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Jody Mitic opens up about personal struggles after missing budget meetings
by Accer Wed 13 Dec 2017, 5:05 pm
Jody Mitic opens up about personal struggles after missing budget meetings
Ted Raymond
Newstalk 580 CFRA
Published Tuesday, December 12, 2017
Innes Ward Councillor Jody Mitic has not been seen around City Hall lately, during one of the busiest times of the year.
The City’s 2018 budget will be voted on Wednesday, but Mitic has been noticeably absent during several budget discussions.
In an exclusive interview with CFRA’s Ottawa Now with Evan Solomon, Mitic opened up about the struggles that have kept him from the council chambers.
“It’s been a rough year,” Mitic said. “I am frankly not doing well mentally; I’m not doing well physically. I feel like I failed in my duty as a councillor by not being forward.”
Mitic admitted he’s been dealing with addictions again lately, after he could not wear his prosthetic legs. He was experiencing more infections and says his legs had just “given up” on accepting the prosthetics. He lost his legs to an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan 10 years ago. He struggled with addiction to painkillers during his recovery. On Tuesday, he admitted to a new addiction.
“You lose one addiction and you find another,” Mitic said. “In the past I became addicted to my pain pills, which is why I’m so sympathetic to the supervised injection issues. I get it. I’ve been there. I kicked that monkey off my back, and I guess I found another one. I was drinking too much to deal with the pain I’ve been in.”
Mitic said he noticed his new addiction in the spring. He was missing community events and time with his family, but he says the people close to him noticed something was wrong.
“They knew there was an issue. I don’t act like that and I haven’t acted like that in a long time,” he said.
Mitic says being able to serve as a City Councillor gave him a second chance, but he feels now he’s been letting people down.
“When I retired from the military, I was very lost,” he said, “but I was lucky enough to win the election against some very tough competition, and I got to swear an oath to Queen and Country again and I thought, ‘I was new, I was over it,’ and then my legs completely gave up wanting to be in prosthetics. I was in pain, and I turned to drinking to ignore the problem. The more I drank, the slower I healed.”
Mitic says he’s not in rehab, “as people would expect,” but he has an Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor and he is going to return to the rehabilitative hospital to learn how to how to use prosthetic legs again.
He assured listeners and his constituents he will be present at City Council Wednesday to debate the budget. He had originally been listed as not attending, but he said he wrote himself as being away, in case he couldn’t make it.
“Better to say I won’t be there than to say I will be and then not be,” Mitic said.
“The one thing I can say to the residents of my ward, and anybody else in the city who's asking, is that I know I have been missing things, but I really have tried my best to stay up to date with emails and my staff are very good at keeping me informed. I was doing the best that I thought I could with the tools I was willing to use. I thought, if I could just get to the holidays, I could have some time to myself and I can deal with it at a time when nobody expects me to be anywhere, but that was my mistake. It was a huge tactical error on my part.”
Mitic said he thinks coming out about this may change the way people approach him, but he is still the same Jody Mitic.
“I’m still the blockhead you all know. I was this way when you met me, I’ll be this way if we ever see each other again,” he said.
At that, Solomon pointedly asked if Mitic was safe, an assurance Mitic gave.
“I am very safe, Evan,” he said. “I have never had those thoughts, despite the lowest I’ve been.”
He ended the interview by urging anyone who may be going through a similar situation to call someone and get help.
You can call the Ottawa and Region Distress Centre at 613-238-3311.
The Ottawa Area Intergroup of Alcoholics Anonymous can be reached at (613) 237-6000.
The Ottawa Area Intergroup of Alcoholics Anonymous can be reached at (613) 237-6000.
Accer- CF Coordinator
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Re: Jody Mitic opens up about personal struggles after missing budget meetings
by Phantom Wed 13 Jun 2018, 6:41 pm
Council OK's formal leave of absence for Jody Mitic
Joanne Chianello · CBC News · Posted: Jun 13, 2018
Joanne Chianello · CBC News · Posted: Jun 13, 2018
Phantom- Registered User
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Re: Jody Mitic opens up about personal struggles after missing budget meetings
by Lincoln Wed 30 Jan 2019, 3:29 pm
Jody Mitic comes clean on cocaine addiction, 'inexcusable' council performance
Former Innes ward councillor sober following month in rehab to deal with cocaine addiction
CBC News · Posted: Jan 30, 2019
Retired sniper Jody Mitic admits he "wasn't ready for the job" when he was elected councillor for Innes ward, and calls his recent stint in rehab "the best 30 days of my life."
Mitic — who lost both of his legs fighting in Afghanistan in 2007 — won the 2014 election handily with 33 per cent of the vote, not long after he and his brother competed in the television show The Amazing Race Canada in 2013 and placed second.
He published a memoir in 2015, and addressed his struggles with depression, pain and addiction after his time in the war. A second book was published in 2017.
In late 2017, Mitic's addiction issues appeared to resurface, and he took some informal time off work to deal with them.
He had broken up with his wife, and told CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning that after years of recreational partying, "things completely got away from me" when he lost the structure and routine of his family life.
Cocaine addiction
He played up his alcohol problem, but the real issue was his cocaine addiction.
"It got to a point where [the cocaine habit] was like $100 a day, maybe $150, depending on the day. Some days it was. I had a straight-up addiction," Mitic told Ottawa Morning host Robyn Bresnahan.
"I'm not very proud of it. It's something that was a recreational thing in the past, like New Year's and the solstice. And I've spoken to a lot of guys that do my line of work and I'm not alone, but you feel alone. I feel like a loser.
"Part of my problem is that I really enjoy adrenaline and I really enjoyed combat ... it's the ultimate contact sport, so to speak. So when you're stuck on the couch and not able to drive and you feel like a failure in other parts of life ... or whatever excuse you give yourself, something that gives you a rush comes close [to that feeling]."
'A good day meant I needed a reward'
In March 2018, Mitic announced he wouldn't seek re-election in order to focus on his family and his health. A few months later, after months of missing committee and council meetings, city council formally approved a leave of absence.
Stress, the increased public scrutiny that comes with holding office and feeling like he needed to be rewarded all played a part in his addiction.
"A lot of times what happened was I kind of drank a little bit of my own Kool-Aid. Best-selling author, Amazing Race, won the election, I won the Rick Hansen Difference Maker Award, I got the Sir Arthur Currie award, I got the [Minister of] Veterans Affairs Commendation," he said.
They're my decisions, [it's] my life.
I just know now, I recognize now,
that I just probably wasn't ready.
- Jody Mitic
I just know now, I recognize now,
that I just probably wasn't ready.
- Jody Mitic
"I got to a point where a good day meant I needed a reward. So just for the pain it was a couple of drinks and then if I did really good, it was a little bit of the drugs."
And while Mitic said it was hard to deal with some reporters and the overall stress of the job, he admitted his problems were his alone.
"I wasn't ready for the job. I'll be straight-up honest.... I don't blame anyone else, I don't blame anything else. They're my decisions, [it's] my life. I just know now, I recognize now, that I just probably wasn't ready," he said.
Warning signs
There were warning signs along the way.
The first was Tammy Lynch — then a staff member of Mitic's who later ran to replace him and lost — confronting him about not showing up for work.
"She said, 'I can't keep covering for you like this.' And I actually got mad at her, and I had never been mad at [her] before. And when I went home and I thought about it, I said, 'Geez, for her to say that, that's a lot,'" Mitic recalled.
I know I didn't show up for work
for half a year and that's
inexcusable, and I'm hoping that
[residents will] forgive me and I
can move on without too much
tarnish on my armour.
- Jody Mitic
for half a year and that's
inexcusable, and I'm hoping that
[residents will] forgive me and I
can move on without too much
tarnish on my armour.
- Jody Mitic
Another moment was an emotional media interview in December 2017. "That was the real light bulb right there. If you guys [reporters] are coming around, then there must be a story. And it just kind of went from there."
Eventually, everyone around him agreed he needed help. He went to rehab before the last council meeting of his term, lasted about a week, and left.
"And then I went back right after Christmas and I dove in both feet [first], both plastic feet [first], dove right in," he said.
He completed the program at 1000 Islands Wellness and Treatment Centre on Jan. 25.
"It was the best 30 days of my life."
Might run in next election
"I feel like the old Jody, but I'm new because I'm actually ... the freest I've ever been," he said.
"I don't have a boss except for me and my kids and my new fiancée. I don't have an addiction, so nothing is really making me do anything I don't want to. I don't have any deadlines or anything that I haven't put on myself. I am the only influence on my life right now.
"I'll be honest, I've had some urges, but not like they were."
Lately, Mitic said he's realized he owes the people of Ottawa an apology.
"I feel like I tricked them, unknowingly. It wasn't anything I meant to do, I just thought I was ready for the job. And to the residents of Innes ward especially, I know I didn't show up for work for half a year and that's inexcusable, and I'm hoping that they'll forgive me and I can move on without too much tarnish on my armour."
These days, Mitic is working on his podcast and hoping to write a third book.
He also said he "might run" in the next election.
"I don't want to go away. I just wanted to take a step back and be myself more."
Lincoln- Advocate Coordinator
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Join date : 2018-05-11
Re: Jody Mitic opens up about personal struggles after missing budget meetings
by Jackal Mon 09 Sep 2019, 4:44 pm
The continuing fight of Jody Mitic
Published:
September 9, 2019
Published:
September 9, 2019
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Join date : 2019-05-22
Re: Jody Mitic opens up about personal struggles after missing budget meetings
by Ranger Tue 22 Oct 2019, 5:55 pm
Master Corporal Jody Mitic and Maj. Dr. Trevor Jain to headline P.E.I. Friends of True Patriot Love 2019 Tribute Dinner Nov. 5
10.22.2019
10.22.2019
Dr. Trevor Jain. - Contributed
Ranger- Registered User
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Join date : 2018-01-25
Re: Jody Mitic opens up about personal struggles after missing budget meetings
by Thunder Tue 05 Nov 2019, 1:40 pm
From combat to recovery: A veteran's 12-year journey 'learning how to live a normal life'
Kevin Yarr · CBC News · Posted: Nov 05, 2019
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-jodi-mitic-true-patriot-love-dinner-1.5348201
Kevin Yarr · CBC News · Posted: Nov 05, 2019
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-jodi-mitic-true-patriot-love-dinner-1.5348201
Thunder- Registered User
- Posts : 319
Join date : 2018-10-31
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