Ashley’s addiction-to-recovery journey was a quick spiral from a sheltered, middle-class childhood with her family to being homeless.
“I had my first drink at 16, and I immediately fell in love with it,” she remembers. “I grew up in church. My life was very structured and protected. After I started drinking, I used drugs for the first time at 18, and by the time I was 25, I had two DUIs.”
Those seven years were some of the worst of her life, says Ashley. She lost custody of her son, became homeless, and didn’t know where to turn. Instead of seeking help, she sought solace in harder drugs.
“I was living with my family, but by then, everyone had had enough of me and no one knew what to do with me,” she shares. “I started to get into harder drugs, and eventually my parents had me involuntarily committed to a detox program in Rocky Mount.”
Ashley stayed, finished the 7-day detox program, moved to a 30-day recovery program in Greenville, and then her family sent her to a sober living home in Raleigh called the Oxford House.
“I stayed there for maybe two days before I started drinking again and got kicked out,” she acknowledges. She was homeless and alone.
Her dad found her and brought her to Healing Transitions.
I didn’t want to start a two-year program,” she recalled. “I wanted a quick fix, and honestly, I was nowhere near ready to stop using drugs or drinking.”
While she never completed the long-term recovery program at Healing Transitions, the community and care she found were enough to inspire her to commit to a lifetime of sobriety.
“Healing Transitions became a saving grace for me because it was always a place I could go when I didn’t have anywhere else to go,” she says. “When I was homeless, the women’s shelter was the place I’d go the most when I needed a safe p
lace to stay.”
“I just celebrated one year of recovery in February,” she shares with a smile. “It’s taken me 19 years to get here. And it all started because I got introduced to recovery while staying at Healing Transitions’ shelter.”
Today, Ashley’s life looks dramatically different. She’s married with three young children, and she stays involved with a local 12-step recovery group. She’s also looking forward to helping lead 12-step programs in nearby prisons, an opportunity that has brought her full circle from when she was incarcerated because of her drug use.
“Healing Transitions introduced me to a whole new life I never knew existed,” says Ashley. “I have so much gratitude for this place. It’s beautiful.”