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Whitlock Wins State Award
The following story was written by Lori Turner, a member of the Rockbridge Recovery board of directors.
Thomas Whitlock woke up one day sprawled out in his jail cell, the weight of everything — his life, failed relationships, family pain, utter helplessness — pressing down on him, and decided it was time for change. Then, in a moment that will forever transcend explanation, he prayed.
“I prayed harder than I ever had in my life and shared with God how bad things had gotten — that I couldn’t do it on my own anymore. I told him I would seek long term recovery and remain sober. I didn’t want to feel the way that I was feeling anymore.”
Rock bottom was the place in which Whitlock chose to rebuild his life.
Fast forward 2,104 days later to Nov. 26 - he stood on stage in Roanoke and was named the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Statewide Peer of the Year for 2024 for his work with the Rockbridge Recovery program.
The CIT Peer of the Year award is given to an individual within a crisis intervention team program who has demonstrated exceptional dedication to supporting individuals experiencing mental health crises, often using their own lived experience to connect with others and promote positive outcomes, essentially being a standout peer support specialist within the CIT framework. -Whitlock has a winsome and pleasant way about him, and the equanimity of his voice and mannerisms hide even a hint of past addiction, pain and loss, said Chief Wayne Handley with the Buena Vista Police Department.
Whitlock began using meth at the age of 14. He was with friends, older friends, and headed to a party. He remembers not thinking about what might happen but just how good it was going to make him feel.
He had what you would call an adolescent life of depression, anger and suffering from abuse. The best way he could find to deal with this was getting high and forgetting his pain.
Whitlock thought that the drugs could make all his problems go away and he could be a normal well-rounded teenager. He now admits of the inherently flawed logic of such a notion: “It was like changing seats on the Titanic in order not to drown,” he said.
But it was that singular look of unraveling disappointment in his jail cell and his belief that he really, truly was hopeless that led to his final descent into near-despair. It was from that place of darkness that he reached out to God. “I was just sick and tired of being sick and tired,” he said.
His conversation that day with God changed his heart and gave him vision. He finally felt as though he had a fighting chance and a new outlook.
Just three days earlier, Whitlock had stood along the Maury River in Goshen Pass ready to jump. He wanted to die, didn’t want to hurt anymore and at that moment he says, “God hugged me.” It was Feb. 15, 2019. He later fell asleep at the wheel where he almost hit a man named Luke Fisher - a man who would become his arresting officer, but more importantly a lifelong friend and supporter of his recovery journey.
-Whitlock grew up in the quaint rural town of Craigsville. He was baptized at age 13 at the Church of God of Prophecy and grew up in a two-parent household, but his dad was strict and raised him to be honest and hard working. Thomas had even cut off three fingers in a wood splitter as a child while working with his father.
Yet, an insidious habit started building a year later. At the age of 14, eager to be liked by a group of peers, he began drinking and using drugs regularly to fit in and feel good about himself. He eventually even started to deal drugs.
“At that time in my life, and for years after, I felt that I wasn’t worth anything,” Whitlock said. “I felt like I had been lost, like I had been off the radar. I didn’t know who I was; I wasn’t sure if I could trust the things that I could previously, which included God, or that God could impact my life.”
It was this state of pseudoexistence that would sum up the first half of his 20s. He continued to drink and do drugs almost daily, whether in the company of others or alone. Believing he would never operate at “a hundred percent” due to being constantly under the influence or hung over, he accepted that the rest of his life would consist of managing his addictions while laboring to lie and hide his pain and suffering.
This inevitably resulted in a marriage built on lies and unfaithfulness; a widening division from his family, whose help he refused; jobs that failed to use his potential; and an utter lack of self-confidence. He was caught within a perpetual spiral into an abyss.
And so, it was after years of slogging through addiction, lying, and selfish behavior grounded in the hiding of his addiction and misery that he reached the end of the line.
By this time Thomas had spent nearly nine years in jail and acquired nearly 30 felonies. He had spent the better part of his life abusing meth, pills, cocaine, ecstasy and alcohol. This resulted in him dealing drugs to support his habit.
He had suffered two failed marriages, several overdosesand broken family ties and could only see his children under supervision. The man who once hid his addiction was now an open book and everyone knew his business. He was embarrassed, ashamed and felt that life no longer had any meaning.
Thomas gives a lot of credit to Brian Javins from Total Action Against Poverty. “Brian showed up at the jail when I was inmate,” he said. “He was there for a tour, and we connected and spent some time speaking. He shared that he also had a story and that it was going to be alright, and he would help me in any way that he could.”
Javins looked him straight in the eyes, and said something Whitlock would never forget. “He said, ‘I know exactly how you feel. You don’t have to ever get high again.’ And for some reason I believed him enough to start speaking with him frequently, longer than I wanted to spend discussing what was wrong with my life,” Whitlock said, laughing.
This man would become his sponsor, a role that is indispensable to members of the 12-step program seeking recovery. Javins was patient and shared with him many of the principles of addiction recovery and how addiction manifests spiritually, biologically, and emotionally. He was also a serious man of God, looking constantly to Scripture to glean insights and wisdom that could be applied to the recovery process.
Javins told Whitlock he had an ego problem and a control problem, which really helped save his life. Whitlock was able to realize these things affected his ability to help others. He taught him that you cannot control an addict; you can only provide them with the tools to help themselves.
While in Rockbridge Regional Jail, Whitlock began holding Bible circles. His small act of conducting Bible study helped transform his life. This happened due to the warm and hospitable concern of another man named Derek Alamrode, the jail superintendent, who formed a friendship with him as well as a handful of other men committed to knowing and loving Jesus.
Whitlock eventually became a maintenance trustee which allowed him to get outside and build relationships with the officers. By washing police cars and doing maintenance work, he built a strong group of supporters who helped him stay on his path. Later when he was released from jail, he was greeted with 34 officers congratulating him at a ceremony and a job offer from Alamrode to work at the jail. Whitlock would be the new industries instructor, a job specifically created for him, during the next two years.
Whitlock continued to learn about Jesus through his relationship with his church community, meditating on Scripture, and faithfulness to prayer, combined with an active and disciplined commitment to the 12-step program.
“Things like prayer, fellowship, honesty, humility, the willingness to do spiritual work, and really surrender my life to Jesus — those were consistent things I was hearing about both from the church and my recovery group,” Whitlock said.
Thomas is careful to point out that though his journey has been abundantly infused with grace, it has required hard work. The working through the 12 steps — something that is a lifelong process — remains a priority.
“There are three ingredients that are important to working through the 12 steps, which include willingness, honesty, and open-mindedness,” Whitlock explained. “For example, we must do things like take personal responsibility for the resentments that we hold and take an inventory of our fears and how our fears largely drive our behavior and attitudes. We must be willing to ask God to remove our defects of character that are associated with our addictions as well as take the necessary action to mend relationships that have resulted in self-seeking and self-centered behavior.”
This manifests itself through active involvement in his faith community and serving others.
Whitlock speaks highly of this fiancée Sarah Montgomery. During his journey he recognized that he had not been a good man to women. He prayed and asked God to give him another chance at being the partner he knew he could be.
“God sent me an angel,” said Whitlock. “Sarah has saved me in more ways that I can share. She teaches me patience, kindness and understanding by showing unconditional love.”
The love of his life, she keeps him grounded, focused and, he said with a chuckle, “She’s always right.” -In 2023, when Whitlock joined Rockbridge Recovery as a volunteer, he knew he had a greater cause and eventually accepted a leadership role. He was hired as the peer coach for the organization, leading peer one-on-one sessions, facilitating groups, sharing his witness publicly, and meeting regularly with other staff to mentor and encourage them.
It wasn’t until Whitlock began his work at Rockbridge Recovery that he realized his broader mission. This comes from being able to work with the community at large and see the impact and the difference he can make on a larger scale.
“Being blessed to reach so many people in so many areas has been humbling to say the least,” said Whitlock. “I am so grateful for this opportunity to share my lived experiences with others. I can’t keep what I have got, if I don’t give it away.”
It has been five years since Whitlock has used drugs. From that moment of alienation and loss at Goshen Pass, he has found grace and healing in countless ways. His continued devotion to helping others in their own addictions led him to being a Christian in recovery, a nonprofit peer coach who supports those recovering from substance abuse and other addictions through various programs, speaking events, and more.
Whitlock remains incredibly grateful for the way God has worked in his life, and though it has caused much suffering, it’s through this suffering that he has discerned God’s call to serve others in addiction.
“I go back to John 15:13 to remind myself of God’s relationship with me. ‘Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends,’” Whitlock said, his eyes starting to gleam. “We get to receive the life that Jesus has given us, yet we’re also then given the chance to give our own lives for our friends. And that’s a great gift. Having the opportunity to share the blessings of my life with others — my employment at Rockbridge Recovery, my engagement to my fiancée, my relationship with my children - all these things are beautiful because I get to share them with others, too.”
As he looks to his future, a life that continues to get busier and busier but also more joyful and fruitful, he remembers with gratitude how important it is to humbly lean on God for everything.
“I had to learn that I’m not God, but now I know who God is,” Whitlock said. “And I know now what God asks of me and that He will always be with me.”
