San Diego ‘90s skating prodigy Brandon Turner is teaching others to focus on their mental health while on a skateboard.
Getting back on a skateboard helped former teen skating prodigy Brandon “Li’l B” Turner find a way out of a spiral with substance use. Now, with a treatment center he opened last year, he’s using skating to help other people with addiction stay clean., a superstar in the skateboarding world. But by his 20s, he was using and selling drugs and serving stints in jail and prison.
“I’m older now, but I’m actually better than I was at my prime when I was 18 — so that just goes to show what doing the work can do,” Turner added.Now, the 41-year-old is balancing his time skating professionally with his work as an addiction recovery coach. Turner says in starting the center, he wanted to attract people struggling with the stigma associated with getting into treatment or getting help.
Dr. Igor Koutsenok, a psychiatry professor at the UC San Diego School of Medicine who specializes in addiction research, says exercise is a stress-reducing process that can aid those in recovery. Those like Ned Gittings, who works at West Side and grew up skateboarding, also recognize the culture as one that fosters camaraderie.
“One of the hardest things in recovery is opening up to getting better because you have a lot of guilt and shame,” he said. He says the program helped him let go. “It was the best thing ever. It changed my life and everything in it.”He’s not the only one who has been inspired to give back. After graduating from rehab in January, 27-year-old Gabriel Sanchez also started working with Healthy Life.
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