Recovery Stories

I started using painkillers after a work injury at 24. Within two years, I was on heroin. Within four, I was using fentanyl. I overdosed three times. I lost my apartment, my car, my relationship, and nearly my life.

My mom staged an intervention. I went to detox, then a 90-day inpatient program. The first two weeks were the hardest thing I've ever done. But the staff treated me like a human being — not a junkie, not a case number.

Today, I'm four years clean. I work as a peer recovery specialist at the same treatment center that saved my life. I have my own apartment, a dog named Bear, and I'm working toward my counseling degree. Recovery didn't just give me my life back — it gave me a better one than I'd ever had.

I started drinking in college. By 25, I was having two bottles of wine most nights but still making it to work in the morning. I told myself I didn't have a problem because I had a good job and a nice apartment.

Then I got a DUI. Then another. I started calling in sick to work. I was drinking alone every night and couldn't remember weekends. My sister sat me down and said, "I'm scared you're going to die."

I did an intensive outpatient program while still working. I also started going to SMART Recovery meetings, which helped me understand the thinking patterns behind my drinking. The hardest part was learning to socialize, deal with stress, and just exist without alcohol.

Three years later, I wake up clear-headed every morning. I run 5Ks now — something I never imagined doing. I still go to meetings because I know this is something I manage, not something I've "beaten."

I was a high-functioning cocaine user for over a decade. Parties, networking events, late nights — cocaine was my fuel. I combined it with heavy drinking. I was making good money and telling myself this was just how successful people lived.

The truth caught up with me when my wife left and got a restraining order. My 7-year-old daughter asked me why I was "always tired and angry." That question broke something open in me.

I went through medical detox, then 60 days of inpatient treatment. I learned that I'd been using substances to cope with anxiety I'd had since childhood but never addressed. Getting diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and getting on proper medication changed everything.

I now co-parent my two kids and we have a real relationship. I got remarried last year. I've rebuilt my career in a healthier way — no more 14-hour days fueled by cocaine.

After a car accident at 21, I was prescribed oxycodone for back pain. When my prescription ran out, the pain hadn't stopped — but neither had my need for the pills. I started buying them from other people. When that got too expensive, someone offered me heroin.

I never used a needle. I smoked it. I convinced myself that made it "not that bad." But within six months, I was spending $200 a day and lying to everyone I loved about where my money was going.

My boyfriend found me unresponsive in the bathroom and called 911. That overdose should have killed me — it was only because he had Narcan that I survived.

I spent two weeks in detox and then entered a medication-assisted treatment program. Buprenorphine literally saved my life. It took away the cravings and let me focus on therapy and rebuilding. I'm now two and a half years on MAT and it's the best decision I ever made.

I used meth for 18 years. I lost two marriages, three jobs, my house, and eventually ended up living on the street. I'd been in and out of rehab six times. Every time I relapsed, I told myself recovery wasn't meant for people like me.

The seventh attempt was the one that stuck — but not because the program was different. I was different. I was finally willing to do the uncomfortable work: addressing childhood trauma, rebuilding from zero, sitting with boredom instead of running from it.

A sober living house gave me structure for the first year. Then I got a job doing maintenance at a church. They didn't care about my record. They just gave me a chance.

Five years later, I'm a foreman for a construction company. I bought a small house last year. I reconnected with my adult daughter. Every day is still work, but it's the kind of work that builds something instead of destroying it.