Motivational speaker Tony Hoffman gave his life's story to an audience of students at Delphos St. John's.
As someone who faced addiction head-on, he speaks with students about his experiences and motivates them to make a decision that could change their lives, for the better - and avoiding substances that can affect how they feel.
"What about vaping, tobacco, and what about marijuana - these entry-level things change the way we feel, so how we end up there," said Hoffman. "I’m talking a lot about early childhood, how we process that, and if we don’t talk about these things we're experiencing, we end up finding things to change the way we feel, to cope with the stuff that we’re not talking about."
Hoffman says that talking with kids that are in middle to high school is important, as this a formative time in their lives.
"Kids in middle school and high school, they're creating stories in their mind about their childhood, about their self-worth, about what they’re capable of, and now’s the time to get them in that process and say, 'wait, you might be making a mistake if you’re doing this alone, don’t do this alone, do this with community and people and they can help you'," said Hoffman.
The event was funded through a golf outing that was held last summer. It was put on by the family of Andrew Elder, a man originally from Van Wert who had lost his battle to addiction. The family wanted to bring drug and mental health education to schools, and Hoffman's talk was one way to do that.
Those with St. John's say that this is an excellent opportunity for their students to hear from someone that knows first hand about addiction, and hopefully will be able to walk away with some insight.
"He’s lived that reality in drug addiction, and he's speaking on mental health as well, so it's powerful for kids to see that lived witness of someone who’s lived that life and got themselves out of it," said Fr. Scott Perry with Delphos St. John's, "It’s a lot of hope, and also perhaps motivation to avoid that in the future."
St. John's also invited students from the catholic schools in Lima to attend the event.
