WEBVTT FILE

1
00:00:00.487 --> 00:00:03.404
(thoughtful music)

2
00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:07.000
Downloaded from
YTS.MX

3
00:00:06.404 --> 00:00:09.120
- [Lucy] I can remember, around
the age of six years old,

4
00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:13.000
Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

5
00:00:09.120 --> 00:00:12.322
being outside in the
front, playing in the yard

6
00:00:12.322 --> 00:00:15.905
and all of a sudden an
ambulance showed up.

7
00:00:17.186 --> 00:00:21.603
And they went and out comes
my mother on a stretcher.

8
00:00:24.766 --> 00:00:29.144
And my sister was with her
and another aunt was with her

9
00:00:29.144 --> 00:00:30.522
and they all got in the ambulance

10
00:00:30.522 --> 00:00:32.832
and they drove away with my mom.

11
00:00:32.832 --> 00:00:35.345
Mommy was ill and needed
to go see the doctor

12
00:00:35.345 --> 00:00:36.885
is what I was told.

13
00:00:36.885 --> 00:00:39.885
(suspenseful music)

14
00:00:41.466 --> 00:00:44.935
We're in the bedroom
and then comes Marsha,

15
00:00:44.935 --> 00:00:48.935
screaming, crying, "Mommy's
gone, Mommy's gone."

16
00:00:51.137 --> 00:00:53.245
I had two or three sisters
who were still there,

17
00:00:53.245 --> 00:00:55.839
Yvonne and Eloise and they
start, "What do you mean?"

18
00:00:55.839 --> 00:00:58.068
Screaming back and there's
all of this commotion,

19
00:00:58.068 --> 00:00:59.395
all of a sudden in the house.

20
00:00:59.395 --> 00:01:02.737
There's just all this noise
and I was a timid kid,

21
00:01:02.737 --> 00:01:04.764
I used to cry when the ambulance came,

22
00:01:04.764 --> 00:01:07.439
I used to cry when the firetrucks came.

23
00:01:07.439 --> 00:01:09.182
You know, there was always a fire truck

24
00:01:09.182 --> 00:01:12.515
or an ambulance coming because of Mommy.

25
00:01:17.126 --> 00:01:21.139
And so that night,
Marsha said she was gone.

26
00:01:21.139 --> 00:01:23.531
And little did I know
that meant Mommy was gone,

27
00:01:23.531 --> 00:01:26.822
she was dead, she was gone and
was never coming back again.

28
00:01:26.822 --> 00:01:30.105
(heartfelt music)

29
00:01:30.105 --> 00:01:31.402
Later I came to realize

30
00:01:31.402 --> 00:01:35.985
that my mom had drink herself
to death from alcoholism.

31
00:01:37.401 --> 00:01:41.251
She couldn't stop, every
single day of her life,

32
00:01:41.251 --> 00:01:42.832
my mom drank.

33
00:01:42.832 --> 00:01:47.250
And I aint realize that
until I realized later on,

34
00:01:47.250 --> 00:01:50.939
my family was disappearing
from this deadly disease,

35
00:01:50.939 --> 00:01:53.047
known as addiction.

36
00:01:53.047 --> 00:01:54.182
There's my brother Larry,

37
00:01:54.182 --> 00:01:56.719
the day before his
graduation from high school,

38
00:01:56.719 --> 00:01:59.353
he died from a heroin overdose.

39
00:01:59.353 --> 00:02:02.596
Then my brother Stevie,
who was my oldest brother,

40
00:02:02.596 --> 00:02:04.461
I can remember the day they said,

41
00:02:04.461 --> 00:02:07.460
they found him in the bathroom
with a needle in his arm.

42
00:02:07.460 --> 00:02:08.877
He had overdosed.

43
00:02:09.892 --> 00:02:12.121
And then my mom's sister, my Aunt Nezzie,

44
00:02:12.121 --> 00:02:14.391
she also died from alcoholism.

45
00:02:14.391 --> 00:02:15.974
And my grandmother.

46
00:02:16.864 --> 00:02:18.891
Addiction was in my blood.

47
00:02:18.891 --> 00:02:20.674
I had inherited that.

48
00:02:20.674 --> 00:02:22.944
But God had another plan for my life.

49
00:02:22.944 --> 00:02:25.527
(upbeat music)

50
00:02:27.240 --> 00:02:30.073
- [Lucy] Here's where you want me?

51
00:02:36.006 --> 00:02:36.839
- [Interviewer] You comfortable?

52
00:02:36.839 --> 00:02:38.422
- I am.
- All right.

53
00:02:42.197 --> 00:02:44.102
- What would you like for
me to say to you today.

54
00:02:44.102 --> 00:02:45.764
It's good to see you again, my brother.

55
00:02:45.764 --> 00:02:46.859
All right.

56
00:02:46.859 --> 00:02:49.109
(laughing)

57
00:02:52.452 --> 00:02:55.695
- So, Lucy, how did this all start,

58
00:02:55.695 --> 00:02:58.005
this whole documentary process?

59
00:02:58.005 --> 00:03:00.838
(heartfelt music)

60
00:03:05.625 --> 00:03:07.708
- I met you and you said,

61
00:03:09.125 --> 00:03:11.958
"I wanna write a Mary Hall story."

62
00:03:17.394 --> 00:03:20.353
And you begin to tell me about why,

63
00:03:20.353 --> 00:03:23.119
because of your own journey with your dad.

64
00:03:23.119 --> 00:03:27.051
And not knowing about how to get him help.

65
00:03:27.051 --> 00:03:29.240
And not knowing that
there are many families

66
00:03:29.240 --> 00:03:32.142
and people out there who don't know,

67
00:03:32.142 --> 00:03:34.059
that help is available.

68
00:03:35.304 --> 00:03:38.425
And you said, "That's what I wanna do

69
00:03:38.425 --> 00:03:40.573
"with my own company.

70
00:03:40.573 --> 00:03:43.740
"I wanna tell the story to the world."

71
00:03:44.829 --> 00:03:49.369
So here you came with
how you wanted to do it.

72
00:03:49.369 --> 00:03:51.274
And I was like, "Okay.

73
00:03:51.274 --> 00:03:54.800
"You know, if you wanna do
this, I wanna do it with you."

74
00:03:54.800 --> 00:03:58.229
Because that's always being my desire,

75
00:03:58.229 --> 00:04:01.812
is that people know
that help is available.

76
00:04:03.377 --> 00:04:05.566
- [Narrator] In the U.S.
over 20 million people,

77
00:04:05.566 --> 00:04:08.312
seek treatment for
substance abuse each year.

78
00:04:08.312 --> 00:04:12.487
Less than 10% actually
receive the help they need.

79
00:04:12.487 --> 00:04:14.514
But there's hope.

80
00:04:14.514 --> 00:04:17.264
(dramatic music)

81
00:04:21.972 --> 00:04:24.769
Growing up, I saw my father drink daily

82
00:04:24.769 --> 00:04:27.363
and eventually loose his job, his home

83
00:04:27.363 --> 00:04:29.390
and his freedom to addiction.

84
00:04:29.390 --> 00:04:33.038
At first I was angry and just
wanted to fix things quickly.

85
00:04:33.038 --> 00:04:36.483
But I didn't know what, if
anything, I could do about it,

86
00:04:36.483 --> 00:04:38.428
until I met Lucy.

87
00:04:38.428 --> 00:04:40.779
Her epic journey from dope to hope

88
00:04:40.779 --> 00:04:43.495
has become a beacon of light
for generations of women

89
00:04:43.495 --> 00:04:45.562
at Mary Hall Freedom House.

90
00:04:45.562 --> 00:04:48.249
And has shifted my views
on addiction completely.

91
00:04:48.249 --> 00:04:50.924
I went from having contempt
for recovering addicts

92
00:04:50.924 --> 00:04:53.559
to admiration for their
strength and courage.

93
00:04:53.559 --> 00:04:57.207
Lucy has given our cameras
full assess to their program,

94
00:04:57.207 --> 00:05:00.896
from now until graduation,
so we may all have a look

95
00:05:00.896 --> 00:05:04.746
at the strength and courage and recovery.

96
00:05:04.746 --> 00:05:07.705
- This is like a lot of sister's bottom.

97
00:05:07.705 --> 00:05:11.596
We take women, that a lot of
other people wouldn't take.

98
00:05:11.596 --> 00:05:15.082
So, there's two different
things that happen,

99
00:05:15.082 --> 00:05:18.730
there's your treatment and
then there's your housing.

100
00:05:18.730 --> 00:05:21.689
We have selected probably
about seven ladies

101
00:05:21.689 --> 00:05:24.405
simply 'cause like I
said, I'm not quite sure,

102
00:05:24.405 --> 00:05:26.334
who will get across the finish line.

103
00:05:26.334 --> 00:05:28.888
And I know you wanted to
follow like four of them,

104
00:05:28.888 --> 00:05:31.198
but I say, well let's give
you almost double that.

105
00:05:31.198 --> 00:05:34.279
'Cause you know, I always
say, if I give you seven,

106
00:05:34.279 --> 00:05:36.548
two of them may not make it.

107
00:05:36.548 --> 00:05:39.224
- [Narrator] Before we meet
the women she has in treatment,

108
00:05:39.224 --> 00:05:43.520
I ask Lucy to share how she
discovered recovery for herself.

109
00:05:43.520 --> 00:05:46.520
(suspenseful music)

110
00:05:46.520 --> 00:05:49.853
So my cousin introduced me to marijuana.

111
00:05:53.978 --> 00:05:56.694
And I started hanging with
this guy in Manhattan,

112
00:05:56.694 --> 00:05:58.882
who I thought was the love of my life.

113
00:05:58.882 --> 00:06:01.395
And this guy introduced me to crack.

114
00:06:01.395 --> 00:06:05.043
And I can remember that's
all I was living for,

115
00:06:05.043 --> 00:06:06.746
day in and day out.

116
00:06:06.746 --> 00:06:10.799
Everyday, I got up to
use and I used to live,

117
00:06:10.799 --> 00:06:12.339
by any means necessary.

118
00:06:12.339 --> 00:06:15.217
Stealing, lying, cheating, selling me,

119
00:06:15.217 --> 00:06:17.852
selling you, selling
whatever had to happen

120
00:06:17.852 --> 00:06:19.271
to get high that day.

121
00:06:19.271 --> 00:06:22.771
(thought-provoking music)

122
00:06:32.768 --> 00:06:35.889
At this point I was boosting, shoplifting

123
00:06:35.889 --> 00:06:37.556
to support my habit.

124
00:06:54.089 --> 00:06:55.183
And I remember the day they said,

125
00:06:55.183 --> 00:06:57.372
"You have the right to remain silent."

126
00:06:57.372 --> 00:06:59.205
'Cause they caught me.

127
00:07:03.411 --> 00:07:04.992
And I remember crying so bad,

128
00:07:04.992 --> 00:07:08.721
while the police officer
was putting handcuffs on me.

129
00:07:08.721 --> 00:07:11.388
He said, "Girl, get in the car."

130
00:07:12.450 --> 00:07:15.450
And then I found out I was pregnant.

131
00:07:17.963 --> 00:07:21.854
I knew that the cycle
was gonna begin again.

132
00:07:21.854 --> 00:07:26.353
My biggest fear, not was I
was gonna die like they did,

133
00:07:26.353 --> 00:07:28.073
but now was gonna die

134
00:07:28.073 --> 00:07:31.761
and not let her have a mother like I did.

135
00:07:31.761 --> 00:07:34.344
(upbeat music)

136
00:07:38.693 --> 00:07:42.422
I went to court and they
put me on probation.

137
00:07:42.422 --> 00:07:45.137
When I went to that probation officer,

138
00:07:45.137 --> 00:07:48.867
and she said to me, "I need
for you to go pee in a cup."

139
00:07:48.867 --> 00:07:50.731
And I asked her why?

140
00:07:50.731 --> 00:07:53.001
And she said, "'Cause I need
to see if you do drugs."

141
00:07:53.001 --> 00:07:54.746
And I said, "Well, I do."

142
00:07:54.746 --> 00:07:55.921
And she said, "What did you say?"

143
00:07:55.921 --> 00:07:56.754
I said, "I do."

144
00:07:56.754 --> 00:07:57.907
I didn't even know at that point,

145
00:07:57.907 --> 00:08:00.542
I was supposed to lie to her.

146
00:08:00.542 --> 00:08:02.771
And so she said, "Well,
what you wanna do about it?"

147
00:08:02.771 --> 00:08:05.041
I said, "Well, what am I
supposed to do about it?"

148
00:08:05.041 --> 00:08:09.124
'Cause I always thought
the end result was death.

149
00:08:10.311 --> 00:08:11.405
And so, she said, "Well,

150
00:08:11.405 --> 00:08:13.107
"I'm gonna send you to
a treatment program."

151
00:08:13.107 --> 00:08:14.364
And I said, "Well, what is that?"

152
00:08:14.364 --> 00:08:16.026
And so, she started making phone calls

153
00:08:16.026 --> 00:08:18.823
and I'm sitting there in
her office listening to her,

154
00:08:18.823 --> 00:08:20.971
trying to get me into a treatment program.

155
00:08:20.971 --> 00:08:24.943
And I remember it was a
Friday, it was Friday evening

156
00:08:24.943 --> 00:08:27.173
an afternoon and I'm sitting in her office

157
00:08:27.173 --> 00:08:29.361
and she's making these
phone calls and she hangs up

158
00:08:29.361 --> 00:08:31.591
and she says, "Well, do
you wanna go to treatment?"

159
00:08:31.591 --> 00:08:35.736
And I said, "Well, yeah
but I can't go today."

160
00:08:35.736 --> 00:08:37.284
You know, 'cause my
thing was, it's Friday,

161
00:08:37.284 --> 00:08:38.946
aint nobody gonna go to
treatment on a Friday,

162
00:08:38.946 --> 00:08:40.567
I'm gonna leave here, I'm
going across the street.

163
00:08:40.567 --> 00:08:43.140
Macy's, I saw Macy's coming
in the door and I said,

164
00:08:43.140 --> 00:08:45.329
"Well, I gotta make
arrangements for my daughter."

165
00:08:45.329 --> 00:08:49.546
And da-di-da-di-da, I gave
up a bunch of excuses.

166
00:08:49.546 --> 00:08:50.379
And so she said, "Okay,

167
00:08:50.379 --> 00:08:52.509
"well I got you a bed for Monday."

168
00:08:52.509 --> 00:08:54.292
So I said, "Okay."

169
00:08:54.292 --> 00:08:57.291
I remember leaving that
probation officers office

170
00:08:57.291 --> 00:08:59.237
and going right across
the street to Macy's

171
00:08:59.237 --> 00:09:02.115
with my daughter and stealing.

172
00:09:02.115 --> 00:09:05.925
And then going straight
downtown and buying dope.

173
00:09:05.925 --> 00:09:07.668
(thought-provoking music)

174
00:09:07.668 --> 00:09:11.478
That Monday came, my sister
took me up to White Plains,

175
00:09:11.478 --> 00:09:12.978
New York to detox.

176
00:09:16.545 --> 00:09:19.317
And I remember telling my Councilor, Mark,

177
00:09:19.317 --> 00:09:22.438
my biggest fear was I was
gonna die like my mother died

178
00:09:22.438 --> 00:09:25.154
and never see Mary grow up.

179
00:09:25.154 --> 00:09:26.771
And he said, "Guess what Lucy?

180
00:09:26.771 --> 00:09:28.515
"You gonna die one day, but you don't have

181
00:09:28.515 --> 00:09:30.432
"to die like they did."

182
00:09:45.012 --> 00:09:47.845
That was when he sold me the hope.

183
00:09:49.551 --> 00:09:52.146
I knew then, that I could do this,

184
00:09:52.146 --> 00:09:54.294
one day at a time.

185
00:09:54.294 --> 00:09:56.483
And if you can catch that glimmer of hope,

186
00:09:56.483 --> 00:09:59.401
before you know it, it
becomes what you live for,

187
00:09:59.401 --> 00:10:00.495
what you look for.

188
00:10:00.495 --> 00:10:04.143
Everyday I began to look for,
where's the hope of this day.

189
00:10:04.143 --> 00:10:07.508
What can I do, I can't
go back, I can't go back.

190
00:10:07.508 --> 00:10:10.872
Because somebody had opened
the door and let me out.

191
00:10:10.872 --> 00:10:12.372
That's where my journey began.

192
00:10:12.372 --> 00:10:14.398
And that same hope, is what I wanna give

193
00:10:14.398 --> 00:10:17.479
to women everyday at
Mary Hall Freedom House,

194
00:10:17.479 --> 00:10:20.073
hope became the product that we sell.

195
00:10:20.073 --> 00:10:21.451
(upbeat music)

196
00:10:21.451 --> 00:10:23.883
- [Narrator] This condo
in Sandy Springs, Georgia

197
00:10:23.883 --> 00:10:26.356
is one of many community
housing apartments provided

198
00:10:26.356 --> 00:10:28.261
for the woman in treatment.

199
00:10:28.261 --> 00:10:30.450
- [Lucy] Actually, we bought 33 units

200
00:10:30.450 --> 00:10:31.909
and we were gifted three,

201
00:10:31.909 --> 00:10:34.826
so we have 36 units out of this 90.

202
00:10:35.922 --> 00:10:38.799
And God is gonna bless
up to own all 90 of them.

203
00:10:38.799 --> 00:10:40.096
- [Narrator] Beyond the housing,

204
00:10:40.096 --> 00:10:42.437
Mary Hall Freedom House provides,

205
00:10:42.437 --> 00:10:45.801
Lucy gives me a full tour
of her Work NOW Program,

206
00:10:45.801 --> 00:10:47.706
where the women regain their hope,

207
00:10:47.706 --> 00:10:50.584
in the form of job training.

208
00:10:50.584 --> 00:10:51.557
And the daycare,

209
00:10:51.557 --> 00:10:55.043
where they nurture the
future hopes of the children.

210
00:10:55.043 --> 00:10:57.150
Giving these families an opportunity

211
00:10:57.150 --> 00:11:00.768
to stop generational cycles of drug abuse.

212
00:11:00.768 --> 00:11:04.018
An opportunity Lucy's mother never had.

213
00:11:06.119 --> 00:11:09.605
- My mom's name was Mary and
then it was my daughter Mary.

214
00:11:09.605 --> 00:11:12.442
My reason for getting clean and sober.

215
00:11:12.442 --> 00:11:15.036
So Mary Hall Freedom House, is the door

216
00:11:15.036 --> 00:11:18.725
that's open for every woman to
break the cycle of addiction,

217
00:11:18.725 --> 00:11:20.467
homelessness and poverty.

218
00:11:20.467 --> 00:11:24.886
So every day of my life,
I see the two Mary's,

219
00:11:24.886 --> 00:11:28.553
my mother and my daughter,
who are my story.

220
00:11:30.236 --> 00:11:31.087
(upbeat music)

221
00:11:31.087 --> 00:11:33.123
- [Narrator] This is Lucy's village.

222
00:11:33.123 --> 00:11:35.271
A place where curses are broken

223
00:11:35.271 --> 00:11:40.008
and for many other women she
serves, it's their last hope.

224
00:11:40.008 --> 00:11:41.913
- My name is Amanda Smith.

225
00:11:41.913 --> 00:11:43.818
I have eight months clean.

226
00:11:43.818 --> 00:11:47.542
First time ever since I
started using it, like 15.

227
00:11:47.542 --> 00:11:49.614
In my mind, I'm thinking,
I'm gonna come to this like,

228
00:11:49.614 --> 00:11:52.330
homeless shelter and it's
just gonna be terrible.

229
00:11:52.330 --> 00:11:54.478
Like I did not know what to expect.

230
00:11:54.478 --> 00:11:57.883
(suspenseful music)

231
00:11:57.883 --> 00:11:59.747
And so we pull into the parking lot

232
00:11:59.747 --> 00:12:03.152
and I hadn't being
outside, like in sunshine,

233
00:12:03.152 --> 00:12:04.616
in months.

234
00:12:04.616 --> 00:12:07.332
Really, and so, I'm in my own clothes now

235
00:12:07.332 --> 00:12:09.665
and I've gotten some of my belongings back

236
00:12:09.665 --> 00:12:11.952
and they let me out and I'm walking in

237
00:12:11.952 --> 00:12:14.668
and I remember coming up to the front desk

238
00:12:14.668 --> 00:12:16.006
and I was still in shackles.

239
00:12:16.006 --> 00:12:18.201
And Miss. Moraine was like,
"Can you take those off,

240
00:12:18.201 --> 00:12:19.620
"like we don't do that here."

241
00:12:19.620 --> 00:12:22.660
And I was like, "Yes, take them off."

242
00:12:22.660 --> 00:12:24.849
We did my intake
interview, she's asking me,

243
00:12:24.849 --> 00:12:27.362
you know, are you and IV
drug user, are you homeless?

244
00:12:27.362 --> 00:12:28.902
And I was just like, "But I have money,

245
00:12:28.902 --> 00:12:31.091
like, I don't need to do this."

246
00:12:31.091 --> 00:12:33.523
And so it wasn't like I was adverse to it,

247
00:12:33.523 --> 00:12:35.712
it kind of like became my only option.

248
00:12:35.712 --> 00:12:36.545
(upbeat music)

249
00:12:36.545 --> 00:12:37.923
- When women arrive at
Mary Hope Freedom House,

250
00:12:37.923 --> 00:12:39.157
we do a full assessment,

251
00:12:39.157 --> 00:12:41.265
just like when you're
at your doctors office.

252
00:12:41.265 --> 00:12:44.508
We assess their mental
health, their physical health,

253
00:12:44.508 --> 00:12:46.413
what drugs they've being using.

254
00:12:46.413 --> 00:12:48.196
And then they sit down
with their Councilor

255
00:12:48.196 --> 00:12:50.425
and then map out their road for recovery.

256
00:12:50.425 --> 00:12:52.168
Sometimes when we look at people,

257
00:12:52.168 --> 00:12:55.340
we make judgment calls
from our human side.

258
00:12:55.340 --> 00:12:56.556
Then you hear their story

259
00:12:56.556 --> 00:12:58.867
and they will open your heart to reality.

260
00:12:58.867 --> 00:12:59.921
It could be me.

261
00:12:59.921 --> 00:13:02.921
(suspenseful music)

262
00:13:03.771 --> 00:13:05.839
- I've always done really well in school,

263
00:13:05.839 --> 00:13:09.122
it's something that I
really get a lot out of.

264
00:13:09.122 --> 00:13:13.109
I finished my education at
Appalachian, where I got my,

265
00:13:13.109 --> 00:13:15.809
I finished with International
Business in Spanish,

266
00:13:15.809 --> 00:13:17.957
studied abroad in Seville.

267
00:13:17.957 --> 00:13:21.686
While I was there, that's
when I moved down to Atlanta,

268
00:13:21.686 --> 00:13:23.875
I'd gotten a job in logistics.

269
00:13:23.875 --> 00:13:27.685
And I got down here, things
kind of just took a turn

270
00:13:27.685 --> 00:13:29.347
for the worst almost immediately.

271
00:13:29.347 --> 00:13:32.347
(suspenseful music)

272
00:13:34.130 --> 00:13:38.426
I was able to maintain
the life of addictions

273
00:13:38.426 --> 00:13:41.223
and then this other
side, who was successful,

274
00:13:41.223 --> 00:13:45.479
college student, grad
student, you know, employee.

275
00:13:45.479 --> 00:13:46.695
The night before we moved to Atlanta,

276
00:13:46.695 --> 00:13:48.073
we're from North Carolina,

277
00:13:48.073 --> 00:13:51.227
we spent each, about five
or $600 on pain pills.

278
00:13:51.227 --> 00:13:53.051
And we get down to Atlanta

279
00:13:53.051 --> 00:13:54.713
and I remember all the pills were out,

280
00:13:54.713 --> 00:13:56.821
within 24 hours, they were gone.

281
00:13:56.821 --> 00:14:00.347
And I had to start a
new job in three days,

282
00:14:00.347 --> 00:14:01.880
so I was just like, what am I gonna do,

283
00:14:01.880 --> 00:14:04.968
I'm like, incredibly
dope-sick, I can't function.

284
00:14:04.968 --> 00:14:08.413
And so, I ended up Googling
open-air heroin markets,

285
00:14:08.413 --> 00:14:11.169
in Atlanta Georgia, I
met like two drug dealers

286
00:14:11.169 --> 00:14:12.467
within like five seconds.

287
00:14:12.467 --> 00:14:15.831
And so, that's how the
heroin really started

288
00:14:15.831 --> 00:14:19.081
and I'd started using IV at that point.

289
00:14:21.870 --> 00:14:24.964
So, the difference between
the program I'm in now

290
00:14:24.964 --> 00:14:28.881
and the six ones I've
being to prior, are huge.

291
00:14:30.854 --> 00:14:32.556
This is the first one I've being to,

292
00:14:32.556 --> 00:14:35.191
where you don't have to
pay anything to get in.

293
00:14:35.191 --> 00:14:38.961
Whereas, the previous treatment
centers I've being in,

294
00:14:38.961 --> 00:14:42.933
have being much more short-term,
insurance paid for those.

295
00:14:42.933 --> 00:14:47.392
I mean, I know they range
upward, it's like 15,000 and up,

296
00:14:47.392 --> 00:14:48.486
you know, to go to them.

297
00:14:48.486 --> 00:14:49.945
Most of them were 30 days.

298
00:14:49.945 --> 00:14:52.695
I've stayed 30 days at maybe two.

299
00:14:53.917 --> 00:14:55.620
And the truth is, 30 days,

300
00:14:55.620 --> 00:14:58.787
just isn't long enough to do anything.

301
00:15:00.160 --> 00:15:03.320
- My name is Shyanna
Holm, I'm 28 years old

302
00:15:03.320 --> 00:15:07.130
and how I found out about
Mary Hall Freedom House was,

303
00:15:07.130 --> 00:15:08.549
I was incarcerated.

304
00:15:08.549 --> 00:15:11.549
(suspenseful music)

305
00:15:14.791 --> 00:15:17.953
New Years Eve, you know you
wanna turn up a little bit,

306
00:15:17.953 --> 00:15:19.047
take a couple of shots,

307
00:15:19.047 --> 00:15:23.417
a couple will turn into
the whole bottle, for me.

308
00:15:23.417 --> 00:15:26.132
I don't know my limit, I
have to say that no I don't.

309
00:15:26.132 --> 00:15:30.064
So, man, I was more so
drinking out of anger as well.

310
00:15:30.064 --> 00:15:32.091
I'm just that person, I drink my feelings.

311
00:15:32.091 --> 00:15:36.174
Me and my mother got into
a physical altercation.

312
00:15:38.252 --> 00:15:41.251
And then I found out I was
pregnant, the day I went to jail.

313
00:15:41.251 --> 00:15:42.792
And I was there for about eight months

314
00:15:42.792 --> 00:15:46.000
and my bunkie kept talking
about Mary Hall, Mary Hall

315
00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:47.499
and she was like, the program's,

316
00:15:47.499 --> 00:15:49.729
gonna help me get my life together.

317
00:15:49.729 --> 00:15:52.896
Like and they care for pregnant girls.

318
00:15:54.282 --> 00:15:55.795
So, I called.

319
00:15:55.795 --> 00:15:58.223
This is my daughter, SAYURI.

320
00:15:58.223 --> 00:16:00.493
She's seven, she'll be seven on Sunday.

321
00:16:00.493 --> 00:16:04.542
And this is SIREER and he'll
be five months on her birthday.

322
00:16:04.542 --> 00:16:05.515
(sneezing)

323
00:16:05.515 --> 00:16:06.348
Bless you.

324
00:16:07.258 --> 00:16:10.175
My first 30 days were overwhelming,

325
00:16:11.514 --> 00:16:16.013
I mean it was overwhelming
'cause it's a new environment.

326
00:16:16.013 --> 00:16:17.934
I had both my kids here with me,

327
00:16:17.934 --> 00:16:20.002
so I had to learn the routine.

328
00:16:20.002 --> 00:16:22.555
(upbeat music)

329
00:16:22.555 --> 00:16:23.388
Morning.

330
00:16:24.781 --> 00:16:26.447
Hey, Britney.

331
00:16:26.447 --> 00:16:29.197
So she's off to the bus at seven.

332
00:16:30.540 --> 00:16:32.207
One down, one to go.

333
00:16:33.905 --> 00:16:38.890
Hey (laughs), just found Jessica.

334
00:16:38.890 --> 00:16:42.313
Now that he's in daycare, I
do so living more independent.

335
00:16:42.313 --> 00:16:45.500
All right, we are good to go.

336
00:16:45.500 --> 00:16:48.297
My goal is to graduate in June.

337
00:16:48.297 --> 00:16:51.134
You know, be an example for my children,

338
00:16:51.134 --> 00:16:54.467
for my sisters, who still use, you know.

339
00:16:55.795 --> 00:16:57.376
For my mother.

340
00:16:57.376 --> 00:16:59.646
I don't know if she's with
me or against me right now

341
00:16:59.646 --> 00:17:03.902
but I wanna show her that,
I'm sincere about this.

342
00:17:03.902 --> 00:17:07.023
This is what I wanna do and
I've got the right help.

343
00:17:07.023 --> 00:17:09.496
And now I'm able to take
these skills with me,

344
00:17:09.496 --> 00:17:10.914
wherever I go.

345
00:17:10.914 --> 00:17:13.299
(upbeat music)

346
00:17:13.299 --> 00:17:14.132
- Hi.
- Hi.

347
00:17:16.627 --> 00:17:19.652
- When you hit bottom, most
of us say, "God help me."

348
00:17:19.652 --> 00:17:22.733
And you start negotiating
with God on that hit you took,

349
00:17:22.733 --> 00:17:24.273
or that high you were on,

350
00:17:24.273 --> 00:17:27.394
or that right to remain
silent opportunity you had.

351
00:17:27.394 --> 00:17:31.893
You say, "God, if you get me
outta this, I'll do, what?"

352
00:17:31.893 --> 00:17:33.231
- Anything.
- Anything.

353
00:17:33.231 --> 00:17:35.097
Most of us said that to God.

354
00:17:35.097 --> 00:17:38.925
But anyway, once you got up
and you got on your do-nothing,

355
00:17:38.925 --> 00:17:42.028
you decided, okay God,
I'll take my will back.

356
00:17:42.028 --> 00:17:45.109
So every Monday meeting, I do
what I call community meeting,

357
00:17:45.109 --> 00:17:48.514
every Monday morning 'cause I
always want the women to know,

358
00:17:48.514 --> 00:17:50.419
I'm a part of this with you.

359
00:17:50.419 --> 00:17:54.294
How many of us can say,
"I've tried recovery,

360
00:17:54.294 --> 00:17:57.870
"almost 10 times, if
not 10 times or more?"

361
00:17:57.870 --> 00:18:00.667
Yeah, there's a few of us,
this aint your first rodeo.

362
00:18:00.667 --> 00:18:01.883
- Right.
- Right.

363
00:18:01.883 --> 00:18:04.315
For most of us, we've
being around this before.

364
00:18:04.315 --> 00:18:07.801
But what's different this
time lies before you?

365
00:18:07.801 --> 00:18:10.760
And so, I challenge you, 'cause
some of us have this thing

366
00:18:10.760 --> 00:18:14.489
that's like, huh-um,
can't do the God thing.

367
00:18:14.489 --> 00:18:17.083
Then what else you gonna do?

368
00:18:17.083 --> 00:18:18.664
What else you gonna do?

369
00:18:18.664 --> 00:18:21.096
Just tell me what are the
other things that you can do,

370
00:18:21.096 --> 00:18:24.906
if it's not truly stepping
into a relationship with God.

371
00:18:24.906 --> 00:18:27.460
The one true living One, who created you

372
00:18:27.460 --> 00:18:30.054
and just gave you life,
just gave it to you,

373
00:18:30.054 --> 00:18:32.486
it didn't cost you nothing.

374
00:18:32.486 --> 00:18:34.472
So what are you gonna do differently?

375
00:18:34.472 --> 00:18:38.728
Where's your hope gonna
be, in terms of a future?

376
00:18:38.728 --> 00:18:40.755
You know, where's your help coming from?

377
00:18:40.755 --> 00:18:43.694
'Cause if you're just buying time,

378
00:18:43.694 --> 00:18:45.923
right, just to keep outta the jail,

379
00:18:45.923 --> 00:18:47.910
because the judge said,
"I'm gonna give you a break

380
00:18:47.910 --> 00:18:50.868
"and let you go over to
this place called Mary Hall,

381
00:18:50.868 --> 00:18:53.868
"in exchange for you
doing the right thing."

382
00:18:53.868 --> 00:18:56.057
Or, you said, "I'm coming,

383
00:18:56.057 --> 00:18:59.366
"because I don't want
DFCS to take my kids."

384
00:18:59.366 --> 00:19:03.294
Or, because their relationship
ended, and I want it back.

385
00:19:03.294 --> 00:19:05.877
What on earth are you here for?

386
00:19:07.590 --> 00:19:10.173
What on earth are you here for?

387
00:19:11.076 --> 00:19:14.708
(thought-provoking music)

388
00:19:14.708 --> 00:19:16.948
I think it was, when I
was in the halfway house

389
00:19:16.948 --> 00:19:21.082
that I realized that it
was about living this way.

390
00:19:21.082 --> 00:19:23.271
It wasn't about a 28 day program,

391
00:19:23.271 --> 00:19:25.379
it wasn't about the detox program,

392
00:19:25.379 --> 00:19:28.776
it wasn't about, you know,
going up to Saranac Lake

393
00:19:28.776 --> 00:19:31.329
for treatment for seven weeks,

394
00:19:31.329 --> 00:19:36.329
it was about one day at a
time for the rest of my life.

395
00:19:36.355 --> 00:19:39.355
(suspenseful music)

396
00:19:41.949 --> 00:19:45.354
And, I went to this halfway
house and it was like,

397
00:19:45.354 --> 00:19:49.123
probably like 10 woman
living in a little old house.

398
00:19:49.123 --> 00:19:51.393
And it was like being in a college dorm.

399
00:19:51.393 --> 00:19:54.150
And we learning life on
life turning at that point.

400
00:19:54.150 --> 00:19:56.379
And we were learning how to
do this thing a day at a time.

401
00:19:56.379 --> 00:19:58.811
Go get a job, go to meetings.

402
00:19:58.811 --> 00:20:00.676
Come home and have dinner, go to bed.

403
00:20:00.676 --> 00:20:01.843
Living normal.

404
00:20:06.629 --> 00:20:09.953
But even in the halfway
house, my behavior,

405
00:20:09.953 --> 00:20:13.276
I remember that booster, I
remember going to the mall

406
00:20:13.276 --> 00:20:16.256
and stealing something, even in recovery.

407
00:20:16.256 --> 00:20:19.296
'Cause I had not learned,
I wasn't well yet.

408
00:20:19.296 --> 00:20:21.930
I still had the behaviors of my addiction.

409
00:20:21.930 --> 00:20:23.187
But this time when I went

410
00:20:23.187 --> 00:20:26.227
and stole something from the store,

411
00:20:26.227 --> 00:20:28.664
it felt strange, it felt like,

412
00:20:28.664 --> 00:20:30.163
that aint who you are no more.

413
00:20:30.163 --> 00:20:32.393
That's not what you suppose to be doing.

414
00:20:32.393 --> 00:20:34.744
So I remember calling up the sponsor I had

415
00:20:34.744 --> 00:20:37.419
and I told her, I just stole
something from the store

416
00:20:37.419 --> 00:20:39.094
and I feel awful about it.

417
00:20:39.094 --> 00:20:42.215
And she said, "Well, if you
really feel bad, take it back."

418
00:20:42.215 --> 00:20:43.229
I was like, "What?"

419
00:20:43.229 --> 00:20:44.364
She said, "Take it back."

420
00:20:44.364 --> 00:20:45.944
I was like, "Take it back?"

421
00:20:45.944 --> 00:20:49.390
She's like, "Lucy, that's
not who you are anymore.

422
00:20:49.390 --> 00:20:51.173
"Go take it back."

423
00:20:51.173 --> 00:20:53.840
(anxious music)

424
00:21:00.556 --> 00:21:01.975
I was like, "Wow."

425
00:21:01.975 --> 00:21:04.276
And I couldn't tell nobody
in the halfway house

426
00:21:04.276 --> 00:21:05.857
and I remember saying to Dorothy,

427
00:21:05.857 --> 00:21:09.524
a girl who was in the
halfway house with me,

428
00:21:11.896 --> 00:21:13.720
"I need for you to go
with me to the mall."

429
00:21:13.720 --> 00:21:16.382
(excited music)

430
00:21:16.382 --> 00:21:20.047
So we go back to the mall
and go back to the store

431
00:21:20.047 --> 00:21:22.722
and have a bag and I walk in the store

432
00:21:22.722 --> 00:21:23.938
and woman says, "Can I help you?"

433
00:21:23.938 --> 00:21:25.195
I said, "Yeah, I have a return."

434
00:21:25.195 --> 00:21:27.528
And I put it on the counter.

435
00:21:28.680 --> 00:21:29.978
And I said, "Well, I'm
just gonna walk around

436
00:21:29.978 --> 00:21:32.410
"and see what else I
want to exchange it for."

437
00:21:32.410 --> 00:21:34.436
She said, "Oh, take your time, go ahead."

438
00:21:34.436 --> 00:21:38.031
(mischievous music)

439
00:21:38.031 --> 00:21:39.977
So I'm walking around the
store, walking around the store,

440
00:21:39.977 --> 00:21:42.394
the salesgirl starts working.

441
00:21:47.556 --> 00:21:49.543
And I said to Dorothy,
"Come on, let's go."

442
00:21:49.543 --> 00:21:51.204
Dorothy said, "Well, Lucy
you're leaving your bag."

443
00:21:51.204 --> 00:21:52.951
I said, "Shut up, come on, let's go."

444
00:21:52.951 --> 00:21:55.618
(excited music)

445
00:21:57.601 --> 00:21:59.465
And we hurried up and got out that store.

446
00:21:59.465 --> 00:22:00.559
She's like, "Well, why you do that?"

447
00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:03.640
I said, "Just shut up,
let's go, let's go."

448
00:22:03.640 --> 00:22:04.828
And I remember saying,

449
00:22:04.828 --> 00:22:06.434
"I aint ever gonna steal nothing else,

450
00:22:06.434 --> 00:22:08.217
"'cause that was harder than stealing it.

451
00:22:08.217 --> 00:22:11.217
"Returning it back, I
aint doing that no more."

452
00:22:11.217 --> 00:22:13.851
That became my first honest moment.

453
00:22:13.851 --> 00:22:16.945
And that's the first step of
recovery, of being honest.

454
00:22:16.945 --> 00:22:18.852
(upbeat music)

455
00:22:18.852 --> 00:22:20.432
All right, ladies, we gonna get started.

456
00:22:20.432 --> 00:22:21.917
Hey, how's everybody this evening?

457
00:22:21.917 --> 00:22:23.944
(cheering)

458
00:22:23.944 --> 00:22:26.457
So we're gonna do a couple
of things this evening.

459
00:22:26.457 --> 00:22:31.078
One is, you're gonna write,
what I call your freedom paper.

460
00:22:31.078 --> 00:22:33.267
Your freedom paper, is that message

461
00:22:33.267 --> 00:22:36.712
that you want to give to your daughter.

462
00:22:36.712 --> 00:22:41.535
That tells her, why you're
thankful that you're free.

463
00:22:41.535 --> 00:22:45.062
Or your freedom paper may be to somebody

464
00:22:45.062 --> 00:22:49.145
that you know that's
starting to do what you did.

465
00:22:50.696 --> 00:22:53.533
You all know who you wanna
write a freedom paper to.

466
00:22:53.533 --> 00:22:54.952
I might be that two year old kid

467
00:22:54.952 --> 00:22:57.627
that you told me about in that car.

468
00:22:57.627 --> 00:23:01.356
That he would never experience
a mother who's getting high.

469
00:23:01.356 --> 00:23:03.261
So if you complete it, you know,

470
00:23:03.261 --> 00:23:05.331
you've got nine months in recovery,

471
00:23:05.331 --> 00:23:07.134
you've got a job at X, Y and Z,

472
00:23:07.134 --> 00:23:09.698
you're enrolled in school,
you've got your kid back,

473
00:23:09.698 --> 00:23:11.120
whatever it is.

474
00:23:11.120 --> 00:23:14.890
'Cause if you think about
what you were really like

475
00:23:14.890 --> 00:23:16.973
that first Monday we met,

476
00:23:17.991 --> 00:23:21.072
you've accomplished quite a bit.

477
00:23:21.072 --> 00:23:23.747
You're always gonna
have this to remind you,

478
00:23:23.747 --> 00:23:26.382
who the sun sets free, is free indeed.

479
00:23:26.382 --> 00:23:29.882
(thought-provoking music)

480
00:23:39.588 --> 00:23:41.582
- My name is Latacha, I'm 42 years old.

481
00:23:41.582 --> 00:23:44.217
I have 85 days clean today.

482
00:23:44.217 --> 00:23:48.655
Back in '85, I found
out I was HIV positive.

483
00:23:48.655 --> 00:23:50.843
Most of my problems, doing drugs

484
00:23:50.843 --> 00:23:52.952
because I didn't wanna
deal with this sickness

485
00:23:52.952 --> 00:23:55.100
of myself having HIV.

486
00:23:55.100 --> 00:23:56.924
So, I was on a binge with cocaine,

487
00:23:56.924 --> 00:24:01.830
I got tired of doing cocaine
and I started smoking crack.

488
00:24:01.830 --> 00:24:05.073
And I wound up going to
jail for like two months.

489
00:24:05.073 --> 00:24:07.059
That was in 2006.

490
00:24:07.059 --> 00:24:09.726
And I stayed clean for 10 years.

491
00:24:11.315 --> 00:24:14.112
And then I had lost my
brother and a few days later,

492
00:24:14.112 --> 00:24:16.220
I was out there smoking crack again.

493
00:24:16.220 --> 00:24:19.536
(sorrowful music)

494
00:24:19.536 --> 00:24:22.819
I cry all the time, because
I wishing he was here

495
00:24:22.819 --> 00:24:23.670
and I question God.

496
00:24:23.670 --> 00:24:25.778
Like, I don't know if
it's okay to question.

497
00:24:25.778 --> 00:24:27.724
Like, why did you take him away from me,

498
00:24:27.724 --> 00:24:29.753
he was all that I had.

499
00:24:29.753 --> 00:24:34.373
And I was just using
drugs to mask my feeling.

500
00:24:34.373 --> 00:24:36.805
- I'm Patricia, I am 39 years old

501
00:24:36.805 --> 00:24:39.805
and right now, I have 64 days clean.

502
00:24:43.169 --> 00:24:45.925
Pretty much directly out of
high school I went to the Navy.

503
00:24:45.925 --> 00:24:47.709
I stayed in for six years.

504
00:24:47.709 --> 00:24:49.776
I worked on the flight deck, fueling jets.

505
00:24:49.776 --> 00:24:53.708
It was awesome, it was
the most awesome job ever.

506
00:24:53.708 --> 00:24:56.626
I was 19 when I went in, turn 20 in Japan

507
00:24:56.626 --> 00:24:58.734
and the drinking age in Japan is 20.

508
00:24:58.734 --> 00:25:02.734
I was here, back in 2011,
and I should've stayed

509
00:25:03.719 --> 00:25:06.840
but I allowed myself to
be drawn off a little bit

510
00:25:06.840 --> 00:25:10.245
and since then, it's
just being really rough.

511
00:25:10.245 --> 00:25:12.231
You know, I have three beautiful girls

512
00:25:12.231 --> 00:25:15.271
and they're older now, getting
ready to graduate school,

513
00:25:15.271 --> 00:25:16.609
they're all doing great things

514
00:25:16.609 --> 00:25:19.406
and I've lost that
relationship over the years.

515
00:25:19.406 --> 00:25:22.446
So, and they're the best things
that ever happened to me.

516
00:25:22.446 --> 00:25:25.363
So, I wanted that relationship back

517
00:25:26.783 --> 00:25:29.336
and to be able to be with them again,

518
00:25:29.336 --> 00:25:31.525
I have to be strong.

519
00:25:31.525 --> 00:25:32.538
- Hi, I'm Melissa.

520
00:25:32.538 --> 00:25:35.092
I have 109 days clean.

521
00:25:35.092 --> 00:25:37.119
I'm 37 years old.

522
00:25:37.119 --> 00:25:38.902
I came to Mary Hall in 2010.

523
00:25:38.902 --> 00:25:41.172
Because after I left here,
I stopped going to church,

524
00:25:41.172 --> 00:25:43.604
I stopped going to meetings.

525
00:25:43.604 --> 00:25:45.306
You know, I'm a good
person, I'm gonna do this

526
00:25:45.306 --> 00:25:47.698
and I don't need anything else anymore.

527
00:25:47.698 --> 00:25:49.846
A lot of bad, unfortunate events happened,

528
00:25:49.846 --> 00:25:52.679
I had a condo, car, all that stuff

529
00:25:54.143 --> 00:25:57.345
and I had lost my job, managing Subway.

530
00:25:57.345 --> 00:26:00.345
(suspenseful music)

531
00:26:02.006 --> 00:26:05.627
My friend Casey, that's also here,

532
00:26:05.627 --> 00:26:08.210
we were on the street together,

533
00:26:09.771 --> 00:26:12.486
the drug use just became
more and more frequent.

534
00:26:12.486 --> 00:26:15.486
I couldn't do anything without it.

535
00:26:15.486 --> 00:26:17.715
And you know, we were
tired of bouncing around,

536
00:26:17.715 --> 00:26:20.593
I've known for a while
I've needed to come back.

537
00:26:20.593 --> 00:26:23.795
And then just one day,
Casey and I, well like,

538
00:26:23.795 --> 00:26:26.378
dude, we you know, we gotta do.

539
00:26:27.727 --> 00:26:30.144
It was a process to get here.

540
00:26:33.037 --> 00:26:35.955
So we walked across Cobb County.

541
00:26:35.955 --> 00:26:40.535
And went to the BHCC, the
Behavior Health Crisis Center

542
00:26:40.535 --> 00:26:43.454
for a Cobb in Douglasville.
And they were like, "Oh well,

543
00:26:43.454 --> 00:26:44.791
"you just need to come on another shift."

544
00:26:44.791 --> 00:26:47.345
I was like, "I don't know if
I'm going to make it back.

545
00:26:47.345 --> 00:26:50.512
"I can get high, two blocks from here.

546
00:26:52.047 --> 00:26:53.668
"Please let me in."

547
00:26:53.668 --> 00:26:54.965
And they wouldn't.

548
00:26:54.965 --> 00:26:57.715
(dejected music)

549
00:26:59.869 --> 00:27:02.619
I just slept there for the night.

550
00:27:07.084 --> 00:27:11.016
I came out in the morning, they let me in.

551
00:27:11.016 --> 00:27:15.637
I stayed 15 days, we were trying
to find a program to go to

552
00:27:15.637 --> 00:27:18.960
and Casey was like, "Can
you please call Mary Hall,

553
00:27:18.960 --> 00:27:20.339
"I know you've being there before."

554
00:27:20.339 --> 00:27:21.838
I said, "Yeah, I can talk to them."

555
00:27:21.838 --> 00:27:24.432
I said, "Are you really ready?

556
00:27:24.432 --> 00:27:26.682
Are you sure you're ready?"

557
00:27:27.959 --> 00:27:29.702
She said, "Yeah."

558
00:27:29.702 --> 00:27:32.336
And I called, I talked to
them, I was here the next day.

559
00:27:32.336 --> 00:27:34.282
- Well, when somebody
says, what's the success

560
00:27:34.282 --> 00:27:35.944
of Mary Hall Freedom House, I say,

561
00:27:35.944 --> 00:27:38.903
"We all gotta measure
success differently."

562
00:27:38.903 --> 00:27:40.192
Because if a woman's being out there,

563
00:27:40.192 --> 00:27:42.584
getting high 30, 40 years and she come

564
00:27:42.584 --> 00:27:44.245
to Mary Hall Freedom House,

565
00:27:44.245 --> 00:27:46.556
and she's being clean now eight months,

566
00:27:46.556 --> 00:27:50.163
but she relapses and she comes back.

567
00:27:50.163 --> 00:27:53.482
I tell them, my job was
to ruin her next episode

568
00:27:53.482 --> 00:27:55.630
because now she's got the education

569
00:27:55.630 --> 00:27:59.400
and she's got the experience
of knowing recovery's possible.

570
00:27:59.400 --> 00:28:01.426
And she comes back a month later and says,

571
00:28:01.426 --> 00:28:02.764
"Can I try again?"

572
00:28:02.764 --> 00:28:04.548
That's recovery.

573
00:28:04.548 --> 00:28:05.561
Again and again.

574
00:28:05.561 --> 00:28:08.479
Because it's possible, don't give up.

575
00:28:08.479 --> 00:28:12.857
Just because the person
goes back out there.

576
00:28:12.857 --> 00:28:15.856
Because no matter how many
times, if they're still alive,

577
00:28:15.856 --> 00:28:17.883
God's got a plan for them.

578
00:28:17.883 --> 00:28:19.707
You know, so don't you give up,

579
00:28:19.707 --> 00:28:21.936
just keep believing and keep praying.

580
00:28:21.936 --> 00:28:23.603
Recovery's possible.

581
00:28:25.463 --> 00:28:27.165
- Well, I was incarcerated
for like eight months

582
00:28:27.165 --> 00:28:28.503
and during that whole eight months,

583
00:28:28.503 --> 00:28:30.002
I didn't see my daughter at all.

584
00:28:30.002 --> 00:28:32.799
So, that was the longest I've
ever spent without my child.

585
00:28:32.799 --> 00:28:34.785
And I understand why she
didn't wanna bring her up there

586
00:28:34.785 --> 00:28:36.974
and I really didn't want her
to see me in there like that

587
00:28:36.974 --> 00:28:39.730
but when I got out of jail,

588
00:28:39.730 --> 00:28:40.703
like I was planning on picking up,

589
00:28:40.703 --> 00:28:41.676
you know, where I left off.

590
00:28:41.676 --> 00:28:43.095
And my mom was like,
"Don't worry about her,

591
00:28:43.095 --> 00:28:44.878
"you just worry about
that one right there.

592
00:28:44.878 --> 00:28:46.783
"I got her, I had her the whole time."

593
00:28:46.783 --> 00:28:49.377
So I'm sitting like, "How
you gonna try and stop me?"

594
00:28:49.377 --> 00:28:51.080
You know like that, it hurt my feelings,

595
00:28:51.080 --> 00:28:53.066
like I wanted to cry.

596
00:28:53.066 --> 00:28:55.255
But I wanted to come in here to Mary Hall

597
00:28:55.255 --> 00:28:57.403
and of course I had to
basically take my child,

598
00:28:57.403 --> 00:28:58.497
like a thief in the night.

599
00:28:58.497 --> 00:28:59.876
And she would call my probation officer,

600
00:28:59.876 --> 00:29:01.294
she was trying to get
me to go back to jail,

601
00:29:01.294 --> 00:29:02.267
all of that stuff.

602
00:29:02.267 --> 00:29:03.199
I mean, I had every right

603
00:29:03.199 --> 00:29:06.482
to wanna cut my mother
out of my life for real.

604
00:29:06.482 --> 00:29:08.550
So, I mean, I just stopped talking to her

605
00:29:08.550 --> 00:29:12.157
and I realized that I know
my mom's heart, you know.

606
00:29:12.157 --> 00:29:14.981
So, with that being said though,

607
00:29:14.981 --> 00:29:18.168
these past six months, our
relationship is getting better.

608
00:29:18.168 --> 00:29:19.708
We talk on the phone every day.

609
00:29:19.708 --> 00:29:21.735
You know, she's always like,
"Send me pictures of the baby."

610
00:29:21.735 --> 00:29:24.248
So everything that I was hoping for,

611
00:29:24.248 --> 00:29:25.747
that would happen from the beginning

612
00:29:25.747 --> 00:29:27.166
of our relationship is happening.

613
00:29:27.166 --> 00:29:28.828
I could see everything.
- It just took some time.

614
00:29:28.828 --> 00:29:29.661
- Yeah.

615
00:29:29.661 --> 00:29:31.463
- Ladies, this circle is
full, it takes a minute,

616
00:29:31.463 --> 00:29:34.746
nobody walks 360 degrees
in under 30 seconds.

617
00:29:34.746 --> 00:29:36.002
- That's something I'm working on.

618
00:29:36.002 --> 00:29:37.218
Like you said.
- Right.

619
00:29:37.218 --> 00:29:38.272
- Like all the things we go through

620
00:29:38.272 --> 00:29:39.488
because the other things we allow them

621
00:29:39.488 --> 00:29:41.353
to do to us in our addiction.

622
00:29:41.353 --> 00:29:44.758
It is like, whenever I do
like speak up for myself,

623
00:29:44.758 --> 00:29:47.271
it's like the table get
turned back around on me.

624
00:29:47.271 --> 00:29:49.581
Then, it comes to me
having to explain myself.

625
00:29:49.581 --> 00:29:52.054
It's like, I can't even
explain exactly what I'm saying

626
00:29:52.054 --> 00:29:54.850
because they have thrown me out for week,

627
00:29:54.850 --> 00:29:56.553
what I actually wanted to say to them.

628
00:29:56.553 --> 00:29:58.620
Like, they here me, but it's like,

629
00:29:58.620 --> 00:29:59.512
"What you talking 'bout."

630
00:29:59.512 --> 00:30:00.566
You understand what I'm saying,

631
00:30:00.566 --> 00:30:02.673
but you just trying to--

632
00:30:02.673 --> 00:30:04.214
- Everybody who you wanted to talk

633
00:30:04.214 --> 00:30:05.956
and you want to set boundaries with,

634
00:30:05.956 --> 00:30:07.943
is not going to be receptive of that.

635
00:30:07.943 --> 00:30:09.361
And it will be certain people ladies,

636
00:30:09.361 --> 00:30:11.428
you going to have to let go of.

637
00:30:11.428 --> 00:30:13.334
And there's a certain level of respect

638
00:30:13.334 --> 00:30:17.346
that I demand because I am
a strong independent woman.

639
00:30:17.346 --> 00:30:18.643
Does that make sense?

640
00:30:18.643 --> 00:30:19.900
And that's what we're doing.

641
00:30:19.900 --> 00:30:22.737
That confidence is your
ability to ask for that.

642
00:30:22.737 --> 00:30:24.359
Hey, I get that I'm here

643
00:30:24.359 --> 00:30:25.696
and I'm going through these processes

644
00:30:25.696 --> 00:30:27.439
and I've made some poor choices,

645
00:30:27.439 --> 00:30:29.060
but this is what we're focused on

646
00:30:29.060 --> 00:30:30.439
and this is what my issue is,

647
00:30:30.439 --> 00:30:33.463
can we talk about solutions.

648
00:30:33.463 --> 00:30:36.732
Versus, you didn't hear
me, your not listening.

649
00:30:36.732 --> 00:30:38.556
Why do I have to keep repeating myself,

650
00:30:38.556 --> 00:30:39.975
you keep bringing up my issues.

651
00:30:39.975 --> 00:30:43.299
'Cause that conversation is unproductive.

652
00:30:43.299 --> 00:30:44.353
Does that make sense?

653
00:30:44.353 --> 00:30:46.379
And you laugh, 'cause that was
how that conversation went.

654
00:30:46.379 --> 00:30:48.163
(laughing)

655
00:30:48.163 --> 00:30:51.446
- Drug addiction, sometime
is the self medication

656
00:30:51.446 --> 00:30:52.500
of a mental illness.

657
00:30:52.500 --> 00:30:53.826
And when they come to treatment,

658
00:30:53.826 --> 00:30:55.528
they begin to take off the mask

659
00:30:55.528 --> 00:30:57.555
and the mental health kind of manifests

660
00:30:57.555 --> 00:30:59.622
and then you've gotta treat that as well.

661
00:30:59.622 --> 00:31:02.743
So, this is one of the
various counseling sessions

662
00:31:02.743 --> 00:31:07.121
that are lead by clinicians,
peer groups, carers, CPS's,

663
00:31:07.121 --> 00:31:08.506
they're behind closed doors,

664
00:31:08.506 --> 00:31:12.113
they're able to go deep and
wide and get it all out.

665
00:31:12.113 --> 00:31:13.451
It's one step at a time.

666
00:31:13.451 --> 00:31:14.667
Get them clean and sober

667
00:31:14.667 --> 00:31:17.220
and then deal with the ills of their life.

668
00:31:17.220 --> 00:31:20.382
And sometimes mental illness
is one of those illnesses.

669
00:31:20.382 --> 00:31:22.408
That's the goal, the
program gets to the root

670
00:31:22.408 --> 00:31:24.991
and to the heart of the matter.

671
00:31:25.854 --> 00:31:28.242
- My name is Jessica, I'm 29 years old

672
00:31:28.242 --> 00:31:31.444
and I have 68 days of recovery.

673
00:31:31.444 --> 00:31:34.565
I never fitted into school,
I didn't like school.

674
00:31:34.565 --> 00:31:37.565
So when things were hard
for me, I just acted out.

675
00:31:37.565 --> 00:31:39.794
I started hanging out with everyone else,

676
00:31:39.794 --> 00:31:43.037
going to sneak behind the
school, to smoke weed.

677
00:31:43.037 --> 00:31:47.901
I turned 17 years old, then
I started doing ecstasy.

678
00:31:47.901 --> 00:31:51.103
At the age of 23, I started
doing powder cocaine.

679
00:31:51.103 --> 00:31:54.710
So, this day, I had being
up for like two days.

680
00:31:54.710 --> 00:31:58.358
I was up drinking and using
and my kids were there

681
00:31:58.358 --> 00:32:00.263
and my niece was there.

682
00:32:00.263 --> 00:32:04.398
And my friend came got me,
but I didn't see her there.

683
00:32:04.398 --> 00:32:05.979
They was in the house
and I left them there

684
00:32:05.979 --> 00:32:08.146
with my 12 year old niece.

685
00:32:09.627 --> 00:32:11.876
Someone came and woke me up and like,

686
00:32:11.876 --> 00:32:13.013
"They keep blowing the phone up."

687
00:32:13.013 --> 00:32:14.878
So when I called, my Aunt was like,

688
00:32:14.878 --> 00:32:16.847
"Jessica, you need to go to your kids

689
00:32:16.847 --> 00:32:18.144
"at your Grandmother house,

690
00:32:18.144 --> 00:32:20.576
"'cause she called DFCS on you."

691
00:32:20.576 --> 00:32:24.589
Oh, from there, they put my
baby in temporary custody

692
00:32:24.589 --> 00:32:26.210
with my Aunt.

693
00:32:26.210 --> 00:32:29.043
(sorrowful music)

694
00:32:38.227 --> 00:32:39.977
- It's gonna be okay.

695
00:32:46.415 --> 00:32:48.522
- I felt ashamed.

696
00:32:48.522 --> 00:32:50.954
'Cause I knew that
everyone knew what I did,

697
00:32:50.954 --> 00:32:52.900
so I didn't wanna talk to anyone.

698
00:32:52.900 --> 00:32:56.913
I just didn't know how to
handle it, to be honest.

699
00:32:56.913 --> 00:32:59.547
I just miss, just like being
with them, holding them.

700
00:32:59.547 --> 00:33:02.668
It's a lot of things
that I don't miss at all.

701
00:33:02.668 --> 00:33:04.695
My Councilor's gonna help me go to court,

702
00:33:04.695 --> 00:33:07.776
so I can get my kids to
come here and stay with me.

703
00:33:07.776 --> 00:33:09.519
I'm not rushing them to be here.

704
00:33:09.519 --> 00:33:12.315
You see, that's what I
need first, my recovery.

705
00:33:12.315 --> 00:33:15.133
I don't think I'm really,
really ready right now,

706
00:33:15.133 --> 00:33:19.050
like for them to come
right now, I'm not ready.

707
00:33:22.665 --> 00:33:25.332
(hopeful music)

708
00:33:29.824 --> 00:33:32.491
- Hello.
- We'll call in a visit.

709
00:33:33.553 --> 00:33:35.701
This here Tara.
- Hey, how are you.

710
00:33:35.701 --> 00:33:37.868
- So, on 2015, this woman,

711
00:33:39.795 --> 00:33:43.686
who works for a company
called Mimms Enterprises,

712
00:33:43.686 --> 00:33:46.280
her boss walks in one
day, David Mimms says,

713
00:33:46.280 --> 00:33:48.712
"The day we should get rid of
that Warner Street building,

714
00:33:48.712 --> 00:33:50.536
"who do we need to give it to?"

715
00:33:50.536 --> 00:33:52.765
And she said, "You need
to give it to Lucy."

716
00:33:52.765 --> 00:33:54.671
And he said, "I wanna
honor my mother with it,

717
00:33:54.671 --> 00:33:56.251
because of the work that you do, Lucy,

718
00:33:56.251 --> 00:33:58.359
I really wanna honor my mother."

719
00:33:58.359 --> 00:34:02.615
And so, I said, "I would
be honored to do that."

720
00:34:02.615 --> 00:34:04.601
You know, because he's mom actually died,

721
00:34:04.601 --> 00:34:07.434
the same year I started Mary Hall.

722
00:34:08.655 --> 00:34:10.479
And so, this is the Donna Center for Woman

723
00:34:10.479 --> 00:34:15.302
and it will be the first
24/7 center in Atlanta

724
00:34:15.302 --> 00:34:17.045
for woman and woman with children.

725
00:34:17.045 --> 00:34:19.558
And basically what that
means is, this is Saturday,

726
00:34:19.558 --> 00:34:21.828
we standing here Saturday
at 5 o'clock p.m.

727
00:34:21.828 --> 00:34:24.341
If a woman needed help
right now in Atlanta,

728
00:34:24.341 --> 00:34:25.174
where would she go?

729
00:34:25.174 --> 00:34:27.665
She'd go to the ER, go to jail,

730
00:34:27.665 --> 00:34:30.082
under a bridge, turn a trick,

731
00:34:31.069 --> 00:34:33.623
the list goes on and on
and on about her options

732
00:34:33.623 --> 00:34:35.670
but none of them is an open door

733
00:34:35.670 --> 00:34:38.143
to safety and a new way of life.

734
00:34:38.143 --> 00:34:40.291
She can come in here
at 11 o'clock tonight,

735
00:34:40.291 --> 00:34:42.885
tore up from the floor, as
long as she don't act up,

736
00:34:42.885 --> 00:34:44.304
we could still stay.

737
00:34:44.304 --> 00:34:45.137
(laughing)

738
00:34:45.137 --> 00:34:46.452
Do you understand what I'm saying?

739
00:34:46.452 --> 00:34:50.222
This whole thing has being
a true faith journey.

740
00:34:50.222 --> 00:34:51.803
It has blown my mind.

741
00:34:51.803 --> 00:34:55.167
'Cause this girl keeps doing the work

742
00:34:55.167 --> 00:34:56.869
and we sometimes don't
even have the money,

743
00:34:56.869 --> 00:34:58.693
but she will not stop the work.

744
00:34:58.693 --> 00:35:00.636
- Because I experience the fact
that when I did need a place

745
00:35:00.636 --> 00:35:03.189
to go, I had nothing here for me to go to

746
00:35:03.189 --> 00:35:06.594
and it was in the middle
and having a husband,

747
00:35:06.594 --> 00:35:08.783
instead that time and still
needed a place to you,

748
00:35:08.783 --> 00:35:09.756
you'd think that once you get married,

749
00:35:09.756 --> 00:35:11.823
you're secure and you won't need anybody,

750
00:35:11.823 --> 00:35:12.656
'cause you have him.

751
00:35:12.656 --> 00:35:15.714
And I didn't wanna tell my
mother, because I had a husband.

752
00:35:15.714 --> 00:35:17.781
So, I didn't want him to know.

753
00:35:17.781 --> 00:35:20.051
So, I was hiding it from her and I ran,

754
00:35:20.051 --> 00:35:21.761
I went to a little place around the corner

755
00:35:21.761 --> 00:35:23.650
that was for housing
for woman, I went them.

756
00:35:23.650 --> 00:35:27.136
They like, "I'm sorry,
we don't have any room."

757
00:35:27.136 --> 00:35:28.838
And you're like, "Where
am I gonna go now?"

758
00:35:28.838 --> 00:35:30.350
And I called one of my
friends and her mom said,

759
00:35:30.350 --> 00:35:31.513
"Well, you can come stay with us."

760
00:35:31.513 --> 00:35:32.689
So, we end up going to stay with her.

761
00:35:32.689 --> 00:35:34.553
But at that time, if I hadn't gotten

762
00:35:34.553 --> 00:35:36.377
that call from her momma, we
would've had nowhere to go.

763
00:35:36.377 --> 00:35:39.579
So, I don't want anybody
to experience that.

764
00:35:39.579 --> 00:35:42.417
Because it's not a good
thing, when you have two kids

765
00:35:42.417 --> 00:35:43.678
and you're out in the middle of the night

766
00:35:43.678 --> 00:35:45.051
and you have nowhere to go.

767
00:35:45.051 --> 00:35:47.200
So I don't want nobody
else to go through that.

768
00:35:47.200 --> 00:35:49.348
So, for me, this is kind of personal.

769
00:35:49.348 --> 00:35:51.172
So like, when Lucy says,
"Well, I don't have any money."

770
00:35:51.172 --> 00:35:52.753
That's okay, will contain

771
00:35:52.753 --> 00:35:55.631
and do construction
until we get the money.

772
00:35:55.631 --> 00:35:57.779
Because I know this is what
God gave us this project.

773
00:35:57.779 --> 00:36:00.008
But when they tell us, we're
not gonna be in this community,

774
00:36:00.008 --> 00:36:02.967
we fought hard and God gave
us everything we needed.

775
00:36:02.967 --> 00:36:05.845
We got all the unanimous vote
from the city of Atlanta,

776
00:36:05.845 --> 00:36:07.426
when they said they
weren't gonna give it to us

777
00:36:07.426 --> 00:36:08.480
and we got it.

778
00:36:08.480 --> 00:36:10.628
So, I just know that he ordained that.

779
00:36:10.628 --> 00:36:13.461
Everything else is gonna work out.

780
00:36:17.032 --> 00:36:19.615
(upbeat music)

781
00:36:26.749 --> 00:36:28.411
- [Narrator] Each year,
Mary Hope Freedom House,

782
00:36:28.411 --> 00:36:31.694
hosts a series of fundraisers.

783
00:36:31.694 --> 00:36:34.502
This year is especially important,

784
00:36:34.502 --> 00:36:36.927
with the Donna Center project pending.

785
00:36:36.927 --> 00:36:40.677
There's live music, good
food and fellowship.

786
00:36:46.453 --> 00:36:49.006
But the purpose for the
gathering comes into focus,

787
00:36:49.006 --> 00:36:50.871
when the women share their stories.

788
00:36:50.871 --> 00:36:53.871
(audience clapping)

789
00:36:59.707 --> 00:37:02.585
- My name is Stephanie, I'm 24

790
00:37:02.585 --> 00:37:04.752
and I have 320 days clean.

791
00:37:07.003 --> 00:37:10.002
I started smoking weed at 12.

792
00:37:10.002 --> 00:37:12.394
I was hanging out with people

793
00:37:12.394 --> 00:37:14.623
and then you know, I started doing pills.

794
00:37:14.623 --> 00:37:16.812
I was going to Hartwell, Georgia,

795
00:37:16.812 --> 00:37:20.865
going to buy some pills
and so when I got there,

796
00:37:20.865 --> 00:37:22.527
he's window was open.

797
00:37:22.527 --> 00:37:26.135
And I seen like some pill bottles.

798
00:37:26.135 --> 00:37:28.323
And I was like, "Hell this,

799
00:37:28.323 --> 00:37:32.156
"I'm about to go in there
and get some pills."

800
00:37:33.998 --> 00:37:37.200
When I got in the house, all
I heard was like a gunshot.

801
00:37:37.200 --> 00:37:39.617
(gun firing)

802
00:37:40.848 --> 00:37:43.078
I went to run and when I looked down,

803
00:37:43.078 --> 00:37:46.563
my leg was just squirting blood.

804
00:37:46.563 --> 00:37:48.266
And after I got shot, you know,

805
00:37:48.266 --> 00:37:49.847
I was like still getting high.

806
00:37:49.847 --> 00:37:51.387
Like I was on my crutches, you know,

807
00:37:51.387 --> 00:37:54.184
going to get some pills, like hopping.

808
00:37:54.184 --> 00:37:57.183
I wanted to stop, but I couldn't.

809
00:37:57.183 --> 00:37:58.723
I didn't know how.

810
00:37:58.723 --> 00:38:02.939
I just remember just one of
my friends had passed away,

811
00:38:02.939 --> 00:38:07.022
from an overdose and it
just kind of hit me like,

812
00:38:08.046 --> 00:38:10.379
I don't wanna die like that.

813
00:38:11.654 --> 00:38:12.505
The girl that passed away,

814
00:38:12.505 --> 00:38:16.234
her mom actually was the
one that brought me up here.

815
00:38:16.234 --> 00:38:18.706
The trip up here, it was hard.

816
00:38:18.706 --> 00:38:19.539
It was.

817
00:38:24.016 --> 00:38:27.467
And I just remember her
saying, some of us have to die

818
00:38:27.467 --> 00:38:28.921
so that some of us can live.

819
00:38:28.921 --> 00:38:31.029
(sobbing)

820
00:38:31.029 --> 00:38:33.258
And, she was like,

821
00:38:33.258 --> 00:38:37.529
if she could help save
someone else's child's life

822
00:38:37.529 --> 00:38:38.779
that she would.

823
00:38:40.042 --> 00:38:43.209
She gave me money, she bought me food.

824
00:38:44.622 --> 00:38:49.289
And I don't know why she gave
me, her daughters obituary

825
00:38:50.297 --> 00:38:52.526
and all she was saying to me was,

826
00:38:52.526 --> 00:38:57.526
"I wanna, if this program
could've saved my daughters life."

827
00:39:02.943 --> 00:39:04.777
- Stephanie, how much
you checking in Stephanie

828
00:39:04.777 --> 00:39:06.398
and let us know how you're doing today.

829
00:39:06.398 --> 00:39:10.065
- I doing good, I'm
real tired from working.

830
00:39:11.360 --> 00:39:13.596
And like, my most recent struggle,

831
00:39:13.596 --> 00:39:16.798
like last week I was just
having a lot of thoughts

832
00:39:16.798 --> 00:39:19.635
and stuff of like getting
high and I to break down

833
00:39:19.635 --> 00:39:23.012
and call Miss. Tara, 'cause
my sponsor didn't answer.

834
00:39:23.012 --> 00:39:24.309
- Was there some type of
words of encouragement

835
00:39:24.309 --> 00:39:25.444
that she gave you?

836
00:39:25.444 --> 00:39:27.714
- Yeah, just mainly like
encouraging me and telling me,

837
00:39:27.714 --> 00:39:29.862
it aint nothing but the devil.

838
00:39:29.862 --> 00:39:31.970
- So Miss. Tara is one of your
life accountability people?

839
00:39:31.970 --> 00:39:33.186
- One of them.

840
00:39:33.186 --> 00:39:34.686
- Okay, so when you leave Mary Hall,

841
00:39:34.686 --> 00:39:37.158
could you see yourself staying
in contact with Miss. Tara?

842
00:39:37.158 --> 00:39:40.158
- Oh yeah.
- Okay, good, thank you.

843
00:39:40.158 --> 00:39:43.031
(upbeat music)

844
00:39:43.031 --> 00:39:45.341
- I do now, wanna get a car.

845
00:39:45.341 --> 00:39:48.412
And that kind of seems like forever away.

846
00:39:48.412 --> 00:39:52.384
And then as far as school,
you know like the process

847
00:39:52.384 --> 00:39:54.086
of getting into school.

848
00:39:54.086 --> 00:39:56.669
'Cause I mean, I graduated high school,

849
00:39:56.669 --> 00:39:59.101
but I just didn't ever go any further.

850
00:39:59.101 --> 00:40:02.506
- What's amazing to me about Stephanie is,

851
00:40:02.506 --> 00:40:05.589
she is one of those women who for me,

852
00:40:06.924 --> 00:40:08.221
she got my phone number,

853
00:40:08.221 --> 00:40:11.423
and I still don't know how
she got my cell phone number.

854
00:40:11.423 --> 00:40:13.328
And I laughed, 'cause she was on this date

855
00:40:13.328 --> 00:40:15.841
and literally she texted
me the whole thing.

856
00:40:15.841 --> 00:40:17.990
From beginning to end.

857
00:40:17.990 --> 00:40:21.354
We're going here, we just
ate, we did this, we did that.

858
00:40:21.354 --> 00:40:23.421
She wants to tell somebody
she's getting ready

859
00:40:23.421 --> 00:40:25.812
to do this new phase of her recovery.

860
00:40:25.812 --> 00:40:27.393
What is next for you?

861
00:40:27.393 --> 00:40:29.623
- Well you know, I was looking to going

862
00:40:29.623 --> 00:40:31.122
to cosmetology school.

863
00:40:31.122 --> 00:40:32.744
And I see, when Alley put on Facebook,

864
00:40:32.744 --> 00:40:35.540
she started working here and
I'm gonna work here one day.

865
00:40:35.540 --> 00:40:36.838
- All right, I know
that's right baby girl,

866
00:40:36.838 --> 00:40:39.878
you got it, there you go, all right.

867
00:40:39.878 --> 00:40:42.593
I'm excited when you say,

868
00:40:42.593 --> 00:40:45.228
"As much as I wanna do cosmetology."

869
00:40:45.228 --> 00:40:48.065
I can feel my heart being
lead in another direction.

870
00:40:48.065 --> 00:40:49.646
That means you are turning your will

871
00:40:49.646 --> 00:40:51.267
and your life over to God.

872
00:40:51.267 --> 00:40:52.929
That's just makes me wanna cry,

873
00:40:52.929 --> 00:40:54.713
'cause that's what it's about.

874
00:40:54.713 --> 00:40:57.130
That's truly what's it about.

875
00:40:58.563 --> 00:41:00.225
I can remember going to a meeting

876
00:41:00.225 --> 00:41:01.684
and a number of things had happened

877
00:41:01.684 --> 00:41:05.616
and I raised my hand and
I take the room captive,

878
00:41:05.616 --> 00:41:07.724
'cause again, I can do drama,

879
00:41:07.724 --> 00:41:10.237
so everybody needs to
stop and listen to me,

880
00:41:10.237 --> 00:41:14.452
I lost my job, my boyfriend and I broke up

881
00:41:14.452 --> 00:41:16.317
and something else probably happened

882
00:41:16.317 --> 00:41:18.546
and I just thought, life was over.

883
00:41:18.546 --> 00:41:20.046
You know, poor me.

884
00:41:21.059 --> 00:41:22.802
And my sponsor Judith at the time

885
00:41:22.802 --> 00:41:24.788
was working at a treatment center.

886
00:41:24.788 --> 00:41:25.720
And she said, "Well, Lucy,

887
00:41:25.720 --> 00:41:27.828
why don't you come volunteer over here?"

888
00:41:27.828 --> 00:41:32.614
so I went over to St. Joseph
Rehab and started volunteering.

889
00:41:32.614 --> 00:41:36.546
And literally within 30 days
they offered me a job at night,

890
00:41:36.546 --> 00:41:39.100
working in recovery,
started giving it back.

891
00:41:39.100 --> 00:41:41.086
You know, once you got two years clean,

892
00:41:41.086 --> 00:41:43.234
I remember going to get me CAC,

893
00:41:43.234 --> 00:41:46.477
becoming a credential alcohol
counselor and going to school,

894
00:41:46.477 --> 00:41:50.227
to be able to work in
the field of addiction.

895
00:41:51.787 --> 00:41:54.016
Now I'm living life on life's terms.

896
00:41:54.016 --> 00:41:57.583
And I'm a productive member of society.

897
00:41:57.583 --> 00:41:59.366
Four, five years out on recovery now,

898
00:41:59.366 --> 00:42:02.285
I'm living and hanging out with my family.

899
00:42:02.285 --> 00:42:03.663
People wanna be around you,

900
00:42:03.663 --> 00:42:06.575
your family loves you even more now.

901
00:42:06.575 --> 00:42:10.142
And I remember coming to
Georgia and visiting my brother.

902
00:42:10.142 --> 00:42:12.809
(hip hop music)

903
00:42:15.897 --> 00:42:19.788
And I was like, "Whoa, Georgia,
the mall, black people."

904
00:42:19.788 --> 00:42:21.127
and Phinilla's like, "Wait a minute,

905
00:42:21.127 --> 00:42:23.460
"Georgia's got it going on."

906
00:42:25.100 --> 00:42:27.896
My brother lived in a nice
house out in Stone Mountain,

907
00:42:27.896 --> 00:42:29.680
it was like, "Wait a minute,

908
00:42:29.680 --> 00:42:33.531
"Georgia looks like the place to be."

909
00:42:33.531 --> 00:42:35.841
And I remember writing
to my brother and saying,

910
00:42:35.841 --> 00:42:38.151
you know I wanna find a
job and come to Georgia.

911
00:42:38.151 --> 00:42:41.313
And he was like, "Well, come
on, you can come down here."

912
00:42:41.313 --> 00:42:43.380
So he started sending me the AJC,

913
00:42:43.380 --> 00:42:45.488
'cause back then there was no internet,

914
00:42:45.488 --> 00:42:47.312
you couldn't just pop online

915
00:42:47.312 --> 00:42:50.700
and put your resume out there
on social media, none of that.

916
00:42:50.700 --> 00:42:52.281
You used a newspaper.

917
00:42:52.281 --> 00:42:56.578
So I looked in the paper and
I found a job at the YWCA,

918
00:42:56.578 --> 00:42:59.658
which was a homeless shelter for women.

919
00:42:59.658 --> 00:43:03.347
And I put my resume in and I
interviewed and they hired me.

920
00:43:03.347 --> 00:43:05.252
And I went to work at a shelter,

921
00:43:05.252 --> 00:43:08.454
thinking that these
women were in recovery,

922
00:43:08.454 --> 00:43:10.237
like I had being doing up in New York.

923
00:43:10.237 --> 00:43:12.021
Only to get there and realize,

924
00:43:12.021 --> 00:43:14.007
shelters at that time were set up

925
00:43:14.007 --> 00:43:16.155
so that you only had 90 days,

926
00:43:16.155 --> 00:43:18.814
you had 90 days to come into this shelter,

927
00:43:18.814 --> 00:43:20.800
you or you and your children.

928
00:43:20.800 --> 00:43:22.535
I was hired as the Resource Counselor.

929
00:43:22.535 --> 00:43:24.440
So I would go get the kids in school,

930
00:43:24.440 --> 00:43:26.102
go get the mother on food stamps,

931
00:43:26.102 --> 00:43:28.269
go enable them to do what,

932
00:43:29.142 --> 00:43:32.141
never really introducing
them to recovering.

933
00:43:32.141 --> 00:43:34.695
I literally remember
one day, sitting there

934
00:43:34.695 --> 00:43:37.046
with a woman, who needed treatment

935
00:43:37.046 --> 00:43:38.667
and said she wanted treatment.

936
00:43:38.667 --> 00:43:42.234
And I was making call
after call after call

937
00:43:42.234 --> 00:43:44.706
and couldn't find any place for her.

938
00:43:44.706 --> 00:43:46.692
There was no place for her to go

939
00:43:46.692 --> 00:43:48.679
and get the help that she was seeking.

940
00:43:48.679 --> 00:43:50.138
And I said, "Somethings wrong with this,

941
00:43:50.138 --> 00:43:51.638
"where is there a treatment program,

942
00:43:51.638 --> 00:43:54.637
"here in Georgia for women?"

943
00:43:54.637 --> 00:43:57.134
And that's when it just
like, a light bulb went off,

944
00:43:57.134 --> 00:44:00.092
it's like, "Okay, we gotta
do something about this."

945
00:44:00.092 --> 00:44:02.849
and so, that's really were
Mary Hall Freedom House

946
00:44:02.849 --> 00:44:03.943
was birthed.

947
00:44:03.943 --> 00:44:06.862
When I first went and got an apartment

948
00:44:06.862 --> 00:44:08.402
to start Mary Hall Freedom House,

949
00:44:08.402 --> 00:44:10.405
I went to all of the treatment programs,

950
00:44:10.405 --> 00:44:14.499
Anchor Hospital, the CAB Addiction
Clinic, Charter Peachford

951
00:44:14.499 --> 00:44:17.174
and I remember June 1st 1996,

952
00:44:17.174 --> 00:44:18.755
Charter Peachford calling me up,

953
00:44:18.755 --> 00:44:20.268
the nurses name was Betty.

954
00:44:20.268 --> 00:44:22.457
I remember Betty as
though it was yesterday.

955
00:44:22.457 --> 00:44:24.038
Betty called me she said, "Hey Lucy,

956
00:44:24.038 --> 00:44:25.619
"do you got that program open yet?"

957
00:44:25.619 --> 00:44:26.632
I say, "Yes, ma'am."

958
00:44:26.632 --> 00:44:28.578
She's like, "Well, I've
got two ladies for you

959
00:44:28.578 --> 00:44:31.050
"that are ready for discharge.

960
00:44:31.050 --> 00:44:32.307
"Can you come get them?"

961
00:44:32.307 --> 00:44:33.523
I said, "Absolutely."

962
00:44:33.523 --> 00:44:35.780
And I remember going to
pick up Debbie and Donna.

963
00:44:35.780 --> 00:44:38.697
(excitement music)

964
00:44:40.198 --> 00:44:43.238
As I remember going over and
interviewing Debbie and Donna,

965
00:44:43.238 --> 00:44:46.602
like I knew what I was doing
and doing an intake assessment

966
00:44:46.602 --> 00:44:48.305
and asking them questions about, you know,

967
00:44:48.305 --> 00:44:49.804
your last day of use.

968
00:44:49.804 --> 00:44:52.480
And Donna was like, "About a week ago."

969
00:44:52.480 --> 00:44:54.668
Debbie said, "Five days ago."

970
00:44:54.668 --> 00:44:56.654
I asked, "What do you do for work?"

971
00:44:56.654 --> 00:44:59.532
Donna said, "I don't have a
job, I live with my parents."

972
00:44:59.532 --> 00:45:01.721
And Debbie was like, "I'm a nurse."

973
00:45:01.721 --> 00:45:03.140
Any children?

974
00:45:03.140 --> 00:45:05.815
Debbie was like, "I have a son."

975
00:45:05.815 --> 00:45:07.112
Donna was a twin,

976
00:45:07.112 --> 00:45:09.585
I remember Donna being
this beautiful blonde,

977
00:45:09.585 --> 00:45:12.381
who was a twin, whose
family was very concerned,

978
00:45:12.381 --> 00:45:16.516
about her getting out of
treatment and not coming home.

979
00:45:16.516 --> 00:45:18.705
And Debbie, Debbie had a son,

980
00:45:18.705 --> 00:45:22.190
who she said that she was a nurse.

981
00:45:22.190 --> 00:45:24.866
And that she had being drinking.

982
00:45:24.866 --> 00:45:27.687
So both of them had being
in Charter Peachford,

983
00:45:27.687 --> 00:45:29.105
a couple of times.

984
00:45:29.105 --> 00:45:31.416
And that's why nurse Betty called.

985
00:45:31.416 --> 00:45:34.577
They knew that these
people needed longer term.

986
00:45:34.577 --> 00:45:36.685
'Cause detox at the time
was three, four days

987
00:45:36.685 --> 00:45:38.387
and then you went back to the community

988
00:45:38.387 --> 00:45:40.252
or the place where you came from,

989
00:45:40.252 --> 00:45:42.319
which really wasn't conducive

990
00:45:42.319 --> 00:45:44.427
to continue the journey of recovery.

991
00:45:44.427 --> 00:45:47.507
So that's why the concept
of Mary Hall caught on,

992
00:45:47.507 --> 00:45:48.845
like wildfire.

993
00:45:48.845 --> 00:45:51.115
There was now someplace for people to go,

994
00:45:51.115 --> 00:45:54.520
beyond the three day detox,
or the 28 day program.

995
00:45:54.520 --> 00:45:56.100
There was now a halfway house,

996
00:45:56.100 --> 00:46:00.154
a long-term solution of
hope for these women.

997
00:46:00.154 --> 00:46:03.237
I remember, in 90 days from that day,

998
00:46:04.369 --> 00:46:07.126
we went from those two women, to 24 women.

999
00:46:07.126 --> 00:46:10.571
Today Mary Hall Freedom
House serves about 200 women

1000
00:46:10.571 --> 00:46:12.962
and 80 children on any given day,

1001
00:46:12.962 --> 00:46:14.827
in seven different types of programs.

1002
00:46:14.827 --> 00:46:17.380
Today, we just don't
serve and treat addiction,

1003
00:46:17.380 --> 00:46:22.163
we treat homelessness,
poverty and the ills of life.

1004
00:46:22.163 --> 00:46:24.555
Mental illness, domestic violence.

1005
00:46:24.555 --> 00:46:27.392
Whatever a sister's struggling with,

1006
00:46:27.392 --> 00:46:30.230
we have a spot for you at Mary Hall.

1007
00:46:30.230 --> 00:46:32.662
- [Narrator] As each woman
enters with different issues,

1008
00:46:32.662 --> 00:46:35.418
backgrounds and starting points,

1009
00:46:35.418 --> 00:46:38.579
the road to recovery is
an individual journey.

1010
00:46:38.579 --> 00:46:40.890
- So today, what we're gonna
do is develop our own ledger,

1011
00:46:40.890 --> 00:46:42.146
using our own money.

1012
00:46:42.146 --> 00:46:45.807
Before you to go get a gym
membership, and nails and wigs,

1013
00:46:45.807 --> 00:46:48.036
I need to make sure that
you can afford to live.

1014
00:46:48.036 --> 00:46:49.292
- [Narrator] So while
Patricia and Stephanie,

1015
00:46:49.292 --> 00:46:52.940
are in out-patient treatment
learning financial management,

1016
00:46:52.940 --> 00:46:54.805
Melissa is in the Work NOW Program,

1017
00:46:54.805 --> 00:46:56.588
training for a new career.

1018
00:46:56.588 --> 00:47:00.236
- I start my apprenticeship into the

1019
00:47:00.236 --> 00:47:03.316
Painters and Associate Trades in June.

1020
00:47:03.316 --> 00:47:05.099
- [Mom] Well, I'm glad
everything's happening,

1021
00:47:05.099 --> 00:47:06.721
in your way finally.

1022
00:47:06.721 --> 00:47:08.302
(chuckling)

1023
00:47:08.302 --> 00:47:10.802
- Took a minute, but I'm here.

1024
00:47:11.706 --> 00:47:15.152
Yeah, life's a whole lot better today.

1025
00:47:15.152 --> 00:47:17.735
- Yeah, sounds like it.
- Yeah.

1026
00:47:19.408 --> 00:47:21.597
- [Narrator] While this
training gives them hope,

1027
00:47:21.597 --> 00:47:24.474
it's only one part of recovery.

1028
00:47:24.474 --> 00:47:27.798
Over 46% of Americans have a family member

1029
00:47:27.798 --> 00:47:31.122
or close friend with a current
or past drug addiction.

1030
00:47:31.122 --> 00:47:33.716
So the work Lucy does with addicts,

1031
00:47:33.716 --> 00:47:36.026
benefits the entire village.

1032
00:47:36.026 --> 00:47:38.296
And the work she does to reunite mothers

1033
00:47:38.296 --> 00:47:42.795
and children will benefit
the village of our future.

1034
00:47:42.795 --> 00:47:45.552
- The young lady who
actually does my hair,

1035
00:47:45.552 --> 00:47:49.767
she came through here
with her mother in '96.

1036
00:47:49.767 --> 00:47:51.794
And she just had a baby, so.

1037
00:47:51.794 --> 00:47:53.739
And her and her husband
just bought a house.

1038
00:47:53.739 --> 00:47:55.888
So, that's the part that excites me.

1039
00:47:55.888 --> 00:47:58.847
Most people will say, Well, if
anything, you're getting old.

1040
00:47:58.847 --> 00:48:02.130
No, I'm seeing the
generational curses broken.

1041
00:48:02.130 --> 00:48:02.963
- Right.

1042
00:48:02.963 --> 00:48:04.481
- That excites me.

1043
00:48:04.481 --> 00:48:05.616
- [Narrator] Natasha is one of the women,

1044
00:48:05.616 --> 00:48:07.602
currently going through the process

1045
00:48:07.602 --> 00:48:09.426
of reuniting with her children.

1046
00:48:09.426 --> 00:48:11.574
She was recently awarded full custody

1047
00:48:11.574 --> 00:48:16.438
of her youngest daughter and
visitation with her eldest.

1048
00:48:16.438 --> 00:48:17.816
- Come on Tashi.

1049
00:48:17.816 --> 00:48:19.438
- No, you can open the whole thing.

1050
00:48:19.438 --> 00:48:20.654
- I wanna do it like this.

1051
00:48:20.654 --> 00:48:22.654
- You know what that is?

1052
00:48:23.896 --> 00:48:25.558
- We're making slime.

1053
00:48:25.558 --> 00:48:27.220
- Let me see something?
- No.

1054
00:48:27.220 --> 00:48:29.196
- You don't want her to see it?

1055
00:48:29.196 --> 00:48:31.071
My motivation are my kids,

1056
00:48:31.071 --> 00:48:32.570
very much so.

1057
00:48:32.570 --> 00:48:34.070
Yes, I love my kids dearly.

1058
00:48:34.070 --> 00:48:39.070
And I've did a whole lot of
harm to them from the drug use.

1059
00:48:39.096 --> 00:48:42.947
You know, it's being a burden
on me for a minute now,

1060
00:48:42.947 --> 00:48:46.271
but you know, if I had to
stay clean to deal with it.

1061
00:48:46.271 --> 00:48:48.135
(laughing)

1062
00:48:48.135 --> 00:48:49.270
Let momma help you.

1063
00:48:49.270 --> 00:48:52.067
This is Tashianna, she's two years old.

1064
00:48:52.067 --> 00:48:54.256
Say hi Tashianna.

1065
00:48:54.256 --> 00:48:55.089
Say hi.

1066
00:48:56.161 --> 00:48:59.465
This is Talia, she's 11 years old.

1067
00:48:59.465 --> 00:49:02.119
As at this point, we're
still working on it.

1068
00:49:02.119 --> 00:49:04.511
The worker came by
yesterday, she's spoke to me,

1069
00:49:04.511 --> 00:49:07.024
so we going back to court on July,

1070
00:49:07.024 --> 00:49:09.172
my DFCS case is gonna be closed down.

1071
00:49:09.172 --> 00:49:10.996
It's a wonderful feeling.

1072
00:49:10.996 --> 00:49:12.779
'Cause I love my kids, I'm so happy

1073
00:49:12.779 --> 00:49:16.103
to have them back in my
life, clean and sober.

1074
00:49:16.103 --> 00:49:20.157
We're able to sit down and
have good fun family time.

1075
00:49:20.157 --> 00:49:21.981
It was a journey, I just had to come here

1076
00:49:21.981 --> 00:49:23.886
and do what I needed to do, in order

1077
00:49:23.886 --> 00:49:25.791
to be a good mother for them,

1078
00:49:25.791 --> 00:49:28.385
'cause I wasn't gonna be able to,

1079
00:49:28.385 --> 00:49:29.885
I was gonna loose custody of my kids,

1080
00:49:29.885 --> 00:49:31.344
if I wouldn't have came.

1081
00:49:31.344 --> 00:49:34.505
- Gone make a ball.
- Yeah, these my babies.

1082
00:49:34.505 --> 00:49:38.315
Now working on, my goal
is to save me some money

1083
00:49:38.315 --> 00:49:40.829
and in two years, maybe
to buy my own house.

1084
00:49:40.829 --> 00:49:42.233
So I can let the next lady,

1085
00:49:42.233 --> 00:49:46.813
who lives with mothers and
children have this apartment.

1086
00:49:46.813 --> 00:49:49.063
(laughing)

1087
00:49:51.069 --> 00:49:54.069
- [Narrator] The next mother
may very well be Jessica.

1088
00:49:54.069 --> 00:49:56.095
Who is anxious to get her kids back.

1089
00:49:56.095 --> 00:50:00.554
(apprehensive music)
- So how long has it being,

1090
00:50:00.554 --> 00:50:02.297
since you being away from your babies?

1091
00:50:02.297 --> 00:50:05.742
- Well, they be in custody for two years.

1092
00:50:05.742 --> 00:50:06.918
How long did the process take,

1093
00:50:06.918 --> 00:50:08.580
I mean was your baby big in life,

1094
00:50:08.580 --> 00:50:10.404
what you had to do to do through.

1095
00:50:10.404 --> 00:50:12.836
- The process is several months.

1096
00:50:12.836 --> 00:50:14.984
You start with some transport

1097
00:50:14.984 --> 00:50:16.524
and then it gets uncivilized

1098
00:50:16.524 --> 00:50:18.875
and then transition to be with you.

1099
00:50:18.875 --> 00:50:20.578
So, just trust the process.

1100
00:50:20.578 --> 00:50:21.411
- Okay.

1101
00:50:21.411 --> 00:50:23.212
- You'll get your kids
back, just keep coming,

1102
00:50:23.212 --> 00:50:25.685
showing up and showing out,
you'll get your kids back.

1103
00:50:25.685 --> 00:50:29.073
- Yeah I'm nervous 'cause I
go to court on the 11th so.

1104
00:50:29.073 --> 00:50:30.168
I'm just hoping that they,

1105
00:50:30.168 --> 00:50:33.045
at least I get unsupervised visits,

1106
00:50:33.045 --> 00:50:37.562
then it progressed until
me get my baby back.

1107
00:50:37.562 --> 00:50:38.639
- Just be patient.

1108
00:50:38.639 --> 00:50:39.693
- All right, I am.

1109
00:50:39.693 --> 00:50:41.639
- 'Cause it seem like it takes forever,

1110
00:50:41.639 --> 00:50:43.868
but really, it doesn't.

1111
00:50:43.868 --> 00:50:46.786
Just because we wanna
be with our kids 24/7

1112
00:50:46.786 --> 00:50:48.953
but you be patient.
- Yeah.

1113
00:50:51.465 --> 00:50:55.390
- So even though we hold
graduation every June,

1114
00:50:55.390 --> 00:50:58.633
it takes a lot to be successful
and to cross that stage.

1115
00:50:58.633 --> 00:51:00.498
And for every person it's individual,

1116
00:51:00.498 --> 00:51:02.484
it's their plan of how they're going

1117
00:51:02.484 --> 00:51:04.754
to improve the quality of their life.

1118
00:51:04.754 --> 00:51:07.429
For Jessica, she's still
searching for what that is.

1119
00:51:07.429 --> 00:51:10.347
For Shyanna, things are
becoming more clear.

1120
00:51:10.347 --> 00:51:12.941
(thoughtful music)

1121
00:51:12.941 --> 00:51:15.373
- Well the mothers with
children who always be like,

1122
00:51:15.373 --> 00:51:18.130
"I wanna go back to school,
I wanna go back to school."

1123
00:51:18.130 --> 00:51:20.683
Y'all, we can do this,

1124
00:51:20.683 --> 00:51:24.210
it's just a matter of actually doing it.

1125
00:51:24.210 --> 00:51:26.155
Like you've got to put footwork in.

1126
00:51:26.155 --> 00:51:28.182
Like I said, I've wanted
to go back to school

1127
00:51:28.182 --> 00:51:30.249
and I'm doing it now, you know.

1128
00:51:30.249 --> 00:51:33.816
Like, I'm seeing these short-term goals

1129
00:51:33.816 --> 00:51:36.978
that I had planned for myself
and I'm finally doing it.

1130
00:51:36.978 --> 00:51:38.032
Like I'm checking them off my checklist.

1131
00:51:38.032 --> 00:51:39.977
Like, um, check, you know.

1132
00:51:39.977 --> 00:51:42.044
So, I'm happy about that.

1133
00:51:42.044 --> 00:51:45.165
Before coming here, I wouldn't
have being able to see that.

1134
00:51:45.165 --> 00:51:48.043
Like I always kept saying, "Oh,
I wanna go back to school."

1135
00:51:48.043 --> 00:51:50.678
it was just a pipe-dream.

1136
00:51:50.678 --> 00:51:54.285
I tried really hard to do everything

1137
00:51:54.285 --> 00:51:57.771
that I'm doing right now
and it wasn't just talk,

1138
00:51:57.771 --> 00:51:58.906
it was action.

1139
00:51:58.906 --> 00:52:00.001
I feel really good.

1140
00:52:00.001 --> 00:52:01.054
(laughing)

1141
00:52:01.054 --> 00:52:02.797
I feel really good about that.

1142
00:52:02.797 --> 00:52:03.630
So, yeah.

1143
00:52:04.865 --> 00:52:07.698
(uplifting music)

1144
00:52:10.553 --> 00:52:15.011
- It has become several
years before you hit a bottom

1145
00:52:15.011 --> 00:52:18.092
and therefore you need
a long-term solution.

1146
00:52:18.092 --> 00:52:20.727
And that's really what Mary
Hall Freedom House became.

1147
00:52:20.727 --> 00:52:22.632
Addiction is not a common cold.

1148
00:52:22.632 --> 00:52:25.510
It's not even the hives,
that will go away.

1149
00:52:25.510 --> 00:52:28.427
It is like a cancer, like diabetes,

1150
00:52:29.766 --> 00:52:32.349
it has to be treated over time.

1151
00:52:33.657 --> 00:52:34.913
- [Narrator] I started to wonder,

1152
00:52:34.913 --> 00:52:37.264
where are the ribbons,
parades and T-shirts

1153
00:52:37.264 --> 00:52:41.520
that celebrate recovery, like
we see for cancer or AIDS.

1154
00:52:41.520 --> 00:52:42.979
In our search for answers,

1155
00:52:42.979 --> 00:52:46.830
Lucy paid a visit to her
friend, Neil Campbell,

1156
00:52:46.830 --> 00:52:49.830
Executive Director of the Georgia Council

1157
00:52:49.830 --> 00:52:51.413
on Substance Abuse.

1158
00:52:52.383 --> 00:52:54.167
- I'm ready.
- Lucy.

1159
00:52:54.167 --> 00:52:55.383
(laughing)

1160
00:52:55.383 --> 00:52:57.612
Hi, welcome.
- Love you bunch.

1161
00:52:57.612 --> 00:52:58.445
- It's always good to see you.

1162
00:52:58.445 --> 00:52:59.395
I love you too.
- Always,

1163
00:52:59.395 --> 00:53:00.228
always good to see you.

1164
00:53:00.228 --> 00:53:02.679
I mean, you and I always talk
about living it out loud.

1165
00:53:02.679 --> 00:53:05.313
And I think God, we're not
anonymous people anymore,

1166
00:53:05.313 --> 00:53:08.656
we've got to make sure
recovery is lived out loud.

1167
00:53:08.656 --> 00:53:09.953
But I want you to tell me a little bit,

1168
00:53:09.953 --> 00:53:13.155
about your thoughts in terms
of what's the solution today.

1169
00:53:13.155 --> 00:53:14.979
- Oh goodness, I think a huge part

1170
00:53:14.979 --> 00:53:16.722
of it is given voice to recovery.

1171
00:53:16.722 --> 00:53:18.262
I think we've being anonymous too long.

1172
00:53:18.262 --> 00:53:19.154
- Yeah.

1173
00:53:19.154 --> 00:53:21.626
- There's 23, 24 million
people in this country

1174
00:53:21.626 --> 00:53:24.545
that are in recovery and
we don't ever hear that.

1175
00:53:24.545 --> 00:53:25.680
All we see is the problem.

1176
00:53:25.680 --> 00:53:27.625
So I think, you know, one of the things

1177
00:53:27.625 --> 00:53:29.328
that we try to do or change,

1178
00:53:29.328 --> 00:53:31.192
in the social norms around addiction.

1179
00:53:31.192 --> 00:53:32.246
So when people think of addiction,

1180
00:53:32.246 --> 00:53:34.637
they don't think of someone
living under a bridge,

1181
00:53:34.637 --> 00:53:35.732
they think of us.

1182
00:53:35.732 --> 00:53:37.677
- You and I got 30 years of recovery.

1183
00:53:37.677 --> 00:53:40.018
(chuckling)

1184
00:53:40.018 --> 00:53:42.164
I wanna tell the world--
- 16 years of recovery.

1185
00:53:42.164 --> 00:53:43.258
- Yeah.
- 'Cause they knew us,

1186
00:53:43.258 --> 00:53:44.091
when we were out there,

1187
00:53:44.091 --> 00:53:45.123
why shouldn't they know us in recovery,

1188
00:53:45.123 --> 00:53:46.258
we wanna hide that up.

1189
00:53:46.258 --> 00:53:49.217
- Yeah, so we've got to
let other people know,

1190
00:53:49.217 --> 00:53:52.460
especially these 16, 'cause
I started using in my teens.

1191
00:53:52.460 --> 00:53:53.293
- Yeah, me too.

1192
00:53:53.293 --> 00:53:56.351
- Because nobody ever
told me anything about it.

1193
00:53:56.351 --> 00:53:57.405
- Yeah, we go into high schools

1194
00:53:57.405 --> 00:53:58.702
and we have conversations with them

1195
00:53:58.702 --> 00:54:00.647
and the only commitment we ask from them

1196
00:54:00.647 --> 00:54:02.958
is that they talk to us honestly about it.

1197
00:54:02.958 --> 00:54:04.174
- Exactly.
- About their use

1198
00:54:04.174 --> 00:54:05.106
and why they're using.

1199
00:54:05.106 --> 00:54:07.619
And so we hear things
like, "My depression,

1200
00:54:07.619 --> 00:54:10.700
"my anxiety, or I can't
go into a social situation

1201
00:54:10.700 --> 00:54:13.740
"without taking a little
bump, 'cause I'm so insecure."

1202
00:54:13.740 --> 00:54:14.573
- Absolutely.
- I mean,

1203
00:54:14.573 --> 00:54:15.406
kids are using for a reason.

1204
00:54:15.406 --> 00:54:17.347
And like you said, they start younger,

1205
00:54:17.347 --> 00:54:20.954
the availability, if we look
at how available opiates are,

1206
00:54:20.954 --> 00:54:22.008
these days.

1207
00:54:22.008 --> 00:54:23.265
Washington Post has an article,

1208
00:54:23.265 --> 00:54:24.521
where you can actually see,

1209
00:54:24.521 --> 00:54:26.629
where the pills have being distributed,

1210
00:54:26.629 --> 00:54:27.642
in the country.
- That's scary.

1211
00:54:27.642 --> 00:54:30.115
- 76 Billion is a six year period.

1212
00:54:30.115 --> 00:54:32.263
And we sit around here

1213
00:54:32.263 --> 00:54:34.493
and wonder why we're
not seeing a more sense

1214
00:54:34.493 --> 00:54:36.276
of urgency in this State.

1215
00:54:36.276 --> 00:54:38.680
Between three and four
people per day are dying of

1216
00:54:38.680 --> 00:54:40.666
opium overdose.

1217
00:54:40.666 --> 00:54:43.342
If it was any other illness--
- Right.

1218
00:54:43.342 --> 00:54:44.760
- If it was Ebola.
- Right.

1219
00:54:44.760 --> 00:54:46.852
- If it was West Nile,

1220
00:54:46.852 --> 00:54:48.805
if we had three or four
people die in a day,

1221
00:54:48.805 --> 00:54:50.589
everybody would be laser-focused.

1222
00:54:50.589 --> 00:54:51.422
- Absolutely.

1223
00:54:51.422 --> 00:54:52.859
- Because it's us, because it's people,

1224
00:54:52.859 --> 00:54:55.858
who were using substances and
may have a mental illness,

1225
00:54:55.858 --> 00:54:57.236
we don't talk about it as much.

1226
00:54:57.236 --> 00:54:59.101
Sometimes I just wanna
grab some policy-makers

1227
00:54:59.101 --> 00:55:00.803
by the lapel and say,
"What are you doing?"

1228
00:55:00.803 --> 00:55:01.636
- Right.

1229
00:55:01.636 --> 00:55:02.546
- You know, we know we can
do this, we can fight this,

1230
00:55:02.546 --> 00:55:04.411
we just gotta fight it harder.

1231
00:55:04.411 --> 00:55:05.992
- And what scares me a lot of times,

1232
00:55:05.992 --> 00:55:07.613
is it's getting younger.

1233
00:55:07.613 --> 00:55:10.248
Meaning these young people are given,

1234
00:55:10.248 --> 00:55:12.311
prescription drugs to treat something

1235
00:55:12.311 --> 00:55:13.608
and then they get hooked on it

1236
00:55:13.608 --> 00:55:15.594
and so now all of a
sudden I have this pill

1237
00:55:15.594 --> 00:55:18.472
that's making me feel better
and not deal with my anxiety

1238
00:55:18.472 --> 00:55:21.107
or not deal with my
bipolar, and not deal with,

1239
00:55:21.107 --> 00:55:23.214
and it escalates and I
want more, and I want more

1240
00:55:23.214 --> 00:55:25.484
and I want more and the next
thing you know, they're dead.

1241
00:55:25.484 --> 00:55:27.470
And nobody sees that.

1242
00:55:27.470 --> 00:55:28.686
We can talk about both,

1243
00:55:28.686 --> 00:55:30.916
we can't keep talking
about addiction over here

1244
00:55:30.916 --> 00:55:32.456
and mental illness over here.

1245
00:55:32.456 --> 00:55:34.848
We've got to talk about it all in one.

1246
00:55:34.848 --> 00:55:36.185
- We have this expectation of people,

1247
00:55:36.185 --> 00:55:39.590
who are coming back from
a substance use disorder,

1248
00:55:39.590 --> 00:55:42.346
from a mental illness that
suddenly it's gonna be okay.

1249
00:55:42.346 --> 00:55:45.427
Well, so many times
they end up incarcerated

1250
00:55:45.427 --> 00:55:48.629
or we end up in
institutionalized in some of way

1251
00:55:48.629 --> 00:55:49.804
and then we come back to our communities

1252
00:55:49.804 --> 00:55:51.020
and everybody's afraid of us.

1253
00:55:51.020 --> 00:55:54.260
Those communities have a role to make,

1254
00:55:54.260 --> 00:55:56.483
to be more recovery-friendly.

1255
00:55:56.483 --> 00:55:58.753
For every dollar you spend on treatment

1256
00:55:58.753 --> 00:55:59.767
and recovery services,

1257
00:55:59.767 --> 00:56:02.523
you save $7 in criminal justice costs.

1258
00:56:02.523 --> 00:56:04.752
That's amazing, that's
a return on investment.

1259
00:56:04.752 --> 00:56:05.585
- Absolutely.

1260
00:56:05.585 --> 00:56:06.418
- We need to be doing more of that.

1261
00:56:06.418 --> 00:56:08.035
If I come out of prison
and I have a felony

1262
00:56:08.035 --> 00:56:10.508
and I can't find a job, you know,

1263
00:56:10.508 --> 00:56:12.251
what am I supposed to do.
- How am I gonna survive.

1264
00:56:12.251 --> 00:56:13.670
- Or if I have a drug felony,

1265
00:56:13.670 --> 00:56:15.413
I can't live in certain situation,

1266
00:56:15.413 --> 00:56:17.115
I'm banished from certain places.

1267
00:56:17.115 --> 00:56:19.304
It's like, if the community
and the place where you grew up

1268
00:56:19.304 --> 00:56:20.763
and the place where your family lives,

1269
00:56:20.763 --> 00:56:23.722
isn't gonna be about redemption, who is?

1270
00:56:23.722 --> 00:56:25.424
- [Narrator] Since the last 1800s,

1271
00:56:25.424 --> 00:56:26.640
there have being many theories

1272
00:56:26.640 --> 00:56:29.414
and scientific experiments searching

1273
00:56:29.414 --> 00:56:31.042
for a way to cure addiction.

1274
00:56:31.042 --> 00:56:33.625
(upbeat music)

1275
00:56:34.568 --> 00:56:36.717
Experiments done in the 1930s,

1276
00:56:36.717 --> 00:56:39.671
were scientists placed
rats into isolated cages

1277
00:56:39.671 --> 00:56:43.481
to see if they would choose
clean water, or drug water.

1278
00:56:43.481 --> 00:56:46.116
Later, they did research
on addictive Vets,

1279
00:56:46.116 --> 00:56:47.294
returning from war.

1280
00:56:47.294 --> 00:56:50.372
Would they continue to use or not.

1281
00:56:50.372 --> 00:56:53.331
And then there were new
experiments in the 1970s.

1282
00:56:53.331 --> 00:56:56.614
This time the rats were placed
in large relaxing enclosures,

1283
00:56:56.614 --> 00:56:59.249
basically rat-paradise.

1284
00:56:59.249 --> 00:57:02.816
In this environment, they
mostly chose the clean water.

1285
00:57:02.816 --> 00:57:05.994
Although some of these
controversial experiments,

1286
00:57:05.994 --> 00:57:08.506
gave insight to the addictive mind,

1287
00:57:08.506 --> 00:57:10.923
they was still no magic-pill.

1288
00:57:11.790 --> 00:57:14.060
Eventually, Federal Drug Policy,

1289
00:57:14.060 --> 00:57:16.492
became concentrated on narcotics control,

1290
00:57:16.492 --> 00:57:18.492
through law enforcement.

1291
00:57:20.261 --> 00:57:24.819
And prevention, or treatment
were de-emphasized.

1292
00:57:24.819 --> 00:57:28.507
- You shouldn't have to
get arrested to get well.

1293
00:57:28.507 --> 00:57:30.615
So one of our major missions is to show

1294
00:57:30.615 --> 00:57:34.709
that regardless of socio-economic status,

1295
00:57:34.709 --> 00:57:37.627
regardless of race, gender
any of those factors,

1296
00:57:37.627 --> 00:57:38.559
don't make a difference.

1297
00:57:38.559 --> 00:57:41.478
Everybody is vulnerable to addiction.

1298
00:57:41.478 --> 00:57:44.234
You know, this country makes up about 6%

1299
00:57:44.234 --> 00:57:47.801
of the worlds population
and yet we use about 75%

1300
00:57:47.801 --> 00:57:50.395
of the legal prescription drugs.

1301
00:57:50.395 --> 00:57:51.854
That's crazy.

1302
00:57:51.854 --> 00:57:55.300
Just having sickness, we think
you can cure it with a pill.

1303
00:57:55.300 --> 00:57:58.948
We have to stop being ashamed of ourselves

1304
00:57:58.948 --> 00:58:00.407
and ashamed of the road we've taken

1305
00:58:00.407 --> 00:58:02.960
but be proud of the fact
that we've gotten better.

1306
00:58:02.960 --> 00:58:05.433
Because that shows that other
people can get better too.

1307
00:58:05.433 --> 00:58:07.581
We believe that through
telling our stories,

1308
00:58:07.581 --> 00:58:10.297
other people know that
recovery is possible.

1309
00:58:10.297 --> 00:58:13.053
- [Narrator] I'm no scientist,
nor an agent of the law,

1310
00:58:13.053 --> 00:58:15.323
but I do believe what
everyone being trying

1311
00:58:15.323 --> 00:58:19.222
to figure out exists in
the village Lucy built.

1312
00:58:19.222 --> 00:58:22.722
(thought-provoking music)

1313
00:58:25.335 --> 00:58:28.821
A village with pathways to
recovery, instead of punishment.

1314
00:58:28.821 --> 00:58:31.577
A village where families
go hard on the problem

1315
00:58:31.577 --> 00:58:33.401
and not the people they love.

1316
00:58:33.401 --> 00:58:35.631
A village where addicts and their allies,

1317
00:58:35.631 --> 00:58:37.464
work together to heal.

1318
00:58:39.400 --> 00:58:40.733
A Hope Village.

1319
00:58:44.467 --> 00:58:47.548
Where mothers are reunited
with their children.

1320
00:58:47.548 --> 00:58:50.215
(hip hop music)

1321
00:58:55.289 --> 00:58:58.411
- This is my first
born, her names Arianna.

1322
00:58:58.411 --> 00:59:00.113
She's 11 years old.

1323
00:59:00.113 --> 00:59:02.748
And she's going to to the 6th grade.

1324
00:59:02.748 --> 00:59:05.463
This is Taylor and Tyler.

1325
00:59:05.463 --> 00:59:07.976
Taylor is the first born, they're twins.

1326
00:59:07.976 --> 00:59:11.893
And Taylor is four years
old and Tyler is four.

1327
00:59:14.178 --> 00:59:16.095
- You playing, come on.

1328
00:59:17.177 --> 00:59:21.507
- Come up on the swing.
- No, it's baby one.

1329
00:59:21.507 --> 00:59:23.174
- It's a baby swing.

1330
00:59:24.425 --> 00:59:26.758
- Not too high, not too hig.

1331
00:59:28.438 --> 00:59:32.370
- Well Arianna, I loves
seeing you every week.

1332
00:59:32.370 --> 00:59:34.559
I can't wait til we get back together

1333
00:59:34.559 --> 00:59:36.005
and just be a family.

1334
00:59:36.005 --> 00:59:38.235
It's just, I'll be there for
you, like with everything,

1335
00:59:38.235 --> 00:59:39.937
I'll help you with your homework,

1336
00:59:39.937 --> 00:59:42.855
make sure you get up on time for school.

1337
00:59:42.855 --> 00:59:44.436
You know, and everything.

1338
00:59:44.436 --> 00:59:45.901
'Cause being there for y'all,

1339
00:59:45.901 --> 00:59:48.495
I can't wait for your graduation.

1340
00:59:48.495 --> 00:59:51.414
I'm doing your hair today,
you're gonna look pretty.

1341
00:59:51.414 --> 00:59:53.846
- You going to the graduation?
- Hi, you graduating soon?

1342
00:59:53.846 --> 00:59:55.710
This my problem child.
- No.

1343
00:59:55.710 --> 00:59:57.453
- Yes, you is.

1344
00:59:57.453 --> 01:00:00.782
You give me a hard time, all the time.

1345
01:00:00.782 --> 01:00:02.809
I love seeing them in time,
like spending time with them,

1346
01:00:02.809 --> 01:00:05.281
at the time I actually lost
like actually being a mother

1347
01:00:05.281 --> 01:00:07.470
and just being active in their life.

1348
01:00:07.470 --> 01:00:10.145
To be able to take them to places

1349
01:00:10.145 --> 01:00:12.807
and do things that I being
wanting to do with them.

1350
01:00:12.807 --> 01:00:15.536
So, all of that is coming together now.

1351
01:00:15.536 --> 01:00:17.685
I'm just waiting to get my place

1352
01:00:17.685 --> 01:00:19.103
and just have them there with me

1353
01:00:19.103 --> 01:00:21.008
and just be a good mother to them,

1354
01:00:21.008 --> 01:00:24.008
like I should have in the beginning.

1355
01:00:24.981 --> 01:00:26.156
(laughing)

1356
01:00:26.156 --> 01:00:27.940
- [Narrator] As Jessica
finally gets to visit,

1357
01:00:27.940 --> 01:00:30.980
she's being waiting for with her kids,

1358
01:00:30.980 --> 01:00:33.719
the rest of the women at Mary
Hall Freedom House prepare

1359
01:00:33.719 --> 01:00:36.759
to celebrate their upcoming graduation.

1360
01:00:36.759 --> 01:00:39.110
- When I first start working here,

1361
01:00:39.110 --> 01:00:42.377
I seen a couple of ladies that come in

1362
01:00:42.377 --> 01:00:43.634
and I'm like, scratching my head,

1363
01:00:43.634 --> 01:00:45.174
going like, "Wow, why she here,

1364
01:00:45.174 --> 01:00:47.201
"there isn't nothing left to do."

1365
01:00:47.201 --> 01:00:49.511
'Cause of my understanding,
I used to think

1366
01:00:49.511 --> 01:00:52.632
that there was a living and
life God in others intend

1367
01:00:52.632 --> 01:00:53.882
for us to fall.

1368
01:00:55.348 --> 01:00:57.010
And when you fall down,
you're just through,

1369
01:00:57.010 --> 01:00:58.550
you're just finished.

1370
01:00:58.550 --> 01:01:00.415
But I seen people came in here

1371
01:01:00.415 --> 01:01:03.779
that went beyond that level
that I used to believe.

1372
01:01:03.779 --> 01:01:08.156
And lasted six months, I
mean you look at them again,

1373
01:01:08.156 --> 01:01:10.386
they look like movie stars.

1374
01:01:10.386 --> 01:01:14.723
They actually get their kids
back, get their husbands back,

1375
01:01:14.723 --> 01:01:18.817
they get hope, become
first-time homeowners.

1376
01:01:18.817 --> 01:01:21.451
Become business owners
and I'm like, "Wow."

1377
01:01:21.451 --> 01:01:23.559
And if I seen this, I was like,

1378
01:01:23.559 --> 01:01:25.910
"There's no place for a person who fall

1379
01:01:25.910 --> 01:01:27.410
"that God cannot reach."

1380
01:01:27.410 --> 01:01:29.993
(upbeat music)

1381
01:01:32.841 --> 01:01:34.584
- We're excited to be out here today,

1382
01:01:34.584 --> 01:01:36.976
simply because it is the
time of year where we get

1383
01:01:36.976 --> 01:01:39.975
to celebrate the success
of transformation of life.

1384
01:01:39.975 --> 01:01:42.529
These women have turned their lives around

1385
01:01:42.529 --> 01:01:45.771
and we have a cook-out,
then we do graduation

1386
01:01:45.771 --> 01:01:50.604
and we just ask them and their
families to come celebrate.

1387
01:01:57.323 --> 01:01:58.539
You know, the most important thing

1388
01:01:58.539 --> 01:02:02.633
is learning how to have life
sober, how to do life sober.

1389
01:02:02.633 --> 01:02:04.133
And know that you can have a good time

1390
01:02:04.133 --> 01:02:05.430
without being high.

1391
01:02:05.430 --> 01:02:07.497
We're gonna get our dance on a little bit.

1392
01:02:07.497 --> 01:02:08.875
You know all that good stuff.

1393
01:02:08.875 --> 01:02:10.699
And just have a great time.

1394
01:02:10.699 --> 01:02:13.415
♪ This is your call, this is your start ♪

1395
01:02:13.415 --> 01:02:16.577
♪ This is your time ♪

1396
01:02:16.577 --> 01:02:17.671
♪ It's gonna be ♪

1397
01:02:17.671 --> 01:02:20.421
(crowd cheering)

1398
01:02:22.616 --> 01:02:25.656
♪ This is your day, this is your night ♪

1399
01:02:25.656 --> 01:02:28.696
♪ This is your life ♪

1400
01:02:28.696 --> 01:02:31.655
♪ It's gonna be messy ♪

1401
01:02:31.655 --> 01:02:35.181
♪ It's gonna be messy ♪

1402
01:02:35.181 --> 01:02:38.303
- Wednesday's we all got
to all sing in the choir.

1403
01:02:38.303 --> 01:02:40.086
- Yeah.
- I can't--

1404
01:02:40.086 --> 01:02:40.919
(laughing)

1405
01:02:40.919 --> 01:02:41.752
- Where you there, I was there,

1406
01:02:41.752 --> 01:02:43.856
I was at practice
yesterday, it was real deep.

1407
01:02:43.856 --> 01:02:44.747
- Really?

1408
01:02:44.747 --> 01:02:46.896
- Yeah, I felt like the
ladies were getting emotional,

1409
01:02:46.896 --> 01:02:48.274
just practicing the song.

1410
01:02:48.274 --> 01:02:49.733
- Really?
- Yeah.

1411
01:02:49.733 --> 01:02:53.381
You go to the Zone, like any
of those sober fun places?

1412
01:02:53.381 --> 01:02:54.435
- Huh-um.

1413
01:02:54.435 --> 01:02:57.069
- Why not, that's a nice
place you can drive to.

1414
01:02:57.069 --> 01:02:58.893
- Where, I aint heard about this now.

1415
01:02:58.893 --> 01:03:01.163
- You never heard of the Zone?
- Huh-huh.

1416
01:03:01.163 --> 01:03:04.163
- I wanna say it's like
a recreational center

1417
01:03:04.163 --> 01:03:05.338
for people in recovery.

1418
01:03:05.338 --> 01:03:08.176
So they have like, parties
there, like events there.

1419
01:03:08.176 --> 01:03:09.797
They have a lot of stuff
there, you should try.

1420
01:03:09.797 --> 01:03:10.964
- Okay.
- Yeah.

1421
01:03:12.391 --> 01:03:16.039
- Now the solution is creating
a community of recovery.

1422
01:03:16.039 --> 01:03:18.431
You know and so, right now a big push

1423
01:03:18.431 --> 01:03:21.146
is creating recovery communities of care,

1424
01:03:21.146 --> 01:03:24.524
which is people needing the
supports of other people,

1425
01:03:24.524 --> 01:03:25.832
who are doing likely.

1426
01:03:25.832 --> 01:03:27.331
And that's what Mary
Hall Freedom House is,

1427
01:03:27.331 --> 01:03:30.371
a community of recovery, it's
a community of sisterhood.

1428
01:03:30.371 --> 01:03:32.844
You know, one sister
showing another sister,

1429
01:03:32.844 --> 01:03:35.843
I can do this a day at a time.

1430
01:03:35.843 --> 01:03:38.113
- [Narrator] Some of the most
important community members

1431
01:03:38.113 --> 01:03:41.842
has support an addict in
recovery are their family members

1432
01:03:41.842 --> 01:03:45.166
and once a month, Lucy
invites the families

1433
01:03:45.166 --> 01:03:47.517
to come learn how they can become an ally

1434
01:03:47.517 --> 01:03:49.827
and support their loved ones in recovery.

1435
01:03:49.827 --> 01:03:50.719
(heartfelt music)

1436
01:03:50.719 --> 01:03:53.516
- We think the gateway
drugs alcohol and marijuana

1437
01:03:53.516 --> 01:03:57.205
because they're legal, they're all right.

1438
01:03:57.205 --> 01:03:58.704
But if you drink to go to sleep

1439
01:03:58.704 --> 01:04:00.893
and you don't even remember
when you passed out,

1440
01:04:00.893 --> 01:04:02.231
let's have a conversation.

1441
01:04:02.231 --> 01:04:04.338
'cause there's a fine line out there

1442
01:04:04.338 --> 01:04:06.973
that most people don't
even know they've crossed.

1443
01:04:06.973 --> 01:04:08.513
I always tell the women, my story.

1444
01:04:08.513 --> 01:04:10.905
I used to smoke crack in the bathroom.

1445
01:04:10.905 --> 01:04:14.147
And so when I stopped
getting high and today,

1446
01:04:14.147 --> 01:04:17.147
if you go to my house, what's
in my bathroom is my bible.

1447
01:04:17.147 --> 01:04:19.660
Because I had to put
something in that place

1448
01:04:19.660 --> 01:04:23.186
that was greater than was what
was used to be in that place.

1449
01:04:23.186 --> 01:04:25.091
And so 29 years later,

1450
01:04:25.091 --> 01:04:28.496
I didn't stop doing what
I've done to recover.

1451
01:04:28.496 --> 01:04:30.118
And that's what happens a lot of times,

1452
01:04:30.118 --> 01:04:34.293
people stop doing what
got them to this place.

1453
01:04:34.293 --> 01:04:35.427
Right Amanda?

1454
01:04:35.427 --> 01:04:37.251
Amanda, you said you out there 10 years.

1455
01:04:37.251 --> 01:04:38.143
- Yeah.

1456
01:04:38.143 --> 01:04:39.509
- [Lucy] So, being out there 10 years

1457
01:04:39.509 --> 01:04:41.305
and now in recovery how long?

1458
01:04:41.305 --> 01:04:42.521
- Six months.

1459
01:04:42.521 --> 01:04:43.980
- [Lucy] You think six
months in the bucket,

1460
01:04:43.980 --> 01:04:45.763
is gonna make me all better?

1461
01:04:45.763 --> 01:04:47.429
- Oh no.
- [Lucy] Mom said, "Oh, no."

1462
01:04:47.429 --> 01:04:49.207
Mom's over here going um-um.

1463
01:04:49.207 --> 01:04:50.788
- I've learned so much

1464
01:04:50.788 --> 01:04:53.706
and I've learned how
poorly we do handle it

1465
01:04:53.706 --> 01:04:57.881
as an issue in the
community and in treatment.

1466
01:04:57.881 --> 01:04:59.948
And what really has being lacking

1467
01:04:59.948 --> 01:05:04.365
is what you provide here,
is one, the length of time.

1468
01:05:06.190 --> 01:05:10.325
So, I think that, as all
of us that are in recovery

1469
01:05:10.325 --> 01:05:13.811
with our addicts and recovery,
that's part of the advocacy

1470
01:05:13.811 --> 01:05:17.297
is helping to change the healthcare system

1471
01:05:17.297 --> 01:05:19.972
to provide better services.

1472
01:05:19.972 --> 01:05:22.404
Because there's just
not enough Mary Hall's.

1473
01:05:22.404 --> 01:05:25.201
- And you know something, mom,
that is my prayer, my dream.

1474
01:05:25.201 --> 01:05:28.038
I always say and I've
told different people,

1475
01:05:28.038 --> 01:05:30.229
if I can put a Hope Village in every town,

1476
01:05:30.229 --> 01:05:32.578
we'd be in business, 'cause everybody,

1477
01:05:32.578 --> 01:05:34.402
and that's what we are here, hope dealers.

1478
01:05:34.402 --> 01:05:37.888
We push hope to the lost, we
push hope to the community.

1479
01:05:37.888 --> 01:05:40.360
And sometimes in helping others,

1480
01:05:40.360 --> 01:05:43.603
you not only help yourself but
you do help your loved ones.

1481
01:05:43.603 --> 01:05:46.562
- So what we see always
is, not in my backyard,

1482
01:05:46.562 --> 01:05:49.034
we love what you do and
I don't wanna do it here.

1483
01:05:49.034 --> 01:05:51.264
It's great that you do
it, wonderful, bless you,

1484
01:05:51.264 --> 01:05:53.006
all that other stuff.

1485
01:05:53.006 --> 01:05:55.641
So from my perspective
as a community advocate,

1486
01:05:55.641 --> 01:05:56.776
that's what I wanna show.

1487
01:05:56.776 --> 01:05:58.114
I wanna show, look around this room,

1488
01:05:58.114 --> 01:06:00.140
their your neighbors,
their your daughters,

1489
01:06:00.140 --> 01:06:02.329
their your cousins, their your whatever.

1490
01:06:02.329 --> 01:06:03.991
These are normal people.

1491
01:06:03.991 --> 01:06:06.666
This isn't an abnormal thing.

1492
01:06:06.666 --> 01:06:09.260
You know addiction is
such a prevailing problem,

1493
01:06:09.260 --> 01:06:10.598
in the community, it's unbelievable.

1494
01:06:10.598 --> 01:06:12.665
It doesn't matter if it's black
or white, or brown or yellow

1495
01:06:12.665 --> 01:06:15.016
or young or old or if female or male,

1496
01:06:15.016 --> 01:06:16.435
that's what I've seen here.

1497
01:06:16.435 --> 01:06:18.016
It's always what's attracted me to here.

1498
01:06:18.016 --> 01:06:20.285
There is a way out, there is an answer,

1499
01:06:20.285 --> 01:06:21.704
we just have to get the word out.

1500
01:06:21.704 --> 01:06:23.852
- Like I always tell
the women in recovery,

1501
01:06:23.852 --> 01:06:26.568
now you're the disciple
that gotta go share it.

1502
01:06:26.568 --> 01:06:27.401
- Amen.

1503
01:06:27.401 --> 01:06:29.835
- You're the person who's
gotta go tell your story.

1504
01:06:29.835 --> 01:06:32.168
You've gotta be an advocate.

1505
01:06:37.309 --> 01:06:41.079
- I'm nervous, because we
didn't have a graduation

1506
01:06:41.079 --> 01:06:43.997
at the first, not the
first, the other treatment

1507
01:06:43.997 --> 01:06:46.267
that I was in, we didn't
have nothing like this.

1508
01:06:46.267 --> 01:06:48.434
So I'm very, very nervous.

1509
01:06:50.604 --> 01:06:51.937
But I can do it.

1510
01:06:52.955 --> 01:06:54.455
(heartwarming music)

1511
01:06:54.455 --> 01:06:57.455
(audience clapping)

1512
01:07:03.940 --> 01:07:06.331
- There comes a moment in every
one of those woman's lives

1513
01:07:06.331 --> 01:07:08.398
that they know that they in recovery

1514
01:07:08.398 --> 01:07:09.736
and they're ready to graduate

1515
01:07:09.736 --> 01:07:12.736
because they've met those
goals that they set out for.

1516
01:07:12.736 --> 01:07:15.492
And she knows the difference
between just being sober

1517
01:07:15.492 --> 01:07:16.667
and being in recovery.

1518
01:07:16.667 --> 01:07:19.261
She's ready to celebrate it and so are we.

1519
01:07:19.261 --> 01:07:20.923
(audience applauding)

1520
01:07:20.923 --> 01:07:23.193
Our Father and our God, this
is the day that you have made,

1521
01:07:23.193 --> 01:07:24.936
we rejoice and we are glad in it.

1522
01:07:24.936 --> 01:07:26.638
I thank you for this day, but I thank you

1523
01:07:26.638 --> 01:07:28.625
for the later days, a year from now,

1524
01:07:28.625 --> 01:07:31.908
10 years from now, that they
will continue this journey

1525
01:07:31.908 --> 01:07:33.570
of new light called recovery.

1526
01:07:33.570 --> 01:07:35.961
And God you said, if we took one step

1527
01:07:35.961 --> 01:07:37.785
that you would carry
us the rest of the way.

1528
01:07:37.785 --> 01:07:40.136
So we thank you that we've turned to you,

1529
01:07:40.136 --> 01:07:42.973
believing that if we lean
not to our own understanding

1530
01:07:42.973 --> 01:07:45.405
and know all of our
ways, we acknowledge you.

1531
01:07:45.405 --> 01:07:46.488
- [All] Amen.

1532
01:07:49.702 --> 01:07:51.445
- My mother only had
an 8th grade education

1533
01:07:51.445 --> 01:07:55.255
and from the time I was a
child, she had a vision a plan.

1534
01:07:55.255 --> 01:07:56.714
You know what my mother said to me?

1535
01:07:56.714 --> 01:07:59.552
"In spite of where we come
from, in spite of the poverty,

1536
01:07:59.552 --> 01:08:01.943
"the rats, the roaches the vicious poverty

1537
01:08:01.943 --> 01:08:03.362
"that we have to live under,

1538
01:08:03.362 --> 01:08:05.713
"you gotta get on my shoulders
and do better than I did."

1539
01:08:05.713 --> 01:08:07.496
Are you all with me out there?
- [Audience] Yes, amen.

1540
01:08:07.496 --> 01:08:09.361
- You gotta see some
things that I can't see.

1541
01:08:09.361 --> 01:08:11.590
- That's right.
- Right?

1542
01:08:11.590 --> 01:08:14.387
My mother had, what we call a vision.

1543
01:08:14.387 --> 01:08:17.913
Lucy Hall and this program has a vision.

1544
01:08:17.913 --> 01:08:19.737
The women on this stage have a vision,

1545
01:08:19.737 --> 01:08:20.750
'cause they're like, "You know what,

1546
01:08:20.750 --> 01:08:22.412
"it doesn't matter where I was before,

1547
01:08:22.412 --> 01:08:23.993
"what matters is where I am right now."

1548
01:08:23.993 --> 01:08:28.128
Are you all with me out
there? (audience clapping)

1549
01:08:28.128 --> 01:08:31.897
♪ Never said there wouldn't be trials ♪

1550
01:08:31.897 --> 01:08:35.099
♪ Never said I would be far ♪

1551
01:08:35.099 --> 01:08:37.004
- Welcome to--

1552
01:08:37.004 --> 01:08:40.571
♪ Never said that everything would go ♪

1553
01:08:40.571 --> 01:08:42.752
♪ The way I want it to go ♪

1554
01:08:42.752 --> 01:08:44.495
(audience applauding)

1555
01:08:44.495 --> 01:08:48.428
♪ But when my back is against the wall ♪

1556
01:08:48.428 --> 01:08:52.643
♪ And I feel all hope is gone ♪

1557
01:08:52.643 --> 01:08:56.737
♪ I'll just lift my head up to the sky ♪

1558
01:08:56.737 --> 01:09:00.547
♪ And say help me to be strong ♪

1559
01:09:00.547 --> 01:09:05.547
♪ Oh, I just can't give up now ♪

1560
01:09:10.235 --> 01:09:15.235
♪ Oh no, come too far from
where I started from ♪

1561
01:09:17.687 --> 01:09:21.173
♪ Oh, nobody told me ♪

1562
01:09:21.173 --> 01:09:22.006
(audience applauding)

1563
01:09:22.006 --> 01:09:25.754
♪ Oh no, it would be easy ♪

1564
01:09:25.754 --> 01:09:29.564
♪ And I don't believe
it's brought me this far ♪

1565
01:09:29.564 --> 01:09:32.320
- And it's being a journey,
but it was well worth it.

1566
01:09:32.320 --> 01:09:34.874
(audience applauding)

1567
01:09:34.874 --> 01:09:36.130
- [Narrator] Come Monday,

1568
01:09:36.130 --> 01:09:39.616
Lucy will continue her work
with a new group of women.

1569
01:09:39.616 --> 01:09:42.778
But first, she celebrates
as the Donna Center,

1570
01:09:42.778 --> 01:09:45.483
finally opens it's doors.

1571
01:09:45.483 --> 01:09:46.588
(crowd cheering)

1572
01:09:46.588 --> 01:09:49.587
- 'Cause I had to keep reminding
them what this was for,

1573
01:09:49.587 --> 01:09:51.046
'cause you were walking in here thinking,

1574
01:09:51.046 --> 01:09:53.235
you can check into a hotel,

1575
01:09:53.235 --> 01:09:56.194
but that was really what
it was designed to do,

1576
01:09:56.194 --> 01:09:58.950
to make people feel like they were home.

1577
01:09:58.950 --> 01:09:59.783
- [Narrator] Through this journey,

1578
01:09:59.783 --> 01:10:01.423
I've learned we all have a responsibility

1579
01:10:01.423 --> 01:10:04.625
to our loved ones in our communities.

1580
01:10:04.625 --> 01:10:06.733
One simple thing we all can do,

1581
01:10:06.733 --> 01:10:09.246
is change the way we talk about addiction.

1582
01:10:09.246 --> 01:10:11.663
As a disease and not a crime.

1583
01:10:12.658 --> 01:10:16.258
For those in recovery, share your story

1584
01:10:16.258 --> 01:10:19.091
for everyone else, become an ally,

1585
01:10:20.352 --> 01:10:22.054
you just might save a life.

1586
01:10:22.054 --> 01:10:25.013
♪ I can't give up now ♪

1587
01:10:25.013 --> 01:10:30.013
♪ I can't give up now ♪

1588
01:10:31.215 --> 01:10:33.244
♪ Said I've come too far ♪

1589
01:10:33.244 --> 01:10:38.244
♪ Come too far from where I started from ♪

1590
01:10:39.405 --> 01:10:41.431
♪ No one said it would be easy ♪

1591
01:10:41.431 --> 01:10:46.431
♪ Nobody told me, that
the road would be easy ♪

1592
01:10:48.444 --> 01:10:53.444
♪ And I don't believe, he's
brought me this far to leave me ♪

1593
01:10:54.288 --> 01:10:56.267
- [Narrator] Visit Hope Village Project dot com

1594
01:10:56.267 --> 01:10:58.172
for more information.

1595
01:10:58.172 --> 01:11:00.279
And get the book that
accompanies this film.

1596
01:11:00.279 --> 01:11:04.772
Hope Dealer, A Complete
Guide, From Rehab To Recovery.