Jacklyn: A Mother’s Story about Addiction Recovery

Jacklyn regrets some decisions in her life, her story resembles that of many people with addiction who have gone through addiction recovery.

Jacklyn’s life didn’t start off easy, her parents divorced when she was young, which led to a spiral of events that ranging from sexual abuse, neglect and being kicked out of her home by her mother at the age of 13. She was left feeling like a “teenager suffering emotionally and mentally” with thoughts of suicide haunting her.

Custody fluctuated between her father, aunt, and then eventually back to her mother. She enrolled back into school and had a bright future ahead of her. She was involved in sports, voted class vice president for multiple years and nominated as a homecoming attendant, but when her mom decided to move to North Carolina, Jacklyn was removed from school immediately without notice and never enrolled back into school in her new home state.

After a month in North Carolina, her mom moved back north, leaving her on her own at 16.  Unfortunately, her support group grew smaller and smaller. Jacklyn started using Adderall after a friend introduced her to it and that is where her addiction began.

Opioid Addiction

It was from one drug to another, rolling as a snowball effect. Jacklyn would wander the streets and bounce from house to house doing drugs and feeding her addiction. She spent her 20s doing a variety of drugs including crack, cocaine, meth, and many others. “It should have been the BEST time of my life….SHOULD HAVE”, Jacklyn explained, but it wasn’t. It ruined her twenties.

These actions continued, even after she found herself pregnant at 21. “I NEVER NEVER EVER dreamt that I could do any type of drug with a baby in my stomach, that’s how strong the urge was”, for 7 months, while pregnant,  Jacklyn smoked crack but eventually broke the habit for a bit and maintained after giving birth.  Sadly, she turned back to drugs after her daughter was only 10 months old. Jacklyn went to many different resources for opioid addiction to try to break the habit of opioid use with little to no luck until she found herself at Addiction Outreach Clinic, an outpatient opioid treatment clinic in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Opioid Addiction Recovery

Jacklyn is now going on four years without using street drugs. She is fighting for custody of her three children, has a job, a care, and a long-term home. Her education is also on the right track as Jacklyn received her GED and is attending college. She feels great about herself now and wants everyone else to feel the same. Her future is once again bright!