Client Success Stories

This post is also available in: Español (Spanish)

Client Success Stories
Hear it from our clients:

Theresita

“I remember the exact day I set myself on the path to recovery,” Theresita commented. “I woke up suicidal, didn’t want to live anymore. I was tired of using, not sleeping or eating, and the withdrawals. That morning I took a bunch of pills and woke up 3 days later in the hospital hooked up to bunch of machines. The nurse looked at me and said “listen, you have got to do something with your life.” And it stuck with me. I applied to tons of places and Latinas y Niños was the first to call back. I knew I had to follow God’s path. I knew there had to be more than the misery I was living…the most challenging thing about getting clean was dealing with the dark feelings I had numbed out for so many years.”

“However, Casa has showed me how to forgive those who have hurt me, and not because I had to but from the kindness of my own heart,” Theresita stated. “I want to share my happiness with as many people as possible! I had no clue I could live so happy being clean! From my stay at Casa Esperanza, I can finally see that there are regular people who’ve never touched a drink or drug yet grew up in traumatizing homes like me. Why did I take the path of drugs? Got involved with the wrong group of people, got accustomed to numbing out my feelings. There are good people out there – you learn how to find them. I found them here at Casa and I continue to do so every day.”

  • Casa taught me to forgive those who have hurt me, and not because I had to but from the kindness of my own heart. I want to share my happiness with as many people as possible.–Theresita

Pedro

“My decision to stop using, to begin recovery…first of all, I just got tired of doing all that stuff I used to do. I said enough is enough. Didn’t want to go out no more, I was tired! My habits took everything – my family, home, self-esteem. I needed to get help. Needed it bad, and I finally realized I can’t do it by myself. This place, Casa Esperanza, is perfect for me. Speaking Spanish, I’m comfortable. I just want to better myself you know? Thank God I’m here. I am so grateful for Casa Esperanza’s support, and I am proud I made the decision for myself,” Pedro commented. “I wanna be responsible, take my life seriously, reach potential I know is possible.”

“What I would tell the Recovery Community that I wish I had known is this: getting clean, the 12-step program, the help Casa gives every day, it DOES work. You really wanna change your life, hey, help is out there, you just gotta reach for it. It won’t just come find you. I wanna tell everyone out there to wake up! It’s like, drugs are killing us! There are better things to do besides drugs. Plenty! Plenty of things to do. God is good. Believe in yourself. I wish everybody the best and hope they can catch the message sooner than later. Well me, I’m not just gonna try, I’m gonna MAKE it happen.”

  • This place, Casa Esperanza, is perfect for me. Speaking Spanish, I’m comfortable. Thank God I’m here. I am so grateful for Casa Esperanza’s support.–Pedro

Freddy

Freddy, a client at Casa Esperanza’s Men’s Program, struggled to deal with overwhelming stressors and triggers in the community pushing him to relapse. Identifying his struggle as a need for more structured care, his outpatient counselor worked with residential staff, he was admitted into the Men’s Program, and enrolled in Casa’s new Structured Outpatient Addictions Program (SOAP) and Relapse Prevention group.

“The structure of SOAP helped me get back on track in my recovery,” says Freddy. “Being able to have the peer groups here in the Men’s program, and the individual counseling and Relapse Prevention group at the same time, has helped me find new ways to address the stressors and triggers that were pushing me to use–it’s really the two things together, those services and being at the Men’s Program, that does it.”

Freddy says the proximity of services, within one block on Casa’s Roxbury campus, makes a big difference, especially at the start of treatment. “It’s helpful to have services all connected, one to another. I feel seguro–safe–not travelling to different places and dealing with triggers, and you feel like you’re part of a community again. I already feel stronger in my recovery now, and I have a lot more tools this time, and ways to release stress and to handle what triggers me.”

  • There's one word that I use to describe Casa to people--funciona--it just works.–Freddy

 

Lillian

“I was broken when I came in. But God put me in this place for a reason” says Lilly, a client beginning her fourth month at Latinas y Niños. Lillian says completing the SOAP has been the key to finally understanding her addiction and mental health issues, and to addressing years of trauma and anger. “I knew I didn’t want to keep using, but I didn’t understand my triggers, why I kept going back. SOAP was very intense, and it helped me learn about my addiction. I’m shy, so being in a mixed group, and feeling safe, helped me gain confidence sharing my experiences.”

Lilly credits the team of residential and outpatient staff working together to coordinate and provide her care, from one-to-one therapy sessions, to participation in Relapse Prevention, Anger Management, and Trauma Recovery groups. “I know everybody is helping me out, and it’s all happening in one spot. If something rough happens in one place, everyone at Casa helps me work through it. The environment at Latinas is strict, but caring. The structure has helped me grow again, and take responsibility for things that I need–and I need and want to get my life straight–to be strong for my family.”

  • I'm in a fight for my life against this disease, but I'm getting all I need to do it...–Lillian

 

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