Restarting in recovery

By Madeline Swanson | Photos by Marc-Grégor Campredon | Art by Dyanna Bateman

*Disclaimer: This story mentions topics such as drug use and overdose, suicide, and others that some may find triggering.*

If there’s one thing Josh Truchan wants you to know, it’s that his former opiate addiction is not his whole story. It’s perhaps just the beginning.

Now, five years sober and a junior at the University of Michigan School of Nursing (UMSN), the Dearborn Heights native acknowledges the help of others has been invaluable. The recipient of funding from the Go Blue Guarantee, which ensures free tuition to qualified in-state students, Josh said he wouldn’t be at U‑M without financial support. In fact, he said, without support from family, friends, mentors, counselors, and others—he might not be here at all.

But to understand where Josh is now, you have to know where he began.

Where it all started

When Josh was 8 years old, his mother, an elementary school teacher, suffered a life-changing injury as the result of a car accident.

“That’s where it all started,” Josh said. “She was confined to her bed for a long time, and she was supposed to be my fourth grade teacher that next year. It really shattered what I had hoped for and was excited about at that young age, on top of seeing what she went through and was still going through.”

His grandparents passed away over the next several years, and other family members experienced disabilities.

What followed for Josh was twofold: a passion for working in health care after seeing the care his mother and extended family received during his childhood, but also trauma that eventually led to a substance use disorder by the time he graduated high school.

“That’s where a lot of my anxieties stemmed from, and it was definitely a catalyst for some other struggles I had later in life,” Josh said. “My addiction started affecting a lot of my close friends that I grew up with who were all using with me. I lost close friends to suicide, overdose, homicide, and other things in my late teens and early 20s. It just put me into this depressed head space, and I was coping through my substance use.”

After graduating third in his high school class, Josh started his college career at Wayne State University, but eventually had to drop out due to his addiction.

Josh said all of these experiences left him spiraling downward. It was then that his family gave him an ultimatum, and he began forging the path to reclaim his life.

“My family agreed to help, and asked me kindly to go to treatment again, otherwise they weren’t going to support me anymore.”

After previous failed attempts, Josh began treatment at Dawn Farm in Ann Arbor—and this time he stuck with it. With a new dedication to sober living, Josh wanted to return to school, but the fear of being stigmatized made him hesitant.

That’s when he was introduced to the Collegiate Recovery Program (CRP) as a student at Washtenaw Community College, and an entire community of people and resources committed to sobriety and the journey of recovery. The program helped Josh reacclimate to a campus environment, especially as a non-traditional student.

‘A strong recovery community’

When he transferred to U‑M in 2022, it was, again, at the CRP where Josh felt at home.

Matthew Statman, manager of the CRP at Michigan, said it’s really important that students in recovery have a place where they can be with other students like themselves who can remind them how to maintain multiple priorities at once and act as a support system.

“For some students, it wouldn’t be an understatement to say that it’s a lifesaver. Literally, they credit being in the CRP for saving their lives,” Statman said. “For other students, it normalizes their college experience and offers them a sense of belonging. Having a group of peers and a program that’s funded by the university and donors, with dedicated space on central campus, is incredibly important to support their recoveries and to help them feel like their identity is valued.”

As Josh puts it, without his reliable support system and the “strong recovery community” at both the university and in the larger Ann Arbor community, he wouldn’t be where he is today. Just as the CRP provides support to students in recovery, donors who give to the Go Blue Guarantee are supporting students like Josh.

“When I got sober, my finances were a mess,” Josh said. “Paying off debt would’ve been very difficult if I was paying tuition out of pocket. It might have made it a barrier to me coming to school here—it might have not been in the cards for me without extra support.”

“Getting funding from the Go Blue Guarantee has given me the ability to afford taking care of myself without it being a terrible struggle,” Josh said. “It’s definitely made it possible for me to go to school, having fewer worries about covering all my bills and expenses.”

A new life of service

These days, Josh reflects on the services and people who have supported him, and continue to support him, on his sobriety journey. As a future nurse, he plans to pay forward the service, care, and dedication others have shown him to his patients.

“I was a difficult patient when I was using, and health care professionals always gave me proper, patient-centered care,” Josh said. “Being of service to other people has been a huge part of my story now and in recovery, and once I went back to school, it became this full circle moment realizing I could do that for other people.”

Now, with his future ahead of him, Josh is inspired and prepared to make a positive impact on people’s lives.

“Students in recovery have been through a lot. They have a ton of resiliency and now they’re focused. And Josh is one of those students,” Statman said. “He is going to make a difference in the world and in the lives of others, and he already does.”