I am tired. I am tired of beautiful people dying. I am tired of incredible families being destroyed. I am tired of so many pointing fingers, yet not looking at ourselves and our own place in it. We need to stop placing FULL BLAME on those who struggle with addiction for slips in their sobriety. I am sick of …
Addiction-Where were the parents?!
I see the comment so often when it comes to addiction. “Where were the parents?”. That REALLY infuriates me. It adds to the stigma that is already present and a big reason why so many families keep the struggle to themselves. We feel judged, people cast downward glances, unsure of what to say. Where was I? When you were born, …
Recovery to Relapse, My Story by Brittany Sherfield
I have never fought so hard to write about something in my entire life. I want to say the words so badly and it sounds perfect in my head but actually putting it out into the world is terrifying. The girl that finally got her life together fell back down and fell down hard. I relapsed. It wasn’t …
The Safe Space Between Us, by Allison
Montana Rose. Beautiful, mysterious, brilliant and dreamy. The name itself is different. It starts off eclectic and strange and ends romantic and soft. Geographically, Montana is a place far away from our moderate suburb of Philadelphia. The best way to describe Montana Rose was that she was easy to fall in love with. I fell so fiercely in love with her …
Marriage Survival Skills, When your Child is an Addict
It’s easy for us to lose sight of ourselves and our marriage when our children struggle with addiction. Our sole focus becomes saving them, and others, inadvertently, can fall to the wayside. My own marriage was crumbling at one point, everything became toxic and unhealthy. I mean LITERALLY everything. The blame game was in full force for a long time. …
A Prisoner in My Own Home-When Your Child is an Addict
I remember one night, when Brittany lived at home, that she came home in the middle of the night, totally messed up out of her mind. Biscuit our dog was barking, Brittany was loud and talking to herself, so we woke up, along with my youngest daughter. “Mommy, what is wrong with Mimi”? (She called her Mimi since a baby, …
It’s Time for Me to Live Again, by Brittany Sherfield
“Why can’t they just stop using?” “Why does it have to by my kid?” “How can they do this to us?”. These are questions I consistently hear from parents and loved ones, WE ARE ADDICTS AND ALCOHOLICS. IT IS A DISEASE. Listen, none of us just wake up one day and think.. I am going to try heroin today. NO that’s …
Desperate to Get High-And Desperate For Peace, by Brittany
I was always so desperate in my addiction. Desperate for a fix, desperate to not be sick, desperate to not feel the pain anymore. I dug a hole so deep that I never thought I could climb out of. My desperation and low self-worth caused me to do things I never imagined I would be capable of. I went from …
What Do You Mean She Overdosed?! She’s on Vivitrol!!
After we discovered my daughter Brittany was using heroin again, we had some hard choices to make. We knew she couldn’t live in our home anymore. After all, we also had a 10-year-old daughter, we had made family rules about consequences and I had to keep our home a safe haven. But the thought of having her not in my …