Becoming Reliable in Recovery
“Cedar House has a special place in my heart,” Mike fondly recalled his experience in the Cedar House residential program more than ten years ago when he learned to be reliable in recovery. He said, “They gave me the ability to show up, be responsible and be consistent.”
Although he had a stable upbringing, Mike remembered summers spent at his uncle’s house witnessing the drinking, smoking and gambling lifestyle that seemed so appealing to him at the time. When his dad decided to quit drinking, Mike took up the habit around the age of twelve. Gift baskets with alcohol that his father had received over time had collected in the cabinet, and Mike took the opportunity to start bringing the bottles with him when he left for school in the morning. He would buy a coke to mix with whiskey or sprite to mix with vodka, and managed to get away with this behavior for some time. Next, he began smoking weed with friends. He said, “If you had it and you were offering it, I was trying it. I started buying more often and in greater quantities.”
When he tried crack cocaine, he was hooked. He said, “Once that got thrown into the mix, that’s when the story really shifted.” He was able to keep a job for a few years despite his addiction. He became a father and decided that he needed to “tone it down, taper it down, get it under control and be a father.” But it wasn’t that simple. He said, “I just didn’t know what I was up against.” Finally, he got to a point that he stopped showing up for work and lost his job.
Thankfully, Mike had started looking for a solution. He went to a few meetings and even tried entering a treatment center for thirty days. But once he completed treatment, he didn’t make much of an effort to maintain his recovery. Instead, he ended up “back at the dope house five months later.”
In May 2013, he entered treatment at Cedar House. He said, “My life was at zero. I was broken, lost, confused.” During his ninety days at Cedar House, Mike was re-introduced to the 12 Steps and met a group of people that became lifelong friends. They attended church together and found a solid connection during their treatment process that propelled them to change their lives.
He attended panels and listened to speakers who stressed the importance of building a support network. The people he met kept him accountable to attend meetings and work on his personal recovery. He said, “I was able to see the results of people not taking it seriously and how they would fade off. I know a couple of people who are no longer with us because of addiction.”
One experience that truly resonated with Mike was when he snuck a phone into the facility, knowing that this was against Cedar House rules. He let his roommate use the phone one night and immediately regretted it when the roommate began packing his bags as he hung up the phone. The family member he called had convinced him to leave on that phone call, which meant Mike’s rule breaking contributed to his roommate walking away from the treatment he needed. He said, “I understood clearly then that my problem wasn’t only drinking and drugs. My problem was behavior and not accepting simple directions.” His case manager had him write an essay about the experience, and Mike began to learn a crucial life lesson in following directions.
Between Thanksgiving and Christmas that year, Mike relapsed on meth, which had never before been his drug of choice. He realized that while he had been blaming cocaine, the city, and everything else in his life, the reality was that he needed to change himself. A friend from Cedar House told him that they couldn’t hang out anymore if he didn’t sober up. He said, “My whole circle of friends from Cedar House was sober, and they were being productive.” At Christmas, when he visited his children with no gifts to offer them, he made a decision to commit to his recovery. On New Years Day, he went to a meeting at noon and hasn’t stopped going to meetings since then.
“At Cedar House, a lot of seeds were planted for me,” Mike said. Participating in groups and the experiences he had during treatment all contributed to his ten years of recovery, but he attributes his success to the group of people he met there.
Now, Mike is a supervisor for a distribution company in the City of Industry. In a recent review, his boss told him that he’s “the most reliable person” he knew. Mike said, “That’s because of the principles Cedar House introduced me to.”
Mike also shows up reliably for the people who count on him. He reunited with his sons and built a solid relationship with them and their mother. He also has a good relationship with his parents and sisters. He said, “They were skeptical at first because they didn’t know the extent of what was going on with me. But now we’ve found peace.”
Through his involvement with Cocaine Anonymous, Mike has been part of convention committees, served as a sponsor, participated in groups, and even ran a regular panel at Cedar House on Friday nights. Reflecting on his experience in treatment, he said, “The panels that came in and shared their experience, strength and hope gave me glimpses of hope and something to strive for. Then I build networks off of that. To be on the opposite end of that panel – that’s a privilege.”
In 2009, everything changed for Preston with a single accident. What began with prescription pain medication after a dirt bike injury slowly spiraled into a heroin addiction that would take hold of his life for years. But one decision made just days before Christmas would change everything. The Road to Addiction After a dirt bike accident in 2009 left him injured, doctors prescribed pain pills to manage the pain. At first, it seemed harmless, but like many people during the opioid crisis, the prescription slowly turned into dependence. By 2012, when prescription pills became harder to get, someone at work offered a cheaper alternative. “They said, ‘I can get you something better and cheaper,’” he remembers. “You try it first, and then they tell you it’s heroin. I was like, ‘I don’t do heroin.’ And they said, ‘Yeah… you do now.’” From 2012 to 2015 heroin addiction took hold of his life. The people around him were using too, and the lifestyle became normal. Eventually everything began to fall apart. “I remember looking in a drawer one day and realizing there was nothing left—just pencils and random stuff. Nothing of value. That’s when it really hit me how empty my life had become.” A Christmas Turning Point In December 2015, just days before Christmas, he finally reached a breaking point. “I told my mom I was fed up. I said, ‘Let’s figure this out. I need help.’” He found Cedar House Life Change Center and entered detox on December 16, 2015. Originally, he planned to stay only the required seven days. But recovery rarely begins smoothly. One night during detox he woke up and asked to use the phone. “I called everyone in my family and told them I hated them because they wouldn’t come pick me up. I didn’t want to be stuck there for Christmas.” The next morning his counselor called him into her office. What she told him that day stayed with him. “If you stay,” she told him, “You’ll miss this one Christmas, but you won’t have to miss all the other Christmases.” Lessons That Stuck His counselor shared another lesson he still carries today. She explained that life is like a backpack. If you throw a bunch of heavy stones into it all at once, you won’t be able to walk. Just like if you try to tackle all of life’s problems at once, you won’t get very far. But if you add just a few metaphorical stones each day and deal with just the issues you can handle, you can keep moving forward and progressing in life. Those simple ideas – taking life one day at a time and not carrying more than you can handle – became powerful tools in his recovery. Although he had entered Cedar House only for detox, his counselor secured three additional days in residential treatment across the hall. At the time he admits he still planned to use again when he left. But during those extra days, something shifted. At a recovery panel he heard a man speak about rebuilding trust with his mother after years of addiction. Preston could relate to that experience of taking advantage of his mom. Hearing him talk about earning her trust back made him realize that was possible for him, too. Rebuilding a Life He left Cedar House the day after Christmas, and his mom picked him up. On the drive home they stopped for food and talked about what came next. With guidance from his counselor, he made a list of everything addiction had taken away from him. Then he began slowly taking those things back. He started spending time with family again, accepting invitations, going to the river, and rebuilding relationships that had been strained by addiction. “You can’t lie to the mirror,” he says. “At the end of the day, you have to do this for yourself.” There were still challenges ahead – court dates, fines, and apologies to make. At one point a judge even rejected a handwritten apology letter he had written, crumpling it up in front of him and telling him it needed to be more sincere. So, he wrote it again. A Future Restored Recovery opened doors he never imagined. He began working in the oil fields in Montana, working one week on and one week off. During that time, he met the woman who would become his wife, and together they built a family with five children. He later returned to California, regained custody of his two older children, and continued rebuilding his life. Six years after leaving Cedar House, he returned to work with Teamsters Local 166 as an inspector on a military base. Today he is proud of the life he has rebuilt and grateful for the second chance he was given. “If I could help even one more person, it would be worth it,” he says. “I wouldn’t wish that life on my worst enemy.” Looking back, he believes the challenges he faced helped shape the person he is today. “Without those struggles, I wouldn’t be who I am now.”
There is nothing quite as powerful as a mother’s love. From the moment her son was born, Sereeta knew she would do everything she could to protect him. She had already experienced the heartbreak of losing her children once, and she was determined never to feel that pain again. Sereeta’s struggle with addiction began at the age of 19. She entered treatment and remained sober for six years, building a life she was proud of. But everything changed when she became a victim of domestic violence. The abuse eventually led to her losing custody of her five children -- a loss that shattered her world and led to relapse. “I could not get away from him. He would try to control me.” Desperate to escape the violence, Sereeta left and began living on the streets. She slept near a shopping center, searching for safety and resources wherever she could find them. One day, at a charity donations center, a woman noticed her and offered help. That connection led Sereeta to Cedar House, where she sought treatment for methamphetamine and marijuana addiction, and where her life began to change. “I knew I wanted a change but didn’t know how.” Years of trauma and loss had taken a toll. Sereeta struggled with anger and didn’t yet know how to process the pain she carried. What surprised her most was the compassion she encountered at Cedar House. Staff members didn’t give up on her. They believed in her, even when she struggled to believe in herself. “I saw that different people had hope in me.” Just one week after arriving at Cedar House, Sereeta was hospitalized. Over the next three weeks, she remained in close contact with staff, calling regularly for reassurance. “I didn’t want to lose my son. I didn’t want to feel that pain again.” After an eight-hour surgery and a blood transfusion, Sereeta gave birth to a healthy baby boy. But the next day, a police officer and social worker arrived at her hospital room with the devastating news that she would not be taking her baby home. Four days later, Sereeta returned to Cedar House with 34 surgical staples, deep emotional wounds, and a renewed determination. “That’s when I believe my journey started. I was fighting for that little boy. I never fought so hard for anything in my life.” The first month was difficult. Sereeta continued to wrestle with anger, grief, and the trauma of her past. “The first month was hard. It was a battle for me.” Over six months at Cedar House, Sereeta did the work. She achieved sobriety, learned healthy ways to manage her anger, and began rebuilding her faith. “I didn’t realize God had something else in store for me. I just had to trust in the process.” After completing treatment, Sereeta transitioned into other supportive housing. Slowly, she began having overnight visits with her son. On August 22, those visits became extended stays. On September 5, she was granted full custody of her baby boy. Today, Sereeta is a full-time Civic Engagement Specialist for a charitable foundation. She lives in her own apartment with her son and spends every other weekend with all of her children. “I have established leadership skills, budgeting skills, and learned how to be a productive member of society as a mother.” Looking back, Sereeta speaks of the “true, honest support” she found at Cedar House. The love and care she received from staff, and even something as simple as an Acceptance Prayer, carried her through moments when she felt overwhelmed. “If it wasn’t for Cedar House, I would still be traumatized by the domestic violence. The staff members showed me love like I’ve never been shown before.” Sereeta’s story is one of resilience, healing, and the power of believing in someone until they can believe in themselves. It is a testament to what is possible when compassion meets commitment, and when a mother is given the support she needs to fight for her future and her family.
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