Meet Joey K. (SC #1067), who knows all too well that a car isn’t just a vehicle–it’s the symbol of how perseverance and accountability are essential to unlocking independence and freedom in recovery.
A driver’s license isn’t just a form of identification, it’s a ticket to freedom and independence. Driver’s permits aren’t exciting because they’re a piece of paper, they’re exciting because they represent an end to begging our parents for rides, and the beginning of navigating our own choices. At the age of 19, when Joey lost his license after procrastinating traffic violations and getting caught driving under the influence of marijuana, he didn’t just lose a card in his wallet. He lost his freedom, self-sufficiency, and autonomy–all because of addiction.
As he reflects, “Joey disappeared when I was 13” after the first use of drugs enabled by his mother and sister who were also in active addiction. For the next fifteen years, addiction would lead Joey to multiple stints in prison, homeless in the blistering North Carolina heat, and separated from his son. He would try the Healing Transitions’ program twice, but “I couldn’t sit still” and would end up leaving before fully committing to long-term recovery. Success was short-lived when leaving the program, “I’m good at getting everything back but holding on to it for any amount of time was my issue.”
Toxic relationships with his mother and sister would enable a vicious cycle of addiction for the three. The turning point came when Child Protection Services separated Joey from the children, charging him with misdemeanor child neglect after finding drug paraphernalia in the hotel they were living in. “Once I’d seen that ticket, putting it on paper in front of me, it became real. This happened, and this is what it’s come to and you need to do something.”
Another unsuccessful attempt at a different recovery program led Joey right back to where he started and finally, he decided enough was enough. Sitting in a Lowe’s parking lot, he surrendered, finally admitting to himself that “what I was going to have to give up to get the life that I wanted was the drugs.” After the realization, Joey took the bus to Healing Transitions for his third and final attempt at the program.
On January 16, 2023, Joey finally sat still and committed to his long-term recovery. “If 30 days was possible, so was sixty” and thirteen months later, Joey completed the Healing Transitions program. But his time on campus didn’t stop there—Joey now walks through the doors everyday to help those who are in the dark place he was once in. As a Rapid Responder, his very duty is to lend the helping hand that pulled him out of the darkness to a Wake County neighbor in need.
On October 2, 2025, after fifteen years of a revoked license, Joey hit the roads again in the first vehicle he’s ever owned. His car represents an important lesson: “Procrastination is not your friend. If you put something off it’s just going to get worse.” These wise words were in reference to the series of events that led to Joey losing his license but they apply to the recovery journey just as aptly. For almost two decades, Joey refused to commit to obtaining the life he wanted for himself, continuously pushing off the solution.
After surrendering to reality, and rejecting the cycle of procrastination, Joey got something more than just his license back. He got his freedom and independence back. The breeze that blows through as he drives with his windows down are the winds of change that a life in recovery brings.