Hello everyone,
I’ll start with introducing myself. My name is Wahsontiio Stacey, I am 34 years old from Montreal, Canada. I’ve been doing some research the last few months trying to find ways to help my best friend who is in a scary mental health crisis.
I am currently in recovery myself. I am around a year and a half into my recovery journey. I battled opioid addiction for 13 years. I grew with dreams of playing in the NHL (National Hockey League), landing a full scholarship to The University of Vermont when I was 18 years old. My dreams were becoming closer to a reality until my sophomore year when my strength coach introduced me to Oxycontin. From that day on, my life would take a 180 and destruction would begin. Fast forward to a year and a half ago, i finally got the help I needed. I now am so beyond grateful to say that I am living each day in control and in recovery. Happily.
Now my best friend is in a crisis of his own. We’ve been communicating about his issues and I often reach out just reassuring him that I am here in any way shape or form. After living through addiction I understand that hassling someone isn’t the greatest method to recovery. So I just cautiously reassure him.
He battles with hearing voices and seeing things on his surveillence cameras. He is about 2 years into a divorce and it was a messy one. He tells me that he fears his son is in danger and he does not know how to help him. He says he hears voices of men saying things like " you like that boyyy…you like that?..brooklyn boyyy brooklyn boyy."… and then he says he hears the sounds of a slap. And then he hears a young boy crying for help.
He also feels that his ex and other people are brain washing his son into thinking that his father is not a good person and not to love him. Another example of what he is experiencing is this : He sent me a video a few weeks ago around 2am. From his house cameras that showed an ATV passing the front of his house pulling a sleigh with a dog in it ( this is what I saw and also showed 2 other friends and they confirmed with me) …However, what he told me was that it was a man pulling a young boy with his hands tied behind his back screaming for help.
A little bit more about my friend, to give everyone a better understand to hopefully help. My friend is a wealthy person. He also is always under the influence of cocaine when these episodes happen. ( Which I always reaasure him that, that stuff obviously is only enhanching these episodes) . He knows this, but here’s his reasoning of why he does it: He says that when he uses cocaine it give him more engaging thoughts on how he could figure out a plan to help his son. I am always sharing with him my experiences and journey on how I am staying healthy one day at a time. He continues to reach out asking to meet up, but then he doesnt answer when it comes time to meet up. I know this is an entire different conversation of its own in regards to recovering. But my main ask for help is how and what I could do to help my friend.
He is well aware that he is experiencing psychosis or schiz of some sort. So he is not in total denial. But he thinks his son is in real danger. How do I help him with starting the recovery and healing and working on his issues. I am able to help him through all I know with the addiction and his cocaine issue. But I am stuck with the Schiz and Psychosis part of his crisis.
Thank you everyone who may be able to help.