Back to the team…
Meet
Joel Haddock
Program Staff
Joel was born into chaos — raised amid addiction, violence, and instability. By 14, he was deep in the system, and for the next two decades, his life was defined by addiction, incarceration, broken relationships, and a refusal to take responsibility. He lacked the tools to live with honesty or purpose and instead played the victim in a cycle he created.
That cycle shattered when he woke up in jail facing 22 serious charges after a near-fatal crash. But instead of prison, Joel was given a rare second chance through The Other Side Academy. Under a zero-tolerance agreement, he committed fully to transformation rebuilding his life on truth, integrity, and service.
Today, Joel is a full-time staff member in TOSA’s legal department. He returns to the same courtrooms where he was once sentenced — not as a defendant, but as a mentor, advocate, and living proof of what’s possible when someone truly chooses change.
“Drug addiction didn’t happen to me. My choice to be a drug addict and a criminal happened to everyone who tried to love me while I played the victim in a life I created. My story challenges the idea that clinical treatment alone works for people like me — real change takes, truth, accountability, and community. I found this education from people with my same lived experience at The Other Side Academy”
— Joel Haddock