My Road to Recovery
I had a pretty normal life as a substitute teacher until my brother died of multiple sclerosis. I lost it. I was depressed and got heavy into crack cocaine to ease the pain. I tried other drugs before, but crack made my sorrow disappear.
My addiction escalated to the point where I quit my job as a teacher and began making easy money illegally. I didn’t care; I didn’t feel anything when I was high. It was all about making enough to get my next fix.
Everything came to a halt when I was arrested. I was 5 months pregnant at the time. This was my wake up call. I was in a lot of trouble. I went to court and the judge gave me a choice: I could go to jail or go to Aspen Center.
My treatment at Aspen Center has made all the difference; I’ve been clean for more than three months.
I don’t just get taken care of; I’m learning how to be a good mom with parenting classes and family groups. The therapy, anger management, and one on one sessions with my counselors help me overcome my addiction. My counselors really listen to me. You have to talk about what you are going through in treatment otherwise it ends up being a trigger for you to use again. They are here to help and are teaching me how to get back on my feet and survive when I get back to the real world.
I know I’m done with my life as an addict. I have to live day by day in treatment, sometimes hour to hour. It’s hard. The cravings are strong; I was an addict for nearly a decade. But they teach us how to control it. How to be aware of our five senses when a craving comes on and how to take control of the situation by paying attention to our breathing.
I have big dreams after I finish treatment. I want to get back into teaching permanently and become a special education teacher. I want to be a great mom. My daughter is my hope. I say to myself all the time: you can either get high or you can be with your child. My daughter always wins. I haven’t been this happy in a very long time. I have my daughter and I’m safe; Aspen Center feels like home.
Arapahoe House’s Aspen Center for Women is a residential treatment program for pregnant and post partum women suffering from drug and alcohol dependence. Services offered include parenting clean and healthy babies, family therapy, case management, healthcare and integrated treatment for substance dependence, mental illness and trauma related issues.
