Latest News
Genesis: A New Beginning for Women
Both genders are remarkable in their own ways for many reasons. This post and the next will focus on each individually. With the old addage of “ladies first”, this one will be about women.
From soccer moms to single mothers, from teens to older women, addiction does not discriminate against age or lifestyles. Whatever the reason that a woman has turned to drugs or alcohol, however hopeless she may feel, it is imperative for her to understand that she is worth saving and there is a way out.
Here in Texas there are many rehab programs to help women to overcome addiction. One of them is the Genesis recovery program. This is a year long recovery process, ensuring that someone has the time needed in many cases to become thoroughly detoxed and build the tools necessary to keep a relapse at bay.
The Genesis program in Wichita Falls is led b
y a woman who has herself traveled the road that many addicts travel. She lost everything and became homeless because of addiction and then one day back in 2001, sought help through divine faith and began her journey back to sobriety and getting clean.
Because of her own battle, she has become the perfect combat buddy for other women who find themselves trapped in an addiction. She knows what these other women are going through. She knows what it is like to be homeless, to be addicted, to feel hopeless.
The Genesis program gives women a safe haven. Many of them also have to get away from significant others who are either using, making them use or being abusive. Most addicts do have a dual diagnosis of some sort, whether it be depression or a physical ailment on top of the drug or alcohol addiction. This year long recovery program allows them to focus on what is important, their health, their hope, their victory.
Genesis means beginning. For these women, it truly is. The beginning of a new life free of drugs and alcohol. The beginning of new friendships and support. The beginning of realizing the strength one has within herself. The beginning of the realization that she always deserved this help, that she is redeemable, that she is worthy, that she does have something to offer the world.
For more information, call 940-723-5663. This call will be the beginning of working your way back to being the wonderful person you were, you are and that you were meant to be.
Suicide is Not the Answer
Prescription drug addiction is a growing epidemic. It does not just affect every day people but those who have reached celebrity status as well. So it was with pain as a fan, a mother and a regular human being that I read about the suicide of former child star Dana Plato’s son.
Dana Plato was a talented actress. However, the producers of Different Strokes did not go the route that so many do and fired her for being pregnant. It was then that this writer, who was the same age as Dana Plate, stopped watching the show.
When Dana Plato died, I grieved in the way of a normal fan. I felt sadness and as a mother, my heart went out to her own child. When her death was ruled a suicide by overdose, I felt somewhat aggravated at her for leaving that legacy for her son. Still, I had been taught to not judge others and instead hugged each of my own three children a little tighter that day.
I have never believed in suicide but I have learned that addiction destroys our common sense and our thinking, leading us to do things we never would have considered before being taken over by drugs or alcohol. The fact that she was addicted to prescription drugs is not in question following a forgery for Valium.
We all have things we have to deal with in our lives. If we have an addiction, it can make those situations multiply into catastrophic events whether they are or not. To this day, I can not fathom leaving a legacy of suicide behind for my children to cope with but I have never walked in the shoes of someone such as Dana Plato.
If you have heard of the suicide of Dana Plato’s son this week and you have an addiction, then I urge you to seek rehab. Think about this: what you do affects other people. Suicide affects your loved ones. If you don’t believe me, think about Tyler Lambert. Don’t let his death be just another story. If you have children or loved ones, even if you are a teenager or college student just starting out,, then do yourself and your loved ones a favor. Get help. Spend the summer in rehab and begin a new life for yourself free of addiction. Suicide is not the answer to the questions you are surely asking yourself if you are addicted to drugs or alcohol.
Help really and truly is just a phone call away. Don’t leave a legacy of tragedy for your family. Do it for yourself, for them and for the future. For every person who gets help after reading this article, know this: you are stating that you want to break free and if your choice was affected by a certain young man’s suicide, you are showing that young Tyler Lambert did not die in vain. You could be keeping your own loved ones from a depression-caused suicide by seeking help for your addiction now.
The Perfect Gift for Mother’s Day
Sunday is Mother’s Day. If you are on here researching how to get help because you have a substance abuse problem, I have good news for you. There is a woman who will help you unconditionally to get into rehab. Your mother. If you have a drug problem, there is no gift you could give her that could compare to getting into rehab.
She may have been frustrated a few times with you but she never stopped loving you. Picking up the phone and saying, “Mom, I want to get clean. I want to break the cycle of addiction” will be the most beautiful words she can hear if drugs have taken over your life.
Now stop right there. Perhaps you are saying to yourself that this does not apply to you because your mother has passed away or you are a mother yourself. Well, yes it does, actually. Making a Mother’s Day decision to get clean in honor of your mother would be the most beautiful gift you could give, not only to her memory, but to yourself and your other loved ones as well.
If you are a mother, don’t you want to be around to see that child’s first date? Be there to take pictures of him and his date as they stop by on the way to the prom? Be there for her wedding? Be there for the birth of his own son, your first grandchild?
Mother’s Day celebrates mothers everywhere. Moms do not want fancy jewelry or vacation trips away from you. A simple “I love you and I want to overcome my addiction so I’m going into rehab” will be the most priceless gift you can give her. By making this decision in a time of celebrating what a mother is, you are showing her that all those years of her love and prayers and strength were worth it because you felt it through the chains of your addiction.
By deciding to get clean during the special celebration of Mother’s Day, you are showing your children that you want to be a good mother to them, that you want to get away from addiction and became the wonderful mother they deserve and that they know you can be.
The time to get into rehab is now. No matter what time of year, the time is now. Every day, it is now. Yet, since we are about to celebrate Mother’s Day, what greater gift can you give in honor of such a special day? Make the call to the rehab center. Then make the call to the ones you love the most.
Happy Mother’s Day.
Addiction Poems: A Creative Expression
Sometimes you just don’t know what to say when a drug addiction has taken over your life. Whether it is you or a loved one who has fallen victim to the enemy, there is no deluding yourselves about how serious it is. Maybe you need to express yourself. Maybe you need to see something that has been expressed by someone who has gone through what you are going through.
Creatively, there is a place to do that. By going to http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/family/addiction-poems.asp, you can see poems that have been written by other people who have experienced what you are experiencing. Some of the poems are written by children who grew up with drug addicted or alcoholic parents. Some are written by addicts themselves. Some are written by both, as many times a person who grows up in an environment of addiction can fall into the same pattern.
Some of the poems are written by siblings. Some are written by spouses and significant others. There is one common denominator in all of them. Drug addiction affects everyone in an addict’s life as well as the addict himself
As you read the poems, you are given the opportunity to comment and share your own story. You will find that you identify with several of these poems. There is a kinship among people who have lived the hell of an addiction, either as the addict or a loved one.
Feel free to share your feelings or your story. Perhaps even feel inspired to write a poem of your own. The creative gene shows itself in many ways and for those who can write, expressing one’s self through addiction poems such as these can be a positive form of healing.
If you are still in the throes of addiction, now is the time to get yourself clean. Take the time to contact the number on the sidebar and begin your journey to freedom today. Indulge in the creativity of writing as you go along. Keep a journal, write a poem. Who knows, perhaps some day you can write a book that will even help others, sort of a pay it forward situation.
Haven’t written a poem before? Give it a try. Simply put your feelings into words. Want to know a secret? Poems do not always have to rhyme. If yours does, great, If it doesn’t, great. Either way, expressing yourself, being creative and seeking help are going to start a new beginning for you in so many ways, your only regret will be in not doing so sooner.
Toll-Free Helpline
