Healing Transitions 20th Anniversary Publication

Luckily, everyone was okay, but
I was given my first DUI and was
sent to jail. A few weeks after
getting out, it happened again.
My dad had given me his vehicle
so my children could get around;
I was leaving my dope lady’s
house, nodded off, and slammed
into the back of another car.
This time, as I was waiting while
my son was being checked out at
the hospital, a couple of people
asked me to come with them and
took me down to a cop car. They
let me know that they were from
CPS and that I was a danger to
my children and that they were
taking them away from me. They
“ Healing Transitions
has given me a second
chance in life.”
let me go upstairs to give my son
a quick hug and kiss goodbye,
and they took me to jail again.
When I got to get out and go
home again, the house was just
so quiet and empty. All of my
kids’ toys were scattered about,
but no one was playing with
them. That’s when reality hit me. I
needed to do something.
I knew about Healing Transitions
because my sister went there a
few years back, so I called them.
A woman named Audra answered
the phone – we are still close
to this very day. Even though
detoxing was rough, it was
probably the easiest detox I have
ever been through. I had a history
of having seizures when detoxing
off of opiates and benzos. At one
point I had to be on epilepsy
medication because of all the
seizures I was having. But when
I was coming off of them coldturkey
at Healing Transitions, I
didn’t have any. I could actually
sleep at night. I know that God
exists in those walls.
At first, I didn’t want anything
to do with the actual recovery
program. I was a very prideful,
stubborn person at the time and
did what I wanted to do. I had all
of these unhealthy feelings and
the only way I knew how to deal
with them was through drugs and
alcohol, so that’s what I did and
I wound up having to restart the
program several times.
Eventually, I started working with
a mentor who suggested that I
get honest with myself and the
recovery program. That was the
point where I began to realize
that I could no longer live a life
of lies. My spiritual condition
wouldn’t allow me to do that.
So I started being honest, and
dealt with the consequences of
my actions. And honestly, they
weren’t as bad as I thought they
were going to be.
In the 16 months it took me
to finish the program, Healing
Transitions taught me a lot of
life lessons. Most importantly,
they taught me how to be a good
mother. I had never parented
sober before Healing Transitions.
Parenting is the hardest thing
I’ve ever done in my life,
especially sober. Today, all of my
relationships with my family have
been restored and the family
dynamics are better than they
have ever been.
Healing Transitions has given me
a second chance in life. It’s given
me the opportunity to live one
day at a time and be of service to
other people. I get to help other
women the same way another
woman did for me. She saved
my life. She brought me out of
the depths of hell and despair.
I don’t know where I would be
without her. And for me, to be
able to do that for someone else
is a real honor.
I remember the first month I
was at Healing Transitions, I
was in tears all the time. But
one day, someone looked at me
and said, “You’re going to help
a lot of people one day”. I told
her that I don’t have anything to
give anybody. I don’t know what
exactly that person saw in me, or
why they decided to say that to
me, but I’ll never forget it.
Recovery isn’t easy, but it’s
doable. I worked really, really
hard to stay drunk and stay
high and the result was that I
was constantly miserable. I only
have to work half as hard to stay
sober, and I have more peace and
happiness in my life than
I ever had before. So the work –
it’s worth it!
79 CELEBRATING YEARS OF RECOVERY HEALING-TRANSITIONS.ORG