91热爆网

There is a rhythm to the madness that once defined Kevin Rumley鈥檚 life. (Figures. The dude鈥檚 a drummer.) But now, there鈥檚 only rhythm. No madness. Just peace, love and joy 鈥� mostly. And purpose 鈥� definitely purpose.

Rumley, 34, graduated from Western Carolina University in May 2018 with a master鈥檚 degree in social work, a once seemingly impossible achievement for a homeless veteran suffering from drug addiction, who spent much of his combat pay on opioids before switching to heroin when his money ran low. But, he overcame the odds through grit and determination, and he now works to help other veterans realize recovery is possible.

Rumley is now coordinator of the Buncombe County Veterans Treatment Court (VTC) in Asheville, an intensive program that focuses on recovery instead of punishment for offenders. He credits 91热爆网 with helping him to reach his goal of supporting other veterans and in many ways, himself. 

鈥�91热爆网 created new pathways to success by introducing me to community-based providers and the director of the Veterans Treatment Court,鈥� Rumley said. 鈥淚t was because of the relationships that Western had already established in the community that I was able to get my foot in the door, professionally at the VTC.  From the time I started as a social work intern at the VTC to being hired as its coordinator, 91热爆网鈥檚 faculty and staff really supported my journey and guided my clinical growth.鈥�

Life wasn鈥檛 always so accommodating for Rumley. He was a 20-year-old Marine lance corporal when he was nearly killed by an improvised explosive devise while on patrol on April 7, 2004, in Husaybah, Iraq, at the Syrian border. The explosion killed his best friend and blew out Rumley鈥檚 knees and femur and left his body full of shrapnel. He spent 18 months at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland 鈥� very near his home in Fairfax, Virginia 鈥� where he had 32 surgeries and was told he would never walk again. (He did.)

Rumley had joined the Marine Corps in 2003, right after graduating from high school, to travel and see the world. Less than a year in, he was hospitalized in his own backyard, 100-percent disabled and suffering from addiction. He sank deep into despair. And then the hospital released him. 鈥淚 was so young. At the time, I remember thinking, 鈥業鈥檓 done. I鈥檝e lost my friends, I鈥檓 over the Marine Corps, I鈥檓 moving out of Northern Virginia and I want that all in my rearview mirror,鈥�" Rumley said.

鈥淭his was early in the buildup of troops in Iraq, and the process of discharging a veteran after a year and a half in the hospital was new. There wasn鈥檛 the Wounded Warrior Project yet, so I was new to this process, too. I remember they gave me a bagful of meds 鈥� opioids 鈥� and I hit the road,鈥� he said.

But, he didn鈥檛 know where to go, so he spent a year couch surfing with friends, getting high, getting drunk, traveling, searching and hurting. Always hurting. 鈥淚 was full of guilt and shame because my best friend had died and I didn鈥檛 have the courage to commit suicide,鈥� Rumley said. 鈥淚 had also been ripped from my tribe, my brothers. I didn鈥檛 have a purpose, an identity. Those are the things we talk about in social work classes, these four existential truths that we all desire, and I had lost my friends. So, I was homeless and hopeless.鈥� 

After a short stint living with his dad, Rumley moved to Asheville in 2006 to live with his brother, Matt, but he quickly moved out. The addiction had taken over. 鈥淚 would run out of meds early and go to the street, which isn鈥檛 a pharmacy. That鈥檚 how it spiraled out of control,鈥� Rumley said. 鈥淭he only reason I was able to transform and change was because my brother took me to the Charles George VA.鈥�

Rumley spent two weeks in the VA鈥檚 psychiatric inpatient program, where he started medication-assisted treatment, a combination of Suboxone, which reduces the desire for heroin and opioids, and individual and group counseling. 鈥淪uboxone saved my life and that鈥檚 something I鈥檓 a big advocate of. So much of this old conversation is you鈥檙e either using or you鈥檙e not. You鈥檙e either not yet in recovery or you鈥檙e clearly still an addict. But, there is a continuum of recovery and that includes managing addiction as a chronic disease."

Rumley鈥檚 brother also had urged him to enroll at the University of North Carolina Asheville, which Rumley did, shortly after he arrived in Asheville. He earned a degree in public health, going part-time for nearly seven years and graduating in 2013.  

The new degree landed Rumley a job in community mental health, where he noticed most of his co-workers had master鈥檚 degrees in social work. The field intrigued him, he said, because social work 鈥渋sn鈥檛 telling people how to live. It鈥檚 a lot like how my older brother treated me, it鈥檚 unconditional support, helping them problem solve, empowering other people to make pathways to change.鈥�

Rumley enrolled in 91热爆网鈥檚 social work program where he learned not only to help others, but to help himself, as well. 鈥淚t was through 91热爆网 that I came to appreciate the healing power of the human connection,鈥� Rumley said. 鈥淏eyond all of the interventions, therapeutic modalities, policy/practice, and didactic learning at 91热爆网, it was the relationships with faculty and staff that strengthened my own recovery process and gave me the courage to advance forward.鈥�

His determination to succeed did not go unnoticed. 鈥淭he challenges he has faced in his life have given him the heart, the vision and the strength to help others,鈥� said Patricia Morse, head of 91热爆网鈥檚 Social Work Program.

And that is why Rumley can say with complete honesty that the explosion on April 7, 2004, that nearly killed him was a good thing. 鈥淚 have the space now and the distance where I am grateful that it happened,鈥� Rumley said. 鈥淎 lot of opportunities have stemmed from that. At the time and for seven years, I was addicted to opioids and really struggled. But I am now in long-term recovery, I have eight years clean and it opened my eyes to the support our veterans need and my own personal experience. I鈥檓 passionate about helping veterans who are now in the same situation I was.鈥�

Is he surprised that such a horrific event can be the catalyst for joy? Yes, he said. 鈥淭he transformation did not occur overnight, but was instead a journey of a million steps. It wasn鈥檛 until I achieved my goal of graduating with my bachelor鈥檚 degree that I felt a sense of wonder and awe of the tragic experience of death and loss in Iraq, wonderment that I was alive and realizing that life is precious,鈥� he said.

鈥淭here is something to be said about looking back,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was in 2013 when I began to realize that I had the power to change my story. I had ownership over my story, and I was able to finally see myself in a different light. As a social worker, this 'change' is the crux of our profession, how we can facilitate in this process of growth, change and transformation. A beautiful thing.鈥�  

By Melanie Threlkeld McConnell