By: Bronte, Transformations Alumnus
My name is Bronte. My sobriety date is September 21, 2020. I was born, and raised, and currently reside in Las Vegas, Nevada. I remember feeling different from an early age, like I didn’t quite belong. I grew up in an alcoholic household which not only made me grow up quickly and traumatized me, but it also made me feel like I had to hide what was going on at home, so I always felt ashamed. I told myself I would never drink or use drugs because I had seen the effects. It is funny how we end up crossing those boundaries. I took my first drink when I was 9 and my first hit of cannabis at age 13. I very vividly remember taking that hit, laying back, and thinking “This is what I want to feel like for the rest of my life.” Alcohol and drugs took precedence in my life, and I quickly became obsessed with chasing that high. Alcohol and cannabis quickly turned into meth and ecstasy which then turned into opiates and finally at the age of 21, heroin. Heroin had become my best friend and I felt safe with it, numb. I remember going to treatment at Transformations in 2017 when I was 22. And the fact was, I just was not ready. I was still very ignorant of the fact that I had a problem and was still in the delusion that I could control and manage. However, what being at Transformations did do for me was plant that seed. It would take much more pain and suffering before I would reach my jumping-off point.
Eventually, I became an IV heroin addict, on the “eastside” of Las Vegas. I was in a very abusive relationship, and I was going in and out of jail. You get the picture; it was bad. I just remember dreaming of who I wanted to be and knowing that she was there but didn’t know how to get there. I felt so hopeless. Then on September 20, 2020, some act of divine intervention or you could say the consequences of my own actions landed me in jail for the last time. I got out of jail and instead of turning back, I went to my grandmother’s house (who hadn’t seen me in almost four years) and never looked back.
I went into sober living, I was on the Vivitrol shot for the first year of my sobriety and found a pathway of recovery that worked for me. I had nothing when I got sober, but I focused on my recovery and set a solid foundation for myself, regardless of how I felt. In Las Vegas, we have quality recovery, it is a diverse, and an extraordinarily strong community. Service work has become my favorite. We have many different nonprofits that provide a well-rounded solution to those struggling with addiction, homelessness, and mental health. My recommendation is to find a pathway of recovery that works for you and get involved with your community as we are the ones who can guide those out of the same darkness. Now, I work in Admissions at a treatment center, I make enough money to survive comfortably, I am going to school to get my master’s in social work, and I don’t recognize the girl that came into this broken and afraid. I have fallen in love with being sober. I also want to add
that my area of growth right now is mental health, so if you are reading this, don’t forget about that because our mental health is particularly important and often neglected. I hope that you find what I have found in sobriety, and just remember that you deserve to be happy.
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