Through my experience in recovery, I have emerged as a person who is loved, proud, and grateful to have walked down that path, even if it wasn't easy.

My drinking started when I was 13, and I experienced many consequences from my use of alcohol and drugs. By the time I turned 27, I had been in juvenile placement centers and had a wealth of legal troubles. But today, hope and faith fill my life where despair and disbelief once resided.

My moment of clarity came when I thought about my beautiful little girl. I could continue on a destructive path, losing everything that was important to me, including my life, or I could accept the fact that I needed help. At that point, I became willing to take responsibility for my recovery, my life, and my daughter.

I stopped just attempting to be sober and started to learn how to live in recovery. The result has been a wonderful, beautiful, and powerful journey.

Being clean and sober allows me to share the message of recovery and how it enables you to take an amazing journey to the center of yourself. I want to help people find their whole being, all while healing part of myself with every story I hear from others. I have rebuilt relationships, gone back to school, and am currently pursuing my Ph.D. and working as a mental health therapist in a maximum-security prison. I am now living a life I never dreamed of before recovery.