use. He lost his job a month earlier when his struggle with depression impacted his work performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1803,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[85],"class_list":["post-1802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-http-www-sscok-edu-media-academics","tag-march-2020"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1802"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1806,"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1802\/revisions\/1806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}