“We’ll go to the park tomorrow,” I told my four-year-old son daily. Something made me realize that tomorrow would never come because I had an addiction problem mixing drugs and alcohol. That was in 1989. I entered my first treatment facility to become a responsible parent and remained sober for 13 years!

In 2002, my son had completed high school, and I thought I was ‘ok.’ So, when my father was dying in our home, and it was too painful to feel or deal with, to numb myself and suppress my feelings, I went back to Substance Use again. It only took one glass of wine.

On May 7, 2010, I entered treatment again. During that recovery process, I was deeply impacted by my counselor—so much so that I decided to become a counselor myself. In 2016 I successfully acquired my Alcohol and Drug Substance Use license.