Success Stories
Tameika’s Story:
The Women’s Center of Greater Cleveland encounters
many women who are faced not only with chemical dependency, but domestic
violence as well. Tameika is a current client at the Women’s Center
who was brave enough to candidly share her story.
Interviewer: When was the first time you encountered
drugs or alcohol?
Tameika: I started drinking beer when I was 13.
I was an unruly child and my mother could not handle me so the State
deemed me an unruly child and put me into foster care.
Interviewer: When was the first time you experienced
domestic violence in your life.
Tameika: Well, my mother was in an abusive relationship
when I was younger, but I first experienced domestic violence when I
met the father of my children.
Interviewer: How old were you when you met the
father of your children?
Tameika: I was 16. He was not a good influence
on me; he drank, sold drugs, and smoked marijuana.
Interviewer: When did the violence begin?
Tameika: A year after we were together. At first
he would hit me but then it escalated into choking, kicking, slapping,
and using weapons. When I was pregnant with our first child, he told
me I had to be home by a certain time, I got home a half an hour late.
As soon as I walked through the door, he started beating me, he broke
my ribs, my jaw, and then he beat me with a belt buckle.
Interviewer: Was he on drugs at the time?
Tameika: Yes, he was high and drunk.
Interviewer: Did you inform the police?
Tameika: No, I always blamed myself and made
up excuses for him. I thought it was my fault and that if I showed him
more affection than he would change, but he didn’t.
Interviewer: Did he ever go to jail for Domestic
Violence?
Tameika: No, he got arrested, but when we went
to court I told the judge that we were both fighting so they dropped
the case.
Interviewer: When all of this was occurring were
you using drugs?
Tameika: No, I did not start using till the end
of our relationship. I started using because I felt worthless, I had
really bad self-esteem and I just wanted to forget about everything.
I believe that he played a big role in my drug addiction.
Current research has shown that there is a positive correlation
between domestic violence and drug abuse. Thankfully Tameika was able
to seek help and is near completion.
Tammie’s Story:
Having an addiction is not easy. Some people would say
that conquering an addiction is simple and that it’s “all
in your head”...easier said than done. It takes will, determination
and the desire to better oneself to battle the demon that is an addiction,
a demon that Tammie knows oh to well.
Tammie began experimenting with alcohol and marijuana
when she was a teenager, but it was not until she was 29, and used crack
cocaine that her life began to change. “I used crack for approximately
one year and I knew that I could not stop,” said Tammie.
Tammie, a mother of five, continued to use crack cocaine throughout
her last three pregnancies, causing the children to test positive for
cocaine and marijuana.
In 2000 the Department of Children and Family Services
(DCFS), took custody of Tammie’s children and she was required
to attend drug treatment, but Tammie was not ready to face the truth,
“I was not honest. I lied in my autobiography. I could not talk
about my shame and prostitution because the male group member’s
would smile or raise their eyebrows...I bluffed my way through the program
to graduate.” Tammie was reunited with her family but her
so-called sobriety did not last long.
In 2003 Tammie’s 26 year old daughter called DCFS
to report that her mother had relapsed. DCFS filed for permanent custody
of her children and referred her to the Women’s Center. “I
used all of the resources that DCFS had to offer in order to get my
kids back...I was honest this time,” said Tammie.
Tammie has since been sober and works part-time for Dial
America which is the fundraising arm of Mother’s Against Drunk
Drivers. Tammie credits her sobriety to the Women’s Center, “I
would recommend all women attend a women’s only treatment facility.
I felt at home and respected.”
In April of 2004 DCFS withdrew the permanent custody case and Tammie
is looking forward to the reunification, “All of these years
I was not a great parent, but today I have a million ways to be a great
parent.”
Laquita’s Story:
" I was 15, my mother was a drug addict and I
needed clothes for school.” Sounds like fiction...the truth
is that this was Laquita’s reality.
Laquita got involved with the wrong crowd at an early
age. By the time she was 15 she had experimented with PCP, dropped out
of school, and had a child who tested positive for drugs. “When
I was 15 I got pregnant by a drug dealer, when he went to jail he left
me all of his drugs.”
She later went on to have two more children, one at age 17 and one at
age 19 which she gave to foster care.
When she was ready to seek help, Laquita told her family
that she needed help and gave them custody of her children. Laquita
tried to stop on her own but found it to be too difficult, “my
family was angry with me because they did not understand why I could
not stop, they did not understand that I had a disease and neither did
I at that time,” said Laquita.
Desperate and alone, Laquita ran the streets, going in
and out of jail 4 times, she also turned to prostitution and was arrested
25 times because of it.
Laquita’s last arrest was this year for drugs and
prostitution; she was sentenced to 60 days in the Matt Talbott Facility
for Women, “they saved my life.” Laquita completed
her 60 day treatment successfully and was then sent to the Women’s
Center. “I liked the Women’s Center because I felt like
I could be open. I felt comfortable and the staff was very caring.”
Today Laquita is nearing her graduation from treatment,
has been sober for 7 months, has a job for the first time in her life,
and has a great outlook on life, “I feel great, I have never
felt like this before.”
When asked what advice she would give to other women in her situation
she said, “Believe in God, in yourself, be open, take it one
day at a time, and everything will fall into place."
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