When Joseph L. arrived at Sí Se Puede in 1991, he wasn't looking for a new beginning. In fact, he didn’t really want help at all. 

Joseph had been struggling with alcohol addiction for years. After his sixth DUI, he found himself in jail facing the possibility of significant additional time behind bars. A social worker approached him with a choice: enter a substance use disorder treatment program or go before the judge and risk further incarceration. 

Joseph chose treatment. But mostly, he admits, because he didn't want to be in jail. The program he entered was Encompass Community Services' Sí Se Puede, and at the time, it had been operating for only about three months. 

“I fought it big time,” Joseph remembers. “I didn't want to change.” 

But underneath that resistance, Joseph knew something had to change. Alcohol had already taken an enormous toll on his life. He had lost his job. His partner and daughter had moved out because they could no longer live with his drinking. And he was beginning to understand that if he continued down the same path, the consequences could be even greater. 

At Sí Se Puede, Joseph found himself surrounded by counselors and peers who understood what he was experiencing. At first, he resisted. Then he started listening. Little by little, he began to hear what others were telling him. He started participating in the process. And eventually, he came to the realization that would change the course of his life: if he continued drinking, alcohol was going to kill him. Joseph finally reached the point where he said, “I surrender.” He accepted the help being offered. And his life began to change. 

Recovery Gave Him More Than Sobriety 

Joseph successfully completed the Sí Se Puede program in 1992. As he built his new life in recovery, some of the things alcohol had taken from him began to return. Most importantly, his family came back into his life. His partner and daughter saw the changes he was making and reconnected with him. Then another opportunity emerged. 

In 1993, just a year after completing treatment, Joseph began working full-time as a night counselor at Sí Se Puede. The job helped him get back on his feet; but it soon became much more than employment. Joseph understood the people coming through the doors because he had once walked through those same doors himself. He knew the resistance. He knew what it was like to believe you weren't ready to change. But he also knew what could be waiting on the other side. 

Even after Joseph began another job working at a golf course in 1997, he continued working nights at Sí Se Puede. The program simply meant too much to him to leave. It became his way of giving back. 

In 1998, Joseph married his partner with their daughter present. Nearly three decades later, they are still married. “Happily married”, Joseph emphasizes. 

Joseph continued serving people seeking recovery at Sí Se Puede for 30 years, until his retirement in 2023, an amazing illustration of his commitment to a program that undeniably changed his life. 

Coming Full Circle 

More than three decades have passed since Joseph reluctantly entered a brand new Sí Se Puede program started by a group of Latino men who wanted to make a change in their community. Today, the program that helped save his life has entered an amazing new chapter: a new state-of-the-art outpatient and residential center that will help nearly a thousand community members each year. 

The expanded Sí Se Puede Behavioral Health Center gives Encompass the ability to help more people begin their own recovery journeys, with new withdrawal management services, medication for addiction treatment (MAT) services, and care for transition-age youth experiencing substance use and complex mental health challenges. 

For Joseph, seeing Sí Se Puede grow means seeing more people receive the same opportunity he was given in 1991. Retirement hasn't kept him away, either. Joseph still visits the program to say hello, reconnect with other graduates he’s met over the years, and offer his support. He continues to run into former clients and others connected to Sí Se Puede throughout the community. He jokes that he simply can't stay away. 

Perhaps that's because Sí Se Puede will always represent much more than a treatment program to Joseph. It's where he reclaimed his health, reunited with his family, found meaningful work and discovered a way to use his own experience to help others. 

His story also demonstrates something transformational about recovery: its impact rarely stops with one person. It extends to children, partners, families, coworkers and communities. And sometimes, as it did with Joseph, it extends to generations of future clients. 

More than 30 years after he first walked through the doors of Sí Se Puede, Joseph can put its impact on his life very simply: “If I didn't stop drinking, I wouldn't be talking to you right now. Sí Se Puede saved my life.”