- Alcohol
- Drugs
- Friends & Family
Submitted by: Susanne Johnson
Drugs and alcohol brought Heather into treatment. Heather’s drug of choice was mainly the alcohol, but she used pain pills as well. Heather was tired of sitting in jail and going back to it all the times. She had multiple DUI arrests and had crashed her car a couple times while under the influence.
A joint decision between her parents and herself made her to reach out for help. She entered Michael’s House Treatment Center almost three years ago and has been clean and sober since that day. She said that she was ready for the change and wanted to give up substance abuse. She loved to be in the beautiful desert of Southern California for her treatment, but returned home after she was discharged and had successfully finished the program. Her parents came for a weekend to participate in the parent workshop and visit their daughter. They are actively involved and support her recovery as much as possible.
“I stopped by myself every time I got arrested, but I got right back to it after only a short period of sobriety each time,” Heather says. She couldn’t do it by herself; she could not stay sober. At one time, she even made it 89 days before she relapsed, but she was fighting and not feeling the relief she has today.
Heather grew up in Virginia and has now lived about ten years in Mississippi. She does not live very far from the Heroes in Recovery 6K run in Memphis, so she and her mother decided to go there to participate together. They want to support the cause, raise awareness and also meet others who are in the same situation as herself.
Today, Heather makes it still to three or four meetings a week at a 12-step fellowship. Her obsession and cravings have been lifted and she feels great in her new life. She only attends meetings, but she also actively engages in service work and works the steps. She kept in touch with the treatment facility through their alumni program and also still communicates with some other people she got sober with during her time in treatment. She is thankful for her support network that helped her on her way to this long-term recovery.