Hello,

My name is Michelle P. and I am/was an addict . . . 

Substance has had an impact on my life because multiple things have happened. Like me having negative thoughts, stealing, depression and etc. It also has an impact on my family members because I am hurting them plus getting worked up and worrying about me. It has a impact on my community because I can/may go out stealing and hurting and harming other just to go out and catch that next high for the day.

It all started when I was 16 years old and I found out I had Lupus. I was sick in the hospital one time because I broke down. 

After a couple of years, I graduated High School in Detroit, Michigan in 2007 at 18 years old. I then went to medical assistant school and received certificate in 2008.

Yes, I did I had it all. I got better, I got a boyfriend an apartment and I already had a nice truck because of my parents. I was actually doing great I had it all plus a little more. I loved my life.

I was on pain pills like a normal person. Then all of a sudden one day things start to go down hill. I was having my days because of my Lupus. I was already stressing over my relationship, my job and mainly my health. One thing after another thing hit, I start being in the hospital twice a week and then the pain pill taking start getting worse [the pain and sleeping pills I was trying for different types of pain I was having]. 

Most of all the pills that I couldn't stop taking were a high does of Vicodin. I was only suppose to take 1 pill every 4-6 hours and as needed. But I stopped that and I was taking 1-3 pills every 2-4 hours. I was over medicating myself.

The sleeping pills at first was 1 pill every night for sleep. Then I doubled the dose and started over medicating myself and taking a bottle of sleeping pills without even remembering it. I even woke in hospitals because of it.  

Now realizing that now of this pill popping and OD-ing isn't good for me and has me feeling worse than when I first ever started taking these pills. I came to Sacred Heart Rehabilitation Center.  

Sacred Heart has helped me to realize that my life for me and my family is more important than a bottle of pills. It has also helped me to understand life is more clear. How to cope with things, take action and don't care about everyone else and their feeling and what they think. How to not be angry about everything.

Sacred Heart has really changed my whole outlook on life. It's guiding me to a much better future to live and be happy until the day I die. 

I am so proud of myself. I'm going to be a whole new new woman the day I walk out of Sacred Heart Rehabilitation Center.

I'm going to pass this place on to better many more lives just like it has done mine.

If I had never came here I would just be home taking more pills which will lead to the next worse thing which could of been shooting up somewhere or found dead out in the streets or in my bed. 

I'm so happy this chance has come to me and I took it and ran with it.

Now I'm going to walk out of here and better myself for me and my life. I'm also going to make my family proud of me again and be the best role model for my brothers, sisters, niece, and nephew. No one will have to worry about me again, I promise.

I loved this program. It taught me so much I can't wait to use what I know when I get back out in the world and start living my life again!

Thank you Sacred Heart!

Love, Michelle P.

Santa came to visit the children staying with their mom's while in Substance Use Disorder Treatment at Sacred Heart Clearview Women & Children Specialty Services. They got to meet and talk with Santa and then open presents! They were very surprised and grateful for every moment and present. Pictures were taken in house by Sacred Heart and generously edited by Tuff Photo Pet Photography (www.tuffphoto.com).

The holidays are often difficult times for clients and their families. All the pressures of holiday celebration, that come to bear on average folk, are even more pronounced in the lives of early recovering clients and their families. The pressures are many and may include everything from limited resources to traumatic memories. The recovering person with a family may be faced with increased levels of guilt and shame (fellow travelers of addiction) during the holidays. If you add to that hard financial times, the holidays can become a time of deep despair and even relapse.
 
Recovery from addiction is a family business and including family members in every aspect of treatment makes it much more likely that the business will be successful. One of the difficult hurdles to this inclusion of family in treatment is the idea that exposing, particularly children, to the recovery process is in some way unsavory or lacking in moral standing. This belief is often expressed in not wanting children to know anything about the how the addictive process unfolded even after the recovering person has started on the road to health. Statements like, “I would never take my kid to an AA or NA meeting” or “kids don’t belong at a methadone clinic”, suggest a separation of family and treatment that we at Sacred Heart would like to bridge.
 
This holiday the Sacred Heart staff of the Adult Residential Opiate Treatment Program held a party for the children and other family members at the Richmond facility. The party was made more festive by the participation of several community organizations as well as numerous unaffiliated individuals. These groups and individuals contributed approximately seventy wrapped Christmas presents ranging in price from five to fifteen dollars making it possible for every child of an Opiate Treatment Program client to receive a gift.

The gifts were under a tree decorated by both clients and Sacred Heart staff and when children arrived they were given the presents by clients who volunteered to be elves. There were treats and wrapping paper every where. Newborn babies were seen sporting new blankets and knitted caps. The blankets and hats were made by children who were given an explanation of the importance of the idea of the Gift as a spiritual part of the holiday festivity.

The message that the Sacred Heart staff of the Adult Residential Opiate Treatment Program was trying to send is that this program is family friendly. A client coming to us is welcome and so is his family. The idea that you can’t do recovery alone means that the staff of Sacred Heart, the community at large, your AA and NA bothers and sisters and your loved ones will join you in this journey. You are not alone.

-Sacred Heart Therapist