Joseph
Joseph Penhall’s life was spiraling downward. His battle with drugs and alcohol began right out of high school. “It quickly got out of control,” Penhall says of his heroin, methamphetamine and alcohol addiction.
“I worried my mother so much that she would wait up for me at night — standing by the window looking for my truck,” he says. “She was waiting for the police to come to the door and tell her I was either in jail again — or dead.”
He remembers the morning he woke up in the bed of his truck with no idea where he was or how he got there.
“I called my mom that same day and told her I needed help,” Penhall says. His mother took him to Loma Linda University Behavioral Medicine Center. It was there that he realized he wasn’t alone. “There were people who did the same things as me — felt the same way — who were learning how to deal with their addiction as well.”
“They helped me find myself,” Penhall says. “They saved my life.”
