Mountain Movers: Chad Wayt
Elevating those in our community who moved mountains in their lives so they can help others move mountains in theirs.
On the street, a “rat” is slang for someone who works with law-enforcement by supplying information to aid in apprehending those involved in illegal activities. So, when someone says that their recovery story is centered around a rat, you might logically conclude they are about to tell you about how they got busted and ended up in jail, going into withdrawal, and entering a recovery program to start a new way of life because of a “rat.” However, that is not Chad Wayt's rat story. Although, a rat was very integral to his recovery and the path that he is on today as a Peer Recovery Coach and community leader.
Like many of those struggling with a substance disorder, Chad’s addiction was a symptom stemming from a series of traumatic life events–loss due to a house fire, instability from family dysfunction, and the poverty related issues that many West Virginia families face. Living in the state known to be #1 in the nation for drug overdoses, Chad joined the ranks of people seeking temporary escape through the use of substances. And like many other West Virginians, it wasn't long before drugs became the thing that he couldn't escape.
His family rebuilding their lives from the ashes was only the foreshadowing of what Chad's life with drugs would become. Life for him became about the hustle, burying his hard feelings inside, easing his pain by “comforting” himself with drug use. Perhaps Chad's life would have continued on the path of addiction, but sometimes it takes looking death in the eyes to make one look closely at life.
Sadly, in 2010, Chad’s father became gravely ill, and Chad found himself back at home, sitting with his dying father. As his dad breathed his final breath, Chad faced the painful reality that his father was gone. In that moment, his dad’s medication bottles came into focus, pulling at him, drawing him to reach out and numb his pain. And as he reached for those pills, he also reached the startling realization of how deep he was into his addiction. There laid his father’s lifeless body, and yet, the most pressing thing on his mind was getting those meds. It was then and there that Chad made the decision to choose a different path–one of recovery.
Some days it went very well, other days he struggled. The path was bumpy, but even worse, a dark mountain loomed within, a seemingly immovable barrier to his recovery. But, for
his mother’s sake, Chad tried very hard, and success was slippery at best.
In 2019, another unexpected tragedy happened; Chad’s mother was dying. He sat next to her, watching her labored breathing, her chest struggling to rise. He would hold his breath as her chest fell in exhaustion until it neither rose nor fell. It was in her passing that Chad became fully committed to recovery. For in the grief of her death, all he had to offer her was a promise of trying to live the life that she wished for him. But even still, that mountain within stood, as deep-seated segments of hurt had solidified into granite; a volcano, whose eruptions could only be sedated with the use of a substance–until...the rat.
Chad had always been a little leery of the basement at home, where he now lived with
his brother, since his parents were gone. One day he heard noises below, and with a bit of trepidation he ventured down into the dark basement to find out the source of the sound. It was a rat! He called his brother at work to ask what he should do about the situation and his brother said he should get a shovel and kill it.
So, after arming himself with a shovel, he went back down to the basement to face the rat. And as he pierced the rodent with the shovel, Chad’s heart was suddenly pierced as well. Watching that rat take slow, laboring breaths, its chest struggling to rise, then falling with exhaustion, he recognized the same pattern of his mother’s last breaths. An overwhelming sensation of compassion flooded his heart as tears streamed down his face. While the rat was dying, Chad began for the first time in a long time, to feel alive. The tears of all that he had held inside began pouring out and he was overcome by an emotion he was unaccustomed to feeling: compassion! He came to the realization that if he could have compassion for a dying rat, then he could have compassion for himself, for others, and for all the contempt he held inside.
The experience changed the landscape of his heart forever. The ability to show compassion to an injured, dying creature, and then to himself, allowed the mountain that blocked Chad's recovery to be moved. With his understanding of the power of love, Chad followed his heart and entered a new chapter of his life.
At the beginning of 2020, when the pandemic hit Wheeling, the COVID-19 lockdown became a lockout for those experiencing homelessness. Chad was living in the Salvation Army homeless shelter at the time but found purpose to engage the world with his new understanding of compassion. In April, he saw some people setting up a hygiene station under the 18th Street highway overpass and walked over to introduce himself. He learned that the homeless, who had no place to shower or go to the bathroom indoors due to the lockdown, would now have a place to wash and relieve themselves with some dignity. Chad offered his help. He showed up every day from that day in April to December 15, 2020, volunteering his time for those experiencing Homelessness.
During this period he became actively involved in a project he helped conceptualize
and name – “Trash Talkers” – which provides sanitation services to homeless encampments. Even after moving from the Salvation Army shelter into his own apartment, Chad continued to show up to volunteer. Winter approached, and due to the dedication he had shown, in both service and advocacy for those in homelessness and addiction, he was asked to be one of the shelter managers at the YSS low-barrier Winter Freeze Shelter from December 2020 until March 2021.
Currently, Chad is serving as a Peer Recovery Coach at HoH-Share, Inc. through Project Rebound. While moving forward in his own recovery, he offers compassionate guidance towards recovery to those in our community. Today, Chad Wayt is able to help people learn how to move mountains in their lives, because he allowed love and compassion to move the mountains in his.