Lovelee’s Story
Lovelee
As a kid growing up in a rough part of Boston, Lovelee recalls, “My idols were the local drug dealers. They were the only people who seemed to be ‘winning.’ So, that’s what I aspired to be.”
So began decades of what Lovelee (“the Lee came from my father, the love came from my mother,” he explains) describes as “street life.” “Street life consisted of using drugs—heroin and crack cocaine, mostly—and trying to find ways to use more,” he says. “Crime. Violence. Prison. Disappointing my kids and not being there for them.”
The experiences that Lovelee recounts are painful to hear. Experiences like being shot five times, and going through a car windshield. Being in comas, twice. Living on the streets and spending time in and out of prison. All while being in the throes of his addiction. “You don’t understand the progression of the disease while you’re in it,” Lovelee admits.
Today, Lovelee’s life is unrecognizable from the one he lived for so many years. Having put in the extraordinarily hard work of recovery for himself, he’s now helping others fight their own battles with addiction. He works for Massachusetts General Hospital as a recovery coach, taking his message and the hard-fought lessons he’s learned to anyone out there who needs to receive them. “I was originally hired to work with men who were incarcerated,” he says, “but I wanted to do more, and I was allowed to shadow other recovery coaches. Now I work within the hospital, as part of a street outreach team, and at the Nashua Street Jail, working to help all different groups of people.”
“Three years ago, I couldn’t believe this could be my life. It’s such a complete 180,” Lovelee says, shaking his head. “Before, I couldn’t stay out of jails and hospitals—now I work there everyday. I grew up on the streets—now I’m part of the street outreach team. It’s incredible.”
Lovelee had been in and out of different rehab and recovery programs for more than 20 years when he made the pivotal decision in 2020 to seek treatment through CASPAR’s men’s residential program. He was referred by a cousin who was also struggling with addiction. “I’d originally thought we would be in there together, but they sent me to a separate program around the corner from him. But, unlike in the past, I wasn’t going to be rebellious. I didn’t go there to change CASPAR... I went there to change me.”
Debra Cerqua, Clinical Manager at the men’s program, reflects on the amazing metamorphosis she’s seen Lovelee undergo. “That man has been through everything—most of it twice,” she says. “When we first met him, he was quite honestly the kind of guy you would’ve crossed the street if you saw him coming. And we watched him go from having nothing at all to acquiring the skills he needed to come out on the other side stronger.”
At CASPAR, Lovelee committed to the program, and was receptive to the help that CASPAR staff offered. He says that the team there were able to reach him in ways that others hadn’t. “I’d been living this life for a long time, and I’d been through programs where your personal experience buys you just enough rope to hang yourself. At CASPAR, the staff knew that I’d been through treatment, but they also knew—and weren’t afraid to tell me—that what I knew hadn’t worked for me.”
“They weren’t going to tell me what to do, but they worked with me to figure out what I really needed,” he adds. “They gave me the freedom to develop and pursue my goals, while providing the structure that helped me advance when I could, and pull me back when it was needed. They seemed to know when I was ready to take next steps, and when I wasn’t—they came with an approach and passion that was supportive of my ideals and my goals for myself. Whatever I came to them with, it was about, ‘Okay, how do we work together to make that happen?’ I was ready to accept help, and they were ready to give it.”
Aidely Santiago, an Intake Coordinator with CASPAR, was the one who initially admitted Lovelee to the program, and served as his case manager for his first several months. Today, she’s proud of him for how far he’s come, and for how willing he is to use his experiences to help others with similar challenges as a recovery coach.
“I think someone who’s gone through what he has is the best advocate you can possibly have,” she says. “When he talks, it’s real. He captures the attention of these guys he’s talking to, because they know he used to be one of them. He’s very open about what he went through, and it’s important to him to put that story out there to guys that he can help.”
Aidely says that Lovelee’s advocacy work isn’t just changing others’ lives for the better, but also reminds him every day of the battles he’s fought himself, and won. “He’s told me, ‘I can walk into a jail now as a provider, not an inmate. And I can still see faces in there that I recognize from before—but today, I’m able to walk out.’ It’s not lost on him how far he’s come.”
It’s a testament to his character, Debra says, that Lovelee has remained a source of inspiration and support to those that CASPAR supports today. “He comes back and helps—speaks to the men in the program—whenever we reach out. He’s never said no. He’s a grateful and humble man—I believe that Lovelee knows that he can’t hang onto anything that he doesn’t give back. And he’s someone who walks the walk when it comes to recovery. He’s been tested by so much, and we’re all extremely proud of him.”
Today, Lovelee celebrates the simple pleasures—a good relationship with his three children and seven (about to be eight) grandchildren, his health, and a job that truly fulfills him. “I don’t look like my story anymore. I’m in a better place—but I know I have to keep it out front. My past is what keeps me moving forward, and I hope that someone who sees my story can take some inspiration from it, and it can be the key to them succeeding, too. Just by being here everyday, I help people know that it’s possible. Change is possible.”
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