“Mike Devlin was in his senior year of college in Vermont, and what began as a dependence on painkillers – an introduction made via sports injuries – had spiraled deeper: Cocaine. Heroin. Other opiates…

“What made me feel like a man, and what made me feel needed, was this new identity: I’m a college student, I’m taking three classes, I’m working two jobs and on the side I’m selling drugs. I was pretty much living three different lives, between what my parents were thinking, what I was thinking with school and work, and then this life of drugs and crime.”…

I had two jobs and was selling drugs, and I still wasn’t making enough money to afford my habit. So I was robbing my friends, robbing the people I was selling drugs to, and I found myself in a really bad spot. I went home at Christmas and some of this stuff started to come to light between me and my family…

I was asking myself all these questions, and I just said to myself, “You know what, I’m going to do it this time. I’m going to surrender and take direction and give life another chance.”…

My approach is almost exactly that: It’s having a conversation with no judgment. As much as you can, try to relate to that person, and then plant a seed. Until somebody is ready to ask for help or accept help, they’re going to go to any lengths they can to do what they want to.”