Tobias
Elora, Ontario
Community Box: Addictions Edition
Featured Creator, March 2020
The individual featured is a youth leader between the age of 14-18 overcoming addiction at Portage Ontario. For his privacy, his face will not appear in any photographs and his name has been substituted with Tobias.
Tobias’ Story
There are people who believe addicts are monsters. Monsters who they want to shield from their friends and family, who like to take away from others, and who are a tumour in society. I want you to know that we are people too.
“People with addictions are people too, and I wish I could break all stigma around people who are addicted because a lot of them are extremely hurtful.”
You might try something once in high school
and it’s hard to describe, because you can’t really put it into words when addiction consumes you. It’s not a choice. It just happens.
You can’t choose to stop when you’re already in the grasp of addiction.
I used to have this false reality because I was a social media influencer with 400,000 followers.
Big names were following me. I felt like I was on top of the world and I had the world in my hands.
This added on to my addiction because I started becoming very confident in myself to the point where I thought I could do what I was doing with drugs consistently.
I didn’t have to worry about it because I had this huge support system where I could ask for help and I’d get it, and I can ask for money and I’d get it. That became an addiction in and of itself being on social media and being an influencer.
“It wasn’t just the substances, it was also the attention and the validation I got.”
I had this picture in my head from when I was little of what an addict was
and I thought I saw it in front of me. Through the smallest decisions and behaviors I made, it slowly came up from behind me and hit me in the head and I became that picture.
I lost a lot of trust with my family and my friends because I took advantage of a lot of relationships that I regret now. I lost a lot of my dignity because I did things that I regret doing while I was using. I also lost a lot of time.
“It’s four years of time with my family that I can’t ever make up because I was using drugs and that’s one of my biggest regrets to this day.”
Connecting with people is probably my favourite thing to do.
Getting to know people, hearing their stories and where they come from, and having people know that I was there, and that I’ve been in bad positions that nobody really wants to be in.
Through getting help, I’ve connected with others instead of being isolated and it makes me feel like I’m part of something. I’m really grateful for this rehab and the people here.
“If I didn’t come here, I either would have ended up in an institution or died from overdosing. My greatest accomplishment in life is coming here to Portage.”
My end goal is to be a healthy person and to have healthy relationships.
I want to do things in life that I want to do, and not the things that take control of me.
I’m really grateful for the people here and the people in my life, and especially my parents. No matter what I did, they didn’t give up on me and they just kept trying the best they could.
For anyone struggling with addictions, I want you to know that I’ve been there. I’ve been through the seemingly endless drain. It sounds really cliche, but it does get better if you put your mind to it.
“The moment you are willing to do it, and the moment you are willing to put that work in and get that help, is the moment you will change your life forever.”
I designed a sweater that represents my experience with addictions.
It’s about seeing the real person behind the mask, instead of the prejudices people believe we are. In the design, the addict is getting the power to take that mask off and show who they really are.
“Seeing someone wear my sweater would mean a lot to me. It would make me feel supported and make me feel hopeful, to know there are people in our community who will actually go out of their way to learn my story and to learn about addictions.”
The Community Box:
Addictions Edition
ABOUT
Our fifth Community Box was created by two youth leaders (ages 14-18) overcoming addictions at Portage Ontario, a youth rehabilitation centre in Elora.
Portage Ontario
To learn more about Portage and what they do, please click here.
PROFIT SHARING
Instead of our proceeds going directly to the Creator, the profits will instead be shared with the Portage Community as part of a leadership fund to use on a fun activity!
EMPOWER OUR CREATORS
Click the button below to purchase his Community Box!
The Community Box:
We partnered with two teenagers from Portage Ontario, a live-in rehabilitation centre for youth ages 14-18, to design a Crewneck Sweater that is both meaningful and personal to their journeys with substance addictions.
The sweaters are 100% Combed Ring Spun (meaning they feel incredibly soft), ethically manufactured by Just Like Hero, and embroidered locally in Waterloo, Ontario. The sweaters are perfect for a weekend outfit, and can also be stylized to suit almost any social occasion.
The fit is unisex, and we recommend ordering a size smaller if you are stuck between two sizes! Sizing chart can be found here.
Creators:
Tobias and Benjamin are the two youth creators behind this sweater. The design is a reminder to our community that ‘Addicts are People too’.
Empowerment:
Creators are typically paid $50 for their time, earn 5%-12% from every sale, and 50% of net profits.
Since our two Creators are currently living in rehab at Portage Ontario, their portions of the profit share will instead be donated to Portage for use as a leadership fund for their entire community.
Click here to learn more about the Addictions Box.