By: Lily Cox-Skall

 

As cars pass by routinely, Brett Yater, 45, checks in with his clients who are reentering the community after incarceration. Yater works as a mentorship case manager at Sponsors, located on Highway 99 in Eugene, an organization that assists people in all aspects of their reentry. In a small residential-looking house tucked behind the larger Sponsors’ complex, lives are being transformed.

Yater sits in a chair across from his clients, listening to stories of small successes during their transition period. The determination that he sees in them is the same determination that he saw in himself three years ago when he was released from prison.

Yater’s current partner, Cherie Bray, whom he met in 2008 while they were both facing addiction, describes Yater with tears in her eyes. She says, “He is a light, he makes people feel empowered to help themselves.”

Yater remembers his life before addiction. He worked in the health club industry and made memories with his two sons. Yater’s relationships with everyone were severed when he became addicted to methamphetamines. Yater said about his kids, “No matter how much I loved them, and I loved them with all my heart and soul, my addiction was more powerful.”

Yater spent twelve years as an addict. On March 23, 2012, Yater received a blessing in disguise. He was sentenced to the Columbia River Correctional Facility in Oregon, where he spent 22 and a half months for not paying his child support.

It was in prison that Yater was able to kick his addiction and take time to reflect. “Prison saved my life,” he said. This experience helped Yater reclaim the agency that he felt before addiction. He then took the initiative to take part in the Sponsors’ program after prison, where he found positive relationships and support to turn his life around. “You get to a point where you’ve dug yourself a hole so deep that you can’t jump out alone.”

It wasn’t until a year after being out of prison that Yater contacted the mother of his children to tell her about his recovery. Since then, Yater and his eldest son were able to mend their relationship. Yater and his younger son are still working on restoring their relationship, but he makes sure to be at every high school football game cheering his son on.

Yater will continue to use his past to help make the future of others brighter. He plans to get a certificate in drug and alcohol counseling, and will remain in his role at Sponsors, helping people in a position that he can relate to. He says, “I’m able to say ‘hey, your dreams are possible’, I’m a perfect example of that.”