Michael and Lisa
Michael had been battling things for a while, but he was always able to help himself. He never wanted me to know, and he would hide what he could from me, but we could all tell he was struggling…
Michael was a very happy, intelligent, almost picture perfect child. He had always put his whole heart and soul into everything he did. Michael began using drugs in high school- we lost my dad, Michael’s grandfather, and my children were very close to him. Soon after that, you could tell- he just started drifting away… He was a different Michael.
With Michael, it was a roller coaster ride. Michael and I were always very close. We spent a lot of time together, and you could always tell when he wasn’t himself. He would go up and down- when he was using. He was argumentative, he lied, he was never productive and there were always excuses. Then, the next week, you’d see a normal Michael. It was a roller coaster ride. When it was bad, it was really bad, but when it was good, it was really good. As a mother you think “Oh, I’ll know if my child is using drugs”, and you try to justify the behavior by attributing it to so many different things. I just didn’t see it.
His absolute low point was right before he went to Recovery Unplugged. He had been battling his demons for a while, but he was always able to help himself. He came to me and he told me he had a problem and he couldn’t help himself. He had to go to work that day and I told him not to go, but he went anyway, and unfortunately, we almost lost him that day.
After we found Michael overdosed, he just kept saying, “I can do this, I can detox myself. I’ve done it before.”, but we knew that that wasn’t the case. He needed a fresh start and we knew he needed some outside help. Michael’s roommate, who was in recovery, told us about Recovery Unplugged. Michael comes from a family of musicians, and is a talented musician himself, so I think the music aspect of Recovery Unplugged is what opened the door for him.
Today, having Michael back is a dream. When you have kids, you worry 24/7, but now I only worry 23/7. There is always going to be good days and bad days, but today, there is more good than bad. He’s productive, he has faith in himself, he is building a better life for himself… I could go on forever, but there just aren’t words. I can’t thank RU enough.
Today Michael is coming up on three years clean, and serves as a role model to musicians in our program (or something like that).