Community Leader Introduces Service Dog to Recovery Program
By Luke Schmaltz, VOICES Editor
“Dogs don’t rationalize. They don’t hold anything against a person. They don’t see the outside of a human but the inside of a human.” – Cesar Milan
In the world of recovery from substance use disorder (SUD), there is a time to be sensitive and a time for brass tacks. When the occasion calls for brutal honesty, a no BS approach and a whip crack sense of humor, Nate Costa is the man.
Costa is founder of There Is A Solution, a Massachusetts statewide organization dedicated to providing the tools necessary for realizing a long-lasting, sober lifestyle filled with meaning and fulfillment. Currently, he operates nine different locations across the region with three more on the way. He is also in his fifth year of recovery, having formerly suffered from SUD. Recently, Costa introduced a groundbreaking approach to therapy and recovery. He has enlisted the help of a service dog named Sawyer at one of his recovery centers.
Humble Beginnings
When Costa hit rock bottom, he found himself living in his father’s basement with no job, no car, and no license. “I was a [substance user] and an alcoholic before I even found my first drug,” he says. “I was born with this. No doubt about it. I don’t remember having a drink after kindergarten, but I sure could have used one,” he jokes.
Costa recalls having feelings of isolation and loneliness when he was five years old. “Why would a five-year-old have these feelings?” he asks. “The reality is, we feel a certain way. We get tons of relief from alcohol and drugs, which work until they don’t and then it’s catastrophic.”
Thankfully, Costa was always a driven, ambitious person. He recalls setting a goal at the age of 25 to someday have a million dollars in his bank account. Unfortunately, by the time he was 31 he had gone the opposite direction. “I was $1,030,000 short of my goal,” he says and then quotes a favorite line from the movie Dumb and Dumber, “Samsonite. I was way off.”
“My sober date is 01/01/2011,” Costa continues. It was a catastrophic New Year’s Eve,” he begins. “I remember waking up strapped to a gurney, I had gotten the s#!t kicked out of me and all of life’s problems came to a head at that exact moment. I was beaten into a state of reasonableness – as they say in the Big Book. I knew I was way below my potential, and that irritated me. ”
Starting from ground zero, Costa managed to reawaken his ambition and to harness his drive for success by helping others who suffer from the same afflictions as himself. “I started these homes because God worked in my life and gave me opportunities that just happened,” he explains. “For instance, everybody was sick of me. My family was done. My brother was like ‘Bro, get the f*#k out of my house.’” Once Costa moved into his father’s basement in Yarmouth, things started to improve. “The neighbor across the street had 25 years of sobriety.,” he says. “That guy happened to be the absolute perfect man in my life at the perfect time. He went through the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous and became my sponsor. I started the 12 steps, and my life began to change,” he says.
A Recipe for Success
Currently, There Is A Solution is enjoying a great reputation for achieving success among their clientele. “The product is not changing, it’s only going to get better,” Costa begins. “People come to us and it’s the agreement we have with [them] before they come in, and we push them, and we have success.”
Costa explains how a tiered reward system is a key element to his program along with a modern approach to spirituality, especially when it comes to helping clients deal with grief – whether they have lost a job, a home or a loved one. “Grief and trauma are like smoke and fire,” he says. “We get [clients] into the hands of the right person whether it's a trauma therapist, a psychotherapist who specializes in grief, or someone who specializes in cognitive behavioral therapy. We are partnered up with a place called WeRecover who does all of the assessments and then gets [clients] to the proper places.”
“There is no magic bullet,” Costa continues. “These cases are so complex that not one place can do everything. It’s a clip of magic bullets, it’s a continuum of care — of wraparound care,” he explains. “Let’s say somebody has passed. We’ve had people make graveside amends. We help people to see their part in things they were involved with and to be able to process that information and to grieve through the 12 steps,” he says. “We are not reduced to our greatest mistakes. There’s survivor’s guilt – we deal with that a lot. We are not responsible for being an addict or an alcoholic. We’re just responsible for doing something about it,” he explains.
Sawyer to the Rescue
Among his successful approaches to helping people suffering from SUD, Costa has recently introduced a highly skilled service dog into one of his homes. Which makes There Is A Solution the first organization to offer canine therapy at an advanced degree. “The level of training this dog has, and the way he interacts with everyone at the home is truly amazing. Man, is that love contagious. This dog is special and you can just see the connection. Love and self-worth and all those things that we miss significantly, whether we were robbed because our parents died of SUD, or they weren’t around, or life was just chaotic – there’s a lot of core needs like love and security that are never met and a dog can meet them there. A dog is not a threat, and gives you love – you have that connection,” he explains.