DENINU KU'E/FORT RESOLUTION - When Fort Resolution's Wilfred Simon talks about himself from years ago, it sounds like he is describing a different person.

Wilfred Simon, a community wellness worker in Fort Resolution, says his life was turned around by calling upon Jesus Christ for help. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

"I was one of the worst drunks in town," Simon recalled.

In fact, he started drinking when he was nine and stopped at 42, and also used marijuana and cocaine.

Now, the 55-year-old is a community wellness worker with Deninu Ku'e First Nation, along with being a well-known volunteer and family man.

"I grew up in a really violent atmosphere. I grew up with alcohol all around me. Alcohol was normal," he said. Simon was born in Rocher River, spent part of his childhood in Fort Smith and has lived in Fort Resolution since the mid-1960s, except for occasionally working at various jobs elsewhere.

Simon said his life changed in 1997 while in Wetaskiwin, Alta.

One night, he was planning suicide. All he had left to do was finish off the alcohol, marijuana and cocaine on a table in front of him.

"I was just totally lost," he said.

Nothing had helped him change his life – not organized religion, native spirituality, a psychologist, or counselling.

However, he said someone had told him about the power of a personal relationship with Jesus, whom he turned to in his moment of crisis.

"I said I'm going to try this guy," he said, referring to Jesus. "I got on my knees and said, 'Jesus, God, if you're real, I need you now.'"

And, Simon said, as he kneeled, an "incredible presence" surrounded him and filled him, and he cried for two or three hours.

"I never cried so much in my life," he recalled, adding he fell asleep crying. "When I woke up, I was a new person."

His life changed instantly – he stopped drinking, using drugs and smoking, and even married his girlfriend a few months later.

"All the rage I had left me," said Simon, who spent short periods of time in jail as a teenager and once as an adult.

In 1999, he returned to Fort Resolution to work as a drug and alcohol counsellor, a position that changed several years ago to a community wellness worker.

Simon recalled the community was surprised by the person he had become.

"I'm totally different than what I was," he said.

Simon believes his past helps him assist people as a community wellness worker.

"It helps me because I know what they're going through, the effects of alcohol and drugs in their lives," he said.

His work includes health awareness and promotion, along with assessing people who wish to go for addictions treatment.

Because Simon is known in Fort Resolution for his strong Christian beliefs and knowledge of The Bible, he has also been personally called a couple of times for a unique job – clearing spirits out of haunted houses.

"There are a lot of strange incidents in Fort Resolution like that," he said.

About seven years ago, a woman contacted him about things floating around her daughter's bedroom.

Simon went to the house, where he only heard strange sounds, and prayed with the family. The unusual happenings stopped.

A year and a half ago, another family called him about a spirit throwing things around a bedroom.

Simon said the family was so scared they slept in the living room. "When I was talking to them, there was some knocking at the door in the bedroom."

Simon said The Bible says spirits exist, so he believes they do. However, he said some people are also superstitious, and may imagine they see and hear things after watching scary movies.

The Bible says people have authority over their bodies, homes and belongings, he pointed out.

So his method of dealing with mischievous spirits is to pray and tell them to leave.

"I don't fear things," Simon said. "I know who I am in Christ and who I am in God, and how powerful he is."