No longer down and out, Fredericton man turns to psychology to help others turn around

Pat Craig’s come a long way in the two-and-a-half years since he left behind a life of drugs and crime for bodybuilding and hoping to help others.

This fall, the Moncton native is set to enroll at the University of New Brunswick with aspirations of a psychology degree. He’s hoping that will help him do something he feels compelled to do: work in corrections and use his experience to help those leading lives similar to the one he did.

“I want to be able to help people that are in a similar position that may not have access to that moment of clarity that I had,” Craig explained. “I want to be able to tell them I did it here’s how you can do it too.”

Craig spent years in and out of prison until — after his most recent stint — something clicked one night.

“I was unhealthy, I was a bad person, I hurt people, I stole from people, I sold drugs,” Craig said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I was unhealthy, I was a bad person, I hurt people, I stole from people, I sold drugs," Craig said.

“I had a moment of clarity,” Craig said. “I walked by the mirror that was mounted at the top of the stairs and I saw myself in the mirror and something just broke.”

From that point, he says, he decided to make a change and stop going down what had been a very dark path, opting instead to better himself mentally through post-secondary education and physically through bodybuilding.

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Those who knew Craig before he changed his ways say the difference is tremendous and one that was completely unexpected.

“He was going down a slippery path and he landed himself in some institutions and he had his struggles,” explained Phil Fay, who has known Craig since they were in Grade 4. “Today Pat’s the kind of guy who would give you the shirt off his back.”

But Craig says he still has a little further to go and is eager to get a degree and soon be able to help those who are dealing with the same issues he used to.