- Alcohol
- Drugs
I began drinking in high school, like a lot of kids do. I quickly became the typical portrait of a teenage alcoholic. By the time I was 20 years old, I had progressed to drug use. I moved to Hollywood, CA in the height of the grudge era so I can blame my downfall on that scene.
I went into detox and came out of detox with a boyfriend. Shortly after detox, I became addicted to shooting heroin. I eventually went back to detox, where I spent my 25th birthday. Since then, I’ve been sober for over 17 years! My roommate and I became best friends and have remained that way ever since. We both went on to get our masters degrees in social work. She now runs the detox facility where we met, and I have been working in the addiction treatment community since 1999.
Working in the addiction treatment community allows me to talk about recovery everyday. I can use my experience to connect with people on a deeper level, when they otherwise wouldn’t listen.
If I were to sit down with someone who was thinking about going into recovery or was struggling with that decision, I would ask them a few questions: “What would you like to change about your life right now? Can you see a path that leads from where you are now to where you want to be without getting clean? If you can’t make a commitment to long-term recovery, can you at least commit to doing it for today?” That’s really all any of us can ever do.