Client Testimonials

I remember my first meeting with Dindo. I sat across the table from him and tried to articulate my brother’s cocaine addiction. I was a nervous wreck. Addiction was unfamiliar territory to me personally and I didn’t know where to begin. In an effort to understand the situation and keep matters confidential, I spent hours surfing the internet for advice and found it overwhelming. I felt pressured to make the right choices since most of my family resides out-of-country and there were many parties affected by my brother’s addiction, among them his young children.

I am grateful that I chanced upon this website. Dindo’s guidance helped keep everything in perspective. He referred me to professionals who helped me understand an addict’s behavior, which can be scary and perplexing. His deep understanding of addiction helped provide us with the knowledge we needed so we could better relate with my brother and make educated decisions. I realize now how critical it is for family members to understand what is going on if they too are to be effective participants in the recovery process. I appreciated the several coffee meetings we had, as well as the text and email exchanges where he answered my questions and concerns and updated me. My brother seems to be more of himself these days – a voracious reader, easy going and gregarious. He seems less critical of himself and more down to earth. He enjoys the company of his children. I know it is a long road, but these are good first steps.

I learned that sometimes you have to trust your judgement and take your chances. My brother’s closest friends felt strongly that stay-in rehab was the only way to achieving a lasting wellness. This troubled me profoundly since they were better versed with the past two decades of his life than I was. They are also astute individuals who love him like a brother. Dindo assured us, however, that there are no fixed formulas and asked us to explore our options. I believe that wellness has to involve the individual if it is to be lasting. There are no fast resolutions to undo years of dysfunction, no clear answers to assuage anxiety and no way to delete the uncertainty of relapse. Recovery is as dynamic as the human person and to be lasting requires a journey into self-understanding. It stretches love and courage, but most of all requires kindness.

Sister from Makati

Yesterday, I wrote Dindo, "I was cleaning out my old, OLD email and came across this – what a great leap I have taken since then, thanks to you!" True to form, Dindo immediately replied "I am so happy to hear from you. I am proud that you have moved on."

It was precisely that – Dindo's warm presence and unconditional willingness to help – that saw me through my darkest time.

I had been using cocaine almost everyday, and in increasingly greater volumes. I used it wherever, whatever time and with whomever. Cocaine gave me an unparalleled high. It gave me confidence. It made me feel like a King.

Then, as with all other drugs, cocaine began to take its toll on me. My crashes got worse. My sleeping patterns went awry. At times I felt as though I was having a heart attack. I suffered a terrible bout of vertigo. I lost my Self. Then, I knew I had to stop. Before my using could start affecting my 9-year old daughter.

I tried several times to quit cocaine on my own, but kept failing.

I first contacted Dindo in April 2009, by text, upon a good friend's recommendation. Dindo was in Australia, assisting another client, but he called me at once. I have no words for the comfort that that call gave me. I felt like a child being rescued from a burning building.

I am now clean. It is a continuing struggle. But a happy one, one where you feel victorious every time you say "nah, not worth it." And I couldn't have done it without Dindo.

There is no substitute for a recovery under the guidance of a trained counselor. More so under a counselor who, like Dindo, truly cares for each of his clients. Through the Matrix Model, Dindo empowered me to achieve my recovery. Now, I realize that cocaine's "unparalleled high" is nothing but a farce, and that the true, genuine high comes from within me. Wherever, whatever time, and with whomever – and without a crash.

M from Manila

I am currently a client of Dindo who has struggled with a addiction for 15 years. My primary drugs of choice were cocaine, and oxycontin. I'm from abroad, and these highly addictive drugs are the norm within my circle of friends. Unfortunately, any attempts to quit lead to severe physical withdrawal symptoms including nausea, body pain, extreme flu symptoms etc. Any attempts to quit did not last for more than 2 days as the withdrawal effects were too severe. I came to the Philippines to undergo a morphine detox program at Makati Med which was a 7 day program in the hospital. It was there that my doctor introduced me to Dindo and his out patient recovery program. For most of you reading this will understand that quitting is not the hardest part of recovery, but rather staying clean is the biggest challenge.

After my detox was when Dindo came into my life of recovery. I was unable to attend our first meeting as I was still to weak and sick. After finally meeting with Dindo, I realized that I had met someone with a true understanding of all of the stages of recovery. He explained to me all the physical and mental stages of my recovery enabling me to anticipate and prepare for those stages. Throughout this Dindo remained encouraging and supportive not only to me, but to those closest to me. He provided counsel to my wife and my parents so they would be reassured of my progress. As time went on, Dindo started providing me with the life tools to stay clean. He allowed me to see outside myself and understand the effects my addiction had on the people around me. We began to repair relationships with my wife and parents with sessions that included them. Dindo addresses and advises on all aspects of life, and introducing them only when the time is right.

Throughout my sessions with Dindo, I am happy to say I have been clean for 9 months which is the first time in 8 years that I have been clean. More importantly, my wife and I have gained a good friend who has been there for us through every step of my recovery. With Dindo's deep understanding of people, and knowledge of addiction, I know that seeing him was one of the best decisions of my life. My family and friends thank you for all of your work with us!

Grateful in recovery from Canada

I was a very worried mother whose only daughter and child had succumbed to the use of drugs and alcohol to party - her way to temporarily forget discontentment in life. Though she was not a heavy user like my older brother who died of drug abuse, I somehow saw that she may, eventually, get there if I will not do anything to seek help soon for her and for me, as co-dependent. I love her so much, to allow it to happen.

It was my daughter's best friend, a former patient too, who highly recommended Dindo Ayuyao to me. Feeling the immediate need to save my daughter, I did not hesitate to call on him. He was very accommodating and pleasant. As he briefly described his Intensive Outpatient Drug and Alcohol Treatment Program, I knew that I found the perfect counselor for my 21 y/o daughter.

A few months before my daughter met Dindo, she took it upon herself to initially drop the use of drugs, minimize her alcohol intake and cigarettes. However, it was not suffice for me. I needed to determine the root cause why she had indulged into the use of drugs and alcohol in the first place. If she had any resentment towards me or her family, I needed to know them. My problem was, I did not know how to reach out to her. I felt that it was necessary to have a third party who could facilitate our communication. And that third party became Dindo.

My daughter's best friend took the initiative to personally introduce her to Dindo. Their first meeting was very cordial and my daughter immediately felt rapport dealing with him. The succeeding meetings never became an issue, it actually became her priority. He was not only a counselor to her, but her sounding board, trouble-shooter and most importantly a trusted friend with whom she could relate to with ease. In the end, Dindo became my friend too.

From the bottom of my heart, I'd like to thank Dindo, for so many things – for his endless kindness and understanding, for bridging the gap between my daughter and me, for listening patiently to our problems (not to determine who was right and wrong but how to resolve our problems), for making us understand the roles we each have to play, for giving us sound advices, for helping us look forward to a more harmonious relationship through mutual trust and respect, and most of all, for strengthening our love for each other.

My daughter is a survivor. She is more focus with her work and responsibilities now. Gradually, she is learning how to cope up with life with a happier disposition instead of negativity and impatience. She finds time and enjoyment to be with her family now. But what gives me enormous joy and satisfaction is that she has made me part of her life again. I am not only her mother now, but her best friend. Thank you so much, Dindo, for giving me back my daughter.

Mother from Makati

Thank you Dindo, in the two years or so you have worked with my son and myself, there have been so many transformations. We do not look for miracles but only for a bit of sanity and space. Parents are always well-meaning. I do not think one deliberately sets out to maim his child…but there is so much pain, comprehensible or not. And you Dindo are the great arbiter, the objective interpreterer, the well-meaning and trusted adviser. There is nothing to be said or done about the past, still we feel the effect inevitably. In the here and now though, Dinds, we have our little victories. No great expectations, a lot of unconditional love, witholding judgement, we live and love and try to temper our disappointments with hope.

But, Dindo, the greatest thing is to be able to sleep well, and to wake up knowing that the burden is being shared and born by one who knows what he is doing. The trust has grown over the years, affection, laughter…the kinship of a common goal to heal and to make right and to strengthen. God is a presence that puts all things in its perspective, and you are a friend whose council has always been tempered with kindness, compassion and caring.

Mother from New Manila