Peer Support Specialist Erik Ramirez of Blanchet House explains why addiction recovery must be a personal choice and how compassion helps people heal.
By Julie Showers
Erik Ramirez knows what it’s like to battle addiction. Now, as a Peer Support Specialist, he uses his lived expertise to help others. But something a normie–a person who can drink and use drugs recreationally–might not understand, something that’s hard to accept, is that you can’t force someone to recover. Recovery has to be a choice.
Peer support specialist Erik Ramirez talks with a homeless person in Blanchet House’s cafe.
“When I was using,” Erik says, “people tried to force me to get help. My family, my friends, but I wasn’t ready. You can’t make someone change until they want to. It has to come from their own willingness.”
Every day, Erik meets people struggling with addiction and homelessness. Many are living in inhumane conditions with open wounds, illness, and threats of violence. Some are ready to go to detox or enter treatment, but others aren’t.
“I can send people to rehab or to a shelter,” he explains. “But when they get out, they often go right back to the street. It’s not because they want to be homeless. It’s because that’s the life they know. There’s trauma, pain, and fear behind it. You can’t fix that by forcing someone into a program.”
To outsiders, addiction can look like a choice or a weakness of character, but Erik sees the deeper story. For many people, substance use begins as a way to cope with something unbearable. Recovery isn’t only about stopping use; it’s about facing the pain underneath.
“Almost everyone I meet has some kind of trauma behind their addiction,” he says. “It could be abuse, abandonment, poverty, or just growing up without support. People don’t start out wanting this life. Something happened.”
That’s why Erik believes compassion, not punishment, must lead the response. When the city sweeps homeless camps or arrests people for using drugs, he says, it doesn’t fix anything. It just deepens their shame.
“Some people would rather go to jail than detox because at least they know what to expect. They feel safer there than being forced into something they’re not ready for,” Erik says.
Peer support specialist Erik Ramirez talks with a homeless person in Blanchet House’s cafe.
Meeting People Where They Are
At Blanchet House, Erik practices what’s known as peer support, a relationship built on trust, empathy, and shared experience.
“I meet people where they’re at,” he says. “I listen to them. I find out what they need, like mental health help, housing, or treatment, and then I guide them to the right place. I give them my card so when they’re ready, they can call me. Recovery is like planting a seed. You can’t make it grow overnight. You just show people there’s a better way to live, and when they’re ready, they’ll remember that conversation.”
Compassion Is the Starting Point
Erik doesn’t judge the people who come to Blanchet House for help. He knows the courage it takes just to walk through the door.
“It’s all about compassion and dignity,” he says. “Treat people like human beings. Listen to their story. Once they know someone cares, that’s when things start to change.”
He often sees people return months later, ready to try again.
“Sometimes they say, ‘You were right, I was tired of it. I’m ready now.’ That’s when we get them into detox, treatment, or housing. But they have to reach that point themselves. There’s always hope. People do recover. They get jobs, they get housing, they rebuild their lives. But it takes time. You can’t give up on them.”
For Erik, helping others is more than a job. It’s a way to give back the compassion that once helped him.
“I couldn’t help anyone until I learned to help myself,” he says. “Now I just try to walk beside people until they’re ready to take that step too.”
Blanchet House provides food, shelter, and recovery support to people experiencing homelessness and poverty in Portland.
