Mike Santana Opens Up About His Rehab Experience, Going Into Spiral After His Father’s Passing

Mike Santana is on top of the world right now, but it took his going to rehab to get past his addiction issues and he recently reflected on that experience. Santana has been open about his struggles with addiction and how rehab has benefitted him. Santana spoke with Rosenberg Wrestling about how his father’s passing on January 1st, 2020 was the catalyst for everything and sent him into a three-year long spiral that he had to go to rehab in order to get out of.

Santana told the co-hosts that rehab was the greatest experience of his life and talked about how it helped him unpack a lot of the trauma he had been through. He also discussed how he wants to destigmatize the notion of rehab and therapy. You can check out the highlights below:

On His Father’s Passing:

“As crazy as it sounds, and as much as I wish he was here every day, my father passing away was like the catalyst to everything. He was my biggest supporter, he was my biggest cheerleader. He was my best friend. And losing him was what made me face all the other things that I was dealing with that I didn’t deal with in my life. Everything came to the surface. And you know, I hit rock bottom, But in turn I used rock bottom to build the foundation to get me to where I’m at today.”

On How Long It Took To Be Able to Start Dealing With His Dad’s Passing:

“Oh man, I went on almost a three-year long spiral. You know, I was dealing heavily with the addiction stuff, and I didn’t get into rehab until February of 2023. So it took a while. It took a while.”

On The Impatient Program:

“To me, it was the greatest experience of my life, honestly. As much as it was hell dealing with the detox — like, I was in detox for, usually detox lasts for five days. I was in detox for eight days and that was hell. Because you know, they give you medication to suppress your nervous system so that you don’t catch seizures, but there’s no medication to ease the withdrawal symptoms. So I’m dealing with all that. On top of like, I remember dealing with the detox and I started going to the meetings that very first day. Because I was scared of being alone and my body like, it was something I’ve never felt. So I’m like what the hell is going on? I didn’t realize how bad I was until I went through that.

“But again, greatest experience of my life. It was like a deep dive into everything. And to me, rehab is just a very intense therapy session. That’s what it is, every day. And what rehab does is, it breaks you down to the core and it builds you back up. And it builds you back up with a routine. It gives you — you learn tools how to maneuver through different situations. But of course like they say, it’s life on life’s terms. Life is going to do what life does, right? And it’s up to you. So yeah, man. Like it was — again, it’s something that I’m always going to have part of my life and I’m thankful.”

On Being Open About His Addiction & Rehab:

“A lot of people I’ve noticed, even while I was in rehab, is that they look at it as something shameful. And a lot of people don’t talk about it. I was like, ‘I want to change that.’ I think you should talk about it. And I’ve learned that vulnerability is a superpower, you know what I mean?

“And growing up, especially being from the hood, we grow up with that mindset of like, ‘Yo, you don’t talk about this. We don’t learn how to talk about this. You just keep it pushing,’ right? And that was the worst thing that I could have done. I’ve done that for so long in my life, and it gave me no service. So now I talk about it as much as I could. Because also like, they teach you that the greatest thing that you could give someone is the gift that was so freely given to you. And that in turn helps me. So I’m all about it.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Rosenberg Wrestling with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.