在冰球突破康复中心, we respect everyone who comes to us for help, as many are working toward a fresh start in life. 这些是他们的故事. We’ve changed their names to respect their privacy, but we hope that by reading them you’ll see how lives can change with compassionate, 专家治疗.
艾丽西亚的故事
我是一名三星运动员. I did well in school until my junior year. I played soccer, ice hockey, and lacrosse. By my senior year, though, I was drinking and smoking pot heavily. 有一天我吃了维柯丁. It was better than I had ever felt with alcohol or pot. It took me completely out of myself, and that’s what I wanted.
When I was 21, I was arrested for operating a car under the influence and lost my license. 我曾经有过一段受虐待的关系. 我被赶出了我的公寓. 后来我妈帮我进了戒毒所. Eventually, I found an apartment, got one-one-one counseling, and everything was good. 我戒了四年酒. 我做得很好，我有工作, 是去上学, 关系很好, and had connected with my family again.
Even though I was sober, my mental health always played a big role in my addiction. 我的情绪忽上忽下. 我感到失去了控制. 我想去死. 我有意识地决定使用海洛因.
2015年5月，我服药过量三次. I was in a psychosis — due to mental health and drug use. When I was arrested for burglary, I went to jail. 但它绝对救了我的命. 它带走了我的毒品. 我在一个安全的地方. One night, I got on my hands and knees. I was scared that someone would walk by and see me praying and make fun of me. But in desperation, I asked God for help.
第二天, 我有健康保险, got accepted into a drug and alcohol treatment program, 进了九个月的戒毒所. I learned skills to handle my mental health and substance abuse. 我的家人回来了, 和其他清醒的人交朋友, and I found a true friend for the first time in my life.
现在我在试用期. With help from my counselor Sally, I learned the skills to continually stay sober. To make good decisions… to boost my self-esteem… to find sober activities to keep me safe and healthy.
When you are using, your whole life is falling apart. Support from counseling, family, sober friends — all played a big part in my recovery. I have been sober for two and a half years. 我从来没有感觉这么好过. 生活是美好的.
科琳的故事
I had a brain that would never shut off at bedtime. The only way I could quell that anxiety was to drink. I’d watch the clock, and when it was 4:59 p.m., I would get butterflies in my stomach, knowing I could start drinking. It was the one thing I looked forward to. 到晚上9点.m. 我会昏倒的. I’d wake to find a blanket over me and knew it was my daughter who had covered me. 我是一个不清醒的酒鬼.
具有讽刺意味的是, it was a bacterial strep infection in my leg, 可能要了我的命, 这救了我的命. 因为它让我戒了酒. At that point I was literally drinking to stay alive. When I didn’t have alcohol in my system, my hands would shake so badly I had to drink before I could even bring a fork to my mouth or put on my mascara.
上班时，我昏倒在办公桌前. I woke up to find my boss standing over me, shaking her head, saying, “Get out of 在这里 now!” Nothing mattered to me at this point. And when my husband asked me to leave, I was relieved. I had no one bugging me about my drinking anymore.
I didn’t care about anything then, only when and how much I could get my hands on. I grew up in a very privileged home, yet now I’d lost my home, my marriage, my family, and my job. I was homeless, living in my car for six months.
The counselors at 纽约医院 helped me understand my disease, 处理日常生活, and not feel ashamed that I have this disease. It’ll be eight months since I’ve been sober. And this is honestly the first time in years that I am truly happy. I thought the best I could ask for was to be content. And last summer, for the first time in years, I had a belly laugh.
大卫的故事
Recovery has forced me to fundamentally change the person I was when I became addicted to alcohol and other drugs. I had to become rigorously honest with myself about who I had become and how that impacted my life as well as those who cared about me. I had to take responsibility for my behaviors and how they had impacted the lives of others.
Addiction was my disconnect from life. 在我康复的过程中, 我重新与自己联系, 我身边的人, and the constructive possibilities for my living as part of something greater than myself. Maintaining connection with other sober persons, both peers and professionals (such as those one finds at the Recovery Center), is the most important 支持 one can have. Others on the recovery journey cared for me when I could not care for myself. They showed me that I was a “sick” person rather than a “bad” person. They gave proof that change could happen then offered hope, faith, and guidance.
Today, I am a better person than I’ve ever been. 我为生活而存在，充实地生活.
My heart is open — I can pass on to others what was so freely given to me.
我接受我自己.
我接受别人本来的样子.
我接受生活本来的样子.
我尽我所能去帮助别人.
I trust in the goodness of benevolent spiritual powers, and to an underlying and abiding purpose to living — which is simply, 爱的.