Retreat Essay

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Growing up in Reading, Pennsylvania being raised in a lower class neighborhood by my maternal grandmother, I did not realize how different my life was from those outside my community. It was normal for me to see empty drug baggies on the ground, people coping drugs on the corner, condemned/ abandoned homes, and crime. As I got older and my network of people grew, I started to notice some differences. However, it was not until I left the area at age 18 to attend college did I fully realize that my "normal" was not the "normal." Most people I knew growing up were struggling with finances and had one or both parents addicted to drugs or alcohol and mines were no different. The 80s crack epidemic hit my family hard and by the end of that era my mother and 6 of her siblings were all addicted.
My mother 's disease progressed over the years and by 1999 she was an IV drug user, who attended 17 different rehabs, been to jail 3 times, and overdosed countless times.
This amounted into years of heartache for me and my two sisters and I was left with trauma.
Despite this, I chose to take my circumstances and use it as a

As a result, of that vision many lives are being saved. I am not an addict but Retreat helped me during a challenging time in my life. My Mother passed away unexpectedly in 2014. The day she died despite all the good in my life I wanted to give up. A few days after her passing, Mr. Peter Schorr sent me an email and said "Your mother 's memory will live on through the many lives you help save." Those simple but thoughtful words inspired me to get up and validated what I know and that is Retreat is more than just a rehab or a business but a family! The support I received from Mr. Schorr, Chrissy, and the Retreat family has been nothing short of