Hi! My name is Ian Cowan. I recently moved back to PA after living in CA for 17 years. While the first few years of living in CA went relatively well, (I earned a degree from CSULB and had an amazing job at a country club that I loved) I soon became addicted to drugs and ultimately ended up in very poor health and living on the streets of Long Beach. Realizing that I had hit rock bottom and would probably not even make it to my 43rd birthday, I decided to move back to my hometown of Quakertown, PA in May. Since then, I have thankfully been clean and sober and am feeling so blessed to have this new lease on life. Even though starting from scratch at 43 years old can be intimidating, I am so excited to start this new chapter of my life, which is why I am hoping to attend the Certified Peer Specialist training in Philadelphia starting in February. By attending this training, I would be able to take the less-than-ideal experiences in my past and learn how to use them to counsel and assist those experiencing similar situations. After first learning about the opportunity to attend this training, I was told that there were resources allocated within the state budget to cover the cost of the training ($1400); however, I have since learned that those funds are no longer available, which is why I decided to give gofundme a try. Having the opportunity to take the things that I have learned from my past and share them with others in the hope of helping them achieve their own new lease on life would be a dream come true.