|
||
Need Help? | Contact Us | Donate | Home |
Ask A Counselor About UsAddiction Information Services Prevention Programs Resources Advocacy Special Events Get Involved The Key Newsletter NCADA In The News Success Stories Employment/ Internships |
In January 2009 a beautiful young girl came to NCADA. We’ll call her Ellie. She made an appointment to meet with Bobette, an NCADA counselor, for an assessment of her drug use, a referral and possibly her last chance. Ellie was accompanied by her parents who were desperate to save their daughter from her heroin addiction. It was only three years before that Ellie graduated from one of the best private high schools in St. Louis. Life was good. She seemed to have it all. “I didn’t drink much in high school. I didn’t even smoke weed as often as many of my friends.” Ellie went away to college where she made new friends easily. “I didn’t drink or smoke that often at school. I only dabbled in alcohol and marijuana occasionally, like everyone else.” Ellie began dating a guy she met at college. He seemed like a nice, normal guy. He just happened to be dealing ecstasy, but only enough to pay for his own use and hers. “Hey, it was free,” Ellie thought, “so why not try some?” Ecstasy became her drug of choice and she didn’t use any other drugs, except for dropping acid once or twice. She didn’t think she had a drug problem as long as she’d only indulge in XTC every couple of months while partying. During her junior year at college, Ellie developed some heart issues which led to anxiety attacks. She relied heavily on the anti-anxiety medication her physician prescribed, her first introduction to downers. Those health problems caused Ellie to leave school and return to St. Louis. No longer in college, Ellie went to work at her old place of summer employment. Ellie made a new group of friends at work and her troubles began. Some of them used heroin “recreationally.” Ellie “only” snorted H; she couldn’t imagine shooting anything into her veins. She thought there was no way she could become addicted. Heroin didn’t do too much for her. “I could take it or leave it; heroin wasn’t all that great.” And she didn’t think she was using very often, “no more than once a week or so when I was with my friends. But hey, it was free, so why not?” In a short time, Ellie began dating a coworker who happened to be dealing heroin on the side. After a couple months of snorting, Ellie asked a friend to shoot heroin into her vein for a greater high. “Right then and there, I was in love. I knew immediately that I wanted to do it again and again.” Ellie’s heroin use rapidly escalated from sporadic to daily to multiple times a day. Ellie’s boyfriend/dealer came from a very well-to-do St. Louis family which meant that their access to heroin and money was no problem -- at least for a while. However, things went quickly downhill and Ellie found herself hooked, out of a job, out of money and sick all the time. “That’s when I finally confessed to my parents and asked for their help.” After three failed attempts at different rehab facilities and one frightening trip to the ER following an overdose, Ellie and her parents came to NCADA. “Bobette was the first person who actually explained addiction to me,” said Ellie’s mom. “Addiction wasn’t something I knew anything about. No one in our family ever had any problem with drugs or alcohol. Bobette went into great detail about how the brain’s survival center is affected by addiction. She told me it was as if Ellie was in the desert dying of thirst and desperately seeking water. She’d do anything to get to water.” Following the evaluation, Ellie’s mom called NCADA almost daily to speak with Bobette. She visited the NCADA library and checked out books and videos utilizing all the resources available. “The NCADA library was so helpful. I read everything that was in there. I learned how and why drugs made Ellie feel better, made her feel normal.” Ellie’s mom explained, “I began to understand that addiction is a disease and that depression and anxiety made Ellie vulnerable and prone to self-medicate.” “Bobette connected with me,” said Ellie. “She was compassionate, much more so than any counselor I had met with elsewhere. She kept telling me I was strong and I could beat this. Bobette was the first person who actually believed in me, that I could achieve sobriety.” “I had confidence in NCADA because it’s a not-for-profit,” explained Ellie’s mom. “They weren’t giving us a sales pitch but rather an objective analysis. Most of all NCADA gave us hope along with the realism of the hard road that lay ahead.” Thanks to NCADA’s referral to a local treatment center that uses medication to assist in her recovery and continued counseling, Ellie’s been drug-free since January 2009. “I don’t even think about heroin anymore.” She’s back in school and has a wonderful, drug-free fiancé whom she plans to marry after graduation. Life is good once more. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - This is a true story of a typical St. Louis suburban family who never thought their daughter would become an addict. Yet Ellie could be your sister, your daughter, your granddaughter, or your friend. NCADA will be here for her, too. The road to health may be hard. With your support, we’ll give hope to every "Ellie" we see. Your gift will allow NCADA’s counselors to guide nearly 2,000 people to health in 2010. And we’ll teach 15,000 area youth healthy decision-making skills to deter them from alcohol and other drug abuse and addiction. Can we count on you? Ellie’s worth it. Click to give hope. |
|||
