“I started using heroin and that ended me up in prison twice. They gave me four years and I did three years. I got out and then ended up in jail again. I just didn’t know how to stop… After the second time, I went to a women’s recovery for six months, did the transitional living and finished my probation and parole there. I picked up the recovery tools I needed there. I relapsed again but this time I had the tools to get back on my feet faster… The first thing I had to do was get that stigma out of myself, I totally stigmatized my own self. It was a fight with myself to get out of that. I spent a lot of time talking to myself, self-motivating words. I started going to church, hearing the positive, hearing the spiritual piece of it. I read the Bible and had to believe those words and own them for myself and decide what they meant to me. I also heard from other people in recovery, hearing their stories and what they went through also helped. Lots of self-talk, lots of encouraging myself. So, I pulled many things from many different places and made them work for me…. When I started having success and got a job, I still had to push through some days to get to work –because, you know, I didn’t believe that I deserved the good life. But I told myself that I’d earned this and pushed myself to keep going. I’m still working on it but I’m trying to reverse that stigma even in myself. And I have to own when I stigmatize others too… When I need to, I go for a long drive, I cry and talk to God. This journey for me has been amazing – even with the challenges. I have three beautiful children who have been affected by my addiction but at the same time, even with my challenges, we are healing. I’m recovering my relationship with my kids now…and now I can give back. In this job I can give back, I can support people on their road to recovery. I’ve been my biggest encourager. I’ve had good people around me but I’ve had to do it for myself. I just don’t get down on myself anymore. It just doesn’t help me. You’re okay, Mona, you’re doing fine. Don’t stop.”

Rio Arriba County Health and Human Services

- July 2022