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Gloria's Story |
Gloria’s story starts with 35 years of abusing drugs off and on. “Some people find this hard to believe,” Gloria says, “but drug use was part of my community and my life since forever. It was my life style, I didn’t know anything else, and I never really worked during my addiction.
That life began to end at CRC, but even then Gloria really didn’t want to go to Walden House. When she learned about the program at CRC her thought was, “recovery comes from the heart. I don’t need help, I can do my recovery on my own, I don’t need a program.” But classification put her in Walden House, and for two months into the program she was very uncomfortable, but then she began to realize that there were other people in the program that had problems like her. She started getting a little more comfortable in the program and soon she realized that she did need help. In fact, Gloria was so bought in to the program that when she was given a choice of SASCA or FOTEP, she chose FOTEP because she knew she had to continue to be in a residential setting to continue her recovery.
Gloria stayed at FOTEP-El Monte for 131/2 months, and she credits Grace for a lot of what she received. She left FOTEP without a job, and stayed in a sober living for awhile and went through various job trainings. It was a rough time, but it was ok, Gloria says, because she had decided to ‘stick’. Eventually she found her way back to Walden House and she’s happy now that she is making a difference for others as well. Recently she won a $1,000 grant from the Los Angeles County Children’s Planning Council, SPA 6 that will help a group of Walden House kids learn more about the environment through participation in a program. And best of all, Gloria’s family now comes to PROSPER with her. She runs Sole Therapy women’s group on Wednesday night. Gloria is also President of Walden House Alumni of Southern CA. After 35 years, the trust is back