A different kind of surrender

Rene Francisco, co-founder of IT Works Chemical Dependency Treatment Center in Ozamiz City, builds good rapport with SuGod participants because he too was a former drug addict. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

PART 2

(A four-part series on why there is hope for drug users and pusher)

Rene Francisco, 57, was an addict whose addiction to drugs and alcohol started in high school, back in Ozamiz City.

Sent to the best schools, Rene always ended up at the guidance counselor or principal’s office.

His parents, Jun and Bel, were told to seek help from faith-based organizations, psychologists and psychiatrists. But none of these interventions made the young Rene any better.

“My sister Malyn informed my mother that I should go to rehab. It took a while for my mother to agree because she was in denial that I was a drug addict. But they eventually agreed,” he said in an interview with Cebu Daily News over Messenger.

Knowing that Rene would not go with her, Malyn tricked him that they would be going only to Makati Medical Center for a drug test. But he ended up in the psychiatric ward and detox facility of the hospital.

After the detox treatment, Rene was sent to an outpatient rehabilitation facility.

“All my life I was considered the black sheep. But when I saw the treatment center and saw all the recovering addicts seeking treatment, I said to myself that I finally found my herd,” Rene recalled.

After the treatment, Rene committed to help people like him to achieve sobriety and remain sober. Under the tutelage of the late Pablo Araneta, who was program director of Life Management Foundation Inc., Rene learned that addiction was a disease.

After training with Araneta for one year, he then went home to Ozamiz City.

Rene said he is grateful for the support of his parents, Jun and Bel Francisco, when he was undergoing treatment for his drug and alcohol addiction. Francisco said family plays a big role in treating drug addiction as as disease. (Rene seated at the center with siblings Mario, Antonio. With their parents are Malyn and Pipin). (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

In his hometown, Rene met Fr. Martin Ryan, a Columbian missionary treated for alcoholism in the USA, who asked him if he could help him build a treatment facility in the city.

From being an addict, Rene became co-founder and program director of IT WORKS! Chemical Dependency Treatment Center in Ozamiz City. He is also co-founder and program director of FARM-IT WORKS! Balay Kahayag Chemical Dependency Treatment Center, in Baclayon Bohol.

Middle of this year, Rene touched base with an old friend, Fe Mantuhac Barino, who initially just wanted to turn the Duros Group of Companies, which she runs with her husband Rafaelito, as a drug-free workplace.

Barino’s initial plan gave birth to the Surrender to God (SuGod) 10-day community-based and outpatient drug recovery and renewal program, which combined Fe’s commitment to the spiritual aspect of change and Rene’s expertise in dealing with drug addicts.

Difference

The SuGod program employs a “teach and preach” method.

“We teach the clients that they are not bad boys who need to become good boys. We tell them that they are sick persons needing treatment. The treatment approach is a combination of medical, educational and spiritual approaches. We teach them how to help themselves stop using drugs and stay sober,” Rene said.

A set of guidelines in a 12- step recovery program to overcome addiction is also taught.

From conceptualization of the SuGod program, Fe emphasized the importance of adding a Life in the Spirit Seminar in the modules.

“Fe and her team tell them that there is a God. It doesn’t really matter who their God is, but they have to have a God who is a caring God and not a punishing God,” said Rene.

This approach, where Rene teaches and Fe preaches, makes for a lethal combination that makes the program work.

Rene Francisco, co-founder of IT WORKS! Chemical Dependency Treatment Center in Ozamiz City, builds good rapport with SuGod participants because he too was a former drug addict. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

“The SuGod program is not just asking people to stop using drugs. It is also helping them change their outlook in life, a change of attitude, a change towards a healthy lifestyle. It’s learning to manage their lives again,” said Rene.

From a practical perspective, a SuGod program experience is a crash course on life management. This is why SuGod also involves the family in the drug recovery journey of a person.

“Substance abuse or drug addiction is a family disease. So we also try our best to help their families avail of the healing we extend to the substance abuser. Sometimes, families feel the pain more than the substance abuser. They too need help so we include them and teach them that their loved ones did not plan on turning into an addict and turn their family’s lives into a living hell,” Rene explained, careful to point out that addiction is a “No Fault” issue. They share to family members the “Dos and Don’ts” on how to behave around the substance abuser.

Lessons

It had been 36 years since Rene last saw Fe. The SuGod program, which started last July, brought them together to give people a chance to achieve a “natural high” — from being a helpless addict, mired in the disease, to becoming a productive member of mainstream society.

“The most memorable part of the SuGod program is seeing hard-core drug addicts cry and accept God during a Life in the Spirit Seminar healing activity and then go on and finish the 10-day program as a changed man/woman,” Rene said.

Rene Francisco (left), who co-developed the Surrender to God (SuGod) drug recovery and renewal program with Fe Barino, says he was a former drug addict who found his calling in helping others stay sober. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

The challenge is to find people willing to go into treatment because although there are many who need this program of recovery, only a few people actually want it.

Rene continues to serve because it helps him stay sober after quitting his addiction to drugs and alcohol in 1995.

“I will be there because I can only keep what I have by giving it away. You see, in order for me to stay sober I have to do service and help others achieve sobriety,” he shared.

The testimonials among SuGod participants are the same: that they were afraid that as drug addicts they will end up either in jail or in a coffin.

But Rene believes that with the other special kind of fellowship, there is hope for every drug addict who is willing to change.

“The greatest thing we teach our clients is to admit that they are addicted to drugs and because of this disease of addiction their lives had become unmanageable. They all realize that there is a God they can turn to, to make their journey of recovery a softer and easier way. Nobody has to die,” he said.