From Heroin and Crack to Helping Save Lives: One Staff Member’s Story
I started this roller coaster through hell 11 years ago. I have been to treatment three other times, detox four times, and the psych ward three times. All the other treatment centers I went to were 12-step and I just never felt like I dealt with everything I needed to deal with. I came to Narconon Suncoast on July 6th 2018 with the hope of saving my life, just one more time.
Withdrawal was the hardest thing I have ever done, but I needed it to be that hard because I always went to detox centers that dealt with the withdrawal just by giving me more drugs that I would wind up withdrawing from as well. Taking vitamins, doing the different physical assists and cognitive exercises helped me get through the discomfort of detox. I didn’t spend any time dwelling on the past because I stayed busy and was able to stay out of my head.
From there I started the sauna New Life Detox where I was able to sweat out all the drugs I’ve put into my body over the past 11 years. This was an emotional roller coaster for me but physically I got my energy back, my appetite increased, and I was sleeping better. Overall I physically felt better than I had felt in a long time. I didn’t even feel that good with the year I spent clean in 2011! And, believe it or not, my cravings were significantly reduced.
After completing sauna I moved on to the Objectives where I worked on patience, awareness, and control. I had really good realizations about myself and my life. My favorite realization I had, I was then standing in the window looking at my reflection, I realized how I could actually look myself in the eye and not hate myself anymore.
Then I moved on to life skills. I learned about the different personalities around me and I realized that certain people I had around me in the past were anti-social. I was able to make amends to the people in my life that I had hurt and pushed away through my drug use. I also realized where my addiction started and why. At other programs, I had never gone back far enough to figure out why and where I started becoming the person I was always taught not to be. I had a very good childhood. My parents worked hard to care for me and teach me right from wrong.
I wrote up all the bad things I did to myself and others. It was rough, but after I finished it felt like a weight was lifted from me. I worked diligently at fixing the overall condition in my life and got to the point where I could actually move forward.
All the staff members are awesome here. This has been by far the best program I have ever done! I finally feel confident about remaining clean and being successful in my future. A special thank you to my parents for making the decision to put me through this program. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done!
Shauna K—Narconon Suncoast Graduate
