When I arrived at Healing Transitions on March 30, 2006 I was broken, desperate, and lost. I started using at the age of 15. I felt a sense of ease and comfort every time I took a drink or used a drug. It helped me to escape and avoid reality while feeling I belonged with…
Before I came to Healing Transitions, my life was screwed up because of drugs and alcohol. My using caused me to go to prison for a little while. Then, even after I got out, I kept using. I just didn’t know how to stop. The night I went to Healing Transitions is one I’ll…
My name is A.J. and I am Silver Chipper #10 at Healing Transitions. I completed the program in 2007, and if it wasn’t for Healing Transitions, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I was in a very dark spot, and the program gave me a way to find healing and recovery. I am…
Before I came to Healing Transitions, I was living in a rooming house and was behind on the rent, facing eviction. The place was really a crack house because of all the drugs being used there. My last day using was January 23. I used that entire night and wound up going to Shepherd’s Table…
I’ve been exposed to drugs and alcohol my whole life. At age 12 I tried drinking for the first time while I was camping with some of my family. One of my relatives gave me and my cousin our first six-pack, which at that age, we thought we were being cool. Then in middle school…
Early years Growing up, I was a good kid who enjoyed playing soccer all the way through high school. But at age 16, I started smoking pot and hanging with the wrong crowd, which basically threw my sports career because I became more interested in skipping school and getting high. Then when I was 18,…
Early trauma Like a lot of stories I hear, I had a pretty traumatic childhood. My mom was 16 when she had me, and she and my dad got married because of the pregnancy. When I was 9 or 10 years old, they divorced, and my mom married a preacher who was also a child…
15 Years Ago Looking back, my problem with alcohol began to truly escalate 15 years ago. I was married at the time, and I began to get careless with drinking. I began getting into trouble with the law with charges like DUIs, and it just continued from there into a whirlwind until it got so…
Where I came from, drinking and using drugs was the norm. Everybody did it, which is why I started at age 14. I’d smoke every day and then drink on the weekends. I was always a good kid and an honor roll student, but eventually I got tired of being the good child. I…
I never felt comfortable in my own skin as a kid and that discomfort ultimately led to my substance use. The first time I drank and smoked weed, it immediately relieved my pain. Within a matter of months, I was drinking whiskey out of my backpack at school and constantly under the influence. Naturally, my…