“Loving and forgiving yourself is necessary to change your life”, states Courtney Mendoza, a 29 year old Santa Maria Alumna. Growing up with parents who struggled with addiction, Courtney witnessed the negative effects of addiction throughout her childhood, to the point where she was taken away from her parents by Child Protective Services (CPS) during middle school. She later on started her addiction at the age of sixteen, consuming alcohol and smoking marihuana. 

Before walking in the road to recovery, Courtney was a wife and a stay at home mother of two girls Izabella and Abigail who at the tender age of 4 and 8 months respectively were taken away from her by CPS, due to the endangering drug habit that her husband and herself were following. Unwillingly, Courtney was repeating the same cycle of addiction that she endured in her childhood. This situation made Courtney fall into a stage of depression that led her to consume even more drugs, as a coping mechanism. Shortly after, she and her husband became homeless and found themselves living in her car, living a life of heavy drug usage and active addiction, until one day, Courtney realized that if she continued living the way she was, she would never get a chance to have her children back. 

After researching treatment facilities in Houston, she came across Santa Mariaand knew that going into treatment would be the only way she would ever get to gain custody of her children back. “I made up my mind about going to Santa Maria because Iknew they advocate for children and support family re-unification. I called just about every day for a month, asking if a bed was ready for me.” Finally, on September 7, 2016 she was admitted to Intensive Residential Treatment at the Jacquelyn House location, where with the support of her Case Manager, Counselor, and the Recovery Coach, she began taking the necessary steps towards recovery from her addiction and trauma.  The love for her children and desire to gain their custody back, gave her the strength and fuel to follow the recovery plan designed specifically for her.  

A couple of months into the treatment program, Courtney discovered she was pregnant with her third child. Taking advantage of the resources that Santa Maria offers, Courtney was able to bring structure into her life, she learned how to cope with her anxiety and to deal with the trauma experienced in her younger years. She learned to forgive herself, to love herself, to live life in life’s terms and to embrace a life in sobriety. She was doing everything her team at Santa Maria and her CPS caseworker would ask from her… she attended meetings, she worked on her 12 steps, she stayed connected to Santa Maria even after she successfully completed 120-day program. She gave birth to her 3^rdchild, Ovelia and shortly after, she moved to the Housing Program at the Santa Maria Bonita House location, where she was provided with child care for her newborn. After three months, through the available resources in the Housing Program and the support of her coach and peers in the sober living facility, Courtney was able to find a job and a few months after, she was reunited with her two older daughters.

Now she lives on her own with her three children and continues to work on herself to be a better parent. She maintains contact with her recovery coach who continues to encourage and help her make the best decisions for her overall well-being and her children.   “I learned to advocate for myself and use resources available to me– and to not to give up.”  Courtney proudly shares.  Although she believes that it is better for her to live her life one day at the time, she hopes to continue furthering her education, and in the near future purchase a home for her and her family to enjoy.  Courtney glows when speaks about her recovery and the transformed woman and mother she is today—and she looks forward to serving as a strong advocate for women in recovery. 

The year 2012 marked the fourteenth time of incarceration in a period of 10 years for Sharon, as a result of her substance use disorder. She recalls sitting in her jail cell feeling broken, hopeless, simultaneously suffering from other health issues— she felt she had hit rock bottom.Suddenly, it was here– the day that changed her life forever. She recalls seeing three women walking into the prison and staring directly at her. “It was the first time I felt someone look at me with pure love—that, I will never forget.” She recalls. The women she was referring to were Santa Maria’s recovery coaches (at the time) Amelia Murphy and Cynthia Branch who teamed up with Kathy Griffin, a long-time recovery partner, and now-director of the Precinct One human trafficking division. Sharon remembers clearly their words that have remained with her forever: “It is not too late for your dreams to come true. What God has in store for you is going to blow your mind.” After learning about Santa Maria’s Path to Recovery program, combined with the trust and connection she felt with the coaches, she did not hesitate and agreed to participate in the program. For the next three months the trio would visit Sharon in prison where she would participate in group sessions, as part of the Path to Recovery program.

The gatherings helped Sharon to see there was hope. She started gaining back her self esteem and began focusing on identifying her strengths. Following her release from Plane State Jail, Sharon was admitted into the residential treatment program at the Santa Maria- Jacquelyn House facility. The coaches helped her develop her own recovery plan which she followed faithfully. As she made outstanding progress she was referred to three different United Way organizations where she was embraced and empowered. Her recovery coach remained closely connected with her during all of her transitions. Sharon eventually had a part time job, was paying minimal costs for her own apartment as she continued to improve her health and wellness, and build the Recovery Capital necessary to sustain long term recovery. She was now taking leaps forward, without looking back at her past.

Two years into recovery, she became a recovery coach and began volunteering with Santa Maria. She went back to the same prison and same dorm she was recruited out of, “I know the way out,” she told them. Sharon volunteered for 10 months before her passion, commitment and skills earned her a full-time recovery coach position at Santa Maria, under the leadership of the Senior Director of Recovery Support Services, Amelia Murphy, who was her recovery coach in Path to Recovery. While in this position she became an officer for the Peer Advisory Council, and was able to use the talent she developed while earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts from U of H in 1996 by designing the logo for this group. She continued to excel and even had the opportunity to jointly with Amelia go to the Texas State Capitol to make a presentation in support of H.B. 1486, advocating for the value of peer support specialist roles in the mental health and addiction recovery arena. Sharon held her position with Santa Maria for two and half years, and she is now working for the Council on Recovery. Today, she continues to volunteer with Santa Maria, facilitating a recovery meeting every Saturday, and taking ladies to meetings. “Santa Maria saw beyond my symptoms and focused on my spirit. I went from being a financial drain to a tax paying, volunteering asset to my community,” she proudly states.

“She’s a real coach, with natural ability to lead,” says Amelia

Murphy, Director of Recovery Support Services (RSS) of Deborah

Uselton. Deborah has joined the Peer Recovery Coach team

here at SMH this year after 15 years of active drug abuse and a

seemingly never-ending cycle of addiction and incarceration. A

life of trauma and chaos was slowly transformed through the

work Deborah did under the guidance of her mentor and coach at Santa Maria.

Her changes began with a visit from Kim to her jail cell. There, Deborah understood

the hope of Kim’s long-term recovery message. She wanted that for her own life and

through hard work and laser focus, she made recovery her reality. Today, she is an

employee of the RSS team working at the Harris County Family Intervention Court,

inspiring others to a life of possibilities. She is a woman in long-term recovery with

a mission and a purpose. She is the face and the voice of RecovHERy as well as a

proud member of the recovery movement.

Kristina began to “lose her grip” when her husband, the father of her small daughter, lost his life. She turned to Santa Maria in 2012 for the first time to begin treatment. For a long while after, she maintained her sobriety and began to build a new life – but then she felt it all “crumbling inside”. She phoned her former SMH counselor, Lucia DePaoli, a phone number she had kept close, and asked if she could return for more treatment. She was accepted with open arms. 

Often, recovery does not follow a straight ascent. There are trials and barriers that knock an individual down along the way. It is in the learning from attempts at sobriety where hope emerges from desperation. An individual remembers that there is a community that cares and is willing to assist. Humbly asking for help is the first step to resume the journey. 

This time in treatment, Kristina was able to focus on her early childhood trauma and loss through important sessions with her guiding counselor. Her individualized trauma therapy made all of the difference. She began to realize that the early onset of poorly treated childhood depression had hijacked her development and future. 

She completed medical detoxification followed by 90 days of treatment at Jacquelyn House. Her daughter waited under the watchful eye of family, whose support and love pulled Kristina through. Then, to her great delight, her seven year old daughter joined her in their new transitional apartment on the Bonita House campus. That first day together, they enjoyed the simple pleasures of the playground and a chance to sit in their new home, braiding hair. 

Kristina is determined to give her daughter a life of possibilities. She makes times daily to listen and validate her thoughts and keen insight. She is grateful for the play therapy that is afforded to her child. She relishes in the conversation and the expression of her daughter’s feelings, a skill her child has learned through counseling. Kristina plans to obtain a certification in Recovery Coach Training and begin anew helping others to find the community of recovery. She is the face of RecovHERy. 

Tifini has been a teacher, a social worker and a professional hair and make up artist, well-known and successful.  She had a blog and with a partner founded a life-style magazine.  She was a member of the New York Association of Black Journalists. She had three children and a home of her own.

Then things darkened as she slipped into a jarring foreclosure. She left her home and traveled to Houston, finding work as a substitute teacher.  The loneliness, extreme depression and shame of her circumstances intensified her drinking.  She knew she was approaching addiction with her alcohol use and needed support.  Another eviction leveled her, alone with two children in a strange city.

A friend told her about Santa Maria and she applied for housing in our HUD program of transitional apartments for women and children who are homeless.  She was on the waiting list for four months…but she was persistent. She was finally accepted in February 2015.

Once safe in her new surroundings, her case manager, Erin Martin recognized that there were issues with alcohol and Tifini needed treatment.  It was actually a big relief because she knew that she had needed treatment had not sought it out because she had no place for her children to go will she engaged. Here, she could be in treatment and have her children with her! She was switched to the Women with Children program and spent 120 days in treatment.  Later she completed the Outpatient phase while training for work.

Another staff member, Senior Director Donna White saw something special. Tifini was recommended for a culinary training program through the Houston Food Bank and SER Jobs for Progress,  a collaboration arranged by Educational Services Instructor, Linda Johnson. She would be the all important first client from SMH to be given this opportunity.  She went on as an intern at Le Meridien, serving her time in the kitchen preparing meals for employees of the hotel.  She loved cooking and the ability to create!

Through grace, she has found friends, hope, church and community.  Erin and Donna have served as mentors to this productive young woman. Her children have thrived along with her and many times encouraged her to go on.  One day, one moment at a time and a lot of hard work have proved that life doesn’t end because of mishaps.  She is the face and voice of RecovHERy as well as a proud member of the recovery movement.

“Recovery does work. It works.” says Paterra Warren, a Peer Recovery Coach on staff at Santa Maria.  “Everything that I have done is because of my drug addiction, but also my big accomplishments are because of my drug addiction.  If all of those things had never happened to me, I wouldn’t be where I am today I wouldn’t have this purpose, this job. It made me into what I am today.”

Paterra has learned that addiction does not discriminate.  Different from many, Paterra’s childhood was wonderful.  She was raised in a loving home, full of family fun, vacations, and school life.  She was just drawn into the wrong crowd and found that she liked to drink alcohol.  Alcohol made her bolder, more “wild”.  Early on, however, she found she drank to become drunk.

At college, she quickly fell into her old habit of drinking which soon led to abusing drugs.  To maintain her drug habit and lifestyle, she needed money, so she turned to prostitution.  After years of a dangerous life, she was finally introduced to Santa Maria through STAR Drug Court, a diversion court that supports opportunities for treatment and change rather than punishment.

She participated in treatment at Santa Maria’s Jacquelyn House for 90 days. She then moved into transitional housing at Well Springs.  She got a job, and she continued outpatient treatment at Career in Recovery.  As she states, “recovery has to do with being connected. Staying connected.”  Nearing her fifth year of sobriety, she is a successful graduate of STAR Drug Court, a certified community health care worker, a Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor, and is currently working towards a degree in social work.

Recently hired as the Peer Recovery specialist for the Women with Children program, she says “I love what I do. And that’s why I wouldn’t change what happened back then because of all of that I am here today.” Her growth radiates through her story.  “ I’m willing, I’m open-minded, I’m teachable and each day brings something new and something different.  Every day I just ask God to work through me, because at the end of the day it is not about me, my story is not for me.  It is for others.”

She is the face of RecovHERy.