Today I celebrate 17 years clean. It is easy to remember how broken I once was, when I first walked through the doors of transitions. 18yrs old just a punk kid who was hopeless, helpless, and full of fear. Can’t express the gratitude I have for my transitions family!!! Just for today! – feeling blessed.

I can’t sleep….As of December 2nd, I got a year off of all opiates. Thank you Transitions and staff! Although I relapsed after leaving your treatment center, it was the most knowledge I have ever gained in a treatment center. The “reality based” part of it is what helped me out a lot. You guys gave us a lot of freedom, so many rules are different at your place compared to 99% of other places, that helped me a lot. Instead of thinking everyday on how I’m gonna get over on the place like I normally do (successfully) at every other treatment center Ive been to, I didn’t have to do anything because you guys let us have all the things other places didn’t. That allowed me to focus and actually listen to what was being said and also made my visit much more easier. The crowd I was with was amazing too…. I have to say Dr. Kadem’s group was my favorite one. Great guy. Timmy the Technician is the best tech you have in that place. He is really cool, he would sit down and play spades with us all night. Just kidding that never happened, he would eventually tell us to go to sleep. Can’t say nothing but good things about the head honcho, the recovery guru, Luis M.F.G. Thats the realest guy I met during my long journey in Florida (very rare). He needs to release a speaker tape. He is a very inspirational guy. Thank you again Irving and all Transitions staff, this past year I enrolled in a college and finished 2 semesters with 4.0 GPA. I turned nothing into something (my own very successful business). Most importantly I am working on myself more and more everyday to be a better person.​

I wish you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS!​

I want to take the time to thank the entire team at Transitions Recovery Center for giving my daughter, myself and my husband a second chance at Life. It seems like only yesterday that we spoke to Maria during our initial process of finding a treatment center that would take the time to answer all the questions that my husband and I had after weeks and weeks of researching for the right place. We felt hopeless; helpless; and didn’t know what resources were out that would help us make the right decision for the treatment that our daughter so desperately needed. After attending different seminars, talking to friends and making several calls everywhere around the country, we finally felt that we truly made the call that can save our lives after 1:45 minutes that we spent on the phone with Maria. She took the time to answer every question; every concern and made us feel that there is a light at the end of the tunnel but that the journey was not going to be easy. My husband and I cried for hours and hours and did not want to accept the fact that our only child was an addict and why did it have to happen to us. Maria explained to us all the different things that over her many years of experience she herself had faced with other parents and that this truly was the best call that we had ever made if we wanted to save the life of our baby. Letting her go away for treatment was so so hard on our family, and not being there next to her was an extremely difficult time to accept, but nevertheless it was something that we needed to do. The team at Transitions was always there to answer any of our questions as we called them several times with tears in our eyes on every single call. Today, after several weeks and endless months of feeling like not living any longer, I am happy to say that we all got out lives back and it is thanks to the entire administrative and clinical team at Transitions Recovery that we can again see the purpose of living. Thank you so very much for making us feel that we made the call that saved all of our lives!

Five years ago today, I walked into Transitions full of fear and without faith. I disliked the idea of staying sober, but I knew I couldn’t trudge down the path I was going any longer. I was done. Just for today, I’m sober. I choose to be happy and that is a direct result of working the AA program of recovery; working with a sponsor; working with others; and trusting in an infinite being rather than my finite self. I am forever grateful to Transitions for their ongoing love & support. They were the kick-starter to my second chance at life, which is beyond what I could have ever imagined.​8 years ago I was sitting in a detox/psych ward consumed with hopelessness and despair and someone asked if I wanted to go to treatment in Florida. Having no other options and no place to go, I boarded a plane and began my journey of recovery. I by all means was not the ideal client. I “fell in love” with a guy (don’t ask me his name) cried every day and was on a ban or black out for the majority of my stay. I did however take the suggestions of going to halfway, getting a sponsor and working the steps and my life transformed. It isn’t always rainbows and butterflies and I sometimes I live life on Kristen’s terms and not God’s. But I have an amazing life today. I have a job where I get to help people every single day, I have a beautiful home, a valid drivers license but more than anything I have a relationship with a God of my understanding and amazing relationships with people that are pure and kind and unselfish. Thank you all for never giving up on me and believing in me when I could not believe in myself. You gave me the tools I needed to begin this new life and to become the woman that God has intended me to be.

I Just Wanted to give a HUGEEEE SHOUT OUT To ALL The Transitions Staff For Putting Up With Me While I was In Treatment Last Year!! I Also Wanted To Let Everyone Know That Today Marks ONE YEAR SOBER!! One Year Ago Was My First Day At Transitions & I was Certain That I COULD NOT DO IT…. I Was freaking out as soon as i got to my Apartment & Thankfully Tyson, Louie & Art Came to My Rescue & Helped Me Through The Hardest Thing Ive EVER Done. I Also Have To Give A Really Really Big Shout Out To Kayja Billups & Grace As They Were The ONLY REASON I Stayed & Finished The Program.. If It Wasn’t For Them I Would Have Been Gone A Wall The First Night. I Cant Thank you all enough for what you have done for me & all the Great People I now have as A Support Team!! Again Thank You To All Transitions Recovery Staff For Making This Dream Of Sobriety A Reality For Me! If I Can Do It, ANYONE Who Really Wants Sobriety Can Have It. It IS Possible!!!! I Cannot Wait To Stop Back For A Visit Sometime Soon & See Miss Maria King, Marian Bach (My Shoulder & My Leader), Louie, Art & Who Cannot Forget Harry!!!! Many Great Memories & Many Great People Have Helped Me Along The Way! I Cant Thank Y’all Enough!!! See Everyone Soon!!!​Here are a few pictures of My Life These Days! I’m back in my Veterinary courses & will so be Graduating With My Doctorate!!​Thank You Everyone For All The Help. I Couldn’t Have Done It Without You!!