MTV star and professional skateboarder Brandon Novak will make an appearance at SUNY Delhi’s Okun Theatre 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 11 to talk about his experiences with addiction and recovery.
Spearheaded by Friends of Recovery Dedicated to Others in Delhi, the event is a collaboration with SUNY Delhi. Food and networking is scheduled to begin around 5 p.m. with local organizations tabling, like Delaware Opportunities and Catholic Charities. SUNY Delhi is catering the food and admission to the event is free.
Appearing in the “Jackass” films and the TV show “Viva La Bam,” Novak struggled with a heroin addiction for 20 years and is now a bestselling author and inspirational life coach, according to an event flyer. Titled “Road to Recovery,” Novak will speak about his journey through addiction and where recovery took him from there.
Rebecca Mastrorocco, the peer support specialist at FOR-DO in Delhi, said the inspiration for the event came while she was in recovery at one of her lowest points in rehab. Growing up alongside TV shows like “Jackass” and “Viva La Bam,” she said she knew who he was, and she deeply related to his story.
“Listening to his story and the things that he had been through, I completely related to him,” Mastrorocco said. “Being at the lowest point, the things that I would do for my addiction, for my next fix, the darkness that I felt in it, it just felt like there was no one else in the room, and he was speaking directly to me. It hit home.”
Last year, she began working at FOR-DO and the program manager at the time said to procure a list of celebrities and people in recovery who could come into the county for an event to talk about their experiences.
With the understanding that he has a large platform within the recovery community, Mastrorocco said Novak immediately came to mind as a possibility. She said he is taking strides to remove the stigma from addiction and recovery while reminding people that they are not on their own in their battles.
After tracking down his manager’s information online last year, Mastrorocco said she was told he was not available on the date initially proposed but to reach out again this year when he had more availability.
Mastrorocco said FOR-DO has put together flyers, and some SUNY Delhi professors are pairing the appearance with potential assignments or extra credit work.
“My hope is that people get a little better understanding that addiction doesn’t discriminate,” Mastrorocco said. “It’s not a moral issue. Addiction is not a choice, it’s not something that we asked to be given in life. Just because somebody is an addict, it doesn’t mean they’re a lost cost either.”
“There’s hope at the end of the tunnel,” she continued. “There are people that care, and there are people that want to help people get out of that dark hole and make something out of their lives.”
As somebody in recovery as well, Amy Brooks, the program manager at FOR-DO, said working closely with SUNY Delhi has been a highlight of putting together Saturday’s programming, bridging connections with the greater community.
“It shows that this disease does not care where you come from — age, race, religion. It does not care if you are a famous person,” Brooks said. “It affects everyone. For people to see somebody like Brandon Novak who struggled for so long get the hang of it, it’s just a togetherness thing.”