“My Relationship with Heroin Was the Most Toxic I’ve Ever Been In”
For Charolett, the road to recovery was a long one. Eight years of trying to get and stay clean took her to places as far away as North Carolina and Florida. But it wasn’t until a second chance at Megan’s House that recovery finally took hold.
“The plan was to fake it till I make it,” said the young woman about her first days at the house in May of 2016.
Which is why it wasn’t much of a surprise when that attitude eventually led to Charolett’s dismissal from the program for breaking the rules one too many times. Instead, the surprise came in how she responded.
“I used what I learned the first time at Megan’s House to keep from relapsing,” she recalled. “I humbled myself and made myself a different person. And I asked to come back”
In a letter to Megan’s House Program Director MaryBeth Murphy, Charolett explained why “this time would be different.” When she was enthusiastically welcomed back into the house in March of 2017, Murphy and staff immediately noticed the difference. The one-time mischief maker had become the one other residents would emulate.
“You give me hope that I can be up there one day,” said one new resident to the program. “Because of you, I’m trying to do the right thing and I tell myself; if Charolett isn’t doing it, I shouldn’t be doing it.”
“My relationship with heroin was the most toxic one I’ve ever been in,” Charolett concluded. “I can’t thank MaryBeth and the staff for never giving up on me. I feel Megan’s House is the only place I’ve been to where the staff truly enjoys their job.”
Hard not to enjoy your job when success stories such as Charolett’s are told.