Congratulations to Sirquinn on celebrating one year of sobriety!
Learn more about his inspiring journey to recovery with The Resilience Initiative programming.

Sirquinn has called Portland, OR home for over thirty years, with drinking being a constant in his life throughout that time. The prospect of making a change felt overwhelming, filled with uncertainty and the unknown.

“I was in a certain box for a long time and I just used to go drink and go to my friends houses. I’ve been drinking since I was 12. I was getting into fights with my brothers they were cutting me off and telling me I need to quit drinking, asking me if I knew what I’d done the day before.”

A father of 8 children, and grandfather to 15, Sirquinn is also the main caregiver for his live-in grandson.
“He’s 5. I’ve had him since he was 6 days old so I’m like daddy to him” says Sirquinn with a big smile on his face.

The choice to make a change came after Sirquinn was faced with the harsh reality of how his actions could affect not only him, but the ones he loved most.

What was the point you decided you needed and wanted to make a change?
“That point came when I had my grandson with me and I was taking him trick or treating. I had also been drinking, and we got lost. I couldn’t navigate because my mind was all screwed up. I woke up the next day and looked in the mirror and my eyes were all bloodshot. I said I can’t keep doing this. Looking at myself in the mirror, I didn’t look like myself, I’d lost weight. I knew I was on my way back to jail or being killed in these streets because I was fighting a lot. I didn’t want to see my grandkids and kids finding me out in the street fighting. I finally said enough is enough.”

At this point, Sirquinn had begun attending meetings at Just Men in Recovery when he heard about a program that could make a difference for him, The Resilience Initiative (TRI). TRI is a unique addictions treatment program born from the need for African American holistic services in an environment that promotes culturally specific wellness and healing. TRI has been Developed through a partnership between Quest Center and Miracles Club. Along with peer support, individual and group therapy, TRI utilizes acupuncture, conscious movement, and anti-inflammatory nutrition programming to manage pain, reduce substance-use cravings, and help individuals build sober and healthy lifestyles.

A photo of the spread from “Breaking Bread” the cooking group for TRI participants.

Soon after joining the program Sirquinn was connected with his peer mentor Joresa.

“She’s been in my head a lot. I was coming to the classes but going to the extra events like going to the movies was out of my box. I was in my box doing my drinking so when I came I was going through a lot of stuff as far as deaths in my family. So then Joresa started calling me all the time, ‘you got to come to this and that’. Joresa started telling me ‘you’ve got to get outside of your box. You can’t keep doing the same things or you’ll get the same results.’ I was a skeptic, I thought yeah whatever…But I wasn’t working at the time. I was doing a construction job laying foundation doing concrete and had gotten fired, so I finally said okay I’ll come.”

Going to the movies, concerts, or the arcade was something he had never taken the time to do before, but now staying busy and social has been a major part of Sirquinn’s recovery.

“Instead of just sitting at my house in my head, I’ve started volunteering for stuff. I’ve been trying to take a lot of classes, I did the CRM, I did rent-well. I don’t have aches and pains everywhere anymore now that I’m active again, and I've just got a gym membership. I can get things done now that I used to really push aside.”

Of course, making such a drastic life change hasn’t come without its challenges.
”I have a year sober on October 25th. They say I make it look easy but it sure hasn’t always been. Just cause I’m clean don’t mean everything is peaches and cream.” Sirquinn says with a smile. “I’ve still got problems, I still struggle sometimes, but I always know I can call my mentors.”

One of the toughest moments stemmed from a death in Sirquinn’s family.
“One of my oldest sons babies. I was going to go to the funeral and then I said no… that’s going to be too much. I called my uncle and he said ‘you’re still in recovery I don’t think you should go down there but write it in a card how you feel.’ My son is in recovery too and I was worried about him relapsing. He’s been clean for 3 years and I was worried about what to say because I was struggling with my own recovery but I’ve made it through. I just try to stay focused it’s all I can do.”

Calling his mentors, going to meetings, meditating, and staying engaged with things that make him happy like drawing, painting, and building have been the key to maintaining recovery for Sirquinn.
”The main thing I've done is the meditation they taught me here. I didn’t know anything about that before. Joresa gave me a list of things to do, like go for a walk, sometimes I’ll just go for a long walk. I usually call someone in this group. It’s easier for me to talk to people in these groups and classes.”

Another major factor that kept Sirquinn coming to classes was having a safe and stable place to live.
”Something y’all helped me with was my rent. At the time I wasn’t working, so having my rent paid helped me out a lot. That was a struggle. They kept talking about increasing our rent. I could’ve gone back to work but I wanted to focus on staying sober and going to these programs. They helped me pay rent for 6 months I said okay I can keep coming to groups now. I’m back to working trying to level things out now.”

As someone who has felt firsthand the importance of having a safe and affordable place to live while recovering, Sirquinn was excited to attend the opening of the new Woodstock Recovery House. The Woodstock House is Quest Center’s newest addition to their transitional housing program that will house graduates and soon-to-be graduates of the TRI Program.

Sirquinn recently completed a course working towards becoming a Certified Recovery Mentor, and looks forward to walking alongside many others in their journeys to recovery.

Sirquinn’s Story: Finding Hope & Recovery with The Resilience Initiative (TRI)

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