Some of our best success stories at GRC come from people who have gone through the program with us, and felt so inspired by their own recovery from drug addiction that they want to give back to others by working here. Such is the case with Marissa Lattanzi, Recovery Support Staff and a proud GRC alumni.
Marissa: If you would have told me a year ago, I’d be able to help people in recovery… Before I went into recovery, I couldn’t even get dressed most days. Or take a shower. But, the fact that I can now relate to people and help them with their daily struggles, it’s amazing. And not only do they get something out of it, but it helps in my own recovery. It is one of the most amazing feelings in the world.
How to be human again
I’m forever grateful for this program. This program taught me in my own eyes, how to be human again. It taught:
- how to show people love and compassion
- how to hold them accountable
- how to have true friendships
- how to have true relationships with people in my life again
- that I can maintain a job
- that I can pay my bills
- that I can live a life regardless of the hand I was dealt
Regardless of the past, you have the future…
Yesterday is in the past, and tomorrow is the future. I literally have these twenty-four hours to think about, and if I can’t take twenty-four hours, I’ll go down to milliseconds if I need to. The worry that I put my family through is just a good reminder of how far I’ve come. I’ve never had a very good relationship with my mother, and my sobriety date was the worst day of my life. She had me arrested, and it was the best thing she ever did for me, because she loved me enough to put me through that, in order to show me that she cared about me. Now, I have tremendous relationships with my mother, my father, my step-father.
Now, It’s all just working itself out
Over time, it is all just working itself out (my life). It is still incredible to believe, that I’m sitting here in this chair, doing what I do to help others. They told me, a fire would be lit under me when I started doing this work, and it just hasn’t gone out. It hasn’t stopped. I am still overwhelmed every day by how grateful and thankful I am to be here, recovered, and doing what I do to help people, who are going through what I went through.
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If you or a loved one is struggling with an addiction to drugs or alcohol, please call our admissions specialists at 855.712.7784 . We can help.
