Cindy

What follows is a story submitted to me by Chris Oliver, a valued member of our Homeless Outreach Team that focuses all their efforts on developing redemptive friendships with homeless persons living on our Downtown streets.  This account simply reveals that recovery, when achieved, is the result of a process that demands courage, hard choices, work and patience on the part of everyone involved. 

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Cindy
We first made contact with Cindy on August 16, 2011 at Main Street Garden. We already knew Cindy from her time as a resident at CityWalk.

Cindy, and her boyfriend Sam, were frequent visitors to the downtown area where they spent a majority of their time panhandling and drinking before returning to their campsite.

After talking with Cindy, we discovered she had a history of going through treatment programs at Solace, Nexus, and Homeward Bound. On October 14, Cindy came to our office to discuss a plan for getting her into treatment again. We ended up escorting Cindy to Nexus for in-patient treatment on October 25. Cindy completed the 3-week program at Nexus, and upon her release on November 16 went to stay with her sister in Mesquite.

Although she continued classes with Nexus and tried to find a job, in the end her support system wasn’t the strongest it could be and Cindy relapsed in mid-December. In her own words, she was “out there with Sam again,” and all we could do was be there for her when she was ready to try again.

It took almost 4 months before she was ready, but on April 9, 2012 we escorted Cindy to the Homeward Bound treatment facility so she could try once more to break free from her addiction.

Upon completing 3 days of detox, we initiated a transfer for her from Homeward Bound to the residential treatment program at Turtle Creek. We continued to work closely with Cindy and her counselor at Turtle Creek, putting together a plan that would best support Cindy in her recovery efforts.

Upon her completion of the program at Turtle Creek, Cindy was once again released to the care of a family member. However, this time Cindy went to stay with her sister and her 2 nephews in The Colony, where she was immediately put to work at her sister’s chiropractic practice. Cindy also started to attend an AA group in the neighborhood at least once, sometimes twice a day. She also has a sponsor who is helping her work through the 12 steps of recovery.

Cindy just spent the Memorial Day weekend with her family, even getting a chance to spend time with her son in west Texas. She made her way downtown one day during the last week of May and ran into Sam, who continues to struggle with his addiction. She said seeing Sam in that condition reinforced for her that she doesn’t want to put herself back there. She called it “closure.”  Cindy is set to go to Destin, FL in mid-June with her sister and nephews on a family vacation, all the while continuing and enjoying her sobriety.