Tony Hoffman speaks to community members about mental health and recovery from substance use disorder at Ludlow High School on Oct. 28.
Reminder Publishing photo by Sarah Heinonen
LUDLOW — Tony Hoffman is many things, including a professional athlete, Olympic coach, author and motivational speaker. He is also a convicted felon and in recovery from an opioid addiction.
On Oct. 28, Hoffman came to Ludlow to deliver a talk, titled, “One Choice Can Change the Rest of Your Life,” to about 50 members of the community. Earlier in the day, he gave similar presentations to more than 1,000 seventh-and eleventh-grade students.
Athletically gifted from an early age, Hoffman grew up in California with dreams of being a professional basketball player. By seventh grade, however, he became depressed and began having thoughts of suicide.
“I had social anxiety, I just didn’t know it,” Hoffman said. He said that society shames people for showing vulnerability, and because he heard no one talk about feeling anxious, he assumed that something was wrong with him.
Hoffman spoke about the two belief systems that people develop about themselves: “I can, I will, I am able” and “I can’t, I won’t, I am not able.” He emphasized that when people are young, a trusted adult can help change their belief system.
As a teen, Hoffman used sleep to avoid feeling his anxiety and moved away from team sports. He began BMX racing and by 18, he was a top-ranked BMX athlete but said that, even when he was on magazine covers, he still felt suicidal.
That was when Hoffman was introduced to OxyContin, an opioid. He likened mental health disorders to the feeling of touching an electrical outlet. Substances temporarily provide relief from the discomfort and the dopamine released by that experience can keep people using it, with diminishing returns.
The life that was once so full of potential fell apart over the next few years. Hoffman damaged the relationships with people in his life, was kicked out of his home and, in 2007, was arrested after breaking into a house and sentenced to two years at Wasco State Prison for robbing the home of a friend’s mother in 2004.
Hoffman said being sent to prison saved his life. While there, he set four goals for when he was released: to race BMX professionally, go to the Olympics, start a nonprofit for young people and become a professional speaker. Despite people, including his parole officer, doubting his ability to achieve those goals, Hoffman saw them through. While his plan to compete in the Olympics was derailed by an accident, Hoffman switched gears and began working as a coach, eventually coaching Brooke Crain at the 2016 Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Hoffman credited his turnaround to several factors, including a belief in God and a stubborn discipline. He said he built each positive choice on the smaller ones that came before it, beginning with committing to brush his teeth each day. He has now been in recovery for 16 years.
While telling his story, Hoffman urged the audience to keep the overdose-reversal drug naloxone in their house. He told the story of friends who died from overdose, including his best friend.
Members of the audience asked Hoffman several questions after his talk and many of them shared their own experiences with addiction, either theirs or that of someone in their lives.
Red Ribbon Week
The presentation was a part of Red Ribbon Week, a nationwide initiative from National Family Partnership, formerly the National Federation of Parents for Drug Free Youth, to raise awareness about substance use. In Ludlow, Red Ribbon Week was sponsored by the Ludlow CARES Coalition.
In addition to inviting Hoffman to speak, Red Ribbon Week included red ribbons put up around town by the coalition, the Ludlow High School boys varsity soccer team and members of the Ludlow Police Department. In the schools, posters with this year’s theme, “Life is a Movie, Film Drug Free” were hung and lessons were taught on Red Ribbon Week and substance use awareness. The in-school programming included “Plant a Promise” at Harris Brook Elementary School, in which 200 tulips were planted by students with positive intentions and messages.
Young people at the Ludlow Boys and Girls Club participated in a poster contestant, judged by Ludlow Police Officer Issac Santana, Ludlow CARES Coalition President Laura Rooney and coalition members District Court judge Bill Rooney and Diana Roy. The judges then spoke to the club kids about healthy choices.
Ludlow CARES Coalition board member Joel Freitas said the organization began observing Red Ribbon Week more than a decade ago. In years past, CARES would encourage people to participate in the Walk to Remember, a walk and candlelight vigil to remember those who died due to substance use and to support those in recovery.
This year, Freitas said the organization decided to use opioid relief funding to bring Hoffman to Ludlow to speak instead. CARES has been pivoting toward addressing mental health issues to be proactive, not reactive. “If you can help someone with mental health issues, you might be able to help keep them from developing an addiction,” he said. Freitas added that, of young people who have been surveyed by CARES, mental health support is the number one request.
Freitas urged people to attend the upcoming virtual Youth Mental Health First Aid training on Monday, Nov. 4, or Thursday, Nov. 7. There are also virtual sessions on Tuesday, Dec. 3, and Wednesday, Dec. 5. To learn more about the Ludlow CARES Coalition or sign up for the Youth Mental Health First Aid training, visit ludlowcarescoalition.org.
If you need emotional support or are in crisis, call or text the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or visit 988lifeline.org.
