- Drugs
- Friends & Family
submitted by: Susanne Johnson
Alicia is from a suburb of Atlanta and is 27 years old. She has a long history of addiction and looks forward to not going back there. She started out with marijuana around age 12 and developed into molly, ecstasy, cocaine and more throughout the years.
Today she sees that her addiction and substance use hindered her from a bright future, from being a good mother to her children, and from a good life in general. She has a seven-year-old child, a two-year-old and one on the way. Both children are with her at the treatment facility and were healthy babies as they were born. Being pregnant now was one of the reasons why Alicia decided that there was an urgent need to change and reached out for help. She feels the responsibility she has as a mother and does not want to relapse back into drugs ever again.
She just spent a week at the treatment center this time, but she feels very good about her decision already. She says she can relate very well to all the classes they have and she tries to learn as much as possible that will help her to stay sober. Alicia has plans for the future. She wants to go back to school and finish her education. At the day of our interview she volunteered at the Heroes in Recovery 6K run/walk in Atlanta and felt good about life and the future that is waiting for her.
“Keep on pushing, keep on trying,” she likes to tell people who are still not in recovery or are struggling with relapse. “Don’t wait so long, now is the time.”
Alicia believes everything happens for a reason. It makes it a little harder for her to raise her children without their father, who is using drugs as well. At first she blamed him for the situation she is in today, but then she learned not to blame others and this makes it easier to deal with him about the children. He is planning to get his life together as well and Alicia really hopes that he finds the willingness and the help he needs to do so. She won’t come back together with him, but she wants to feel safe to have the kids around him in future knowing from herself how people in active addiction can be.