Whatever It Takes

When Karen’s mom passed away at an early age, she never fully recovered. As a young, impressionable teenager, she admits she made some bad choices as a result.

“When you’re young, you don’t think, ‘I have this addiction because I blame myself for my mom’s death.’ You just know that you’re hurt and you’re angry and so you do whatever it takes to make that pain go away.”

Karen is 28 now, and a mother of 3 boys. Her addiction drove a wedge into her family and, eventually, her kids were put into Foster Care.

But Karen never lost hope of mending her relationship with them.

After she turned herself into jail this past year, she wrote a letter to the Phoenix Dream Center asking to help her change. She wanted the chance to go through addiction recovery and, ultimately, to redeem herself as a mother.

Karen is now 2 months away from graduating our Life Recovery program.

“I’ve changed. I’m sober… it’s been a while since I could say that. And the education through classes and counseling here have really helped me as a mother. I talk to my boys all the time on the phone. When I graduate, I’m going back to Texas to be with them again,” Sara says, tearing up. “I’m going to be the mom my kids need me to be.”

Your support can help Karen and so many others through community engagement to get back on track and reunite with their kids.

Your gift can help restore a family today. Make a donation, monetarily  or in-kind and help save a life.