My Nonprofit Reviews

Almost 3 years ago I made the call to the help center that completely changed the trajectory of my life. I had hit bottom AGAIN. I'd exhausted relationships with family, my own son who was 13 at the time was even done with me, I had no money, and the only 2 outcomes I could see for myself was prison or death. I was on probation, had violated, and there was a high likelihood that the outcome of the court proceedings was going to mean many years behind bars. So, to be honest death seemed like the more preferable option. I was tired. I was physically and emotionally tired, tired of constantly trying and failing, of constantly getting my families hopes up and letting them down. Tired of failing as a mother, a daughter, hell as a human - and I definitely didn't want to live out the next 20+ years in prison, so ending it all was definitely tempting. But, obviously I didn't go that route. I decided for my son, my family, and myself I'd at least try.. one...more.. time. Before I left detox I got back on depression medication and set to calling a safe option to go to. Going home wasn't an option, I wouldn't last and I knew it. I'd been in recovery before, had a couple years under my belt, had worked the 12 steps... but I'd slowly stopped doing them. A problem I had was balancing life with what it meant to BE in recovery. Plus I was a heroin addict... so I ended up lying to myself thinking "I can drink alcohol, no big deal... I won't drink the same way I used." Wasn't long after drinking occasionally turned into daily, and excessively, then I was right back to using heroin. So before leaving detox, I heard of SLA, made the call and qualified and the rest is history. Because they don't require money upfront, the fact my family was loving me from a distance didn't matter. I was able to do it on my own, as far as the financial part. SLA allowed me to be in a place that while offering some accountability and supervision, I wasn't cutoff from society with life completely on hold. You get to still feel 'normal'. To live in an apartment, work a job, have a cellphone, go to the store, have over-night passes. These are all "small" things, but to those that have been in other treatment programs you understand what I mean. To those that have been to jail or prison, you get what I'm saying. People can sometimes be reluctant to go into "treatment" because they think certain rules are privileges are "rights" and fight against the guidelines that are in place. SLA has some rules, curfews, etc but it's not so rigorous that I find it unreasonable. Not for what you can get out of being here. Now don't get me wrong, it's not "perfect" at any of the locations. No program is. But the way I look at it, is you can go into one of these locations looking to pick it apart or have a victim mentality and completely miss out on the bottom-line. The bottom-line being it's a safe environment, safer than the streets.. safer than sleeping in your car, under a bridge, couch hopping, or at the mercy of yourself with no recovery. The bottom-line is you can come in with NO MONEY UPFRONT and have a roof over your head, lights and water, transportation to a job that you don't have to go out and find, transportation to recovery meetings where you can find a sponsor that will take you through the steps, and a curriculum that if you will honestly dig into it will help change your mindset. To be honest, there's more... but it requires an attitude of gratitude to see it. And it requires willingness and humility to really get anything out of it - and that's going to be true regardless of where you go. Today, for me, because I made that call to the helpcenter - I will have 3 years sober in September. I am happily married and in a HEALTHY relationship with trust, support and partnership. We both have our family back in our lives, a child on the way, and are at a place now where we can continue to grow and invest in a future. I don't believe this would have been the outcome if SLA had not been a resource that was available to me, so for that I am extremely grateful!