Local mentor encourages young men to leave a life of crime
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - We talked to a local mentor who says he knows what it’s like to get caught up in a life of crime.
He also says teenagers and other young people still have a chance to turn their lives around, as he did.
Born and raised in the heart of Augusta, Troy Curry was once a young Black man looking for his place in the world.
“I was born in the ghetto, but the ghetto wasn’t born in me,” said Curry, certified pure specialist, Serenity Behavioral.
Just like everyone else, he made unfavorable choices but did not let that define him as a person.
“I use to like being out in the streets. I use to like that lifestyle, but the thing about it was that I didn’t like the end result,” he said. “I found myself breaking relationships with my children, breaking relationships with my family, breaking the law.”
He says a phone call and a promise he made to his mom is what motivated him to turn his life around.
“When she told me she loved me something deep down inside me just triggered, and I said I love you and I’m going get myself together,” he said.
Fast forward years later, he is active in his church and is a certified specialist who helps people cope with substance abuse and mental illness. He also mentors and helps those who have lost their light.
“I take those experiences, and I use them in such a manner to show people that if you fall, you don’t have to stay down,” said Curry.
He wants every young man and young person to know you are a product of your past but you don’t have to be a prisoner of your past.
“Young men who are out in the community that may be on that pathway, we need to embrace you,” he said.
He says it takes a collective effort to reach our younger generation, and he is helping one step at a time.
“If you change your mind, you can change your life,” said Curry.
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