Jerry Kolpien

Peer Support Specialist (He/Him/His)

SPECIAL INTERESTS: adult Mental health & substance use recovery | Justice impacted support and reentry

Jerry was born and raised in the Chippewa Valley area. After his mom and dad divorced when Jerry was 9, he found himself struggling to cope with life on life’s terms and turned to using drugs as an escape. That escape turned into a life-consuming substance use disorder. At the same time, Jerry was also battling issues with childhood trauma, depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation.

Things spiraled downward very quickly.

When Jerry was 13, he was placed in foster care, and for the next 4 years, Jerry found himself in and out of foster homes, treatment centers, and group homes. Ultimately, he dropped out of school.

All of the problems continued into his adult life. They led to issues with the justice system and periods of incarceration, probation, recidivism, homelessness, and a whole lot of chaos and misery. As a high school dropout, Jerry worked as a long-haul trucker or in the construction field…whatever would pay enough for the next high.

Having been booked into the county jail for the 16th time in the previous six years from the intensive care unit after an overdose, Jerry was given an ultimatum by the Department of Corrections - either stay clean or go to prison.

Something had to change.

As an alternative to revocation, in 2009 Jerry entered an inpatient treatment center for the first time as an adult. From his first experience in treatment to that day, it had been 28 years. Struggling to deal with the feeling that the world had given up on him, Jerry started building a support network, one piece at a time, and learning a new way to live, one day at a time.

In recovery, Jerry became a father to a little boy. He struggled to help him with basic math homework so again decided that something had to change. In 2020, Jerry went back to school and earned his HSED.

His path to recovery was his alone to figure out and until he was ready to make the effort - it wasn’t going to happen. But he knew that when he did become ready, he ncouldn’t have done it without a whole lot of help. That’s why when the opportunity to get certified as a peer support specialist presented itself he took it.

With a wealth of lived experience behind him, Jerry seized the opportunity to share some of that with others who may be on a similar path, essentially becoming the person he had once needed.

When asked to describe where he is today, Jerry admits to still being rough around the edges with a lot to learn because recovery forces us all to be constant learners and students of the human condition. But he’s incredibly passionate about helping others, paying the love forward, and leaving the world a little better than he found it.