- Alcohol
- Drugs
- Friends & Family
by Susanne Johnson
Toni’s meth story progressed like the one of many others: from taking it sometimes, to taking it always, to finally making and selling it to finance her own addiction. It all started with drinking when she was around twelve. Today Toni is 46, mother of 11-year-old triplets and a 17-year-old boy. Her 17-year old reminds her of herself when she was that age and she is concerned that he will develop a drug problem as well. She hasn’t seen her triplets for a while, since the father does not allow any contact.
Toni was in treatment before for alcohol some years ago, as the triplets were about three years old. She was at home, taking care of the little ones and drinking. The father of the children had her arrested and she was sent to treatment. At this time she was clean from drugs, just drinking alcohol.
The treatment did not help her to quit drinking. She started to take meth again and that’s how she stopped the alcohol. Being on meth and being with the wrong people with it, she started making it and was arrested again. Just a couple months out of jail, she got in trouble again and this time she received a three-year sentence. She did her time.
She was clean and sober in jail and after finishing her time she choose to enter a treatment-based sober living facility in Nashville, where I met her. She chose that longer term treatment over the 90-day halfway house option because she was scared of meeting with the wrong people again.
Toni will transitioned out of her treatment program in April 2015. She has had a stable job at a restaurant since October 2014 and intends to stay in Nashville. “Life is great and I’m loving it!” she says. But it didn’t start that way–she didn’t like the treatment program at first because it has a lot of rules. It took Toni a while to learn to appreciate those and follow them. She is not the woman that she was in jail anymore– she believes that the treatment program has changed her.
“It is never too late”, Toni would like to tell people who are not in recovery yet. She started completely over at age 42 and does not regret a thing about her recovery. She was hired to her new job despite her drug history and felonies and is grateful for people that give others second chances. She wants to be a great employee, loves her job and has plans for her future. It makes her feel sad to look how many other young girls throw away the earlier years of their life, just like she did.