Meet Ashley, sharing her story about her son’s addiction, her journey to find help, and why Insight (Roswell GA, Peachtree City GA, Charlotte NC, Raleigh NC, and Tampa FL), an enthusiastic sobriety program works. I am so proud to meet these families and support those that may need financial support from the Mustard Tree Foundation!
Hi, my name is Ashley, I have two children (my daughter is 22 and my son is 20). My daughter is a straight A Senior at UGA and following the path that we always thought she would. My son was a talented lacrosse player and a star athlete, but my son hated school and throughout high school, he grew to be increasingly disrespectful and disconnected.
In February 2022, I had enough… I told my son to pack his things and leave for good. I really never expected to see him again but prayed that he would find love and happiness in his lifetime. Three weeks later, we got a phone call from a place called “Insight Young Adult and Teen Rehab Center”, they told us that our son was abusing drugs, and he had low self-esteem and that he didn’t know how to ask for help. No, No, No! He’s just homeless and needs a place to stay – he doesn’t use drugs. We were so wrong! From that day forward, our lives changed and we were now the parents of child with a drug addiction
HOW? WHEN? HOW DID WE NOT KNOW?
We learned that our son had his first opioid experience when he had his wisdom teeth removed at 17. Of course, I knew better… so I only gave him ONE dose and threw the rest away! Little did we know that once he felt that ‘high’, he could easily buy more at school and apparently online. Research shows that 50% of all opioid abuse starts with a prescribed medical use. After he left our home, he was living in his car and overdosed but thankfully survived. He had hit his rock bottom. A friend told him about the Insight Program and he decided to call for help on his own.
The Insight Recovery Program (serving young people ages 13 to 26) is run by licensed counselors who are also in “recovery” themselves. They connected with my son in ways that I couldn’t possibly understand!
· Insight invited us to their “Parent Meeting” held every Thursday in Roswell, which is modeled after the 12-step program like AA. But wait…We didn’t need “recovery”. But we found out we really did need help. Addiction is a family disease and everyone suffers. We finally found a group of parents at Insight who understood our story and it was very similar to theirs! And by the way, they were also “great parents”
· The guilt, anger and fear that a parent feels while on this path of watching a child self-destruct is extremely lonely. Insight is unique because it provides a two-year substance abuse recovery program for teens recognizing that teens have different challenges than adults with spouses, kids, careers.
· Insight teaches kids how to have fun without drugs (known as Enthusiastic Sobriety) and focuses on developing the foundational tools needed to navigate life’s challenges without mind altering substances;
· While I am proud to share our story and to shed light on teen substance abuse; I’m extremely proud to serve on the Insight Parent Steering Committee and to say that my son has been clean since the day he walked through their door.
· Our relationship has never been better as a family. Next week, he’ll be opening a new “sober living home” for other guys participating in the program
· Finally, while Insight is a private treatment program, I wanted to give a shout out to The Mustard Tree Foundation, run by a grateful mom of an Insight graduate. The foundation partners with Insight to provide financial scholarships for youth and families seeking addiction help in GA, FL and NC but unfortunately do not have the means to pay for their treatment.
