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Addiction and mental health disorders can rob families of their loved ones and tear an effected family member apart both physically and mentally. No one wants to be out of control of his or her actions, but when addiction and/or mental illness claim a stake in a person's life that's what often happens. Fortunately, there is help available and a person can recover and reclaim his or her life at the Casa Palmera Drug Rehab Facility.

Chapter 1 of I Say A Prayer For Me: One Woman's Life of Faith and Triumph by Stanice Anderson (Walk Worthy Press/Warner Books)

"I Only Meant to Wet My Feet"

"Beware of guys with matchbook covers torn off at the end," my father warned me as he walked away.
"What exactly does that mean, Daddy?"
He turned and, with a smirk that seemed to question my intelligence, said, "It means that they use drugs!"
"Use drugs! With a matchbook cover?"
"Yes!" Offering no more as he went to his next task.
Our "talk" about drugs was apparently over.
I shrugged it off and thought, How stupid does he think I am? Does he think that even at seventeen years old, I don't know anything? After all, I knew drugs were injected. I had seen the movie, The Man with the Golden Arm. Plus, I had seen junkies on the corner in front of the poolroom. They shoot dope into their veins. Boy, to be considered such a smart man, he sure is dumb about the things of life.

My name is Dennis, I have been clean for over 9 years. I went to jails, treatment centers, and finally a detox. It was then I had the moment of clarity. I was an addict. I started going to NA. I found a solution to my addiction. I was homeless, now I am a homeowner. I was unemployable, now I keep jobs. I found a God of my understanding. I now go into the prisons & jails to let others know they do not have to live that way. There is a solution. When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. I was ready. If a person like me, wwho used for over 25 years can find freedom, any one can. My life has meaning & purpose.

Ive been told at substance abuse conferences that I would be something of a celebrity because most people have never seen a functioning methadone patient. I believe that the reason for this is those of us who have been helped the most by this medication are not dissimilar to the average American. We blend into the woodwork. We go to work, have families and live an unremarkable existence. Just like you and your friends and family. We pay our taxes and we go to church.

Life was not like this for us before our lives stabilized with methadone. We lived with the persistent pain of addiction. With the ever present knowledge that our lives are somehow profoundly different from everyone else. And with the despair of the incurable and incurably misunderstood.