Client Success Story: Kelsie
If you are willing to make a change in your life, it can be done.
Before
Kelsie is a grateful recovering drug-addict. Her sobriety date is September 23, 2023. Kelsie loved drinking and taking drugs for over 17 years. She is from a small town in Louisiana. Her babysitter gave Kelsie her first beer when she was 12. When she turned 13 she would sneak alcohol over to friends. By 8th grade she was dating older men, drinking, and doing whatever she wanted. At school she hung out with the people who drank and did drugs preferably the pot heads. Kelsie took her first pill senior year and never forget how it felt. She was a black-out drunk the whole summer before college. One day she snorted what she thought was fentanyl but it was laced with a hallucinogen. She left house at 11:00 pm and was gone for 3 days. She woke up at a gas station, she had overdosed. “It was the last time I would put a drug in my body.” She laid there with her car door open puking, and decided then that she was done. “By the grace of God, I made it home.”
After
She had no idea how she was going to get help. She called an ambulance and the EMT gave her a list of resources that could help and she had circled HRC. Kelsie called HRC and spoke to Mr. Turner. She told him she needed help. He got her the next morning and they went to HRC. She knew her whole entire life was about to change. “All the people that have helped have been a blessing to me.” To help repay what they had given her, she is carrying the message to other addicts. She sponsors and tries to get involved as much as she can. She knows that God has given her a purpose in life and it’s to help other people. “To me, there is no better gift in life than being of service to other people.”
Life has so much more to offer than drugs and alcohol.
Background:
My name is Kelsie and I’m a grateful recovering drug user. My sobriety date is September 23, 2023. I loved drinking and taking drugs for over 17 years.
I am from a small town in Louisiana. My brother and I were constantly having to move around to different schools, and it was hard for us. My parents were the best parents they could be for me and my little brother. I remember my babysitter gave me my first beer when I was 12. When I turned 13 I would sneak alcohol over to my friends. By 8th grade I was dating older men, drinking, and doing whatever I wanted. Anything to fill the void and feel some kind of happiness. I was a girl who on the outside looked one way and, on the inside, felt different. At school I was one person and outside of school I was different. I was the “It Girl” and I hung out with the mean girls at school, but outside of school I hung out with the people who drank and did drugs preferably the pot heads. I took my first pill senior year and I’ll never forget how it felt. I was black-out drunk the whole summer before college.
I tried just about any drug. My drugs-of-choice were fentanyl and cocaine. I’m now sober 8 months and 26 days, all because I was sick and tired of being sick and tired of repeating the same tragic cycle of insanity. If you would have asked me 8 months ago “Do you ever think you will get sober,” I would have laughed at you and asked, “Why should I?” In my head for a long time I was not an “addict.” Me? No, I was the best at making my appearance from the outside look like I had it all together. For the longest time no one knew I was dying on the inside.
I never admitted I was an addict to anyone until I went to treatment. In my head I was okay, even though my addiction was so bad that I had to plan how many pills and how much coke I would need to make it through the day without getting sick and taking care of my responsibilities. Even on days I had nothing to do I had to have drugs. 17 years of my life were controlled by drugs and alcohol. It took 17 years of my life to see it slowly but progressively get worse and 3 weeks to spiral out of control.
I thought I was special and there was no cure for the disease I had. I was okay with using alcohol and drugs for the rest of my life. I thought that was the only way I could function like a normal person. This disease lied to me and told me I could not live without it for a long time. It controlled me, I couldn’t control it. It didn’t matter how many different ways I would try to stop or how much I would try to portion through-out the day… it never worked. I tried everything until I ran out of ideas and by that time I lost everything.
ANOTHER opportunity to live a better life and get my life together… Except this time, it would be my last. I drank and drugged myself into a psychosis. Then I stopped for 3 days. On the 3rd day I snorted what I thought was fentanyl but it was laced with a hallucinogen. I left my house at 11:00 pm September, 18th, and was gone for 3 days. My phone was almost dead when I left, I was lost somewhere and woke up on September, 21st, at a gas station in my own puke and feces. I had overdosed and somehow woke up. It was the last time I would put a drug in my body. I decided then I was done. I started driving home and wrecked the car because I kept passing out. I told the cops I was sick and trying to get home. They believed me. I only received a failure to yield ticket. It was by the grace of God I made it home. I had nowhere to go. I called my sister and she told me to go to the hospital and see what they can do. I called the ambulance and they picked me up from the hotel. I told them the truth, The EMT gave me a list of resources that could help and she circled HRC. I got back to the hotel room and called HRC and spoke to Mr. Turner. I told him I needed help. He got me the next morning. My sister packed me a bag and we went to HRC September 23, 2023. I knew my whole entire life was about to change. It was the scariest moment of my life because I had no idea who was going to pick up the pieces of the destruction I left behind, I had no clothes hardly or my normal materialistic things,
I was taking the first step towards my sobriety. I got to HRC and that experience alone made me see just how fortunate I was. HRC opened my eyes to a new world . HRC will test your strength to see how badly you want sobriety and that is just what I needed. That’s where I met Calita my recovery coach, Mr. Turner, Chad and other addicts like me. I was terrified. I had no idea what was going to happen next. I never had a break to stop and think about my life. My whole life went on pause for 3 weeks, it was my lowest point. I wanted to leave one night and Calita stopped me. I still thank her to this day for doing that because she saved my life. She always would come in with a smile on her face in the mornings. That women means the world to me and she has stuck by my side, I’m so thankful for HRC. It was my first stepping stone to getting sober and gave me so many opportunities.
Now I am happy and content. Sobriety is the gift that never stops giving. I wouldn’t trade my worst days sober for my best days high. They say “one day at a time” and always do “the next right thing”, and at first, I thought it was bullshit. But it’s true. I just had to find out for myself.
If you want what I have, it doesn’t happen overnight. You must be willing and open minded to what people in recovery tell you. For a long time, I tried to control everything and everyone around me. It takes being sober one day at a time, doing the 12 steps. I never thought I could just feel content with myself. If you want sobriety enough you eventually have to adapt to a new way of living.
For me it was the gift of desperation that brought me my sobriety. I had to lose everything and everyone. I was so desperate to get sober because it was either life or death for me. I was willing to do anything to get sober. If that meant losing everything and everyone I wanted it because I couldn’t take another day of doing the same things and feeling like I had no meaning to my life. At the end of my addiction, I gave up on a family and being a mom one day.
I used to keep my life a secret and my addiction a secret, now I advocate as much as I can and I’m vocal because I know there are others suffering in silence like I did. Without this experience I would have never gotten sober. HRC saved my life. If you are willing to make a change in your life it can be done. No matter how bad or hopeless you may feel. Life has so much more to offer than drugs and alcohol.