A voice in the dark: From the wreckage of his life as an addict, Thuan Nguyen found a way to heal others

Thuan Nguyen Photo courtesy Mountainside
Thuan Nguyen, the wellness manager at addiction treatment center Mountainside in North Canaan, has remarked that an addict’s journey from a life of addiction to a life of service and spiritual fulfillment is a testament to the transformative power of the human spirit.
Nguyen created Mountainside’s signature Spirituality in Recovery curriculum, which many of the treatment center’s alumni have said helped them begin their own journeys to the peace of mind and self-knowledge necessary for sober living.
Nguyen’s own life began in tumult. Born in South Vietnam during the war, he was just 11 months old when his father, a pilot for the South Vietnamese air force, received word that Saigon was on the brink of falling.
Nguyen’s mother fled via motorcycle with her four children and “just the clothes on their back,” said Nguyen. The men were destined for mainland Thailand, but in a desperate bid to be with his family, Nguyen’s father and a friend stole a plane off the air force base and deserted. Reunited, the family ended up in a refugee camp in Pennsylvania, received sponsorship from a church in Pleasantville, New York, and finally came to settle in Westchester County.
“I’ve been told that I thrash at night sometimes, so I think it’s still in my body somewhere,” Nguyen confided. “I probably have some trauma from it, but I don’t know consciously.”
Struggling against social anxiety, Nguyen began drinking in high school. “I’d been so anxious, and I used it as a tool,” he said. “I wanted to fit in. I was an introvert. I was really shy. But when I drank, it was like, ‘OK. Now I can be like everybody else.’ And I wanted to be like everybody else.”
In sobriety, Nguyen has come to realize that at the time, he simply didn’t like who he was, and alcohol offered him the illusion of transformation.
Asked if alcohol eventually “stopped working,” as many alcoholics report, Nguyen laughed: “I don’t think it ever stopped working. It was the crystal meth that took me down.”
A driven and successful student, Nguyen went from high school to Vassar College to Cornell University into a successful professional life in New York. One night out at a club with colleagues, a work friend’s dealer offered him crystal meth. “The sense of euphoria was unbelievable,” said Nguyen. “Crystal meth made me feel like Superman. I felt like I could do anything I wanted.”
And for a time, he was indeed Superman. In a turn of events that many people with addiction experience, promotions and raises flowed.
“I thought, ‘No one needs to know as long as I can control it,’” he said. “I controlled it for a good three years, and then the last year was just horrendous. I was doing it at work, around the clock. I thought people didn’t know, but people knew.”
He was fired. “I couldn’t stop,” he explained. “I kept telling myself I’d stop if my partying life got in the way of my professional life, but when it actually happened, I was like, ‘Well, I can’t stop now.’”
He moved to Seattle, hoping that, in a more relaxed life, he would be able to stop drinking and using drugs. But he couldn’t.
In the throes of his addiction, convinced he would die, with the police showing up at his door, no job, and the threat of homelessness looming, Nguyen finally checked in to High Watch, a 12 step-based treatment program in Kent.
I remember walking into the dining hall and seeing the 12 steps on the wall and thinking, ‘Oh god. I’m in one of those places. How did I get here?’” Nguyen decided he’d get through the 21-day program, get his family off his back, and get back to his life.
“That was the plan,” Ngyuyen explained, “Until I realized I couldn’t live without drugs and alcohol.”
One night at High Watch, a blizzard came through the area. The campus was covered in crystal rock salt to prevent slipping. Alone in his dorm room, Nguyen mistook a chunk of rock salt for crystal meth and thought this must have been a test of the program.
It was then that he realized, “‘I am obsessed. When I’m not doing drugs, I’m thinking about doing drugs.’”
This total acceptance is what people in recovery sometimes describe as “surrender”—and for Nguyen, it enabled him to commit to his recovery and to Alcoholics Anonymous. He found himself surrounded by a community of people who were spiritual and peaceful, and he shared, “I wanted what they had.”
Three years since he had last held a job, Nguyen left rehab and secured a position in housekeeping at High Watch.
“I couldn’t exactly pick and choose,” he said of his then-new position. “It taught me humility.” He told himself, “‘I’m just like everyone else here. I’m just gonna do my job and be okay with that.’”
Through his work at High Watch, he became a 12-step coach. Fueled by a deepening connection to spirituality through meditation and yoga, Nguyen became a certified yoga and reiki teacher, in Yoga of the 12 Steps, and special training in qigong.
This path eventually led him to Mountainside, where he could explore an array of healing modalities. Here, he revels in the opportunity to share his journey and the wisdom he’s gathered with clients.
“I think self-love is the holy grail of the entire program. Because if you can learn to love yourself, you will never do anything to harm yourself,” said Nguyen. He said that working at Mountainside helps to keep him sober day to day, and to find immense gratitude for his journey.
“Most of it is knowing how hard it is to get sober, how painful the beginning is and getting to be a voice for people because there were voices of hope for me,” he said. “I want to be around to help somebody when they finally say, ‘OK, I’m done. Now what do I do?’ and to be one of those people that gets to help.”
On Saturday, Sept. 6, from 12 to 5 p.m., Rock Steady Farm in Millerton opens its fields once again for the third annual Farm Fall Block Party, a vibrant, heart-forward gathering of queer and BIPOC farmers, neighbors, families, artists, and allies from across the Hudson Valley and beyond.
Co-hosted with Catalyst Collaborative Farm, The Watershed Center, WILDSEED Community Farm & Healing Village, and Seasoned Delicious Foods, this year’s party promises its biggest celebration yet. Part harvest festival, part community reunion, the gathering is a reflection of the region’s rich agricultural and cultural ecosystem.
Rooted in justice and joy, the event will feature over 25 local vendors and organizations, live performances, healing workshops, family-friendly activities (yes, there’s a bouncy castle), and abundant local food. And while the festivities are certainly reason enough to show up, organizers remind us the purpose runs deeper.
“This isn’t just a party. It’s a place to build the kind of relationships that keep our food system alive,” said Maggie Cheney, Rock Steady’s co-founder and worker-owner. “We’re creating space where farmers, growers, families, and community organizers can connect, celebrate, and support one another.”
Proceeds from the event support Rock Steady’s POLLINATE program for queer and trans BIPOC beginning farmers, as well as Catalyst Collaborative Farm’s food justice initiatives. With sliding-scale tickets from $5 to $250, the organizers aim to make the event accessible to all, including free entry for children under 12 and volunteer options for those who want to pitch in.
For those who’ve attended before, it’s a welcome return. For newcomers, it may just feel like coming home.
More info and tickets: rocksteadyfarm.com/farm-block-party
Waterlily (8”x12”) made by Marilyn Hock
It takes a lot of courage to share your art for the first time and Marilyn Hock is taking that leap with her debut exhibition at Sharon Town Hall on Sept. 12. A realist painter with a deep love for wildlife, florals, and landscapes, Hock has spent the past few years immersed in watercolor, teaching herself, failing forward, and returning again and again to the page. This 18-piece collection is a testament to courage, practice and a genuine love for the craft.
“I always start with the eyes,” said Hock of her animal portraits. “That’s where the soul lives.” This attentiveness runs through her work, each piece rendered with care, clarity, and a respect for the subtle variations of color and light in the natural world.
After painting in oils earlier in life, Hock returned to art when she retired from working as a paralegal with a goal: to learn watercolor. It wasn’t easy.
“Oils and watercolor are opposites,” she explained. “With oils, you build your darks first. In watercolor, if you do that, you’re in trouble.” She studied online, finding instructors whose approach clicked, and adapted to the delicacy of the medium.
“When I’m working, everything else falls away,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what’s going on in life. While I’m painting, time disappears.”
Her studio, formerly a home office, is now her sanctuary and the pieces in this exhibition are the result of three years of that devoted studio work. While this is her first full public show, Hock previously tested the waters at a small fundraiser at Noble Horizons, where one of her pieces sold. That experience — and the consistent encouragement from her family, especially her husband — pushed her to pursue a full exhibition. With gentle encouragement from her husband and family, Hock reached out to the Town Hall’s curator, Zelina Blagden. “My husband kept saying, ‘You’re as good as all those other people out there, why not show your work?’” And so, here it is.
All paintings in the show are for sale, though Hock admits a few are priced high — not because of their size or complexity — but because she’s not quite ready to let them go. “There are a couple I’ve priced high because I’m not sure I want to part with them. But we’ll see,” she laughed. “It would be nice to support the habit a little bit.”
As for aspiring artists or anyone hesitating to begin something creative, Hock’s advice is simple: “Go for it. If it fails, toss it in the basket and start over.”
The exhibit will be on view at Sharon Town Hall through Oct. 31 with an opening reception on Sept. 12 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Light refreshments will be served.
Carissa Unite, general manager of Oblong Books in Millerton.
Carissa Unite of Millerton, began working at Oblong Books 16 years ago as a high schooler. She recently celebrated her eight-year anniversary as the general manager.
Unite’s journey at Oblong began even before she applied for her first position.An avid reader from a young age, she was a frequent customer at the store. During those years, Unite bonded with a former employee who encouraged her to apply for a position after connecting over their shared love of reading.
As a teenager, Unite enjoyed reading Ellen Hopkins, John Green and Ann Brashares. With the busyness of adulthood, she now favors the convenience of audio books. In the past year, however, she has made it a point to read more physical books.
With a preference for contemporary fiction, she raved about “Atmosphere” by Taylor Jenkins Reid. The story, set in the 1980s, follows two women who become astronauts at a time when women were not widely accepted in the field. A beautiful love story emerges between the two characters. Unite described the writing as sensational and commended Reid’s ability to tackle complex themes without them being muddied.
Unite has developed a deep appreciated for classic literature. Her two favorites are “Giovanni’s Room” by James Baldwin and “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde. She was amazed by the philosophical nature of both words and the way their dialogue challenged her perspective.
In an effort to read beyond her preferred genre, she recommends the following:
“Some Desperate Glory,” by Emily Tesh, “Midnight Rooms,” by Donyae Coles and “Clear” by Carys Davies.
For Unite, the beauty of reading lies in its power to develop perspective, empathy, and compassion. Through books, readers learn that everyone is fighting different battles and no two stories are the same. She encourages people to choose kindness because you never know what someone else is facing.
Above all, reading brings Unite peace. If offers transcendence to another world, a pause from outside noise, and for Unite, it is where she feels most at home.
For anyone hesitant to being reading, Unite suggests: just do it! Read 10 pages a day and find the book that speaks to you. Any Oblong staff member would be happy to offer recommendations.
Oblong is located at 26 Main St., in Millerton and 6422 Montgomery St. in Rhinebeck.